Clive looked up at me and said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spat in my face.
I jumped back and wiped my face with my sleeve.
Charles slapped him open handed up beside the head. “That’s assault, but it’s not anything compared to your other problems.”
I walked into the kitchen and turned on the water, splashing it on my face to clean away his saliva. As I wiped my face with a paper towel, I had a thought.
“Why kill her? The money? You’d have gotten your share in the divorce settlement,” I said when I returned.
“That psycho would never have given me a divorce. And there’s nothing to settle. The money was gone. She closed all my credit cards, so I couldn’t get any more cash advances. She somehow paid everything off and closed them. I needed her to sign the papers for a second mortgage on the house and she refused to sign. There’s nothing.”
“So you killed her for the money, like we said,” Piper said.
“Tell me, was the sex worth it?” Charles asked.
Clive looked him in the face. “I hadn’t had sex with my wife in five years. Not all the money was spent on drugs. Most of it went to hookers.”
And that was it, nearly a confession.
Piper walked into the kitchen to call her old working buddy in homicide division.
Clive cried when he heard the sirens.
Twenty
Charles
Keeping secrets from a nosy person isn’t easy. And I’d kept the secret from Max long enough. It had been a long day, with the funeral and all. It had been difficult to watch Michael Ricci walk away, like he’d never done anything wrong. On the flight home, I told Max our plans for the weekend.
Nick had waited until the last minute to clue me in, but when we arrived in Vegas, all the plans were in order. He’d reserved rooms for Max and me, Lydia and Luke, and a suite for Mimi and him. I immediately upgraded my room to a suite because we ended up with a party of three in our room. Good thing Lola was considered a service dog because of her skills. She rode in her own seat in the plane. Nick owed me for a plane ticket, I thought.
I had no idea every major hotel in Vegas had a chapel. I always thought you had to go to the sleazy part of the city, to one of those white chapels on the way to Fremont Street. I was wrong, and the chapel at Paris Hotel was amazing. Nick spared no expense.
I straightened Max’s tie before we left the room and took the elevator down to the chapel floor, Lola in tow.
When we arrived, Nick and Mimi stood in the foyer. Nick was in a black tuxedo with a white shirt and black bowtie, and Mimi in a lovely hip hugging white lace dress. It was exactly what she’d have chosen for herself, and Nick had hired a woman to tailor it on the spot.
That man had done more in the last few months to plan the wedding than Mimi had even considered doing.
Mimi looked at me, and I could see the tears welling in her eyes.
“You and Nick, and your secrets.” She walked over and hugged me around the neck.
Lola whined.
Mimi reached down and tentatively scratched her behind the ears, talking baby talk. “Nick’s a good guy, isn’t he? Even if you did have to ride in a plane and spend the night with Charles.”
“I can’t take any credit for this one, honey. This was all Nick’s doing. He just made sure Max and I got here with Lola, and had a room.”
She dabbed at her lower eyes with a tissue. “My makeup is going to be ruined.”
“Please tell me you have waterproof mascara at least,” I said.
She leaned in and whispered, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She took me by my elbow and walked me down the hall.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“What about Dominic? I think I’m still legally married to him. This marriage will be a sham. I can’t do that to Nick. Even with all of this.”
I wrapped my arms around her and said, “Dominic is dead. I promise you. And you won’t have to wait the seven years, except maybe for the insurance money.”
She shook her head. “I don’t even want the insurance money.”
I kissed her on the forehead. “Then you have nothing to fret about. Get married, and enjoy your day, Mrs. Christianson.”
It wasn’t really day, it was late afternoon. Max and I had flown out Friday night, but Nick and Mimi hadn’t arrived until mid-morning. There was lots of last minute running around.
She smiled. “My initials will be the same. I can keep all of my monogramed stuff.”
That’s what she’d worried about, I thought.
I laughed. “Let’s get back to your groom and get you hitched.”
She hesitated. “Did you know about this all along, like the house?”
I shook my head. “Like I said, I just found out in time to get here. Does it even matter? I’m your best man, and I think your matron of honor just arrived.”
Mimi turned around to see Lydia and Luke walking up to Nick.
She looped her arm in mine and we walked back to the foyer. “This has been one crazy week.”
“It has.”
“Mom,” Mimi cried as she embraced Lydia. “Was this the family emergency?”
“It was,” Lydia said, already crying.
Mimi stepped back. “Stop that. I’ll start crying, and I can’t cry before the pictures are taken.”
Everyone laughed.
Nick took Mimi by the hand. “Are you ready to do this?”
Mimi grinned from ear to ear. “I am.”
The ceremony was small, and the icing on the cake (before the real wedding cake) was when I walked Lola down the aisle. She had their wedding bands tied to her collar with a white ribbon. The real trick was getting her to sit still while I untied them. She obviously had no idea what was going on. She didn’t enjoy flying, and she probably wondered why she was staying with Max and me when Mimi was right here. The look on Mimi’s face when Lola came down the aisle was priceless.
Poor Max, if he’d only known the craziness he signed up for when we started seeing each other. But he took the whole thing like a champ, and he didn’t even fuss when I told him Lola was staying with us in the room until we left Sunday night.
It was when we got back to Salinas that things really got crazy.
Twenty-One
Charles
Mimi had a smile on her face, but I had a frown on mine. I needed an extra day between Saturday and Sunday. Monday had come way too soon. On the plus side, we were all gathered in the waiting room at the agency: Mimi, Nick, Piper, Lydia, Uta, me, and the homicide detective who’d investigated Edie Pratt’s case.
Brad Douglas sat in the club chair, facing all of us. He had several files spread out on the coffee table. I expected a tirade about butting into his case, which had been all but closed.
“I want to thank Nick for bringing me by.” He looked at Mimi, then Nick. “I hear you two had an eventful weekend as well.”
Mimi put out her wedding ring hand for him to see. “We did.”
“Let’s move on,” Nick said. “I’ve already gotten an earful at the station.”
“Party pooper,” I said.
“Fine. We had a long weekend, too, but not as much fun as yours.” He put his hand out to indicate Piper. “Thanks to my former colleague, we worked all weekend, going over evidence and reworking the case. She gave me a good reminder about possible suicide cases. Though I have to say, the scene had every indication of a suicide.”
“Is there any way to prove Clive killed her?” Mimi asked.
“That’s what made the weekend so long. Piper and I worked with my partner to go back over everything. And thank goodness the body hadn’t been released. We took a closer look at Edie’s hand. She had GSR and blood spatter, but part of her hand was clean, as if something was covering it. It wasn’t readily obvious, because the blood had smeared from landing in her lap.”
“As it turns out, I was right about the sunroof. We went back out to the scene, scoured th
e area and found the bullet that shattered the glass,” Piper said. “The bullet that killed Edie was found in the BMW, and they had it in evidence.”
“From what we can tell, even with the hesitation marks, Clive put the gun to Edie’s chin and pulled the trigger. There were no indications of a struggle, so I looked at the toxicology reports. She had liberal amounts of Xanax in her system, so she would have been driving under the influence. It’s lucky she didn’t kill anyone. I think Clive moved quickly, so she wouldn’t have time to respond. Even so, her response time would have been impaired. She was dead before she knew what was happening.”
“Piper said something about the angle of the gunshot,” Mimi said.
“Yes. Upon further investigation, the angle was slightly different than most suicides. So we reenacted it, and the angle indicated the possibility of it not being self-inflicted. We still have more work, and I was hoping to borrow your investigator for a few more days until we tie up the loose ends.” Douglas leaned forward as if to stand, but stayed seated.
“We’re pretty backed up here, but I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t let her assist. I take it this means Clive didn’t break down and confess?”
Douglas shook his head. “That guy is a piece of work. He still insists it wasn’t suicide, and he’s right. But he also insists he’s innocent.”
“Innocent until proven guilty,” Mimi said.
I had a meeting across town, so I excused myself before they were finished. I heard Uta offer mimosas and wedding cake to everyone before I walked out.
Even though my insides were churning, I smiled as I got in my car and drove to Romie Lane.
I sat outside the shipping offices of a local produce company and watched. The call from Jared tipped me off, but I had to do my own research early that morning to make sure I was right. I’d walked into the sales office of the local shipper, pretending I was lost, and saw exactly what I’d expected. Michael Ricci sat across from an older fat man with longish black hair. I felt like I wanted to vomit.
I sat for over an hour, waiting for Michael to exit the building.
When he came out, nearly strutting, with a smile on his face, I figured he’d gotten the job. I wondered if he’d ever told his mom he was still alive, or it he’d let her think both her son and husband were dead.
I met him halfway to his rental car. He stopped abruptly, and I could see he wanted to run. Too late.
“I told you if I ever saw you again, I’d kill you, Dominic,” I said, deadpan.
“It’s Michael, Michael Ricci. And I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I heard what you said, but you have no reason to want to kill me. I’m just getting my old life back.” He tried to walk around me.
I stepped in front of him and he stopped without me having to touch him.
“I don’t make idle threats, Dominic. You’re not coming back to Salinas and disrupting all that’s good. This is your old life; you need to leave it that way. You walked away, leaving a trail of pain behind you. You had a choice, and you chose to leave your loved ones behind.” I stood inches from him, my toes almost touching his.
“She’d never have agreed to leave,” he said. “She had her family here. And if she did leave, she’d have jeopardized my life, because I knew she’d contact her mom. I couldn’t take that chance. I had to go, and I had to make it look like I’d died.”
“Did you ever even give her the chance? She loved you,” I said.
He shook his head.
“You’re a selfish douchebag, and you don’t deserve your old life back. You lost that when you left a trail of tears, broken hearts, and lack of closure.” It took everything in me not to punch Dominic in the face.
“But I’m back. I can explain. Everything will be okay.” He said it as if he’d told himself this line over and over again, trying to justify it.
“It won’t be okay. I’m not going to kill you now, I’m going to give you the chance to walk away. If you get within a mile of Mimi, it will be the last thing you ever do. You’re a degenerate and a crook, and when you chose the WITSEC program and chose to go alone, you dug your own grave. Am I making myself clear?”
He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m calling Jared.”
I laughed. “You fool, Jared wiped his hands of you when you went to that funeral.”
I walked away.
I heard Michael say something derogatory as he walked to his car, and I walked to mine. Just before I got in my car, I turned to look back at him. I heard the car start.
Then Dominic’s car exploded. I guess that was that. I got in my car and drove home.
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author, Jamie Lee Scott, started writing to release the stress from running a fast food restaurant with her husband. Always having loved mysteries, she decided to write one. Never did she imagine how far her career as a writer would go when she published Let Us Prey.
Jamie is also a produced screenwriter, and had directed short films. When she’s not writing or making movies, she competes in barrel racing and roping with her horses.
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Other books by Jamie Lee Scott
See and buy all of Jamie’s books at www.jamieleescott.com/books
Gotcha Detective Agency Series
Let Us Prey
Textual Relations
Death of a Sales Rep
What a Meth
Bad Vice
Electile Dysfunction
Who Gives A Split
Mary Had a Little Scam
Trespassers Will Be Prostituted
The Knife Before Christmas
A Lie In Every Truth
Willa Friday Culinary Cozy Mysteries
Pasta, Pinot & Murder
Sushi, Sauvignon & Murder
Mousse, Moscato & Murder
More coming in late 2018
Untitled
A LIE IN EVERY TRUTH
Copyright ©2018 by Jamie Lee Scott
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Novels & Coffee, Forest City, IA 50436.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the p
roduct of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Scott, Jamie Lee, 5-22-18. A Lie in Every Truth. Novels & Coffee.
A Lie in Every Truth Page 14
