Maddy pushed the door the rest of the way open and shouted Chrissy’s name several times. No response. After only two steps into the rundown house, the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. The place looked like an F-5 tornado had blown through. The dingy cushions on the upholstered couch were slit open with the padding strewn about, chairs were overturned, and a small TV was smashed on the floor.
Whatever happened here can’t be good, Tessa said. Somebody was seriously looking for something.
Maddy made her way to the kitchen where most of the contents of the cabinets were laying on the counters and all over the floor. She noticed Chrissy’s purse next to the toaster with all the contents dumped out.
A wave of apprehension swept over her, especially when she recognized most of the things from the purse except for one. The rubber-banded pictures of the five men having sex with Chrissy—the ones that she and Tessa had seen in the purse yesterday—were gone. She gave it a second look to make sure, but they weren’t there. Could Chrissy have taken them out and put them in another hiding place? Or was it possible that they were the reason Chrissy’s house had been tossed?
She looked up and made eye contact with Lainey whose body language said she was more than a little nervous, too.
“I’m going back to the bedroom,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t give away how frightened she was about doing that. “You stay here with Tessa.”
She had no idea what she’d find there—hopefully, nothing—but she wanted to make sure Lainey wasn’t traumatized by something gruesome. She chided herself for letting her imagination get the best of her. Chrissy was probably having breakfast in bed at some hotel after a night of partying.
She opened the bedroom door slowly, immediately noticing that the queen-size bed was empty and the comforter and pillows were all over the floor. Cautiously, she walked closer, her breath coming faster with each step.
When she was close enough to touch the footboard, she saw it.
Poking out from one side of the bed was a human foot. Feeling her pulse racing, she forced herself to walk around the bed to that side and gasped when she realized the foot belonged to Chrissy Rockford, who was lying in a pool of her own blood. She bent down and checked for a carotid pulse, but as she expected, there was none. She stared a few more minutes at Chrissy’s eyes, fixed in a grotesque stare of death before she moved her gaze downward to the massive hole in her chest.
Her cop instincts kicked in, and she stood up quickly. Walking backward, she made it to the door. She took one final look before stepping into the hallway, and after covering her hand with her sweater, she closed the door behind her. This was now a crime scene and needed to be preserved for the CSI team.
Both Maddy and Tessa were waiting anxiously when she rounded the corner into the living room.
Shaking her head, she made eye contact with Lainey. “Chrissy’s dead. I have to call Colt.”
seventeen
The minute Colt rushed through the door with both Flanagan and Rogers following close behind, Maddy knew she was in for the mother of all lectures. When he glimpsed his wife standing sheepishly behind her, his face tightened in anger. Maddy could almost visualize white smoke streaming from his ears.
“Where’s the body?” he asked, his facial expression never changing.
Maddy pointed down the hall. “She’s on the bedroom floor with a hole in her chest, probably from a nine millimeter.”
Maddy didn’t think it was possible for her brother-in-law to look angrier than he already did, but when his eyes narrowed to slits, she knew she’d been wrong. She braced herself for the fallout.
“You two stay right here,” he ordered. “When I come back, I’ll need to have a conversation with both of you to find out why the hell you were the ones who found the body. I’m going back to the bedroom now. That should give you enough time to come up with an answer, and I can tell you, it damn well better be a good one.”
Maddy made eye contact with her sister before they both nodded obediently.
Holy hell! When that boy wrinkles his face like that, grab your ass with both hands and hold on tight. I once saw him take on two guys at the same time without breaking a sweat. Tessa moved closer to her sisters in an apparent show of unity. Don’t tell him I’m here.
So much for the unity thing.
“So what’s our story, Maddy?” Lainey guided her over to the kitchen table where they both sat down to wait. “And how did you know Chrissy was shot with a nine millimeter?”
Maddy laughed. “It was a guess because it’s the weapon of choice for most small-time thugs. The nine millimeter is lightweight, accurate, and readily available on the street, making it one of the top-five- selling handguns in the country. One night while Colt and I waited for Jessie and Gracie to come out of a movie, we went for a drink. He confessed to me that at a crime scene when the medical examiner or one of the CSI techs asks his opinion about what type of weapon was used, he always says a nine millimeter. According to him, nine times out of ten, they find out he was right, and he comes off like a genius. I just used his own trick on him.”
Bravo, big sis! But Lainey’s right. You’d better come up with a good excuse why you were here before that man gets back. Tessa plopped down on the chair next to Lainey.
“I’m thinking we should tell him the truth—or at least some of it,” Maddy said. “I’ll take the lead, Lainey, and you follow, okay?”
“Got it! And Tessa’s right, I have to go home with that man. If he hasn’t calmed down by then, I’m in for a bad night.”
They waited another fifteen minutes without speaking while Colt and the two deputies examined the crime scene. Just as the men walked out of the bedroom and headed back down the hall, the front door opened and Mark Lowell and his crew of CSI technicians strolled in, each carrying a large duffle bag.
“Who’s the vic?” Mark asked Maddy before he spied Colt rounding the corner. “Hey, Sheriff, what do you have for me?”
“A young woman with a gunshot wound to her chest. No sign of the murder weapon yet, but my guess is it was a nine mil,” he said, staring at Maddy when he spoke.
His message was clear. He was letting her know that it had not been lost on him that she’d remembered what he’d told her that night about guessing the caliber of the gun. For a second Maddy even saw the beginning of a smile form at the corners of his mouth before he quickly reverted back to cop face.
“When you guys give us the go-ahead, we’ll do a thorough sweep of the house to see if the murder weapon turns up.”
“Do we know how long she’s been dead?”
Colt shook his head. “I’ll send Flanagan and Rogers to canvass the neighborhood to see if they can determine the last time she was seen alive.”
Aware that she was about to shoot herself right to the top of Colt’s shit-list, Maddy focused on the medical examiner, not ready to address the look she knew she’d get from her brother-in-law. “We saw her yesterday around two.”
“We?” Colt said, his voice accusatory.
His reaction was worse than she’d expected and his entire face was now scrunched in anger. Maddy was sure if she could see his hands, they’d be trembling.
“Maddy and I had a talk with her yesterday,” Lainey said, giving her husband a glare of her own. “What do you expect us to do, Colt? Sit idly by while the evidence against Maddy piles up and she goes to prison?”
“The victim’s name is Chrissy Rockford. She’s the woman who caused the fight between Bernardi and the other guy at Cowboys Galore the night he was arrested,” Maddy added.
Colt breathed in noisily, and Maddy was positive he was counting to ten under his breath. “I’m well aware of who she was, Maddy. We interviewed her two days ago, right after Rogers and perhaps others got her name from the bartender.” His narrowed eyes staring a hole in her brain right now left no doubt he was talking about her.
“Not the bartender, Colt. It was some other lady at the bar,” Rogers corrected, be
fore falling victim to one of Colt’s infamous killer stares. He slinked back behind his boss and shrugged. “I’m just sayin’.”
Colt finally broke eye contact with his deputy and concentrated again on Maddy. “Did you find out anything yesterday when you spoke to her here?”
“We didn’t talk to her here. We came by, but she was already gone. Her neighbor thought we were the insurance agents Chrissy had been waiting on, and she gave us a note Chrissy had left saying she’d be at another address.”
“Insurance agents? Why would she think that?”
“Apparently, Chrissy had been contacted by some insurance company about a finder’s fee for a piece of jewelry Bernardi had, and she was supposed to talk to the agent about it. When he didn’t show up, she asked Mrs. Witherspoon, the neighbor, to watch out for him.” Maddy knew she was rambling, but she kept talking anyway. As long as her mouth was moving, Colt couldn’t chew them out. “The neighbor lady assumed we were from the insurance agency and sent us to another location.”
“A finder’s fee?” Colt asked, his face softening just a touch.
“It sounded like she had access to a necklace that had either been lost or stolen. She told her neighbor it was going to change her life,” Lainey chimed in.
At the mention of the necklace, a look passed between the three cops.
“What?” Maddy asked. “Whose necklace is it?”
“You know I don’t want you any more involved in this investigation than you already are, Maddy. Leave it up to us. I assure you we’re more capable than the Garcia girls.” He paused before turning to Flanagan and Rogers. “Start knocking on doors. See if anyone noticed an unfamiliar vehicle parked on the street or a stranger that looked out of place the past few days. This had to have happened after Maddy and Lainey left yesterday and before they arrived again today.” When he was sure his deputies were out of hearing range, he glanced around the room. “Is she here?”
Maddy pointed toward Tessa who was leaning against the wall shaking her head, mouthing, Say no, Maddy.
“Yes.”
“That’s just great.” He turned to his wife. “Do you have any idea how dangerous your meddling is? The killer could have been watching Chrissy’s every move and just waiting for the perfect moment to take her out. I guarantee whoever this killer is, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill you both on the assumption that the dead woman might have told you things he didn’t want made public knowledge.” He huffed. “Then the two of you could come back and haunt me like Tessa does.”
“No need to get so upset, Colt. Are you forgetting that I’m a cop?”
“Yeah, you’re a cop all right, but your gun is locked in the evidence locker at the station. Somehow I don’t think the killer would be all that threatened by two unarmed women and a smartass ghost.”
Lainey stepped forward and shook her finger at him. “Don’t go getting sarcastic, honey,” she said, drawing out the endearment in a sarcastic tone of her own. “For your information we found out something that I’d bet money you and your men don’t know.”
With the exception of a slight hitch in his brow, Colt’s face was unreadable. “And that would be what, dear?”
“Oh no, you don’t,” Lainey said. “You can’t holler at us like we were schoolgirls and then turn around and expect us to spill everything we learned doing exactly what you’re hollering at us for. That’s not how it works, darling.” This time she made the endearment sound like a curse word.
Maddy bit her lower lip to keep from smiling as she watched him react to Lainey’s counterattack. She knew her sister’s skills as an investigative journalist were good, but she had no idea her talents were so highly polished. In a matter of seconds, she had turned Colt Winslow, a six-foot former Vineyard High School All-State halfback who commanded respect from everyone he encountered—and fear in most others—into a little boy caught talking smack to his mother.
He quickly recovered and scowled. “Not only do I expect it, Lainey, I’m prepared to throw both your asses in jail if one of you doesn’t start talking in the next ten seconds.”
Better spill it, ladies, before that man pops a vein in his head, Tessa said, smiling now. I’m surprised he didn’t say something snarky about me, besides the smart ass ghost thing. I’m sure he’d love to throw my dead self behind bars if for no other reason than for lying to him about Gracie way back when.
Tessa was right. They’d pushed Colt as far as they could, counting on his tight family ties buying them some leeway, but now he was back in cop mode. It was time to come clean—or at least be a little more honest with the man. After all, he was the one running the investigation into the murder she’d been charged with.
She took a deep breath before plunging right in. “Not only did Chrissy Rockford know Gino Bernardi, but we think the two of them were running some kind of blackmail scam—probably with the married men she picked up at Cowboys Galore and who knows how many other bars around the airport.”
“What makes you think that?” Colt asked, obviously interested enough to forget his anger for a few minutes.
“First of all, the note her neighbor gave us led us right to Bernardi’s townhouse.”
“How’d she get in?” Colt asked.
“Like I said, not only did they know each other, they were partners in some kind of illegal venture. She must’ve had her own key,” Maddy said, wondering if she should tell him about the pictures and the notebook. She decided to hang on to those in case she needed leverage later on.
“And you two were at his place?”
Both Maddy and Lainey nodded before Maddy continued. “That’s when she told us about the insurance company calling to offer a finder’s fee for the necklace. We—”
“Did she say which insurance company contacted her?” he interrupted.
“No. What necklace was she talking about, Colt?” Lainey asked.
“I’d rather not say right now,” he responded. “You girls already know more than I’m comfortable with. A killer who plans a murder as meticulously as this one did and manages to successfully frame an on-the-job police officer for it in the process will stop at nothing to keep his secret safe.” His eyes softened. “I’m begging you to let me handle this.”
“Fine,” Maddy said. “You keep the information about the necklace to yourself, and we’ll keep the pictures we found in Chrissy’s purse our little secret.”
As she watched Colt’s expression quickly change back to anger, Maddy thought she had stepped over the line this time. His face now a deep shade of red, he pressed his lips together, and she heard Tessa whisper, Uh oh behind her back. But she was determined to find out about the necklace, and even his obvious wrath didn’t stop her from standing her ground.
In her favor, she was his sister-in-law, and she knew, fair or not, he was always a little more patient with her than he was with the other deputies. But more importantly, he was married to her sister, and he had to know if he ever expected to experience marital bliss again, he’d better tone down his approach.
I’ll be damned! This guy can’t handle any of the Garcia girls. I almost want to hug him and tell him it’ll be alright.
He motioned for them to sit. “Okay. As much as it goes against every fiber in my being, every cop instinct I possess, I’ll tell you what you want to know. But only after you explain about the pictures.” He sat down beside Lainey on the couch. “And this better be worth it.”
Maddy dug in her purse for her cell phone and pulled up the pictures she’d taken of the five guys getting oral sex from Chrissy. After handing the phone to Colt, she waited patiently while he flipped through all of them. When he came to the last one, he glanced up for a second to meet her stare before turning his attention back to the picture.
“Well I’ll be damned. So Foxworthy knew our victim. Maybe that’s what the argument at the bar was all about.”
“Yes, and we think Bernardi was taking the pictures. In every single one of them the guy looks like he’s asleep,” Maddy expla
ined.
“Asleep?”
“Seriously, Colt, how many men do you think can be on the receiving end of oral sex and lie perfectly still?”
For the first time since he arrived, Colt smiled. “You’ve got a point, Maddy. So Chrissy picks a guy up at the bar and entices him into going to Bernardi’s place where she slips him a Mickey—possibly a roofie. Then right off the bat, she and Bernardi rob the dude before getting all his personal information. My guess is the pictures start showing up in his mailbox soon after that, and the poor schlep doesn’t even remember getting mind-blowing sex.” He stared at the other pictures.
“Do you recognize any of the others?” Maddy asked.
Colt shook his head. “But I’m damn sure going to find out who they are. All five of them, Foxworthy included, would have had a helluva motive to kill both Bernardi and his partner in crime.”
“Do you think these guys are locals?” Lainey asked.
“Probably out-of-towners on a business trip. Bernardi was smart and would have stayed away from the men who might recognize the address and come back later to make sure the pictures didn’t get out,” Colt said before looking up. “We went through Chrissy’s purse and didn’t find these photos. After Mark and his team finish up back there, we’ll tear this place apart, but from the looks of it, the killer has already done that. And if I’m right, he probably has the photos, the camera, and any computer the pictures might have been saved on.”
“So we’re lucky we were able to get these snapshots yesterday, right?” Maddy said, proud of herself for making copies on her phone.
He grinned. “As much as I hate to admit it, you two snoops may have just cracked this case—or at least given us another angle to pursue. Good job.”
Maddy and Lainey high-fived, but the elation was short-lived when Colt said, “Having said that, your sleuthing days are over, Lainey. It’s getting too dangerous.” He turned his attention on Maddy. “If you ever want to work as a Vineyard cop again, it would behoove you to butt out of this investigation. Am I clear?”
Jailhouse Glock Page 15
