The Bloodstained Bride

by Rachel Woods

  “Guess we’ll have to hold off on the speculation,” said Vivian, returning her phone to the bed table. “We found out some interesting things, but we still don’t have enough information to start forming any definitive conclusions.”

  “Well, gosh darn, Mrs. Bronson. Whatever shall we do now?” asked Leo, pulling her into his arms.

  Vivian giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, Mr. Bronson, since we can’t speculate, how about we fornicate.”

  25

  “That was Sophie.” Vivian tapped her phone to end the call with the junior reporter. “You’re not going to believe this.”

  “What?” Leo grabbed a mango scone from the serving platter in the center of the breakfast table.

  “The cops have the murder weapon that was used to kill Besi,” said Vivian. “An AR-15 rifle. A maid at the Flamingo Inn motel in Little Turkey found it wedged in the coils of the springs under the bed when she was cleaning one of the rooms. She called the owner, and the owner called the cops.”

  “Flamingo Inn in Little Turkey,” said Leo, taking a bite of the scone. “Why does that sound familiar?”

  “Remember that story Sophie did about the guy found dead in Little Turkey?” asked Vivian. “Guy’s name was Aaron Jones.”

  Chewing his scone, Leo nodded. “Cops found a Hermes briefcase and a hundred thousand dollars in a duffle bag in his motel room.”

  Vivian paused to take a sip of coffee before she said, ”The gun used to kill Besi was found in the same motel room where Aaron Jones was found.”

  Dropping his scone, Leo stared at her. “Wait. What?”

  “Jones was the last person to stay in that room,” said Vivian. “The maid was cleaning the room because the owner planned to start renting the room again.”

  “Do the cops like Jones for the killer?” asked Leo.

  “The police didn’t mention anything about Aaron Jones renting the motel room,” said Vivian. “Sophie made the connection. When she found out that the murder weapon was found in the same motel where Aaron Jones was found dead, she reviewed her notes and discovered that Jones was the last person to rent the room where the maid discovered the AR-15.”

  “When Jones was found dead,” started Leo, “the cops collected evidence from that motel room, right? How did they miss the assault rifle?”

  Shrugging, Vivian said, “Maybe they didn’t think they needed to check under the bed?”

  “Who is Aaron Jones, anyway?” asked Leo.

  “Not sure,” said Vivian. “He arrived in St. Killian about two weeks ago, but the cops don’t know if he came to tour the island, or—”

  “To kill Besi Beaumont,” said Leo, exhaling.

  Vivian said, “Just because the gun that killed Besi was found in Jones’ motel room doesn’t mean he shot her.”

  “The cops are sure the AR-15 they found is the gun that killed Besi?”

  Vivian put an elbow on the table. “Ballistics confirmed it.”

  “What else did Sophie find out?” asked Leo.

  “Nothing else from the cops, not yet anyway,” said Vivian. “But she did give me an update on Guillermo Davis.”

  Leo frowned. “Who’s that?”

  “Remember I told you Guillermo Davis was the new password Besi used after she told Melanie to change all her old passwords?”

  Nodding, Leo said, “Who is he?”

  “Sophie found out that Guillermo Davis was from Bessemer, Alabama, which piqued her interest because Besi’s real name is Bessemer. She kept digging and learned that Guillermo Davis once worked at the Beaumont estate in Bessemer, Alabama as Samuel Beaumont’s driver. Sophie got in contact with a long-time member of the Beaumont staff who mentioned a rumor about Guillermo Davis having an affair with Besi’s mom, Adrienne, which might be why Guillermo was fired.”

  “Now we know why Besi chose Guillermo Davis as her new password.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not,” said Vivian. “Guillermo was fired a year before Besi was born. So, how would Besi even know him?”

  “Maybe Besi grew up hearing the rumors about Guillermo and her mother?” Leo shrugged.

  “Maybe,” said Vivian, reaching for her glass of freshly-squeezed papaya juice. “Anyway, Sophie mentioned that Baxter François is holding another press conference tomorrow, so maybe we’ll find out more details about the case.”

  Leo scoffed. “François isn’t going to give up any details that might shed light on the situation. All you’ll get from the detective is evasive maneuvering and vague deduction.”

  “Maybe Sophie should talk to Detective Janvier?” suggested Vivian.

  Snorting, Leo shook his head. “Inspector Clouseau? He’s even worse. You know what we should do, Mrs. B.?”

  “What’s that, Mr. B.?” asked Vivian.

  “We need to find out more about Aaron Jones. Who is he? Did he know Besi? Did he come to the island to kill her? If anyone knows of a connection between Besi and Aaron Jones, it’s probably either her assistant or her fiancée,” said Leo.

  “Good idea,” said Vivian.

  Leo smiled. “What else would you expect from the world’s greatest investigative reporter?”

  Giving her husband a quick kiss on the nose, Vivian teased, “Nothing less. After all, I always expect the best from myself.”

  26

  At the knock on her door, Vivian glanced up from the dismal online traffic report she’d just downloaded and smiled at Detective Baxter François, who stood in the opened doorway of her office at the Palmchat Gazette.

  “Detective François,” said Vivian, tossing the report on top of a stack of files in the plastic IN BOX tray on her desk. “Come in. Have a seat.”

  After closing the door, the detective settled his muscled bulk into the chair in front of her desk.

  “How are you?” asked Vivian, grabbing a red editing pen from the coffee mug she’d repurposed into a pencil and pen holder.

  The detective exhaled. “I’ll be a lot better when I figure out who killed Besi Beaumont.”

  “Why do you have to figure out who killed Besi Beaumont?” asked Vivian. “You arrested Winnie Quasebarth.”

  The detective gave her a sly smile. “Didn’t you catch my press conference this morning on Sky news?”

  “I sent Sophie to cover it,” said Vivian, tapping the pen against her chin. “But I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her.”

  “Winnie Quasebarth didn’t kill Besi,” said François. “The charges against her have been officially dropped, which is what I shared with the press this morning.”

  Floored, Vivian shook her head. “How did you eliminate Winnie as a suspect?”

  With an enigmatic smile, the detective said, “Winnie has an alibi. On the day of the wedding, when Besi Beaumont was being shot to death, Winnie was fooling around in her suite with two hotel pool boys.”

  “Two hotel pool boys?”

  Detective François nodded. “When the pool boys read about Winnie’s confession in the paper, they knew she was lying, but they didn’t come forward because they were afraid of losing their jobs. Fraternizing with guests is cause for termination.”

  “So, how did you find out about Winnie and the pool boys?”

  “One of the pool boys couldn’t keep the hook-up to himself, and he told a friend about the threesome,” said François. “That friend told another friend, who told another friend—“

  “Who told another friend,” said Vivian, not surprised that the pool boy had kissed and told.

  “Eventually one of those friends told us,” said the detective, “so we brought the pool boys in for questioning.”

  “And they spilled their guts all over the place under the pressure of those withering François interrogation techniques,” said Vivian.

  “Something like that,” said François. “Anyway, one of the pool boys had some video of the encounter, which clearly showed Winnie Quasebarth dancing naked on a table. We determined that the video was recorded on the date and during the time when
Besi Beaumont was killed.”

  “I guess that proves Winnie didn’t kill Besi,” said Vivian.

  “I never consider her as a serious suspect, anyway,” said François. “Especially after I got the tests back on the fabric left behind in the bushes and it wasn’t a match for Winnie’s bridesmaid dress.”

  Vivian stared at him. “What about the other bridesmaids’ dresses?”

  “You and the other bridesmaids are in the clear,” said François. “Your dresses were analyzed, and all three dresses were found to be perfectly intact. No rips or tears in the fabric. There weren’t even any loose threads.”

  “That’s good to know,” said Vivian.

  “But, now I need another suspect,” said the detective.

  Tapping the pen against her desk, Vivian considered whether or not she should tell him about the threatening emails Besi had received six months ago. Confiding in the detective was the right thing to do, but Stevie’s hacker cousin was still working on retrieving the deleted emails, so technically, she had no information to give him.

  Deciding to forgo mentioning the threatening emails, Vivian asked, “What about Aaron Jones?”

  “What about him?”

  Realizing that the detective was going to play cat-and-mouse with her, Vivian tried to prepare herself for his customary evasiveness.

  “Detective, how about we skip the part where you hold your cards close to the vest,” suggested Vivian. “You and I both know that the weapon used in the murder of Besi Beaumont was an AR-15 found in a motel room in Little Turkey. And we know a tourist named Aaron Jones was found dead in that same motel room.”

  Smirking, the detective said nothing, just regarded her with an appraising gaze.

  “Do you think Aaron Jones killed Besi Beaumont?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think,” said the detective. “The only thing that matters is the evidence.”

  “Does the evidence show that Aaron Jones killed Besi?” asked Vivian.

  Detective François crossed his arms. “Off the record?”

  Vivian said, “Only if you give the Palmchat Gazette an exclusive.”

  The Palmchat Gazette had suffered because of Burt’s gag order concerning coverage of Besi’s murder, but being the first news outlet to report on a major break in the case could send their online traffic numbers through the roof.

  His expression wary, the detective asked, “What kind of exclusive?”

  “When you figure out who killed Besi, and I have no doubt that you will,” said Vivian, “then you’ll tell me first and allow the Palmchat Gazette to break the story.”

  After a long exhale and more appraising looks, the detective said, “I’m waiting for a few more reports from forensics. We have prints on the gun, and I believe the evidence will show that Aaron Jones killed Besi Beaumont. Which, of course, is only half the story. The real question is why?”

  “What about the money found in Jones’ motel room?” asked Vivian. “What’s the story with the cash? Is it connected to Besi’s murder somehow?”

  “I have not come to any definitive conclusions about the money.”

  Vivian suspected that the detective probably did have conclusions about the money, but he wasn’t going to share them.

  “What do you know about Jones?” Vivian asked.

  Leaning forward slightly, François made a steeple of his fingers. “A lot of things don’t add up with this guy. For instance, Jones checked into a cheap Little Turkey motel room, but he arrived on the island in style. Private plane. Flew in from the Aerie Islands two weeks ago.”

  “The Aerie Islands?” asked Vivian, thinking, for some reason, that she should make a note of that detail.

  “I found out that Jones flew from Los Angeles, California to the Aerie Islands in April,” said François. “CCTV shows him getting into a cab at the Amargo International Airport. I don’t know where the cab took him, but his trip was more than just a weekend getaway or a two-week vacation.”

  “Jones was in the Aerie Islands from April to August,” said Vivian. “Sound like an extended stay in paradise to me.”

  “When I spoke to Melanie Adams, Ms. Beaumont’s assistant,” said the detective, “she informed me that Ms. Beaumont had traveled to the Aerie Islands a few months ago. In April.”

  Vivian nodded. “She went there for plastic surgery.”

  “Makes me wonder if there’s a connection between Ms. Beaumont’s trip to the Aerie Islands and Jones’ trip to the Aerie Islands? Or, is it an odd coincidence?”

  Vivian didn’t believe in coincidences, but she wasn’t sure how to make a connection between Aaron Jones and Besi. There weren’t enough details, though the facts were strange. Jones and Besi both went to the Aerie Islands in April. And then, after arriving in St. Killian, they both ended up dead, shot to death. Bizarre circumstances, but Vivian didn’t want to jump to conclusions just yet.

  “If Jones and Ms. Beaumont did meet in the Aerie Islands,” began François, “I’m thinking it was some kind of secret tryst.”

  Vivian said nothing as she recalled the secret hook-ups between Besi and Tom York. Was it possible that Besi and Jones had been undercover lovers, as well? Vivian doubted it, but she didn’t think she should rule out any possibilities.

  “You think Aaron Jones came to St. Killian to meet Besi?” asked Vivian.

  “Suppose that’s possible,” said François. “But, then again, most men don’t bring sand to the beach.”

  “What do you mean?” Vivian asked.

  “Jones wasn’t alone when he arrived in St. Killian,” said François. “He was traveling with a dark-haired woman. Pilot says she never took off her sunglasses.”

  Vivian looked up from the Post-It note where she’d jotted down the information about Jones arriving in St. Killian from the Aerie Islands. “Sunglasses?”

  The detective rubbed his chin. “Pilot thought it was weird. Says the brunette never spoke and kept her sunglasses on even though it was after midnight when they landed.”

  A brunette in sunglasses? Instantly, her mind conjured up the image of the woman she’d talked to at the cocktail party last week.

  “The owner of the Flamingo Inn motel says he doesn’t remember if Jones was with a brunette in sunglasses when he checked into the motel,” said François. “However, he can’t be sure of that fact because when Jones checked in, a large group of Europeans was checking in at the same time, and it was crazy busy. Plus, the owner and the hotel clerk were having issues with the new software they’d installed the week before.”

  “So, it’s possible that Jones and the brunette did check into the motel together,” said Vivian.

  “The motel records don’t reflect that,” said Baxter. “When Jones checked in, he requested a room for one, but I think the brunette joined him.”

  “How can you be sure?” asked Vivian.

  “We found dark hairs in Jones’ motel room that did not belong to him,” said François. “Tests showed that those hairs were not human but synthetic. Most likely from a dark brown wig—which might belong to the brunette.”

  “But, you don’t know that for sure,” Vivian pointed out.

  “What I do know for sure is that the dark hairs found in the bushes at the crime scene don’t match the dark brown hairs found in Jones’ motel room. The hair strands found at the crime scene were human, not from a synthetic wig. And the hairs at the crime scene were male.”

  “Are the hair strands found at the crime scene a match for Aaron Jones?” asked Vivian. “Did he have dark hair?”

  Sighing, François rubbed his eyes. “Jones did have dark hair, but the initial tests were inconclusive, so we’re sending the samples to another lab for more sophisticated analysis.” “You have any idea who the brunette is?” asked Vivian, remembering the woman who’d said she was a friend of both the bride and the groom.

  Standing, Detective François said, “I don’t know her name, but I know why she came to St. Killian.”

  Slightly confu
sed, Vivian shook her head. “What do you mean?”

  The detective walked to the door, opened it, and then turned back to her. “She was here to help Aaron Jones murder Besi Beaumont.”

  27

  “I can’t believe those stupid island cops let Winnie get off,” grumbled Derek as he stalked back and forth in front of the wall of bookshelves in Burt’s home office. “That crazy bitch is getting away with murder!”

  Slouching in one of the antique chairs in front of Burt’s desk, Leo shook his head and then glanced at Vivian, sitting in the chair next to him. His wife looked a bit worried. Obviously, she found Derek’s frantic pacing concerning, but Leo wasn’t bothered by Derek’s anxious agitation—or the reason behind it.

  Following a late lunch with Burt and the wedding party, Leo and Vivian had planned to head back to the Palmchat Gazette, but his father had commandeered them. The St. Killian police department had new developments in the case, and Burt wanted Leo, Vivian, and Derek to be present when Detective Baxter François arrived.

  While wasting time waiting for the detective, Leo told Vivian about his conversations with Melanie and Derek, where he’d asked them if Besi had known Aaron Jones. He’d planned to tell Vivian yesterday when she returned to the mansion following a long day at the newspaper, but the news about Winnie Quasebarth dominated their conversation. Winnie being officially cleared of murder charges was more interesting than the fact that both Melanie and Derek denied knowing anything about a connection between Jones and Besi.

  Around three o’clock, Burt summoned them to his office in advance of Detective François’ four o’clock arrival.

  “The police cleared Winnie because she didn’t kill Besi,” said Burt, as imposing as ever behind his massive desk. “As I suspected, her confession was nothing more than a cry for attention.”

  “But, how can we know that for sure?” asked Derek. “Maybe Winnie planned this whole thing. She makes this confession that she knows no one will believe and then when no one believes her, she gets away with murder!”