Beyond the Garden (Magnolia Series Book 2)

by Ashley Farley

  “I’ll be sure to send her a thank-you note. What happened after she saw me? Did she go inside to check on her lover?” Lia said, her tongue lingering on the last word.

  “She said Ricky had been skittish during the week prior to his death. He was convinced someone was following him. Someone other than you. When she discovered his body, she freaked out, packed her bags, and left the hotel. Like you, she feared the goons chasing him would come after her. She’s a very wealthy woman, with considerable interests to protect.”

  “So she has money,” Lia said. “I figured as much.”

  They inched along in the early rush-hour traffic for several blocks. “What’s next for you?” Hamlin asked.

  “I’m going to pack my things, pick up my kids, and start a new life with the proceeds from my husband’s million-dollar life insurance policy.”

  “I don’t understand the ins and outs of your relationship with your sister, but go easy on her. I had the opportunity to spend some time with her in Key West when she came looking for you. She’s a nice lady. I believe she genuinely cares about your daughters. It won’t be easy for her to give up the twins. In her condition, I—”

  “What condition?” Lia asked, her head jerking toward him.

  “You know . . . with the baby and all.” He took his eyes off the road to study her face. “You don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what? Are you trying to say my sister is pregnant?”

  He nodded. “At least she was when she came to Key West, nearly three weeks ago.” Hamlin turned on his blinker and pulled into the parking lot of the Waterside Inn.

  Lia reached for the door handle. “Great! Now that Eleanor’s having a child of her own, she can stop playing mommy to mine.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Ellie

  Ellie spent the day on Tuesday busying herself with work to keep her mind off her troubles with her sister. She met with Lacey at the gallery in the morning. She found her new gallery manager efficiently organized, full of creative ideas, and well connected in the local art world. They brainstormed ideas for future openings and discussed at length their desired ambience for the showroom. Ultimately, they agreed a contemporary minimalist style would best showcase the art. Ellie nodded her approval as Lacey suggested oriental rugs in muted colors on the brick floors and rectangular benches upholstered in white-tufted leather positioned in front of the art for patron viewing.

  She arrived home in time to join her family—minus Ruby, who was at school—in the kitchen for lunch. Maddie presented them with a smorgasbord of food—a tray of assorted sandwiches, leftover cold salads from the birthday party, and a bowl of fresh fruit. In Ellie’s absence that morning, Julian had interviewed and hired Robbie Simon, who had recently completed another job and was free to start protecting their house right away. They invited him to join them for lunch, and he gathered with them at the table and participated in their conversation like an old friend. In his late fifties, Robbie appeared in excellent physical shape aside from a limp that was a result of the gunshot wound to his back. No one mentioned, and thankfully the twins appeared not to notice, the handgun holstered under his arm.

  Julian left for a meeting with a client shortly after lunch, and the others retreated to their various corners of the house. Becca took the twins upstairs for their nap while Katie settled in her room to write a report on a novel she’d finished reading that morning. Ellie reluctantly retired to her studio to put the final touches on a painting she didn’t much care for of the Cooper River Bridge.

  Robbie declared the settee in the front hall the ideal location from which to guard the house. Every fifteen minutes, like clockwork, Ellie heard the rubber soles of his orthopedic shoes squeak against the hardwood floor as he patrolled the downstairs for signs of intruders. Never mind the only intruder they were worried about was currently in jail.

  Ellie was frantic when three o’clock rolled around with no word from Bates or Hamlin regarding Lia’s interrogation. She emerged from her studio and listened for sounds of life. But the house was silent. The children were still upstairs, and Maddie and Cilla had gone home early to prepare for a baby shower they were hosting for a young woman from their church. She went to the kitchen and brewed a cup of chai tea. She was slurping her first sip when she heard voices in the front hall. She emerged from the kitchen to find her father showing his driver’s license to Robbie.

  “It’s okay, Robbie. He’s my father,” Ellie said, and made the introductions.

  Robbie bowed his head at her. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

  She flashed him a smile. “No worries. I know you’re just doing your job. Your presence is of great comfort.”

  Ellie walked her father back to her studio. “Have you heard anything from Bates or Hamlin?”

  “Not a word.” The instant the words parted his lips, his phone rang in his pocket. “I’m here with my daughter,” he said to Bates. “I’m going to put you on speakerphone.” Abbott and Ellie sat down side by side on the sofa, with the phone on the coffee table in front of them.

  “How’d the interrogation go?” Abbott asked.

  “Detective Hamlin was very thorough, which is why it took so long. He concluded there isn’t enough evidence against Lia for a prosecutor to press charges. She’s just been released. Hamlin is giving her a ride back to her hotel on his way to the airport.”

  Ellie fell back against the velvet sofa cushions as the enormity of his words struck her. Lia was once again on the loose.

  “Hamlin and I had a chance to speak in private before they left the station,” Bates continued. “He’s going to call you after he drops Lia. In the meantime, I wanted you to be aware of Lia’s somewhat volatile state of mind.”

  Ellie shot her father a concerned look. “That doesn’t sound good,” Abbott said.

  “She got emotional several times during the interrogation. When I say emotional, I’m talking about more than a few tears. At one point, she broke down completely. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to continue, but she was able to pull herself together. The police discovered an empty bottle of lithium when they searched her hotel room. You may or may not know that lithium is typically prescribed for people suffering from bipolar disorder. If she took the medicine as prescribed, beginning on the date the prescription was filled, Lia would have been on the medication at the time of Ricky’s death but would’ve run out a day or two afterward. We found no other prescription pill bottles, either in her room or among her personal possessions when she was arrested.”

  “Which means, for whatever reason, she’s taken herself off the lithium,” Abbott said.

  “Which explains her nearly manic state when she showed up at the twins’ birthday party on Sunday,” Ellie added.

  “Which makes her a threat to herself as well as your family,” Bates said.

  “We appreciate the heads-up, Mr. Bates,” Ellie said. “My husband has hired a retired police officer to protect us until we work things out with my sister.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Bates said. “I hope you won’t be needing my services as a criminal attorney going forward, but you have my number if I can be of assistance in the future.”

  They thanked Bates profusely and hung up. Less than a minute passed before Ellie’s phone vibrated on her desk beside them, from a number with a Key West area code. She snatched up her phone and accepted the call on speaker.

  “Ellie, this is Danny Hamlin. I just dropped your sister off at her motel and wanted to report to you before I leave town.”

  “It’s nice to hear your voice, Detective,” Ellie said. “My father’s here with me. I hope you don’t mind being on the speakerphone.”

  “Of course not.”

  “I understand from Gary Bates that you’re not pressing charges against my sister.”

  “That’s correct. I’m convinced that Lia’s not our killer. We’ll continue our investigation, but we may never solve the case. It’s hard to pin a murder on the likes o
f the people he owed money.” Hamlin coughed, clearing his throat. “In any event, I wanted to warn you to be on the lookout for your sister. She seemed genuinely surprised to learn about her husband’s life insurance policy. On the ride to her motel, when I asked her what was next for her, she said, and I quote, ‘I’m going to pack my things, pick up my kids, and start a new life with the proceeds from my husband’s million-dollar life insurance policy.’ She’s on a mission, Mrs. Hagood. I hate to say it, but she didn’t seem at all concerned about your feelings regarding the situation.”

  “I expected as much, and we’re prepared to handle the situation.” Ellie paused. “Thank you, Detective. I appreciate your honesty and concern. I wish you the best.”

  She hung up and flung her phone down on the sofa as if to punish it. “That’s it, Dad. We’re going to lose the twins. The one thing tying us to Lia was money. Now that she will receive proceeds from Ricky’s life insurance policy, there’s nothing stopping her from taking Bella and Mya away from us. You do realize we’ll never see them again, don’t you?” Ellie left the sofa and went to stand by the windows. She stared across the yard at the magnolia tree where she’d sought refuge from her abusive grandmother as a child.

  Where will my nieces hide when their mother gets out of control? What kind of life will those poor children lead with a bipolar mother as their only parent?

  Ellie felt her father’s presence beside her and looked up to see a tear spill from his eyelid and stream down his cheek. “I don’t know about you, but I refuse to give up. I will not willingly turn my granddaughters over to Lia, even if she is their mother and my daughter. She is unfit to take care of herself, let alone two four-year-old children. We’ll barricade the front door if need be. Lia will take those children out of this house over my dead body.”

  When she felt her father’s body tremble, Ellie placed her arm around his waist. “You mean over our dead bodies. I don’t expect you to make the same sacrifice. Not when you’re beginning a relationship with Lacey. But I’m prepared to take Bella and Mya out of the country if necessary.”

  Abbott sucked in an unsteady breath. “That’s taking matters too far, sweetheart. For you, anyway. You have Julian and Katie and Ruby to consider. Let me take them. I’m an old man. I have less to lose than you.”

  Her ears perked up, and she turned away from the window when she heard her husband’s excited voice drifting down the hallway from the front of the house.

  “Maybe he has good news.”

  Before she could reach the door, it swung open and Julian entered the room. “I just got off the phone with Tyler. The judge has agreed to hear our petition for adoption on Thursday morning.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Lia

  Lia inserted her plastic card in the key card lock, turned the knob, and pushed. But the door wouldn’t budge. She tried again. Instead of flashing green, the key card lock blinked red. She was locked out of her room. She’d only paid through Sunday night. Her plan had been to check out on Monday, get her money from Ellie, and leave town on the next airplane headed to Tahiti. She imagined the team of police officers who had swarmed this fine establishment as they tore through her room. Not a good way to get on the good side of motel management.

  Lia marched down to the motel office and slammed her key card on the counter. “I’ve been locked out,” she said to the fat redneck who had made a pass at her the night she checked in. “Room number 210.”

  He consulted his computer. “You left without paying.”

  “My trip was courtesy of the Charleston Police Department. My husband was murdered in Florida. Naturally, they wanted to interrogate me. Given the situation, some courtesy would be appreciated.” She stretched the truth to elicit sympathy, but she could tell by his bored expression that it wasn’t working.

  He jabbed his thumb at his chest. “Don’t look at me. I only work here.”

  “Naturally,” Lia said with a grunt. “Where’s my stuff?”

  He went into the back room and returned with her suitcase. She snatched up its handle and stormed out of the office. She took off down the sidewalk, wheeling her suitcase behind her. She had nowhere to go and not a penny to her name. Correction. She had a million dollars to her name. She just had to figure out how to access it. Joey had sold Ricky the life insurance policy, but considering how much he hated her, contacting him would be her last resort. Surely, she would find a copy of the life insurance policy among Ricky’s things in their home in Decatur.

  For the first time since she left Georgia, she thought about their house on Cherry Blossom Lane. What a cheerful name for such a depressing place. It wasn’t the house itself as much as the circumstances of her life during the time she’d lived there: marriage on the rocks, no friends, saddled with babies. Twins, no less. What had happened to their house and her husband’s construction company in their absence? She’d been gone for nearly eight months and had never provided a forwarding address. Ricky had used his construction company as collateral for a bank loan to pay back some of his gambling debts.

  Does that mean the company is bankrupt? Was it possible that disgruntled clients had filed lawsuits against us? Will I be forced to settle those suits with my million dollars?

  Ricky had borrowed against their house as well. Had the bank foreclosed on it and auctioned off all of their possessions in her absence? She didn’t care so much about the furniture and the worthless art adorning the walls. The only thing that mattered to her was the file in her husband’s desk drawer marked “Life Insurance Policy.” If—and that was a big if—there actually was such a file in her husband’s desk drawer.

  Slowing her pace, Lia window-shopped the boutiques and stores along King Street. Designer shoes and handbags. Slinky dresses that would show off her shapely legs. Diamonds and gold jewelry. Soon she’d be able to buy anything she wanted. If she managed it properly, the money would last a long time. She would travel again, to places she hadn’t visited with Justin. But this time she’d remember the fine hotels where she stayed, the people she met, and the food she ate. She could go anywhere her heart desired. Footloose and fancy-free. Lia stopped dead in her tracks.

  Ellie Darling was pregnant with her own prince or princess. Which made Bella and Mya second string. Lia couldn’t have that. The insurance policy changed everything. She could keep the twins if she wanted to. But did she really want to go back to wiping fannies, giving baths, and planning meals? Nursing them when they were sick and listening to them whine when they were tired? And how did they fit into her travel plans? They would start school next year. She’d have to buy a small house somewhere and settle down. They would need new wardrobes every season, at the rate they grew. She saw her cash flow diminishing right before her eyes. Forty-eight hours ago, she’d been negotiating a trade with her sister—the twins in exchange for Lia’s half of their grandmother’s estate. Not because she didn’t love her girls, but because she couldn’t live without money.

  Her blood pulsed through her body, surging her onward. She walked all the way down King Street to the seawall. The unanswered questions spun around inside her head, and by the time she stopped in front of Ellie’s front door, she was more confused than ever about her future. As she clanged the brass knocker, she had no clue what she’d say to her sister. Only it wasn’t Ellie who opened the door, but some old dude wearing a pistol in a shoulder holster.

  “I need to see my sister,” Lia said, barging past him.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” the gun dude said. “Mrs. Hagood isn’t available at the moment.”

  “Like hell she isn’t.” Lia cupped her hands around her mouth. “Eleanor Darling, come out, come out, wherever you are,” she sang in a loud voice, her words echoing throughout the grand hallway.

  “I’m going to have to ask you to leave. There are children asleep in this house.” The gun dude took hold of her elbow and dragged her toward the door.

  “Let go of me.” Lia jerked her elbow free and yelled louder, “I’m warni
ng you, Eleanor, I’m not going away until we settle some things.”

  The door to her sister’s study flung open, and Ellie charged down the hall toward her with Julian and Daddy Dearest on her heels.

  “Shh!” Ellie said, her finger pressed to her lips. “The girls are taking a nap.”

  Lia lowered her voice, but only slightly. “I thought you were avoiding me. And avoiding me would be a bad move on your part.”

  Ellie marched to a halt in front of Lia, with Julian and Abbott flanking her on either side.

  “If these two are your bodyguards, who’s the old man with the gun?” Lia aimed her thumb over her shoulder at the dude behind her.

  “What do you want, Lia?”

  “Well, let’s see.” Lia rubbed her chin between her thumb and forefinger. “First of all, I learned an interesting piece of information from Detective Hamlin today. He told me you’re pregnant. And here I thought you were too old to have children.”

  The color drained from Ellie’s face. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I had a miscarriage.”

  The revelation caught Lia off guard, and it took her a moment to regain her composure. “I see. What a pity for you.”

  The gun dude stepped forward. “Would you like for me to show your sister out, Mrs. Hagood?”

  “I can handle this, Robbie, but thank you,” Ellie said, offering him a sweet smile.

  How Lia hated that smile.

  “I’m warning you, Lia,” Abbott said. “You’re way out of line.”

  “Sorry, Daddy Dearest, but I’m just getting started.” She shot Abbott the death glare before returning her focus to Ellie. “We can make the situation work in both our favors. Since you won’t be giving birth to your own little prince or princess, I’ll allow you to continue playing mommy to Mya and Bella in exchange for my share of the inheritance.”