The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair

by Marie Ferrarella

  Schaffer. She was calling him by his last name, the way a law enforcement agent would, he thought. The chasm between them was widening.

  Good for her, he thought. She was moving on, or had moved on.

  Bad for him, of course, but he’d resigned himself eight years ago that this was the way things had to be. Her father had been right all those years ago—he wasn’t good enough for Natalie. Not because he didn’t love her more than anything in the world but because his family would, in the end, drag him down. And if she were with him, they’d drag her down, too. He couldn’t have that happen.

  “However,” he continued as if she hadn’t interrupted him, “there really is nothing to stop you from looking over my shoulder as I review the tapes.”

  That stopped her in her tracks. “You’re going to review the tapes?”

  She couldn’t read his expression. “The only responsible thing for a good citizen to do, don’t you think?”

  Natalie was surprised when a tinge of amusement whispered through her. “Is that what you are, a good citizen?”

  “I do my best. Come with me,” he said as he opened his office door.

  The moment he did, there was a quick shuffling of bodies and rustling of chairs moving back into place. The techs in the surveillance room were returning to their posts, he thought. No doubt curiosity had gotten the better of them, with more than a few of the people who manned the monitors trying to get closer to his office in order to hear what was being said. Despite the fact that he was head of security for Montgomery Enterprises, he was, in effect, the “new kid on the block,” at least in this location.

  Until two weeks ago, he’d been based in Los Angeles, where he would have rather remained. But Montgomery had been adamant that he wanted him at The Janus, and the man did pay a damn good salary. Too good to refuse.

  Making no comment about the temporary break that had been taken, Matt walked over to the computer tech seated just outside his office.

  “Wilson—it is Wilson, right?” he asked the tall, painfully skinny, barely-out-of-adolescence young man.

  Surprised at being singled out and obviously somewhat nervous because of it, the young man bobbed his head up and down. “Yes sir, Stuart Wilson.”

  Matt could see Wilson’s Adam’s apple moving up and down like a runaway golf ball. He’d looked into all their backgrounds his first day here. Wilson was the best of the best when it came to computers. What he couldn’t make a computer do couldn’t be done.

  But the young technician’s considerable proficiency didn’t make him any less gawky, Matt thought. Wilson really needed to have someone take him under their wing, he mused.

  Too bad he wasn’t going to be here long enough for that. Matt had already made up his mind that he was going to be in Vegas just long enough to give The Janus’s security system a once-over and babysit it until Montgomery hired a suitable replacement for him.

  “Wilson, I need you to pull up the surveillance tapes that we have of Mr. Montgomery’s gala last night.”

  Wilson’s mouth dropped open as his jaw slackened. His small eyes widened as far as they could go. “All of them?” he repeated, stunned. Nervously, he added, “That’s an awful lot of footage, sir.”

  He should have been more specific, Matt thought. “Let’s start with what we have between eight and nine o’clock. For the time being, I’m only interested in the first floor.” He narrowed it down even more. “Make it the entrance and the casino floor between that and Ballrooms B and C.”

  The two ballrooms had been combined for the evening in order to accommodate all the people who had RSVPed that they were attending. By the middle of the evening, the two rooms were teeming with celebrities. He knew that Montgomery had pulled in a sizable amount for the charity he was sponsoring. In addition he had earned himself a great deal of goodwill and thereby excellent publicity, which he knew had been Montgomery’s underlying goal.

  Right now, the man was golden, Matt mused. Luke Montgomery had come a long way from the poor boy who’d been ridiculed for wearing the same clothes to school day after day. And, to his vast credit, Montgomery had risen far above his poverty-stricken roots without resorting to any deals with the devil.

  In this case, Matt thought, that would be the other members of his family, from whom he would have enjoyed maintaining a continuing estrangement. However, his brother kept insisting on calling him, asking for help. It wasn’t in him to say no.

  He was working on that.

  Wilson’s long, thin fingers were flying across the keyboard. The resulting staccato rhythm, coming fast and furious, sounded not unlike rapid gunfire from a small handgun.

  As Natalie watched the technician’s monitor, the first of many tapes began to play across the screen. “Here’s the tape of the entrance,” Wilson announced.

  Matt nodded. He rethought his offer to Natalie about having her look over his shoulder. He had things to attend to, and if he wound up spending any length of time sitting so close to her, well, he’d just rather not put himself to that sort of test.

  Turning to Natalie, he indicated a nearby empty desk. One of the computer techs had called in sick this morning.

  “Why don’t you pull up a chair beside Wilson?” he suggested. “He’ll be able to go through all the pertinent tapes for you.”

  Wilson stopped typing, anxiously darting his eyes between the two of them. “Is there anything specific that you’re looking for?” he asked Natalie nervously.

  It was easy to see that the tech was far more comfortable with computers than he was with people, Natalie thought. She pulled the chair over from the other desk and sat down beside Wilson, then took out the photograph she had of Candace and placed it beside the keyboard.

  “I’m looking for any footage you have of this woman.” She looked at the tech’s face, expecting to see some sort of indication that he recognized her sister. Candace had attended every wild party, frequented all the casinos and in general had done her level best to turn herself into a household name.

  Candace, Natalie couldn’t help thinking, would have been bitterly disappointed with Wilson. There was absolutely no sign of recognition. He merely nodded at what he took to be his assignment. “Okay, let’s see if I can find her.”

  As the tech began typing again, Matt withdrew. Natalie was aware the exact second that he stepped away and went back to his office.

  Damn it, eight years and her Matt-radar was as keen as ever. The very air seemed to change when he was close by.

  Get a grip, she sternly reminded herself. You’re here to find Candace’s killer, not reignite something that was doomed from the beginning.

  With concentrated effort, Natalie settled in and focused on the images that were going by on Wilson’s screen.

  More than an hour had passed. Her neck was getting stiff, and she felt as if she was going to go cross-eyed. Tape after tape had been accessed and screened. A lot of the “beautiful people” came and went, each and every one of them had been greeted by Montgomery with enthusiasm.

  The man certainly looked the part of a casino mogul, she couldn’t help thinking. It was almost as if he’d been sent over from Central Casting. Suave, six foot two, muscular, dark-haired and handsome.

  Almost as handsome as Matt.

  Where the hell had that come from? she silently lamented. Looks weren’t everything. As a matter of fact, looks were nothing, absolutely nothing if there was no heart. She’d learned that the hard way, thanks to Matt Schaffer.

  Her mind wandering, she was suddenly jolted back to the present. Alert, she straightened in her seat. “Wait, go back,” she ordered Wilson.

  The tech jumped in surprise. Quickly, he rewound the footage.

  “Stop!”

  “This her?” he wanted to know. He’d just accessed footage from the front of the casino. The time stamp on the tape was 8:47 p.m. A sultry Candace, her scarlet gown clinging to her curves with every step she took, filled the monitor. Natalie thought she heard Wilson murmur an appr
eciative, “Wow.”

  That was the best word to use when summing up Candace, Natalie thought. Wow.

  As she watched her sister walk down the red carpet, she felt a lump suddenly forming in her throat. Her eyes were moistening.

  Damn it, where were all these stampeding emotions coming from?

  She usually had better control over herself than this. But then, she supposed in her own defense, she wasn’t usually confronting videos of a slain family member while sitting in the office of a former lover who had turned her heart into Swiss cheese.

  Blowing out a breath, Natalie forced herself to watch the screen and analyze what she saw. This was no time to give in to tears.

  From all indications, Candace appeared to be alone. And then, as Natalie watched, her sister’s face lit up as if she saw someone she knew. Not unusual in a town that her sister had regarded as her personal playground, Natalie mused wryly. Whoever she spotted was off camera, part of the reporters elbowing each other out of the way for an outstanding shot.

  As she continued to view the tape, she saw Candace begin to head directly over toward Montgomery.

  Unlike his gracious behavior toward all the other attendees, the casino owner actually looked annoyed to see Candace. There wasn’t even the pretense of cordiality, she noted.

  Candace, on the other hand, looked delighted to see him. She was animated, and with every word she uttered, she would wave her left hand around. It was almost as if she was attempting to cast a spell.

  Natalie slid to the edge of her chair. “Can you pull in on that?” she asked Wilson. “On her hand,” she specified when he looked at her quizzically.

  “Sure.” The next moment, her left hand had all but filled the entire screen.

  Natalie blinked. The image was somewhat grainy, but unmistakable. Her father was right. Candace had taken the ring, and she’d had it on when she walked into the casino. But not when they found her body in the condo.

  Was the motive just robbery? Then why leave the necklace?

  And just how had Candace gotten her hands on the ring in the first place? She would have bet anything that her father was the only one with the combination to the safe. He didn’t trust anyone else with it. But then, maybe the ring hadn’t been in the safe in the first place. Maybe her father had only alluded to it being there to throw everyone in the family off.

  Maybe that eye candy he’d married had given him cause for concern and he’d moved the ring. Without realizing that Candace had observed him.

  It was all just pure speculation. She needed facts. Fact, Candace had the ring on at 8:47 p.m. Fact, she didn’t when they found her body the next morning. This morning, she thought grimly. What was I doing while you were fighting for your life, Candy? Was I sleeping? Watching that old movie on TV? She couldn’t even remember the title.

  A pervasive feeling of deep sorrow filled her.

  Wilson, she noted, was waiting for her to tell him what to do.

  She waved him on. “Okay, go back to the regular image,” she requested.

  When he did, she instructed him to keep going and then watched in silence as an obvious argument erupted between her sister and Montgomery. It escalated quickly. Within a few minutes, the casino owner gave up trying to reason with Candace and was signaling to someone.

  Natalie didn’t need to guess who. She pressed her lips together as she watched Matt come on the scene. Very politely, he took hold of Candace’s arm.

  Her stomach churned as she saw her sister turn up her charm. She was obviously playing up to Matt. Had she been right after all? Had there been something between the two of them?

  There’d been rumors circulating that he had been one of Candace’s lovers. There’d even been some talk that he had fathered one of her sons. Given the boys’ ages, that would have meant that he had returned to Vegas, at least for a little while, six years ago. It didn’t make any sense.

  Trying to sort through her feelings, Natalie’s head began to ache. She didn’t know what to believe. All she knew was that she’d never felt as alone—and lonely—as she did right at this very moment.

  Her hand to her forehead, she went on watching. Matt brought her sister to the casino’s front entrance, just as he had told her that he had. And, also as he had said, he then stood there for several minutes, looking out. Presumably watching Candace walk away and making sure that she didn’t attempt to come back.

  All right, from all appearances, Candace left the casino. Did she hook up with someone just outside? Or did someone, captivated by that damn ring she kept sticking in people’s faces, follow her home? All these questions nagged at her. She needed answers.

  “Can we get a shot of the outside of the casino?” she asked Wilson.

  He hesitated. “I’d have to access the footage from the valet area,” he explained.

  She didn’t want excuses. “Just do it,” she instructed.

  “Yes’m,” Wilson mumbled into his disappearing chin. Again, his fingers flew across the keyboard almost like independent digits. They seemed to be going at just under the speed of light. Natalie could feel her impatience mounting as the tempo increased.

  And then Wilson accomplished his goal. He got the right footage. Candace was seen from another angle, this time from the outside of the building. She was moving away from the entrance.

  She was pouting like a child who had been refused the toy she desired. And then, just like that, her face lit up again.

  A beat later, she’d moved offscreen.

  Natalie half rose in her seat. “Where is she going?” she demanded. When Wilson didn’t answer her, she looked at the computer technician expectantly. “Get me the tape from the next camera.” To clarify, she pointed at the screen. “The one to the right of this one.”

  “I—I can’t,” Wilson stuttered.

  “What do you mean, you can’t?”

  The tech looked completely intimidated. “I—I would if I—I could, ma’am, but that one is—is down.” As he spoke, his stutter became more pronounced.

  God, now she was scaring geeky technicians, Natalie thought, feeling guilty.

  She took a breath, then released it, trying her best to sound less threatening. Inside, she was tied up in knots. She was certain that whoever killed her sister was just offscreen.

  “What do you mean it’s down?”

  “As in not working,” Matt told her easily, coming up behind her chair. She swung around to face him. “It happens.”

  She didn’t believe in coincidences. Someone had put that camera out of commission. “Conveniently,” she bit off.

  Matt moved so that his back was to the computer and he could see her better. “As a matter of fact, very inconveniently.”

  All right, whoever Candace had seen wasn’t on camera. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t find out who it was. “I want to talk to all the valets who were parking cars last night,” she told him.

  Matt inclined his head. “That can be arranged,” he told her. And then he smiled at her and said, “Ask me nicely.”

  She gritted her teeth together. Maybe this was entertaining him, but she meant business.

  “I want to talk to the valets who were parking cars last night or you’re going to suddenly find yourself a guest of the city for impeding a homicide investigation.” She shot him a warning look. “And I promise you, Schaffer, you really won’t like the accommodations.”

  He crossed his arms before him. “That wasn’t asking nicely, Natalie,” he observed.

  She jumped up to her feet. “Look—” But she got no further.

  Because, just then, Adam Parker and Miles Davidson pushed open the door and walked into the surveillance room.

  Both men looked as surprised to see her as she was to see them.

  Parker frowned at her. “You wouldn’t be conducting an investigation into your sister’s death after the captain gave you explicit orders not to and put you on bereavement leave, would you Rothchild?” he asked.

  Natalie didn’t know if t
he question was tongue in cheek or not. She was pretty certain the men would turn a blind eye to her pursuing leads as long as it wasn’t right in front of them. This put all three of them in an awkward position.

  “As a matter of fact, Natalie’s here visiting me,” Matt informed the detectives genially. Both men looked rather dubious. “We used to be close,” he went on. “I invited her in here so that I could keep an eye on the monitors while we caught up on old times.” As he talked, he approached the detectives. Passing Wilson’s desk, Matt pressed a key on the board so swiftly that the movement was all but imperceptible.

  Except that Natalie saw him.

  A long, narrow bar appeared on the bottom of the screen, indicating that something was currently being saved.

  Matt deliberately placed his body before the two detectives and in front of Wilson’s computer, effectively blocking it.

  He looked from one man to the other. “I’m Matt Schaffer, head of Montgomery Enterprises security.” He shook each detective’s hand in turn. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “Yeah.” Parker nodded toward the computers in general. “You can hand over all your surveillance tapes from last night.”

  Matt remained unfazed. “That’s a tall order, detective. Do you have a subpoena?”

  Parker reached into his inside pocket and took out an envelope. “Right here.”

  Natalie felt her heart sink.

  Chapter 6

  He smiled to himself as he watched the news on the flat-panel TV in his dreary apartment. Another building blocked sunlight from entering through the window, but that didn’t dampen his spirits. Today, he felt on top of the world.

  Didn’t take long, did it? he thought, tossing away the greasy wrapper that had held his fast-food lunch. But then, the media was full of nothing but sharks these days no matter what venue they reported in. The moment they smelled blood—in this case, a story about a tabloid queen who’d led an in-your-face life since she put on her first pair of thong underwear—there was a feeding frenzy.

  The story had broke early this morning, and there’d been nothing but a recycling of details, ad nauseam, since then.