Murder By Design

by Erin McCarthy

  “It was an acquaintance of Cezar’s,” I said. “He had me confused with someone else.” Sort of.

  “That’s because you answered someone else’s phone!” Alyssa looked bewildered. “You’re being weird and it scares me because you’re never weird. Did seeing Nick at that hearing upset you more than you realized?”

  “Why, because I’m wearing leggings in public?” I started digging around in the drawer, surreptitiously wiping my fingerprints off the screen with my sleeve.

  There was another phone in there. An iPhone this time. The latest version, if I wasn’t mistaken. I pushed the home button without removing it from the drawer, hoping Alyssa wouldn’t see what I was doing. It was passcode protected but the screensaver was a family. Husband, wife, two toddlers. Daniel, Cezar’s older son?

  I slammed the drawer shut when I sensed Alyssa moving closer to me. “So what do you need me to do?” she asked.

  Knowing I was risking her thinking I had lost my mind, I figured I had to fake a staging plan. Flipping open the lid on my iPad, I pulled up Cezar’s file. “I need your opinion on what the heck to do, given this carpet.”

  “Burn the house down?”

  “Not exactly feasible. Option two?”

  “Well, I think he’s going to have to give any prospective buyers a carpet allowance, seriously, but that’s for the real estate agent to deal with. So I would say you’re only option is white linen everything. It’s a lake house. Go neutral. Let the view try to cut through the noise of the carpet.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” I hovered by the drawer, facing Alyssa and leaning back against the countertop, fingers brushing over the drawer pull.

  Alyssa wandered into the family room, allowing me to quickly ease the drawer open and feel around for the iPhone. I snagged it and slipped it into my cross-body bag. It wasn’t theft if I was taking it to Cezar, right?

  In the living room I pulled up a few furniture options on the iPad for staging just to make it seem realistic, but in my head I was debating how I was going to get into the basement and run through all the closets without Alyssa thinking I was nuttier than she already did. I didn’t smell a body, but I had no clue how long it took for odor to occur. I had taken some forensics classes in college but I had mentally blocked all of that information at some point and I couldn’t seem to retrieve it.

  Fortunately, I was saved from further BSing about linens by a knock on the front door.

  For some reason, Alyssa jumped. “Who the hell is that? Are we even supposed to be here?”

  Considering I was normally the neurotic one, I found our role flipping amusing. “What are you talking about? Of course we are. Cezar hired me and gave me the keypad code.” I stood up and went to the door. “I guess we should answer it and just tell them Cezar isn’t home. It’s probably a teenager selling magazines.”

  “Or a murderer. This is a house in the woods. No one sells door-to-door out here.” Alyssa looked tense. “I don’t think you should answer it.”

  “What is going on with you?” I asked. “You’re really jumpy today. My outfit isn’t the only weird thing going on here.” I opened the front door and was immediately sorry I did. It was the jerk sheriff who thought I was fond of calling emergency services for no reasons. As if I did it just to have someone to talk to. “Oh hello.” My tone was cool.

  “Miss Burke. What a surprise.”

  “I didn’t call 9-1-1 this time,” I said belligerently. “Can I help you?”

  “Is Mr. Wozniak home?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Can I come in?”

  That was a trick question and I resented it. It wasn’t my house to invite anyone in to but he was law enforcement. Was he really asking? “Is there a reason?” I asked, hedging my bets. I couldn’t even remember his name. Knob Hill? Mount St. Jerk?

  “I’m just following up. I’m a little concerned that no one has seen Mr. Wozniak in the last few days.”

  “They haven’t?” I asked, playing dumb. I was still blocking the door, though trying to be subtle about it. If he thought I was just a kook, what was he doing here? I was getting suspicious of the sheriff.

  “Who’s your friend?” Alyssa asked, suddenly appearing behind me. Her voice had gone from nervous to flirtatious.

  Perfect timing for Alyssa to pull out the seductive stops. I could have kissed her. “This is the sheriff,” I said. Then I apologized to him. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

  “Lawson Hill.” He pulled his sunglasses off and checked out Alyssa. Yep, that was interest of a sexual nature. “Nice to meet you.” He put his hand out to her.

  She sidled past me and smiled, her chest reaching his personal space before her hand did. “It’s wonderful to meet you. Alyssa Dembowski.”

  “Are you Mr. Wozniak’s girlfriend?” he asked.

  Caught in the crossfire of suggestive glances, I eased back into the house. Alyssa gave a darling little laugh. “Oh my goodness, no. I’m single.”

  Except for Michael, who she had been seeing off and on for months, but I wasn’t going to point that out. Alyssa wasn’t as much of a stickler for those boundaries as me. If she didn’t have an exclusive understanding with a man she felt perfectly justified in dating other guys. Not my style, but more power to her. I went to gather up my iPad. Glancing at the time, I realized we needed to leave soon. So while they were chatting each other up, I slipped into the basement. It wasn’t finished, which surprised me. I was expecting a theater room down there and a pool table. But it was just concrete block walls and the smell of damp. A water bug ran across the floor in front of me. If I were going to hide a body, I would do it down here. But then again, wouldn’t the moisture do…bad things? It was a toss-up. The cool air would slow down decomposition, I knew that. But did the damp speed it up? I wasn’t sure.

  It was irrelevant though, because I raced around that whole basement and found nothing. I even opened the door to the furnace room. Nothing.

  When I ran back upstairs, I didn’t even stop to see what Alyssa and Lawson Hill were doing. I just hit the landing by the kitchen, spun ninety degrees and ran right up the stairs to the second floor. I was sweating by the time I had torn through all the rooms and heard Alyssa calling to me.

  Nothing upstairs either. We were good. I jogged down the hall, grateful as hell for the sneakers and yoga pants, thank you very much. “Yes?” I asked, out of breath.

  “What are you doing?” Alyssa asked. She had Lawson were standing in the kitchen and she was peering up the stairwell at me. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Stop asking me that. I was getting dimensions, for crying out loud. And I’m rushing because I want to get back to town to have dinner with my boyfriend, thank you very much. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.” I pulled a face when Lawson’s eyebrows rose. “No offense,” I told him. “It’s very beautiful. Just…out here.”

  “That’s generally why people move here,” he said. “For peace and quiet.”

  And murder, apparently. Not even the country was exempt from homicide. “Sure,” I said breezily. Whatever. “Alyssa, I’m ready. Let’s head out.” I was tapping my foot.

  “What’s the hurry?” she asked, looking peeved.

  Her flirt session was going to have to be cut short because I had a date with Jake. Sorry, not sorry. “I have dinner plans and I wanted to spend some time shopping with you. This was just a quick pitstop, remember?”

  She made a face. She couldn’t exactly argue a good reason to stay. “Her boyfriend’s a cop,” she told Lawson. “Maybe she’s afraid he’ll cuff her if she’s late.”

  He gave very little reaction to that.

  “Oh come on, it’s cop humor. I’m sure you get that all the time.”

  “I do,” he said. His voice was lacking any intonation. His expression had just a hint of disdain in it.

  He had just proved himself to be a poop to Alyssa. She made a face. I doubted there would be any further flirting on her
part. She did not tolerate people who took themselves too seriously and I had a feeling that was Sheriff Hill to a T. He was also wandering around casually, looking into the living room and through the wall of windows to the back deck. This was no social call, but I didn’t get it. He hadn’t believed me at all that something was wrong before, so why the drop-in?

  I didn’t care to stick around and one, be grilled by him or two, be there if he did somehow discover something amiss. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Sheriff? We really need to roll.”

  He turned when he reached the sliders to the deck. “So who’s your boyfriend, Miss Burke?”

  Oh hell, no. I was not involving Jake in any of this. “I’m sure you wouldn’t know him.” I started toward the front door, determined to get out of there without revealing Marner’s name. I clutched my iPad at the front door and looked expectant.

  “That guy takes mob bribes.”

  I started when Cezar murmured in my ear. But I was getting good at not reacting when a ghost showed up at random. I just gave a slight nod to acknowledge I had heard him.

  “I guess we’re leaving,” Alyssa said. And God love her, because she was Alyssa and not one to beat around the bush, she added, “So you need to hit the bricks, Sheriff, sorry. Shopping calls.”

  That made me grin. I could have kissed her. I was glad he had hinted at his douchiness to her, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so inclined to help me vacate the premises.

  I decided to type a note to Cezar on my iPad.

  Got your phone from the drawer. I’m going to dinner with Jake so I will go over all of it tomorrow.

  He was reading out loud over my shoulder as I typed, which was tremendously distracting. But I was confident I didn’t look like I was doing anything other than making notes to myself. I was rocking this spiritual medium thing these days. Boom.

  Tomorrow?” Cezar asked. “You’re killing me, kid.”

  You’ll live.

  He laughed at that.

  But then he added, “I’m not screwing around about Hill. Watch that guy. He’s not on the up and up.”

  “Got it.”

  “Got what?” Alyssa asked.

  I looked up and smiled at her, slapping my iPad closed. “All my notes in there.”

  “Cool. Swell.” She made a face at me and gestured so that Lawson couldn’t see her mocking him. Yeah, she was definitely over him. That was quick work, but that was Alyssa. One strike and they were out. She wrote the rules to the game herself.

  I opened the door and stepped out onto the front stoop. “Sheriff, do you want me to tell Cezar you stopped by?” I called out loudly. He was still lingering too far in the house to be ready for a quick exit.

  I would describe his walk as ambling. And annoying. I regretted answering the door, though to be fair, he had distracted Alyssa so I could search the house.

  “Has anything odd happened to you?” he asked, as he finally joined us outside.

  “Nope, not a thing.” I slammed the door shut before he could change his mind and reenter the house. I checked the knob to make sure it had locked automatically. He’d have to torture me to get the code out of me. I was not letting that guy back inside the house.

  “You’re doing good, kid,” Cezar encouraged me. “I like your style.”

  Oddly, that made me proud.

  Once we were in the car, Alyssa said, “Okay, that guy was so cute and then totally gross. He sounded like a complete bore. I’m funny. That was funny. Or even if it wasn’t funny, pretend it’s funny.” She slid her sunglasses on and gave him a wave and a fake smile as he walked past our car to his. “See? I just smiled even though I didn’t want to because it’s polite. It’s what you do. He clearly wasn’t even interested in impressing me, despite the fact that he could not keep his eyes off my chest.”

  “I agree on all counts.” I started the car and tossed my cellphone in the cup holder in case something important happened. “But you don’t usually get so fired up when a guy doesn’t laugh at your humor. What’s going on?”

  She leaned back and crossed her legs, adjusting her seat belt. “He was hot. Like the kind of hot that shoots like a lightning bolt to my inner thighs. I had spun a fantasy of a wild torrid affair that resulted in marriage and children in a matter of six seconds. I mean, that’s chemistry.”

  “That sure is. Holy moly. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that.” I was pretty sure it would make me uncomfortable, personally. “I don’t think I want a lightning bolt to the crotch. Pass.”

  “Don’t knock it until you’ve felt it. But he ruined it. Gone. Destroyed.”

  A glance in the rearview mirror showed Sheriff Lawson had finally backed out of the driveway. I started to leave. “It’s not meant to be, then. Don’t force it.”

  “I hate the fizzle,” she grumbled. She started digging in her purse. “I need gum.”

  My phone started ringing in the cup holder. Marner.

  “Oooh, it’s Jake-y-wake-y,” Alyssa said with a grin.

  I rolled my eyes. “Stop.” I picked up the phone and swiped. “Hello?”

  “Hey, listen, I just got an ID on that guy whose body was found in the Flats with Wozniak’s wallet on him.”

  “Oh really? That’s good news. I think. Right? Is it anyone we know?”

  “Nope. The name is Kenny Altman. He’s a petty criminal, rap sheet mostly involving drug possession, burglary, domestic violence. He lived over off of West 69th Street.”

  “I’ve never heard of him either. But that’s not surprising.” I bit my lip. “So no obvious connection to Cezar or any of his associates?”

  “Not at first glance. We can check and see if he hangs out where they do, has worked for any of those guys, etc. Ask your buddy if he knows the name before we go to all that trouble.”

  I was assuming he meant Cezar. “Sure. Definitely.” It was so damn nice to have Marner believe me. I wasn’t sure how he actually felt about it, but for now he seemed to be willing to roll with it. Not having to lie to him was huge.

  “You want to come over around six?”

  “That’s perfect. Alyssa and I are going to hit the shops now.”

  “Tell her I said hi.”

  “Will do.” There was a pause where neither one of us said anything. I felt like a teenager. You hang up. No, you hang up. We were heading straight into adorable territory. I loved us.

  “Okay, see you later then,” he finally said.

  I wasn’t expecting anything like a smooch sound or a declaration of love, which was good, because I didn’t get either. Jake was not that guy. I would probably not like him if he was. Let’s keep our emotions in check, people. If you have feelings, you just go and drink until you’re over it. That was what my father and Irish grandmother had taught me. “Bye.”

  When I ended the call and started down the driveway Alyssa was grinning at me. “What?”

  “You are legitimately in love, aren’t you?”

  I refused to blush. “Let’s not toss the L word around here. It hasn’t been that long.”

  “You’ve known him for years.”

  “But I didn’t know naked Jake before. This is different. It’s like a reset button. We have to get to know each other as people dating, not just friends.”

  “What is naked Jake like? Is he alpha? I bet he’s alpha.”

  He was. “That’s private information.”

  “I’m not asking you for the code to launch nuclear missiles.”

  “That’s a fair comparison,” I said, feeling cheeky.

  Alyssa snorted and let out a peal of laughter.

  I drove to an area filled with antique shops, feeling more than a little smug.

  Until I realized about twenty minutes later that a man was tailing us.

  Chapter Nine

  I noticed a black SUV behind us for a good ten minutes, but I didn’t think anything of it. In the country, with two-lane roads, the fact that he kept crawling up onto my bumper wasn’t surprising. I drive slow on t
hose winding roads because I don’t know them like the back of my hand and I’m constantly watching for deer to leap out in front of me. Locals get super annoyed with me and wait for a straight stretch of road so they can pass, so I assumed it was a situation like that.

  When we arrived in downtown Chagrin Falls, a cute little ’burb filled with boutiques, the SUV hadn’t passed us, but he did turn off a block before we found a parking spot. Relieved to have the pressure of someone gunning behind me gone, I found a spot and turned the car off. “Look at these trees, it’s gorgeous here.”

  Everything was in full seasonal swing. The leaves were about a week or two out from peak color, but they were still a beautiful canopy of orange, red and yellow. It was cooler today, so I snagged my big chunky sweater from the backseat of my car and slipped it on. It was when I stepped out of the car and surveyed the quaintness of the street that I saw the man climbing out of the black SUV. He was wearing a suit, which seemed odd for a Saturday. He also had on dark sunglasses, but it was obvious he was staring at me. A niggle of discomfort crept over me. Did he want to confront me over my sluggish driving?

  Determined to ignore him, I turned my back to him and asked Alyssa, “Where to first?”

  “Jewelry. I can never have enough jewelry.” Alyssa had a two-bedroom apartment and her second bedroom was essentially a closet, devoted to her shoes, bags, and jewelry. If I didn’t have a walk-in closet I would do the same thing, but I had a large enough space that I felt guilty stealing a bedroom for that purpose. Then again, my jewelry was simpler and needed less space anyway. Alyssa went by the maxim the bigger, the better.

  But even distracted by bling, I couldn’t help but notice the dude in the suit came into the shop minutes after we did. He looked insanely out of place amongst the vintage brooches and handmade jewelry. The shop owner was in her sixties, very waifish, and when she approached him with a greeting, it was obvious he was a large man. Oddly familiar too, though I couldn’t place him. I slipped behind a hutch converted to hold necklaces and accessories and tried to subtly study him.