The Chain of Lies

by Debra Burroughs

  “I blame myself for her death. I should have known better than to get involved with a civilian. That’s why I left the Agency when I fell for you, Emily.

  “I figure the gun could belong to someone seeking revenge for her death or it could be related to another case—it’s hard to say. I don’t know how they found me, but if you’re reading this note, it means they did. Keep these things hidden. Trust no one. I love you, Emily.

  Evan, aka David Gerard.”

  When Isabel was finished reading, she slowly refolded the paper and handed it back to Emily. “That explains a lot.”

  ~*~

  Emily dropped Isabel off at home and agreed to come back for dinner that evening. Isabel wanted to talk more about what to do regarding Jethro and how to find out what he was really up to.

  Pulling into her own driveway, Emily glanced up and down the sunny tree-lined street for anything suspicious before heading inside. Everything looked normal. She stepped onto her porch and took a second look before unlocking her door and going in.

  Once inside, she clicked the lock into place, kicked off her shoes and headed for the bathroom. She paused at the bathroom door and decided to take a quick look around her house and make sure the back door was locked, as well. With her pistol held low, she skulked from room to room, making sure it was all clear.

  A long, hot soak in a tub full of bubbles was all she wanted right now—something to relax her and help her worries float away, at least for a while. As she turned the water on and poured in the liquid bubbles, her phone beeped, alerting her to a new text.

  The message was from Maggie, telling her what a great time they were having, and she had attached a photo she must have had someone else take. It was a picture of Maggie and Molly on the beach, in their bikinis, lying on colorful towels with big smiles on their faces.

  Emily felt a little jab of envy at the sight of them, wishing she could go somewhere and totally relax without a care in the world. Someday, she promised herself, she would take a vacation too—when Evan’s murder was solved.

  As the claw-foot tub filled, she slipped out of her clothes and set her towel on the vanity chair, laying her phone on top. She climbed into the tub and immersed herself, still feeling a little unnerved and exposed.

  Leaning back, she closed her eyes and tried to rest, but the thought that someone might be right outside her window kept her on edge.

  As the warm water finally began to relax her, Emily mulled over the pieces of her puzzle.

  Natalia was Jethro’s daughter. Was Delia also his daughter? Evan had said in the note he felt guilty for getting Natalia killed. Jethro had said when he was showing Evan’s photo around to his colleagues, that someone had mentioned something about revenge for her death.

  Isabel had explained that Jethro had moved to Boise from Virginia recently, after retiring from the FBI. Had Delia given him her late husband’s black BMW after his death, maybe before Jethro’s move to Boise? Is that why it still had Virginia plates?

  Did Delia know Evan was involved in Natalia’s death? If so, why would she have hired him to investigate her husband? And where did the file go, the photos and reports of the work he had done for her? Did his murderer take the file? Why wasn’t the background check in that file?

  Emily had chosen to take a bubble bath hoping for relaxation, but as her mind began to unwind, the questions flew at her in rapid success, one after the other. There was no rest in it whatsoever, only more questions. She dragged herself out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her breasts, tucking it in beneath her arm.

  She threw on her jeans and a knit top and decided to make herself a cup of Chamomile tea, hoping that would help. While she waited for the tea kettle to whistle, she sat at the breakfast bar and opened her laptop to cruise the Amazon.com site for a while, hoping to occupy her mind with something else.

  Colin phoned. Emily smiled as his photo popped up on the screen of her cell phone.

  “Hello, Colin.”

  “Hey, Babe, how’s your day going?”

  “I took Isabel out to the storage unit.”

  “How’d that go? Did you girls find anything useful?”

  “Actually, yes. We found a printout of a background check Evan had done on Delia McCall.”

  “Why is that important?”

  “Delia Banderas McCall.”

  “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

  “I didn’t tell you about the note I found, did I?” she asked sheepishly.

  “Note? What note?”

  “I found a note Evan had left me in the safe deposit box. I hadn’t seen it before when I first checked the box.”

  “When exactly did you find this note?” The suspicious tone of his voice told her he wasn’t pleased she had kept this from him.

  “Right before you left. Are you sure I didn’t mention it to you?” She tried to shift the onus on him. After all, she hadn’t been sure she could trust him until she had spoken to his old friend, Ernie, the night of the party at Isabel’s, which put her suspicions about Colin to rest. Then later that same night, Colin had professed his love for her. That wouldn’t have been the time to tell him about the note. Then he was leaving for San Francisco early the next morning. She knew she was making excuses, but she hoped he’d let it go.

  “No, I’d remember something like that.” His voice was flat and almost accusatory. “Tell me now.”

  “Please don’t be cross with me. I’m sorry. It must have slipped my mind. I have had a few other things jostling for front position lately.” She waited for his response, which took a painful few seconds for him to formulate.

  “All right. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. I’d hate to think you were keeping something from me on purpose.”

  “I promise, from now on I’ll be totally upfront with you, whenever I can.”

  Colin choked out a sarcastic snicker. “What do you mean whenever you can?”

  “Look, Colin. I want to be honest with you about everything. But in my line of work, as in yours, there will always be things we can’t divulge.” She hoped he would understand. She also hoped he wouldn’t notice that the note had nothing to do with her work.

  “Keeping something confidential is one thing. Hiding something is another entirely. I need to know I can trust you, Emily.”

  It felt peculiar having the trust-table turned on her. “Okay then. You can’t see me, but I’m raising my right hand to take an oath. I promise from here on out, not to hide anything from you. I want you to trust me, to be confident that I love you and I have our best interest as a couple at heart.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “I want to hear you say it too. Raise your right hand.”

  Colin repeated her promise, word for word, in his deep, rich voice, and she enjoyed hearing every syllable of it. As for the hand, well, he didn’t say.

  “Now tell me about the note,” he insisted.

  CHAPTER 7

  When Emily arrived at Isabel’s, she was mixing together a big green salad. Alex was out on the patio trying a new recipe for grilled pizza.

  “Grilled pizza?” Emily was a little dubious. She peeked out the window at him standing before the hot grill. “Has he ever grilled pizza before?”

  “No. It was a recipe he found in a magazine and wanted to try it.” Isabel brought the large glass salad bowl from the kitchen island to the table. “I got a text from Maggie and Molly this afternoon.”

  “Me too, with a photo. They looked like they were having fun.”

  “It’s good to see Maggie smiling again, what with her son having been arrested and all.” Isabel opened the refrigerator and hunted for something.

  “Not to mention the scumbag she was engaged to,” Emily added, noticing four glasses on the table. “Why are there four glasses?”

  “Alex didn’t know you were coming. He invited Peter.” Isabel grabbed a few bottles of dressing from the refrigerator door. “I guess Camille and Jonathan had some function to go
to.”

  “I see.” Emily hadn’t told Isabel about Peter having asked her out.

  “Is that a problem?” Isabel grabbed a stack of dinner plates from the cabinet.

  “No, why should it be?”

  “Just the way you said, I see.”

  “No problem, but—”

  “But what?” Isabel stopped what she was doing and focused on Emily’s reply.

  “He asked me out to dinner. Of course I said no, that I was already seeing someone. It was a little awkward, if you know what I mean.”

  “I see.” Isabel chuckled as she said Emily’s words back to her.

  “Say, while Alex is outside,” Emily glanced around, “before Peter gets here, why don’t I let you in on an idea I had about Jethro, or should I call him Jerry?”

  “Let’s just call him Jethro, in case anyone else overhears. What’s your idea?”

  “What do you think of inviting him to meet you for lunch tomorrow? I’ll find his car in the parking lot after he’s gone into the restaurant and put a tracking device on it. We can track his movements and see what he’s up to.”

  “You mean see if he’s the one following you?”

  “Yup.”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea, Em, but we can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “He called me this afternoon, said he’s heading out of town for a few days to do some consulting work in DC. He asked about the gun again.” Isabel paused and dipped her chin toward Emily. “He suggested taking it to DC with him in his checked luggage to have it tested at a government lab there.”

  “What did you say?” Emily asked.

  “I told him I didn’t know if there really was a gun, which is kind of true—I’ve never seen the gun for myself. I told him that as far as I knew it was a hypothetical question you had asked him.”

  “You think he bought that?” Emily filled the glasses with iced tea.

  “Probably not, but what was he going to say? Accuse me of lying?”

  “I guess I’ll have to wait ’til he gets back to bug his car.”

  “Bug whose car?” Alex asked as he walked through the door carrying a beautifully grilled pizza with a vaguely rectangular artisan crust.

  The doorbell rang and the girls were saved. “Our guest is here, honey, right on time. Why don’t you go and let him in,” Isabel suggested as she took the pizza from him.

  He glowered at them, then proceeded to the front door.

  ~*~

  After a delicious dinner and lively conversation, the men went to the family room to watch Sunday Night Football on Alex’s seventy-inch flat screen.

  Isabel and Emily puttered around the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner, giving them a chance to talk in private.

  “Working on any interesting cases, Em?” Isabel put plastic wrap over the leftover salad and stuck it in the crowded refrigerator.

  “Just another wife having me dig up evidence on her cheating husband.”

  “Any luck?”

  “I followed the guy down to a massage parlor on Overland Road, over in Boise.”

  Isabel cut the peach pie she had made into wedges and scooped them onto small plates. “Oh, yeah? What’s it called?”

  “The Jade Thai Spa. Why?” Emily laid a dessert fork on each plate.

  “I think the Feds have been watching a few of those places.” Isabel shook the aerosol can of whipped cream.

  “Really? Can you find out if that particular one is on their watch list?”

  “Sure, if it’ll help.” Isabel spritzed a mound of whipped cream on each piece of pie.

  “It might.” Emily moved to the sink, looking over the breakfast bar to the family room, watching the guys hollering at the screen.

  “Emily?” Isabel prompted. “Emily? I asked you a question.”

  “Yes, Peter is really a nice guy, I agree.”

  “That’s not what I asked you. I asked if you had any other ideas about Jeth—Emily?” Isabel snapped her fingers. “Em…does Colin have something to worry about?”

  “No.” She broke her stare and turned back to Isabel. “I was thinking about Maggie.”

  “Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be looking for another man for Maggie? She just got out of a serious relationship, almost married the creep.”

  “I know, I know. It’s just that she’s had such poor luck with men. I’d love to see Maggie with a great guy like Peter, you know, when she’s ready.”

  “But Peter will only be here a little while longer, then he’s off to Seattle.”

  “I know.” Emily turned back to her task and began scraping the dinner plates into the garbage disposal. “It was just a thought.” She looked up from the sink and peeked over at him once more.

  Peter must have sensed her looking at him because he turned his head and met her gaze, flashing her a quick smile before returning to the football game.

  Her cheeks flushed red as her stare was discovered. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea.

  ~*~

  Before Emily went to bed that night, Colin phoned again.

  “Did you do anything fun today?”

  “Isabel invited me over for dinner so I wouldn’t have to spend another lonely night microwaving a frozen dinner by myself.”

  “That’s good. Just you?”

  Why did he have to ask that? Now she’d have to tell him about Peter. “No, I wasn’t the only one. Alex didn’t know Isabel had invited me, so he invited Peter who was going to be stuck at home alone too.”

  “So it was Isabel and Alex, you and Peter—how cozy.”

  She was sure she detected a hint of jealousy in his voice again. Who could blame him? Peter was a great guy, handsome, too. But Colin had to trust her or what hope was there for the two of them? Their relationship wasn’t that flimsy, was it? “Don’t be jealous, Colin. I love you and no one else.”

  “I know that deep inside, but it’s nice to hear it from your lips.”

  “Speaking of lips, I’m missing yours.” She cringed, wondering if that sounded too cheesy, but it was the truth.

  “Well, you won’t be missing them for long.”

  “What?” she shrieked with excitement. “What are you saying?”

  “Looks like I’ll be back in Paradise Valley, back to my old job before long.”

  “Oh, Colin, that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time! I can’t wait.” She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Her hand flew to her throat as her heart fluttered in her chest, tears of joy brimming in her eyes.

  “Neither can I, Babe.”

  ~*~

  A few days later, Maggie and Molly returned from Hawaii. Camille, Jonathan, and Peter drove to the airport to pick them up.

  The three sat in the waiting area, expecting the arriving passengers to come through the automatic glass doors before long. Watching through the glass, Camille noticed Peter catch sight of his niece approaching the threshold, then she saw him notice Maggie. He jumped to his feet at the sight of the stunning blonde, clad in white shorts that exposed long, tanned legs.

  Camille and Jonathan hopped up and followed.

  The massive automatic doors glided open and Molly saw her Uncle Peter, grinning at her with arms open wide. With a big smile, she rushed to him and gave him a warm hug. Peter returned the embrace, but his gaze turned toward Maggie.

  “Uncle Peter, I didn’t know you’d be here,” Molly said excitedly, after releasing her hold on him.

  “Your mom wanted it to be a surprise,” he replied.

  “Surprise!” Camille shouted, glancing from Molly to Maggie.

  Maggie hugged Camille.

  “Who is this?” Peter asked, displaying his sparkling white smile.

  “Uncle Peter, this is Maggie Sullivan.”

  He stuck out his hand and she offered hers.

  “I’m Peter MacKenzie, Camille’s brother. It’s very nice to meet you, Maggie.” He held her hand until he was finished speaking, looking directly into her dazzling blue e
yes.

  The gesture may have escaped Jonathan’s notice, but it did not escape Camille’s or Molly’s. They glanced at each other and grinned.

  “Let’s get to the baggage carousel before the crowd,” Jonathan suggested.

  If Maggie noticed Peter’s delight at meeting her, she didn’t let on. She had gone to Hawaii to get some much-needed rest and to get away from the horrendous events that put an end to her most recent disastrous relationship. The last thing she wanted right now was to take up with another man.

  “Tell me all about your trip,” Peter said to his niece as she linked her hand around his arm and walked with him to baggage claim.

  “Maggie and I had an awesome time, Uncle Peter. Didn’t we, Maggie?”

  Maggie walked with Camille and Jonathan, just a few steps behind Peter and Molly.

  Peter turned and glanced over his niece’s head, in Maggie’s direction, as they walked toward the baggage carousel. “What did you girls do?”

  “Oh, we laid out on the beach at Waikiki,” Molly explained. “We hiked up on Diamond Head, we took a helicopter tour of the island, we went to Pearl Harbor, we ate tons of pineapple—oh, lots of things.”

  “Sounds like a blast,” he commented.

  “It totally rocked!” Molly exclaimed, looking up at her uncle with a huge grin.

  He smiled back at her.

  “Did it rock, Maggie?” Peter asked, turning his head again toward her.

  “Totally.” Maggie broke out in a smile.

  CHAPTER 8

  Saturday rolled around and it was time for Emily to fulfill her promise to Camille. She and Molly filled in as servers at the Zigon Corporation’s Gala at the Hilton Hotel. After hours on her feet, Emily was ready for the evening to be over.

  Once most of the guests had left, she and Molly headed to the ladies room to freshen up. As they entered the restroom, they heard the sound of someone weeping in one of the three stalls. They glanced suspiciously at each other. Before either could utter a word, a beautiful young Asian woman in a sexy, short black dress and strappy high-heeled shoes opened the door to one of the stalls. She stepped out, carefully dabbing her eyes with a piece of toilet paper, as if she was trying not to ruin her considerable eye makeup.