Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2)

by B A Trimmer

  After twenty minutes, we had finished the first round and Jackie was pouring the second. Sophie and Annie were on the other side of the deck, chatting like old friends. I thought maybe this would be a good time to talk with Jackie about why I was here. The deck had a round table with four chairs. I sat in one and motioned Jackie to another. As soon as we started talking, Annie and Sophie quietly came over and sat in the other two.

  “I’m here because Terry hired our law office to come and find you,” I said. “He said you were his girlfriend and you two had a fight. He also said wanted to talk to you to try and patch things up.”

  “You have to understand,” Jackie said, “I was only with Terry because I thought it would be fun to hook up with the singer from one of my favorite bands. He also has a pretty face and a great body. He started asking me out about two months ago so I figured why not. But the guy is an idiot and has all the personality of a tuna sandwich.”

  “Do you know why he would say he was your boyfriend?”

  “No idea at all, but the past couple of times we’ve been together, I’ve been getting the feeling something’s not right with him.”

  “What makes you say that? I’ve met him and you’re right about the personality. But, other than that, he’s just your typical twenty something guy.”

  “Well, it was only a feeling, but being with him was starting to give me the creeps.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, like I said, initially he was the one who asked me out. It was great the first couple of times. But whenever we were together, he always insisted we go to my place. I live in the resorts in north Scottsdale and Terry lives off of Jackrabbit but he always wanted to drive up to my place anyway. He said he really got a good vibe from my bedroom. Actually, I was starting to think he liked my bedroom more than he liked me. When I was in the shower the time before last, I think he went through my room. I couldn’t be sure but the things in my drawers looked messier than usual. When we were together a week ago Saturday night, I told him it was going to be the last time. I usually don’t see anyone for more than a few times and I’d had enough of him.”

  “How did Terry take the news?” I asked.

  “Like a guy. He pouted and got a hurt look on his face. He started in with how much he needed me, how we were soul mates, and how he was starting to fall in love with me. You know how it goes, blaah, blaah, blaah. To get him to leave, I finally had to tell him maybe we could see each other again, eventually. That finally seemed to cheer him up enough for him to go away.”

  “Would it be OK if I tell Terry where you are?” I asked.

  “Oh, sure. You can tell Terry I’m OK but also tell him I don’t want to see him anymore. At least, not like that. I’ll still go to his shows but I can’t stand listening to him talk anymore. I’m going back to Scottsdale tomorrow but I think I’ll stay with Pammy for a few days. I’ll give her a call first but I’m sure it’s OK. I don’t want to stay in my house.”

  “OK,” Annie said. “That explains Terry. But why are you hiding in Rocky Point?”

  “And what’s wrong with your house?” Sophie asked.

  Jackie’s face became pale and she looked like she had remembered something terrible.

  “Because two days after we all went to the Roxy,” she slowly said, “I got a call from a man who said he was going to kill me.”

  Annie sucked in air and Sophie’s eyes got big, but neither of them said anything. They both wanted to hear what Jackie was going to say next.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Tell me everything you remember.”

  “There isn’t a lot to tell. I got a phone call on the house phone,” Jackie said. “It was Monday about noon. When I answered, there was a man on the phone. He said I was a stupid useless bitch and he was going to come over to the house and kill me.”

  “You didn’t go to the police?” Sophie asked.

  “Sure, I thought about calling the police but then what would I tell them? I got a crank phone call? What do you think their response would have been? I Googled the phone number but it was only a pay phone in Phoenix. It’s not like the police could tell who had even made the call. But to be honest, the death threat was only half of it.”

  Sophie and Annie looked at each other and then back to Jackie.

  “Well?” I said.

  “I think I recognized the voice on the phone. I’ve only met him once and it’s nothing I can prove but I think it was one of the people my husband worked with. I think he’s serious about killing me.”

  Jackie paused, visibly shaken. Annie had silently started to cry. By mutual agreement, we all got up and took a break. After a few minutes, Sophie led Annie to the other side of the deck to give Jackie and me some privacy. Sophie knows how I work and she knew a one-on-one conversation with Jackie would probably get more results. I love how she knows me so well.

  Jackie and I sat back at the table. I topped up her drink and we started talking.

  “A lot of things aren’t adding up,” I said. “I really need to understand what’s going on. Would you talk to me about your marriage?”

  “There isn’t much to tell,” Jackie said. “I was working and getting my master’s at ASU when I first met Roger. He’d moved to Arizona from California with his wife Eileen to join his family’s real estate business. When their marriage ended, we got together. I was married to Roger for over fifteen years. I have two wonderful kids from a previous marriage but, fortunately, none with him. It was great at first but over the last few years, Roger started to change. Actually, the serious trouble started when real estate values crashed a couple of years ago. Roger’s entire family buys and sells land. They’ve been doing it in Arizona since Roger’s grandfather moved out from California, back in the 1940’s. We don’t ever discuss business but I know he took some big losses.”

  “What happened with Roger? How did he change?”

  “At first, he started to drink a lot more than he had been. That was bad enough but then he started to have these mood swings. He’d be on top of the world for a week or two and then he’d spend the next week crying and telling me how his life had gone to shit. After a year of this, he stopped even trying to hide fact he had girlfriends. I’d known about them, of course, but the fact he didn’t care I knew, really hurt me. Towards the end, he started to become abusive. Nothing physical, fortunately, but he would love to get drunk, call me horrible names, and then yell at me about whatever he thought I’d done wrong during the day. He also started to get involved with some pretty shady people in his investments. Finally, I’d had enough and I moved out.”

  “What kind of shady people?” I asked.

  “I’ve only met them a couple of times but these weren’t your normal business people. You see, Roger often would bring in outside partners to develop a property before he sold it. In the past, he’d always been open about who he was working with. In fact, we’d often get together socially with his partners and I’d get to know both them and their wives. But in last few deals, Roger hardly said a word about his partners. Like I said, I only met this one associate of Roger’s once but I’m pretty sure it was his voice on the phone. He was a nasty type of person who made an instant impression.”

  “Tell me about him.”

  “He seemed to be the leader of some kind of investment group. He was big, arrogant, and always seemed on the verge of anger. In the ten minutes I was in the room with him, he became livid twice, yelling at both Roger and one of the other investors. When he was yelling at the other guy, it was in Spanish. I didn’t understand all of it but I really didn’t need to understand all the words to get the meaning. He struck me as the kind of guy who would offend easily then go after whomever had pissed him off.”

  “About how old is he?”

  “Maybe mid to late thirties.”

  “Do you remember his name?”

  “No, we’d need to ask Roger.”

  “Would you be able to recognize him from a picture?”

  “Su
re, you don’t forget that kind of face. He has short black hair, dark bloodshot eyes, and a full black mustache. He also has a big scar on the left side of his face. Like he’d been in a knife fight or something.”

  “You got divorced about a year ago?”

  “Well, legally, I never actually got a divorce. After I moved out, Roger begged me not to divorce him. He said too many things were in my name and it would take the lawyers forever to get things straight. I’ve never kept track of Roger’s business things but I think he had me down as some kind of partner in his company. I know he was always having me sign papers. Ever since I moved out, I told him I wouldn’t sign any more papers unless he sends them to my lawyer to review first. I don’t think Roger would try to screw me out of anything but I think a girl can’t be too careful. Roger sends me a check every month, which is more than enough to live on. He’s gone his way and I’ve gone mine. I don’t plan on getting married again so it’s never seemed like a big deal.”

  “You tell everyone you’re divorced. Doesn’t that cause some confusion?”

  “Well, my friends know what’s going on. And honestly, it’s easier to say I’m divorced than to recite the entire story.”

  “Works for me,” I said. I held up my glass and Jackie clinked hers against it.

  Four

  We spent another hour on the deck, drinking and talking. The topics switched to men, then to music, the clubs in Scottsdale, and then back to men. Gradually the mood lifted. Jackie and Annie began to smile and laugh again, no doubt helped by both the sangria and the beautiful view. By late afternoon, it began to seem like a girl’s weekend out.

  “I’m starving,” Jackie said. “Anyone up for dinner?”

  “Yeah,” Sophie said. “All this talk of being threatened and creepy men really builds up an appetite.”

  “Casa del Capitan? Jackie asked.

  “Isn’t where we went last time to watch the sunset?” Sophie asked.

  “The Captain’s House? I love it up there,” Annie said. “That would be perfect.”

  ~~~~

  I had switched to Diet Pepsi after my second sangria so everyone stuffed themselves in my car and I drove us into town. Casa del Capitan is one of the nicer restaurants in Rocky Point and it certainly has the best view. It’s on a small hill overlooking the downtown shopping district, the fish market, and the harbor. The view extends down the five miles of white sand beach to the mountain-sized rock at the end of the peninsula. The food is the delicious Rocky Point blend of freshly caught seafood and traditional Mexican.

  Like a lot of things in Mexico, you need to be told about Casa del Capitan by a local, otherwise you’ll never find it. From the main road, across from a big anchor marking the entrance to the harbor, you need to turn off on a small dirt road. Once on the dirt road, you follow it up as it snakes its way to the back of the restaurant on the top of the hill. A few years back, they put up a small sign for the restaurant at the dirt road turn-off but now the sign is so faded and beat up most people drive right past it.

  We drove up the hill, parked in the small lot, and then walked over to the restaurant. The place was packed, but we somehow got an outside table with a great view of both the town and the sea. The restaurant was alive with the noise of over two hundred people, everyone talking, laughing, and eating.

  The sun was about a half an hour from setting and people were already taking pictures of the changing colors on the horizon. The air was warm but there was still a light sea breeze coming in. We could see three fishing boats in the distance, slowly making their way back to the city harbor.

  We ordered a pitcher of margaritas and the chilled seafood appetizer for four. There is something amazing about eating seafood that has been freshly caught and well prepared. After we spent some time on the appetizer, we all ordered dinner. We all laughed and clapped when Sophie placed her dinner order in rapid-fire Spanish.

  As we ate, a three-piece Mariachi band wandered through the restaurant, playing songs tableside for a few dollars each. When they stopped at our table, Jackie asked them to play something cheerful. I’m not sure what the name of the song they played was, but it was energetic and bouncy. By the end of the song, most of the people on our side of the restaurant were clapping and singing along with the band. The lively music just added to the festive feeling.

  Five minutes later, a buzz started in the crowd. We looked out and saw the sun was about to set. It was positioned on the sea, to the left of the huge rocky mountain at the end of the peninsula. The few clouds out in the gulf were starting to light up with iridescent yellows and oranges. As we watched, the sun touched the sea then slowly sank below it. We heard the clicking of cameras as everyone got in at least one shot. I saw both Sophie and Annie had their phones out and were taking pictures of the beautiful sunset.

  As the last sliver of sun disappeared below the horizon, there was cheering and applause from everyone in the restaurant. The four of us held up our glasses and clinked them together.

  A few minutes later, a waiter brought out our dinners and we dug in.

  “Jackie,” I said between bites. “I know how you and Annie got together.”

  Annie blushed a bright red and we all laughed.

  “But, I was more wondering about your group. How did you end up joining a group of cougars?”

  “I didn’t start out that way,” Jackie said, waving her fork as she talked. “I’ve known Elle and Pammy for years. After their divorces, they just started seeing younger guys. Not actually dating as much as hooking up for a night or maybe a weekend. I don’t think they originally planned on younger guys, but they had both come from bad marriages and no one was looking for a long-term relationship with anyone. They both occasionally tried to go out on actual dates with guys their own age but it never worked out. Fifty year old divorced guys are sorta clingy and the younger guys are just easier to deal with.”

  “And they have those firm little butts that need to be spanked,” Sophie said.

  At that, we held up our glasses and clinked them together.

  “Yeah, young guys don’t think so much about long term commitment,” Jackie said. “With them, it’s all about the sex. And I’m talking sex all night. There’s no blue-pill problem with these boys.”

  It was a lovely image, we couldn’t help it. We held up our glasses and clinked them together one more time.

  “When my marriage started to fall apart,” Jackie continued, “I started hanging out with Elle and Pam. At first, I only wanted to get out of the house but we eventually became a regular threesome. We’d go to the clubs three or four nights a week. After I moved out and had a place of my own, I’d sometimes go home with a guy and sometimes not. But the three of us always had such a good time together. Everyone at the clubs knows us and are ally nice to us. Shannon became a regular with our group about a year ago. Cindy and Sonia hang out with us too, whenever they have free time. After I met Annie, we took her on as a puma.”

  “What’s a puma?” Sophie asked.

  “Oh,” Jackie said. “It’s a cougar in training.”

  “We all like men in their twenties,” Annie said. “So we have that in common. I’m just a poor college student by day. But at night, I get to share in the glamorous life. Everyone in the group thinks they’re my big sister and they’re all very protective. They give me advice and steer me to guys when they think I might find a connection. Only in my case, I’m looking for something a little more long term. I wouldn’t even mind getting married.”

  We all moaned and I saw Sophie rolling her eyes. But we understood her feelings. A girl should get married, at least once, to help get it out of her system.

  ~~~~

  After dinner, we drove to Jackie’s house and ended up back on her deck. The moon was a little past full and it was casting a beautiful glow over the sea. In the distance, we could see boats slowly moving back and forth over the water.

  A hundred yards further down the beach, a group of teenagers was gathered around a bon
fire, laughing and shooting off fireworks. We could hear the bonfire making popping sounds and occasionally it would send a shower of sparks into the air.

  The fireworks were the big locally made aerial rockets that are for sale on all of the beaches in Rocky Point. Every few minutes, there would be a whoosh and then a trail of sparks, ending in a loud boom and colorful burst of sparks shooting off in all directions. The teenagers shot them over the sea and it made for a very colorful distraction.

  Jackie made a pot of coffee for Sophie and Annie. They both had to get back to Scottsdale and we had decided Sophie would take my car. Jackie was driving back to Scottsdale in the morning and she said it was no problem if I spent the night at her place. This was good with me. Now I had found her, I didn’t want to have her disappear again.

  I went out to my car and grabbed the small overnight bag I keep in the trunk for such occasions. We made up a bed in one of the guest bedrooms. I then opened the widow and fell asleep to the sound of the ocean.

  ~~~~

  I woke to the sound of sea gulls fighting over some scrap of food they had found on the deck. I was a little stiff from sleeping on the overly hard bed but overall I felt good. The sun hadn’t come up yet, although there was soft red glow on the horizon. I got dressed and left a note on the door saying I was on the beach.

  I love taking an early morning walk along the shore. The sky in the east slowly turned bright orange as I strolled down the beach. The smell of the ocean and the feel of the wet sand was wonderfully soothing. An occasional jogger ran past as I enjoyed the solitude of the sea and the gentle pounding of the waves. Before I got back to Jackie’s house, I found a beautiful pink and white spiral shell. It made a nice souvenir of our trip to Mexico.

  Jackie made us a quick breakfast while I was in the shower and then she got ready while I did the dishes. The drive up through Mexico was uneventful and the wait at the border was mercifully short.

  As we were driving back, I got a chance to talk with Jackie and learn about her life. She was one of those women who had done everything and been everywhere. Meeting people like Jackie is one of the things that keep my job interesting. It’s also one of the reasons I usually can’t walk into a bar in Scottsdale without running into someone I know.