“You ran a background check on me?” Mark was flabbergasted. “May I ask what right you had to do that?”
“We don’t need permission to run a background check,” James explained. “We do it all the time.”
“You’re not construction workers, are you?”
“I own a security company in the Detroit area,” James replied. “We didn’t want you to know that because we didn’t want to put you on the defensive.” He was putting all of his cards on the table, and it felt good. “We wanted an opportunity to watch you when you were uncomfortable, but we didn’t want you to spend all of your time watching us.”
“Are you even Ben’s nephew?” Mark turned on Jake. “I have to hand it to the old man, he was smart to play up the family angle. I never thought to question it.”
“I am Ben’s nephew,” Jake replied. “I just happen to work for a security company, too.”
Mark rolled his eyes. “And the women? Are they paid actresses?”
“No,” James replied. “They’re my wife and my sister. We didn’t lie about our relationships, just what we do for a living.”
“Is that supposed to make this better?”
“I don’t really care if it makes things better,” James said. “I care about the truth.”
“I think you should leave,” Mark announced, getting up from the bed. “I want you out of my room right now!”
“Sit down,” James ordered.
Mark was taken aback. “Excuse me? Are you really telling me what to do in my motel room?”
“I’m telling you to sit down because we’re nowhere near being done with this conversation,” James replied, his tone firm.
Mark reluctantly did as instructed. “I don’t have to put up with this,” he muttered.
James ignored the mini-tantrum. “I’m going to tell you what we know and then we’re going to talk about what I think I know. Do you understand?”
Mark didn’t answer.
“I know that your name used to be Mark Foley and you grew up on a Nebraska farm,” James said. “You never had much love for farm life and you walked away when you were eighteen and never looked back.
“You spent the next few years doing odd sales jobs and then, when you were forty, you met and married Nadine,” he continued. “She was a socialite with a lot of money and you somehow snowed her into marrying you. Once you had money to back up your aspirations you started dabbling in real estate.
“You made a name for yourself on an apartment complex in New York and you were pretty good at what you did,” James said. “You decided to branch out and try to steal land before the government moved in so you could make huge buckets of money. That backfired and a man ended up dead.”
“Now you wait just a second,” Mark started.
James shook his head. “I’m not done so shut up,” he snapped. “You changed your name and went underground for a year and then reemerged as Mark Nixon. You spent a few years putting your new name on the map and then you came here and decided to try the government contract game again.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Because I’m a man who knows people, too,” James replied. “I know about the refinery. I also know how much money you think you’re going to get from the deal. I’m here to tell you that it’s not going to happen.”
“You don’t know that,” Mark said. “I can offer Ben Harrison a lot of money. A man his age might opt to take it and retire rather than toiling at a thankless job.”
“He won’t,” Jake interjected. “He loves that farm and he likes the work.”
“We’re here to make sure that Ben doesn’t have an accident,” James said. “He’s not going to end up like Dawkins and Garvey. We’re here to put you on notice.”
“I don’t think I like what you’re suggesting,” Mark spat. “I am a businessman. I am not a murderer.”
“I think it’s a little coincidental that two men you were trying to do business with – two men who didn’t want to sell – both ended up dead in the exact same fashion,” James challenged. “I’m not ready to talk about that yet, though. There are a few other things we need to discuss first.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
“We know about Jessica,” Jake said. “We know you met her in Vegas and the two of you hatched a plan to head off some of the problems you thought you might face when you got to town.”
“What?” Mark’s face drained of color.
“We know you sent Jessica ahead to seduce Charlie,” James said. It was a bluff, but since they knew everything else about Mark, he was hoping the man would fall for it. “Her car conveniently broke down in the middle of a heat wave. Charlie helped her and it was love at first sight.
“When you came to town you pretended not to know her,” he continued. “Jessica got Charlie to propose, but she didn’t have access to the land. Not yet, at least, so killing him when you did doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“I did not kill him!”
James ignored the outburst. “We checked and Jessica gets nothing in Charlie’s will,” he said. “He had an appointment to change his will two days after he was killed. You missed out there. That didn’t stop Jessica and you from meeting at the diner the other night and putting on a show for everyone in town.”
Mark swallowed hard. “I … she was in mourning. I was trying to comfort her.”
“Don’t bother,” James said. “Your wandering eye is already notorious around town and we saw it first hand when you were hanging around our women. By the way, you’re lucky you kept your hands to yourself because if you’d have touched either one of them you’d be dead.”
“We would’ve tossed your body in the field where Charlie died,” Jake added.
“Your wife is well aware of your extracurricular activities, too,” James said. “She’s been telling everyone at the bar all about your proclivities every night. I’m guessing she has time on her hands because you’ve been entertaining Jessica.
“We also know that if you happen to get any of your conquests knocked up that you get absolutely no money in a divorce,” he continued. “Nadine was happy to talk about that with Mandy and Ally at the spa yesterday.”
“Nadine never knew when to shut her hole,” Mark grumbled.
“See, what we can’t understand is why Nadine would put up with you given everything we know about you,” Jake said. “You’re an asshat who cheats on his wife and makes her miserable. She controls the money, though. How did you force her to hang around given all that you’ve done?”
“You guys think you’re so smart, don’t you?”
“We have our moments,” James replied, unruffled. “What I want to know is how you thought you were going to get away with this a second time. I mean, once you got a free pass for killing Garvey, how could you possibly be stupid enough to kill Dawkins?”
“How many times do I have to tell you guys that I haven’t killed anyone?” Mark asked, hopping to his feet and pacing. “I have to hand it to you guys, though. You did your homework – on most of it at least.” He turned to face Jake and James. “You’ve got me. Everything you said about the land deals and my sexual … desires … is true. None of that is illegal, though. I am not a killer.”
“You can’t honestly expect us to believe that Garvey and Dawkins were both murdered by someone else when you were in the same town,” Jake scoffed. “No one is going to believe that.”
“You seem to be missing part of the puzzle,” Mark said. “You overlooked one little thing.”
“And what is that?” James asked.
“Well, I’ll just tell you.”
“I’M glad we got another chance to ride horses without James hanging around like a Nervous Nellie,” Ally said, following Mandy toward her cabin. “It was nice to be able to relax for a change.”
“It was,” Mandy agreed.
“Are you still going home tomorrow no matter what?”
Mandy smiled ruefully. “I don’t have much of a choice,”
she said. “I have to be back for work on Monday.”
“Not for long,” Ally shot back, grinning. “James told Jake you finally agreed to leave the courthouse in September. How come you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Mandy replied, hopping the steps to the cabin. “It’s still months away.”
“It’s a big deal for James,” Ally said. “He’s thrilled.”
“I know. I’m glad I made the deal with him. He’s been so much more … relaxed … since I told him.”
“What about you? Are you more relaxed?”
“I am,” Mandy said, her blond ponytail bobbing. “It’s nice to know there’s an end in sight. I may not be able to make painting my job, but I will be able to keep James happy and let go of a job I hate.
“I’ve decided that you can’t have everything you want in life at the exact time you want it,” she continued, reaching for the door handle. “This is the best thing for everyone, though. James deserves some peace.”
“Oh, you two are so adorable,” Ally said, mimicking Mary’s voice. “I just want to eat you up.”
Mandy rolled her eyes and pushed open the door, pulling up short when she realized they weren’t alone. The figure sitting in the chair in the middle of the room didn’t look happy. The gun pointed in their direction was a second clue on that front.
“I think it’s time we had a talk.”
Twenty-Four
“What are you doing here, Nadine?” Mandy asked, licking her lips and glancing around the tiny cabin. There was only one exit, and unfortunately if either Mandy or Ally tried to use it, the angry woman in the chair would have a clear shot.
“I came to see the two of you,” Nadine replied, her tone grim. “Shut the door and have a seat.”
“But … .”
“Do it!”
Mandy and Ally exchanged a worried look. They didn’t have a lot of options. Ally reluctantly followed Nadine’s instructions and then joined Mandy at the small kitchen table to the left of the room.
“Thank you for being so accommodating,” Nadine said.
“I don’t understand,” Mandy said, rubbing her sweaty palms against her jeans. “Why are you doing this?”
“Well, after you two did your Nancy Drew bit yesterday, I realized that you knew a lot more than you were letting on,” Nadine replied. “I couldn’t very well just sit around and let you two ruin everything, could I?”
“I still don’t understand,” Mandy pressed. “Why are you doing Mark’s dirty work?”
Nadine snorted. “Mark’s dirty work? Oh, honey, are you so blind that you don’t realize he’s been doing my dirty work?”
Mandy stilled. “What?”
“Yeah, you’re not as smart as you thought, are you?” Nadine pressed. “Do you want to hear a little story? Good. I’ve been dying to tell it to someone.”
“I’M not a murderer,” Mark repeated, his face ashen. “I do know someone who is, though.”
“And who is that?” James asked, internally rolling his eyes. He had no idea what angle Mark was about to play, but it was bound to be absurd. He could feel it.
“It’s Nadine.”
James tilted his neck, cracking it. “You really expect me to believe that your lush of a wife is a murderer?”
“That’s the part she plays for everyone so they think she’s harmless,” Mark countered. “She’s not harmless. She’s … diabolical.”
“Okay,” James gave in. “Tell me about your diabolical wife.”
“I’m sure you were wondering why Nadine married me in the first place,” Mark said, wringing his hands as he paced back and forth in front of the bed. “The thing is, I figured out that Nadine killed her father to get his money. She was playing the debutante, but I saw her slip something into his drink at a party.
“I had been watching them for some time,” he continued. “I thought Nadine was pretty and I was hoping to make a move on her. That’s when I saw her slip something into her father’s drink. I didn’t think anything of it until the next day when I heard through the grapevine that he died.
“It took me a few days to figure out what happened, and when I did I decided that the best way to play it was to tell Nadine what I knew and offer her the option of coming clean or marrying me,” Mark said.
“You blackmailed a murderer into marrying you?” James was dumbfounded.
“You have to understand,” he said. “I grew up poor. I thought money was going to fix everything. Obviously I was wrong.
“After we got married I started doing some business with local real estate groups,” Mark explained. “Nadine knew people in the trade and she got tips that she passed along to me. She wanted to build me up and still maintain her façade of being a brainless party girl. I have no idea why it was so important to her, but it was.
“After a few years she’s the one who brought up the government contract deal in North Dakota,” he continued. “When Garvey turned up dead, I knew it was Nadine. She got away with killing her father. Killing Garvey was nothing to her. She didn’t even deny it when I accused her of doing it.”
“Why would you stay with her?”
“I had no choice,” Mark answered. “She had all of the money. If I left her, I would literally have nothing. I was fifty. I couldn’t start over again. Nadine is the one who suggested changing my name after the police questioned me. She wasn’t worried in the least they would pin the murder on her.
“We cut our losses and took a profit on the North Dakota investment and then spent a year coming up with a new plan,” he continued. “I had to reestablish myself under a new name and that took time. In the meantime, Nadine and I came to an understanding about women.
“I was allowed to sleep with anyone I wanted as long as I never got them pregnant,” Mark said. “She liked the idea of people knowing that I was cheating on her because she’s got a martyr complex. She gets off on all the ‘poor her’ looks and sympathy.”
“Let’s say I believe that, why would you play that game?” James asked.
“Do you know how lonely it is to be married to a sociopath?”
“No. I married for love, not money,” James replied. “Still, you could’ve left at any time. You could’ve gone to the police.”
“No, I couldn’t,” Mark said. “By the time I got up the courage to even think about leaving her I was in love with Jessica. Nadine knew it. She paid a private investigator to follow us and threatened to kill Jessica if I didn’t hang around long enough to get the government contract out here. Not only that, but she made me take out other women because she was hoping it would bother Jessica. She’s nasty when she wants to be.
“I told Jessica what was going on and she agreed to help,” he continued. “She came out here first. We pegged Dawkins as the hardest mark so she went to work on him. He was a nice guy and she didn’t like using him, but we didn’t have any other options.”
“You had options,” James countered. “You might not have liked any of the options in front of you, but you still had them.”
“When Jessica found out Charlie was going to change his will and leave the farm to her, she got cold feet,” Mark said. “I told her she had to marry him because it would keep her safe. That’s when she told me she was pregnant.”
“Whose baby was it?”
“Mine,” Mark said. “She pretended to be a virgin and told Charlie she was waiting for their wedding night. He was old fashioned. He liked that.”
“She wasn’t going to be able to hide the conception date,” Jake pointed out.
“We hadn’t gotten that far yet,” Mark replied. “Somehow Nadine found out about the baby and she decided to go after Charlie as payback. I was hoping that Jessica and our baby would be safe with Charlie. Nadine took that option away when she killed him.”
“Did she admit that to you?” James asked.
Mark nodded. “She’s cold and evil. You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
“She’s still a
drunk,” Jake said. “You could’ve easily overpowered her when she was unconscious.”
“First off, we never sleep in the same room because she doesn’t trust me,” Mark said. “We’ve never even had sex. Second of all, that whole drunk thing is an act. She never actually gets drunk. She pretends she’s throwing down at bars, but when no one is looking she empties the glasses into plants … or on the floor … or switches out her full glass with someone’s empty glass.”
Something occurred to James. “She was drinking wine at the spa yesterday,” he said. “She got hammered and told Mandy and Ally a bunch of stuff.”
“That means she knows that you were sniffing around me,” Mark said. “She was probably drinking grape juice … or at least mixing it in with the wine so she wasn’t really drunk. Whatever happened yesterday put her in a really foul mood.”
“And where is she now?”
Mark shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t see her this morning. She told me last night she had something to take care of today and we would catch up later.”
Jake pushed himself up from his chair. “You don’t suppose the thing she had to take care of today was Mandy and Ally, do you?”
“Son of a … .” James hopped to his feet and dug into his pocket looking for his phone. “Nadine probably already has them.”
“I’ll call Uncle Ben,” Jake said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“When you’re done with that, call the police,” James instructed. “This is too much for us to handle on our own.”
“IT’S James,” Mandy said, biting her lip as her cell phone buzzed on top of the table. “If I don’t answer it he’ll get suspicious.”
“If you answer that phone I’ll shoot your right now,” Nadine threatened, her hand steady. Mandy couldn’t help but wonder how a notorious drunk had such steady hands.
“But … .”
“I said no!”
Mandy wet her lips and pulled her hand away from the phone, her heart flopping when the ringing stopped. James was probably leaving a message. There was no way he could realize what was happening.
Deadly Desperados Page 18
