by Beth Yarnall
On my way back to our hotel, I called Juan Carlos and told him to meet me at Vivian’s room. It wasn’t three o’clock yet, but I didn’t care. We needed to talk. Now.
I knocked on Viv’s hotel-room door. I could hardly control the anger mixed with joy, and the overriding sense of relief that she was safe. I’d held on by a thread, and now here I was, just feet away from her.
She answered the door wearing a thick terry-cloth hotel robe, her wet hair combed back from her face.
Anger pushed its way forward first. “We need to talk.” I barged right past her into the room.
“Hello to you, too.”
“I need you to tell me everything. No more lies, no more half-truths. Start from when you first met Dhane.” I waved a shaky hand. “Go.”
Vivian adjusted the lapels of her robe. “Can I get dressed first?”
“Talk and dress. We don’t have much time, and you’ve already wasted so much of it.”
“You’re mad.”
Hell, yes, I was mad—furious. I was caught between wanting to shake her until she felt half the panic and fear I’d been carrying around and hugging her hard enough to leave my imprint on her. I settled for sarcastic. It was what I did best. “Really? Ya think? Why ever would I be mad, Viv?”
She pulled some clothes from her suitcase, avoiding my gaze. “I shouldn’t have lied, it’s just…” She dropped down on the edge of the bed, her head bent toward the shirt she twisted in her hands. “I made a promise. And as usual, you asked too many questions.”
“Nuh-uh, this one’s on you. You’re not blaming me for what’s happened here. And it doesn’t matter anyway, I already know Dhane’s real name. I know about his parents and the fire, Trinity, all of it.”
She looked up at me, surprised.
I folded my arms over my chest. “The police know about it, too.”
“I guess they would.” She got up and started to dress. “If you know that much, then you should probably know the rest.”
James came out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel on. “Oh, shoot!” He immediately ducked back inside.
“Nice chest, James,” I shouted.
“Hang on, let me get him some clothes.” Vivian pulled a few items from another bag and gave them to James.
As she made her way back, relief slammed into me. I dove for her, wrapping my arms around her tightly. “You scared the crap out of me.” My voice cracked and tears stung the backs of my eyes.
She hugged me just as hard. “I’m sorry,” she whispered in my ear. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Bending over her, I tucked my face into her neck. We’d always been close. Closer than I’d ever been to my own sister. “How could you lie to me?” I pulled back to look at her. “Why, Viv?”
She drew me over to the bed. We sat with our bodies angled toward each other. It was the first time she’d met my gaze since she’d told us that stupid story of how she and Dhane met. My chest hitched on a half sob.
“I missed you,” I said.
She squeezed my hand. “I missed you, too. I’m sorry you had to see me hauled away like that.”
“What happened? Why’d you confess?”
“You need to hear this from the beginning.” She grabbed her pencil skirt and stood to zip it up. “Let’s start with the night of the fire. Dhane was supposed to have been home that night, but he was out with me. When he got home, he found the house burned to the ground and his family gone. He didn’t know what had happened. The next day he went back to the house. The police were there, and that’s when they told him about his parents and their suspicions that Trinity may have started the fire.”
“Why did they suspect Trinity?”
She pulled her arms through a black polka-dot blouse and buttoned it. “Trinity was…troubled. She’d been expelled from school and was in and out of juvenile hall—you know, rebellious teen stuff. I think they suspected her at first because she was the only one who’d escaped the fire. When the firemen arrived, they found her sitting on the curb two houses away, petting and talking to a stuffed skunk.”
“Curio.”
“You really do know everything, don’t you?” she asked.
“No. I don’t know why you confessed to a murder you didn’t commit.”
She tipped her head to the side. “First, tell me how Trinity’s doing. Is she okay? Is Mac taking care of her?”
“Mac?”
James came out of the bathroom. “Is everything all right here?”
“Why don’t you go down and get us something to eat? I’m starving,” Vivian said.
I waited while they said their good-byes before I pelted her with all of the questions backing up in my brain. “By Mac do you mean MacKenzie Todd?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What do you mean ‘of course’?”
“Mac is Trinity’s cousin.”
“Trinity’s but not Dhane’s?”
“Dhane’s father married Trinity’s mother. Mac’s and Trinity’s mothers were sisters. Trinity and Mac have always been close—that’s why she flew to Vegas as soon as she heard about Dhane. To be with Trinity.”
“You mean Mac wasn’t here when Dhane was killed?”
“No. Why?”
I took Mac out of the equation, and some of the pieces of this puzzle started to slide into place for me.
I hated to do it after all Viv had been through, but she had to know. “I need to tell you something about Trinity.”
“What?”
“I’m so sorry… She’s dead.”
Viv’s hand went to her mouth and her breath caught. “How? What happened?” She looked up at me, and I could see my reflection swimming in her brown eyes.
I took a breath to tell her this next part. “She was either pushed or thrown over the balcony of her hotel suite.”
Viv didn’t move. She just stared at me. “No.”
“The police think it was suicide. But I’m not so sure.” I told her about the state of Trinity’s room and finding Curio under the bed.
“I failed him.” She sounded so defeated, it made my chest hurt. “Dhane made me promise years ago that if anything ever happened to him, I was supposed to make sure Trinity was okay. He only ever asked one thing of me and I failed.” The despair in her voice nearly cut me in two.
“How could you know?”
She got up and moved a couple of paces away. “Doesn’t matter. I failed just the same.”
“Stop it. This isn’t like you. Would Dhane let you beat yourself up like this?”
“No.”
“Then don’t.”
Some of the snap was back in her spine and her eyes were dry as she turned toward me. “Trinity wouldn’t go anywhere without Curio. Somebody murdered her just like Dhane. But why?”
“Why did you confess to Dhane’s murder?”
“I thought Trinity had killed Dhane. I was trying to protect her.”
I called for a time-out. “Wait a minute. What made you think Trinity had killed Dhane?”
Juan Carlos banged on the door. “It’s me, open up!”
I let in him and Richard. After Juan Carlos embraced Vivian about forty times and checked her for lice twice, he finally settled down enough for me to quickly catch them up to speed.
“Holy tragic family!” Juan Carlos paced the short hallway from the front door to the edge of the bed. “Poor, poor Skunk Girl.” He stopped and looked at us. “Do you think they’ll bury her with the skunk?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Can we get back to why Viv confessed to Dhane’s murder?”
“Oh, this better be good.” Juan Carlos sat down in the desk chair and took up his I’m-listening pose with his legs crossed, an elbow on one knee, and his chin propped in the palm of his hand. “’Cause if it isn’t, I may have to smack you.”
Richard sat in the corner chair, silent as always. His presence was oddly comforting, like having our own private Buckingham Palace guard.
“Start from the beginning,”
I told Viv. “What made you go to Dhane’s suite and what did you find when you got there?”
“I’m glad James isn’t here. He doesn’t know about this part, so please don’t say anything.”
We all agreed we’d keep quiet, but I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to leave James in the dark. Somehow, some way, secrets never stayed secret. Just like Vivian’s and Dhane’s past with each other—oftentimes the keeping is worse than the secret itself. Once broken, trust was a difficult thing to earn back.
“Right after you left to go to your workshops, Dhane called and invited me up to his suite. He said he’d have a key delivered to me.”
The key Jun gave me by mistake.
“The key never came, but I didn’t care. I had to see him. I knew what he wanted and I went anyway,” Viv said. “You have to understand, our pull was stronger than my ability to resist.” She paused as if caught in the web of a memory.
I knew that look. I’d had that look. Seeing it on Vivian now instantly swept me away to a time not so long ago, when I’d felt that kind of deep gravitational pull toward Alex, more basic, more necessary than the need for breath.
Richard cleared his throat, shaking Juan Carlos, Vivian, and me out of our daydreams.
“I went to see him,” Vivian continued. “When I got to his suite, the door was slightly ajar. I thought he’d left it that way for me, so I went in.” She put a fist over her mouth and sniffed, her eyes filling with tears again.
I slid closer and put an arm around her. I hated that she would suffer through this next part, but it was important. I squeezed her shoulder in support.
“At first I didn’t see him,” she said. “I called his name, but there was no answer. Then I heard a noise coming from the bedroom. I thought maybe he was on the phone or getting dressed. I waited, but he didn’t come out, so I went in. All I could see was his feet. He was on the floor on the other side of the bed. I thought he’d fainted. And then…and then…”
I wrapped my other arm around her and she laid her head on my shoulder, her tears flowing freely now.
“I went to him, calling his name. Trinity suddenly stood up. Her hands were covered with his blood. I hadn’t expected to see her. I hadn’t expected all that blood. When I got around to the other side of the bed and saw…” Vivian turned in to me, clutching at my shirt.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell us what you saw. Sshh,” I told her, rubbing her back, feeling completely inadequate.
“I almost didn’t go in,” she sobbed. “I thought about James and I got scared. I almost left. I should’ve left.”
Juan Carlos joined us, hugging her from the other side. Crouching down in front of us, Richard put his hand on Viv’s knee. He squeezed it in silent support and offered Viv a wad of tissues.
I hated to do it, but I had to press her. “What happened next, Viv?”
Blotting her eyes, she sniffed and straightened away from us. Even in her grief I could tell that she still had the resolve to want to help. “I thought Trinity had done it. At first she just stood there, her hands soaked, her eyes wild and crazy. You have to understand.” Viv wiped her eyes. “After the fire Trinity was never the same. Whatever happened in the house that night totally took her over the edge. She was never right after that, unpredictable and sometimes violent.
“So when I saw her and Dhane and all that blood, I was afraid. I called the police and that’s when Trinity flipped out. She started running around smearing the blood from her hands on everything. She was frantic. It was like the blood burned her or something. That’s when I noticed Curio on the floor. I picked him up and gave him to Trinity. She immediately calmed down.”
“So you confessed because of a years-old promise to protect Trinity?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it be better if she got the help she needed?”
“I wasn’t thinking. I told her to go back to her suite and wash up. When the police got there, I told them I did it. Later, when they started asking me questions, I realized that Trinity couldn’t have done it.”
“The head.” Juan Carlos shuddered.
“Yes, exactly,” Vivian said. “She couldn’t have done it for the same reasons I couldn’t have, but by then it was too late. I’d confessed.”
“Where does Sora fit into all this?” I asked. “I can kind of get why you would go and see Dhane, but I’ve never known you to look twice at a married man.”
Viv tilted her head to one side. “What are you talking about?”
Richard, Juan Carlos, and I exchanged looks.
Viv looked around at each of us. “What is she talking about? Dhane wasn’t married.”
We all moved back a little, knowing what would come next.
“Um, he was. And, ah, I met her.” I braced myself for the explosion.
“No, he wasn’t,” she insisted.
“Honey, pookie, lovey bear,” Juan Carlos crooned, stroking her hair. “I’m so sorry, but he was. His little wifey spoke at his memorial. We were all there.”
Vivian looked with narrowed eyes to Richard for further confirmation. Richard gulped and rubbed his palms on his thighs. Vivian could be terribly frightening for a pint-size pinup.
Richard nodded and Viv exploded off the bed, waving her arms around and shouting in Spanish at no one in particular. I was pretty sure most of what she said would result in a lot of confessing and Hail Marys for her later.
I looked to Juan Carlos for help, but he just shrugged. “You know I don’t speak Spanish.”
Neither did Viv really, but she knew all the swears and more gutter talk than a corner drug dealer. One of the few benefits of having two older brothers.
“I can’t believe that tramposo! What was he doing calling me in when he had a wife? Que un pendejo!”
“I understood that,” Juan Carlos said. “Hey, maybe the wife found out about you and gave old two-timing Dhane the ax.” When he realized what he’d said, Juan Carlos backpedaled. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” He drew a line across his throat. “I didn’t mean she gave him the ax, ax. I just meant maybe she…I’m making it worse, aren’t I?”
“Now would be a good time to shut up,” Richard said.
“No, wait. He’s right,” I said. “If Dhane had a tendency to cheat and his wife got wind of it, that’s a real strong motive. She could’ve been the one who killed him.”
Viv got right up in my face—well, as much as she could, being about six inches shorter than me. She was such a shrimp without her high heels on. “Where’s this wife? I want to meet her.”
I thought about the sex I’d overheard in Dhane’s suite. Who else could it be? “Ah, she might be busy.”
Viv propped her hands on her hips. “What do you mean busy?”
“Whoa, ho, ho! Azalea knows something. Look at her blush. Come on, out with it, Zee,” Juan Carlos said.
“I don’t actually know anything, not really.”
“You may as well tell them,” Richard said. “They’re not going to give up until you do.”
He was right. There was no getting out of this one. “All right. I’ll tell you what I think. These are not facts, just a lot of conjecture and gossiping on my part.”
Juan Carlos clapped his hands. “I love gossip and conjecture!”
I told them about when I’d first met Sora in Trinity’s suite and the way Ace had looked and acted around her. Then I told them about what I’d noticed at the memorial service. “If Sora isn’t having an affair with Ace, it wouldn’t be for lack of devotion on his part.”
“That is just plain nasty. A man died. His ghost could be watching. Oh my God! If she got pregnant, I bet the baby would be cursed. You know, like that movie…” Juan Carlos snapped his fingers. “What was that movie?”
“I have no idea,” Richard said.
“What the hell kind of name is Sora?” Vivian asked.
Juan Carlos tisked. “Easy, Jealous Jezebel. Tramps in glass houses shouldn’t throw cheater stones.”
“For that matter, Ace could have a very s
trong motive for killing Dhane,” I said, thinking out loud. “Maybe he got tired of waiting for her to leave the marriage. Or, if they were having an affair, maybe he was tired of being second string and he wanted her all for himself.”
“Yeah, but why would he kill Trinity?” Richard asked.
“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”
Conversation went on around me, but my head was so full of whys and what-ifs, I wasn’t paying any attention. Who had both motive and opportunity to kill Dhane and Trinity?
Sora could have killed Dhane to get out of the marriage, but why kill Trinity? Ace could have done it to clear his path to Sora, but again, why kill Trinity? She wasn’t a threat to anyone as far as I could tell.
Unless…
The new product the company had been developing would make millions for the owners. Dhane’s death would’ve put a halt to any sale that had been in the works. I’d taken Mac out of the equation for the simple fact that she wasn’t even in the state when Dhane died. But what if she’d hired someone to do it for her? Jerk and Shorty seemed like the kind of guys you’d hire to kill someone. There was only one catch… Why kill Trinity? No, it had to be someone who would gain from killing both Dhane and Trinity.
So then who had the most to gain from the two siblings’ deaths?
Either Ace or Sora could’ve killed Trinity or the both of them working together. Maybe they thought Trinity would inherit the company before Sora, depending on how Dhane’s will read. Plus, that would leave them free to continue their romance out in the open. Mac wasn’t listed in the corporation documents as a partner or even an officer in the company, but Dhane couldn have listed her as his beneficiary of the company.
Now all I needed to prove or disprove either of my theories was a copy of Dhane’s will. Not an easy thing to get ahold of for sure.
This whole thing kept turning circles on itself. Just when I thought I might have a handle on what was going on, something happened to turn me in another direction. One thing I knew for sure: Dhane and Trinity hadn’t deserved to die. Whoever killed them would likely kill again to get what they wanted.
I only hoped they wouldn’t feel like they had to.
Chapter Seventeen
