A Deadly Engagement

by Danielle Collins

  “Margie…” Adam stopped her with gentle hands on her shoulders. “Explain.”

  “All right. As I talked to Thea, it became clear. She was picked. She was targeted!”

  “How so?” Adam’s expression changed.

  “First off, Thea doesn't usually work the check-in desk. She was being trained for it and then the person scheduled to work the desk got two flat tires.”

  Adam frowned. “Margot, it’s the country. Flat tires happen.”

  “But two? No.” She shook her head. “I think that it was Ben’s doing.”

  “So now he’s not only a murderer and a thief, he’s also a tire slasher?”

  She sent Adam a sharp look. “I think he did that because he saw something in Thea he could exploit.” Even as she said it, she wasn’t sure she fully believed that. “Or maybe not so much exploit as use.”

  “Isn’t that the same thing?”

  “Close.” Margot turned away and stared out the window. “I think what he told her about taking care of his mother was true. I think he saw that she was struggling. Who knows, maybe he even felt sorry for her?” Though Margot knew that would be hard to rationalize, because Ben had to know that Thea would be blamed. “Either way, I think he was able to find something he could use to gain her sympathy and he used it to his advantage. My guess would be, if you look into the person whose tires were flat, you’ll find they have no obvious footholds, whereas Thea is obviously in need of money.”

  “But did you say she wasn’t bribed?”

  “True.” Margot folded her arms. “I really don’t think she was. But I think she sympathetic and that’s the big key.”

  “What does all of this mean, though?” Adam looked to her for her take on the information.

  “I think it means that he had researched this whole thing well. Too well to be caught on camera after supposedly murdering someone. Who, by the way, is also a criminal. There has to be more here.”

  “I agree.” Adam began to pace this time. “I took a look at their evidence again with what you said I mind and I tend to agree. I caught the look you saw and I do think he looks…shaken. Granted, it’s not evidence—at least not hard evidence,” he rushed to say, “but it is something.”

  “What are you thinking?” she asked, recognizing his look.

  “I think they could have been in on this score together.”

  “And?” Margot prompted.

  “And something went drastically wrong.”

  “Like murder? That doesn’t just accidentally happen. I understood it was pretty clear this was intentional.”

  “True,” Adam admitted. “He was stabbed in the chest with a hunting knife.” Margot cringed at that mental image. “So it could have been anyone—local or not. It was a common knife.”

  “But there was no blood on Ben.”

  Adam met her gaze and shrugged. “True, but we did find gloves at the scene.”

  “At the scene?”

  “Yes. They were the cotton kind that museum workers use to handle artifacts.”

  “So no possibility of prints from the inside.”

  “None. Not on cotton like that.”

  “Then he supposedly left them?”

  “That’s what it looks like.” Adam turned his attention back to the file on the table. “It’s possible Ben stabbed the man, abandoned the gloves, and left.”

  “But…” Ben’s face when he left the room flashed in front of Margot’s vision again. He looked surprised—shocked even—but not shaken in the way that suggested he’d just killed a man. “Was there evidence of when Ben entered the room?”

  “No.” Adam shook his head. “He must have come another way. Either the window, which faces a typically empty courtyard, or the air duct vent. It looked disturbed, but we can’t pinpoint that as his doing.”

  “So there is no way to tell if he was in there for a long time or a short time before he left.”

  “If you’re trying to find a way to prove he didn’t do it, believe me, I’ve tried. I don’t want to blame an innocent man—then again, we know he’s not innocent. You saw the jewels he had in his hands when he left.”

  Margot nodded. Another surprising part of the whole plan. Why had he come out with jewels in his hands if he’d known he’d be caught on camera?

  “We need to get going. I’ve been authorized to take back what I need—mostly copies of the files—but I promised Bentley I’d get him back before it was too late tonight.”

  Margot nodded and helped Adam clear up the papers on the table.

  “We’ll figure this out, Margie. Believe me.”

  “I know,” she said, slipping the last paper into a folder. What she didn't say was the fact that she was going to do everything she could to prove that Ben Anderson, while a thief, was not a murder.

  They drove back to North Bank in relative silence. If they weren’t quietly looking at the scenery around them, they were talking about inconsequential things. Nothing that would be too serious or that would involve the case. Margot could tell that it was deeply affecting Bentley, but also that he didn’t want to talk about it.

  While they weren’t talking about it openly, Margot couldn’t keep her mind from thinking through the details of the case.

  She thought through what they knew. There had been a large robbery involving most of the women on the guest list at the ball hosted at The Garber. Ben had the names ahead of time and was able to make connections with most of the women on the list. What did that tell her? He was a researcher.

  It also made her think of poor Thea Simon and how she had been the victim of Ben’s research. He had found something to exploit in her. Then again, he had also paid her an exorbitant tip. That didn’t quite add up to Margot. Was it just the fact that he knew his score from The Garber would be worth it? Or had he actually felt sorry for the woman?

  Then there was the fact that his car had been found in North Bank, burning, and containing the body of Terry Guzman, not Ben Anderson. She had found out from Adam that Guzman had also been registered at the hotel under an assumed name, as had Frank Harper and Ben Anderson. Was it really just a big thieving operation gone bad?

  But then that didn't exactly match up. The only way she could explain it with the current facts was that Ben, Frank, and Terry had been in on the scheme together. They had checked into The Garber as three separate guests and then…that was where Margot got stuck.

  Either Ben killed Frank and escaped with Terry only to kill him in North Bank, or something else had happened that didn’t add up.

  And why go to North Bank? That fact bothered Margot. It made sense for Ben if he was indeed looking to reconnect with his birth father, but didn’t thieves tend to separate after a heist? Or was that her love of mystery novels speaking? And why would Ben further ruin his reputation, knowing he’d been caught on camera, by burning up his own car?

  Then an idea occurred to Margot and she said it out loud before she could stop herself. “Was there a car stolen from The Garber?”

  Her question interrupted the silence and she clamped her lips shut, regretting that she’d spoken out loud.

  Adam’s eyes flickered to the backseat by way of the rearview mirror and then he tipped his head. Bentley was asleep. Thankful that she hadn’t just opened that can of worms in the car, she waited until they had dropped Bentley off—making sure he was settled with everything he needed for the night, including dinner from Pane Dolce—before they spoke of her theory again.

  “What is this about a stolen car?” Adam asked when he pulled up to her corner row house late that night.

  “I had a thought,” she said, turning to him and trying to explain her logic. “It doesn’t make sense for Ben to torch his own car, does it? I mean, why draw so much attention to himself like that?”

  “But…” Adam worked out the logic. “If that’s the case…Frank is dead. Terry is dead.”

  “So that means…”

  She waited and watched as Adam’s eyes narrowed. “You thin
k there’s someone else.”

  “I have no evidence but a gut feeling…but yes. I think the only reasonable explanation—aside from Ben doing the horrible things the police are accusing him of—is that there is a fourth man.”

  Adam leaned back, taking in the information. “It’s a big leap in logic. I’ll give you that. But…” He drew the word out. “You could be right. I’ll look into cars that are missing from The Garber and let you know. But, Margot…” He gripped her hand gently. “I know you want to clear Ben’s name, but we have him dead to rights with stolen jewels.”

  “I know.” She said the words and knew they were true, but she still wished they weren’t. Not that she could do anything about them. “But I don’t think he’s guilty of murder. That’s where I draw the line.”

  “Time will tell.” He leaned over and kissed her softly, cupping her cheek. His palm was warm against her skin and she remembered that, in a reality far outside of where they were now, she was engaged to this wonderful man in front of her.

  “Are we going to tell our friends about this engagement soon?” she said, pulling back from his kiss.

  “Soon, my dear.” He kissed her on the nose.

  She grinned, feeling a little less frantic for the first time in a few days. “Soon.”

  “Good night, Margie,” Adam said as she left the car. She felt his gaze on her as she went up the steps of her house, opened her door, and slipped inside.

  9

  Going to the bakery the next morning felt wrong, somehow. She needed to check in with Julia and Dexter, but she felt as if she needed to be doing something to clear Ben’s name—or at least find out the truth behind what they’d learned at The Garber.

  Why she was so certain he was innocent, or at least partially so, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps it had to do with seeing Bentley as a father figure and the fact that she wanted the truth for him. Or maybe it was her curiosity getting the best of her. She had never been good at letting things go—or waiting for the process to go along at its natural rate.

  The bakery came into view and she almost veered off and headed toward the police station, but she held the course, pulling up at the curb. Once inside, the baking for the day permeated the air and she took in a deep breath. She did miss that scent and the feeling of the flour dusting her hands and the smooth surface of her metal countertops beneath her dough.

  “Margot, you’re here!” Julia came toward her, a bright smile on her face.

  Dexter was just pulling two racks of croissants from the oven and called a greeting over his shoulder. “So how did it go at The Garber?”

  “Not as well as I’d hoped.”

  Dexter deposited the trays and came toward her, tossing the oven mitts on the counter. “What’s up?”

  She decided to fill them in on a little of the case, nothing that she thought would get Adam in trouble. By the time she’d finished, Dexter had a look in his eye. “You want me to look into the missing car?”

  She swallowed. “I…don’t know.”

  “Wait, what?” Julia looked between Dexter and Margot and then back at Dexter. “What are you talking about?”

  Dexter looked like a little boy who had his hand caught in the cookie jar. “I’ve…helped Margot in the past with some…computer things.”

  It was clear to Margot that Dexter had yet to tell Julia the full extent of his past. They had been dating a little over a month now, but it was apparent that there were still things that needed to be discussed. She didn’t blame him for not blurting out the fact that he’d once worked for the FBI as a hacker, but now she wasn’t sure how Julia would take this information. While she lived life a little on the wild side, she had a son to look after and that could affect how she felt about Dexter’s past.

  “Really? Like…hacking or something?”

  Dexter looked even more uncomfortable. “Something like that.” Dexter looked like he was about to confess everything, but Julia beat him to it.

  “That is awesome!”

  “What?” Margot said.

  “Really?” Dexter said right after.

  “Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to know if what you’re doing is against the law or anything, but we should be able to do what we can to help Margot and to help Bentley.”

  Margot saw Dexter’s smile grow by the second until she was sure it couldn't feel comfortable to smile that big. “Have I told you lately how amazing you are?”

  “Please,” Margot said with a light laugh. “Not now.”

  They both burst into laughter and then Julia suddenly grew serious. “Well, aren’t you going to help her?”

  Margot help up a hand. “I don’t want you to overstep your bounds here. I know Adam is working on this, but—”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll just…look into things.” He flashed a grin at her, then headed toward her computer.

  “If you incriminate me on that computer, so help me, I’ll—”

  He held up a hand to silence her. “Don’t worry. I’m better than that.”

  Julia rolled her eyes at Margot and they both set to work on the next item on the list. The whole time Dexter was in her office, all Margot could think about was what he might uncover and if it would get her in trouble with Adam. Most of the time, Dexter was able to find something that was supposedly un-findable and then he leaked enough information to Adam. It wasn’t a sanctioned way and Margot suspected that Adam hated it when she interfered by using Dexter.

  She would point out to him this time that it was completely—or at least mostly—Dexter’s fault.

  When they heard a loud “aha!” from the office, Margot’s pulse raced.

  “What’s that crazy child doin’ in there?” Rosie said, coming in the back door and unwinding a thick scarf from around her neck.

  “Just looking something up for me,” Margot said.

  “‘Course he is.” Rosie set off toward the front of the shop, taking a few trays of pastries to put in the front glass display cases. She’d been around the shop long enough to know that when Margot was on to something, all bets were off as to what would happen around the bakery.

  Julia and Margot made their way to the office and crowded in behind him. “What did you find?” Margot asked.

  “It’s what I didn’t find.” He pointed to the screen, but she couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing.

  “Apparently, The Garber has a limited number of cars they rent out—a little like a rental car place, but specifically for the resort,” he explained.

  “Is that their internal system?” Julia asked, eyes wide.

  “Let’s not get into specifics,” he said, then rushed on. “See here?” He tapped the screen where a line was blank.

  “What are we looking at?” Margot asked.

  “The car logs.”

  “And?” she prompted.

  “I did some digging and correlated the last few reports. They all have the same number of cars. Thirty.”

  “I thought you said they had a few cars?” Julia said with wide eyes.

  “To them, that probably is a few. Anyway, I took a look at the last few reports since the date of the incident and guess how many there are now?”

  “Twenty-nine,” Margot said.

  “Yep.”

  “But how would they miss that?” Julia asked.

  “Because there are technically thirty cars.” Dexter was smiling as he turned back to look at them.

  “Okay, you lost me,” Julia said.

  “There is a duplicate. Whoever did this was clever and doubled up on one of the sedans. See?” He pointed to the screen where it listed a car and then scrolled down to the bottom. “Same car. Just noted twice. The numbers match up so it appears there are still thirty cars, but the license plate of the car that’s missing is…well, missing.”

  Margot leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. This meant that someone had taken a car. “But you can find out which one, right?”

  “Yep,” Dexter said with a grin. “A
lready did.” He pulled up the information of the missing car. “This is what was taken out of the recent reports.”

  Margot gasped. “A blue sedan.”

  “Yep. And I also found this.” He clicked through to another page and drew up an email. “It’s supposedly from someone high up on staff to the car maintenance man saying that one car was going to be used long-term.”

  “So, what? Whoever did this made sure the higher-ups thought they had the same amount of cars, but then the maintenance guys thought the car was supposed to be gone?” Julia shook her head. “That’s brilliant.”

  Brilliant was one way to look at it. It was also frightening how thought-out this had been. It didn’t sound like the plan of a man who accidentally got caught on camera leaving the room of a dead man. If Ben had been the mastermind, which Margot was beginning to suspect he was, then he was certainly in on the plan for the heist at The Garber. But to what extent? And had murder been part of that plan?

  With the news of the car theft still ringing in the back of her mind, along with the slightly frustrated call she’d had with Adam about the method she’d used to get said information, Margot had told Julia, Dexter, and Rosie to head home early and she’d taken over the shop.

  Now, with the golden afternoon light shining in through the large front windows, she leaned against the counter and thought about what they’d learned. The main question left was where was Ben? She knew that, now that Adam knew of the stolen car, they would be able to put out a notice for the car with the license plate Dexter had found. Her guess would be that Ben had holed up in some cheap hotel, or that he was long gone.

  She thought the smart thing for him would be to have left, but she had a feeling that he had stayed. There had to be a reason he had come to North Bank in the first place and that reason seemed to be linked to Bentley. Why would Ben leave without connecting with his father? Then again, if talking to his father got him arrested, then perhaps he had left with that thought looming.

  The sunlight shifted and a shadow cast over the floor in front of her. She stood up quickly and her gaze met that of a taller man standing on the other side of the door. He stood there for a moment, as if unsure whether he wanted to come in or not, then he reached out and pulled the door open.