The Deadly Art of Deception

by Linda Crowder

  “Oh my God, Cara!” Mel threw her arm around my shoulders, nearly pulling me off my stool. “No wonder you were so upset.”

  “Cara, please tell me you didn’t go up to the mill alone to confront Jack.”

  I tried, but I couldn’t quite meet Bent’s gaze. “I stopped by Dan’s office first. Tammy said he’d gone home.”

  “And you couldn’t wait? Or come get me? Cara, are you trying to get yourself killed?” I don’t think I’d ever seen Bent angry. He was the most easygoing person I’d ever met, yet here he was, actually shouting at me.

  “Bent, honey, keep your voice down.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I thought about it, but I had my gun and—”

  “And you’ve never shot a man with that gun. You don’t know until you have to whether you actually will. It’s not a choice I’d wish on you.” I stared at Bent, open-mouthed. I’d forgotten he was in the Navy. Maybe he’d done more than cook during his time overseas.

  “Cara’s learned her lesson, I think, Bent,” said Dan, then he turned to me. “Good thing you called me, but if Jack had been there, and if he’d been our killer, I might not have been able to get to you in time to do any good. Bent’s right. Hunting’s one thing, but pulling a trigger to take the life of another human being, that’s something else altogether. Any person with a conscience is gonna have trouble with that one, even when it’s a question of your life or his. A second’s hesitation could be the last mistake you ever have the chance to make.”

  I sat silently, letting the impact of their words soak into me. What a fool I’d been to go out there alone to talk to Jack, and now that I thought of it, it may have been equally foolish to confront Taylor the way I’d done. If she was the killer, now she knew I had seen her with someone who was obviously more than a friend. The heck with loyalty, it was time to lay all my cards on the table.

  As expeditiously as I could, I told them everything. I started with the details the renter had told me, including his observation of the visits Dan had made to Frank’s cabin, then told them about the scene between Taylor and the mystery man. I finished with the confrontation with Taylor that led to my decision to talk to Jack. The only thing I withheld were my own musings since they were only thoughts, and I was trying to stick to the facts.

  When I finished, there was a long silence as the three of them digested what I’d said. Bent was the first to speak. “Dan, how fast can the state crime lab get here to take a look at the mill?”

  “I’ll put a call in to them tonight. If I know the boys at the lab, they’ll head out at first light. Not every day they get to process a scene like that.”

  “Dan, that’s morbid,” I told him. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten so much.

  “Maybe, but it’s true. Every lawman lives for the opportunity to put their skills to the test. Not that we hope something like this will happen, especially to someone we know, but I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t make your blood run a little faster.”

  “I understand,” said Bent. “How long will it take to get a DNA reading so we know whether Frank or Jack is our victim?”

  “This morning I would have said a few weeks, but now that Cara’s found the scene of the crime, I’d say we just got bumped up the priority list.”

  “Okay, but you two are forgetting one thing.” Both men looked at me. “I can see Frank killing Jack or Jack killing Frank in the heat of the moment if the two of them got into it when Frank took Jack home that night. What I can’t see is why either one of them would... use the equipment at the mill... then dump the body in the bay. What kind of person does that?”

  “Someone who’s gone over the edge, Cara,” said Bent.

  “I agree,” said Dan. “I get why the killer would want to cover it up, but this is more than a little extreme. You gotta be some kinda crazy to do a thing like that.”

  “So where does Taylor figure in all of this?” asked Mel.

  “Yeah, that’s what I was going to talk to you about. What kind of evidence do you have that Taylor was involved in Johnny’s death? Or that his death was anything but an accident? And don’t give me that crap about an open investigation, Dan. Taylor said you testified about this in probate court. Don’t make me pull the transcripts.”

  “I spoke with the judge in chambers,” said Dan. “All I said on the record was that I had reason to believe the death was suspicious and Ms. Lennon might be involved.”

  “C’mon, Dan. If I’m in danger, I think I have a right to know what you know.”

  Dan got up and walked to the door between the kitchen and the dining room. He looked first, then he went out without speaking, and the three of us stared silently at each other. He returned a few minutes later with another pitcher of root beer. After filling our glasses, he sat down. “Place is empty so I locked up for you. Now look, I know you three are friends of Taylor Lennon, but you were Johnny’s friends too. If what I tell you gets back to her, you could be helping her get away with murder. Keep that in mind if she makes you feel guilty for not trusting her. She’s real good at that, I hear.”

  He looked pointedly at me, and I blushed and looked away. Dan continued, “She told you Jack thought she had a lover. That’s not quite true.”

  “She didn’t?”

  “No. She had a husband. Still has, so far as I can tell.”

  “What?” Mel’s hand flew to her mouth in shock.

  “Wait a minute, you mean Taylor was married before she married Johnny?” I asked.

  “Before, during, and after.”

  “That would mean her marriage to Johnny was—”

  “Illegal.”

  “Did Johnny know that?” I asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, that’s something, I suppose. It would have broken his heart,” observed Mel.

  “Better a broken heart than dead,” I retorted. “Dan, when did you find out about this?”

  “Not until after Johnny died. You know I would have told him if I’d known. It was Jack who found out about her. He came to me with the proof. He didn’t want her inheriting Johnny’s money because with that behind her, she’d be untouchable.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Money talks, Cara. It shouldn’t, but it does. Hire the best lawyers, and if that fails, a private plane to fly you somewhere the law can’t touch you.”

  “There’s no way Johnny had that kind of money. Taylor might have, but she insists she didn’t have nearly as much money as I’d always thought she did.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Ms. Lennon’s fortune wasn’t as much as you thought because it wasn’t anything at all.”

  “What?”

  “Ms. Lennon was broke when she married Johnny. Jack tried everything he could to get Johnny to do a pre-nup, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”

  “Jack always said she was a gold digger,” I said.

  “I can’t prove it, but I agree with him.”

  “How much gold are we talking about?” asked Bent.

  “She stands to inherit close to fifteen million dollars in cash and other assets. That kind of money gives people ideas.”

  “Fifteen million dollars.” The words sounded as impossible coming from me as they had hearing them from Dan. “Are you serious?”

  “Dead serious, pardon the expression. That was enough to persuade the probate judge to give me time to investigate.”

  “And what have you come up with?” asked Bent.

  “Nothing to hang my hat on. She was smart enough to live alone in Seattle, and she came back to Coho Bay alone.”

  “She told me she ran out of money.”

  “She probably did. Wouldn’t have taken her long to run through Johnny’s life insurance.”

  “But how could she have killed Johnny?” asked Mel. “You can’t fake a bear attack.”

  “Oh, the bear killed him, that’s for sure. I’ll spare you the details of how we know, but take my word for it, the coroner had no doubt about that.”

  �
��So again, how could she have killed him?” Mel asked.

  “That, I can’t tell you. Just take my word for it that I do have a viable theory. I just can’t prove it.”

  “So what about the man I saw her with?” I asked.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s her husband.”

  “You said she came back alone.”

  “She arrived alone. He would have come separately.”

  “So who is he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know? You said Jack brought you proof.”

  “He brought me a marriage license. The name turned out to be false, and no one by that name is in Coho Bay now or then.”

  “Then how do you know she was married? Maybe Jack made it up. Wouldn’t he be in line to inherit all those millions if Taylor were disqualified?”

  “The license was real. I verified it myself. What was fake was the name of the groom and the ID he provided when they took out the license, but they tell me that would only invalidate the marriage if he was using a false name to cover up a reason why he couldn’t legally marry her.”

  “Okay, so she was married. How do you know she didn’t divorce fake ID guy before she married Johnny?”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “The truth. Are you so sure Taylor’s guilty that you’re ignoring any evidence that says she’s not?”

  “I couldn’t find any record of a divorce anywhere in the United States or Canada. She attested to the fact she’d never been married before on the application she filled out with Johnny, and when I asked her about it, she denied ever being married.”

  “What did she say about the license?” asked Bent.

  “She said it must be fake, but if it is, it’s a fake with her signature on it. And don’t say it’s forged, Cara, I had the handwriting experts at the state verify it.”

  “Is that all you’ve got on her?” asked Bent.

  “Sadly, yes. This guy Cara saw may be our first real break. If I can track him down, I might be able to crack this case wide open.”

  “Well, if he exists, won’t he be with her at the cabin tonight?” asked Mel.

  “He exists,” I told her.

  “Possibly,” said Dan. “I have the cabins under surveillance. Have ever since Frank went missing. If he turns up, we’ll know.”

  “You have my cabins under surveillance?” I asked. “How?”

  “Some things are better left unsaid. Anyway, I’d better be getting back out to Jack’s. I don’t have the mill under surveillance, so I’ll have to keep an eye on it myself until I can get the crime lab in there. Thanks for dinner, Bent. Surprisingly good, that turkey cheeseburger. You oughta try it.”

  “No thanks,” said Bent with a grimace.

  Dan walked to the back door, then turned and looked at me. “Cara, I think you’d better plan on staying here, at least for now. Until I know who this guy is, I don’t think anyone’s safe being alone.”

  “You’re going off alone into the woods to guard the mill. The killer could come back to make sure he hasn’t left anything behind.”

  “Actually, I won’t be alone. I don’t want to say more than that, but trust me, I’m taking every precaution until we know exactly who we’re dealing with. See you all tomorrow.” He tapped his hat, a ball cap, not a knit one, and left.

  “What do you think he meant by that, Bent?” I asked.

  “I don’t know for sure. I think he meant he has some men he can trust to have his back and that we’re all safer not knowing anything more about it.” Bent got up and started clearing the table, but Mel stopped him.

  “You’d better go with Cara so she can pack a suitcase. If she’s here for the duration, she may as well be comfortable.”

  I wanted to argue, but Dan had scared me again with all his cloak-and-dagger talk. I didn’t want to believe that Taylor was the monster he was describing, but she had lied to me about Frank and she hadn’t had an explanation for the man she’d been with. The truth can be told in a heartbeat, but a lie takes time to create. She’d probably have one by morning, but I didn’t want to hear it. No, I was safer at Mel’s, and I knew it, so I put on my coat and trailed after Bent without any argument at all.

  “We have got to stop doing this,” I said to him after we’d covered about half of the distance.

  “We could always have your folks build a room for you in that house they’ll be building behind the restaurant.”

  “You know we were just joking about that.”

  “You were, but they won’t be. You wait and see. That’s one thing Taylor wasn’t lying about.”

  We stopped talking because we both realized there wouldn’t be any building going on in Coho Bay now that the sawmill was out of operation. I shuddered and told myself it was because of the cold. I was glad once again that I hadn’t gone inside. When we got to my apartment, Bent took my key and motioned for me to stand behind him. He tested the door first, and I was glad that it was locked. I don’t think my heart could have stood another hair-raising search for intruders.

  We went inside, glad to be out of the cold, and I hurried upstairs to pack. I would be working the next two days, the last two days of the season, so I put in two sets of the Coho Bay uniform. A few other necessities and some clothes to change into on the off chance that I would want to relax at the end of the day, and I was ready. Passing through the living room, I stopped. Hurrying to the bookshelf, I grabbed one of the few titles I hadn’t yet read. Looking at the bloodthirsty cover in my hands, I decided to trade it for a romantic comedy. I rejoined Bent, who took my suitcase. When we left, we took care to lock the door behind us.

  “You’ll have to change the lock on that door,” he said as we trudged back down the boardwalk.

  “Taylor left her key on the counter.”

  “Doesn’t mean she didn’t have two.”

  I didn’t answer. “I hate this,” I said at last.

  “I know. Don’t worry, little sister. We’ll get this sorted out, and life can get back to normal.”

  “Dan said something like that on the way back from Jack’s place. I don’t know that I’ll ever go back to the way I was before. I feel like that ship has sailed.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, but never say never. We’ll see how you feel about things once this is over.”

  Chapter 10

  Taylor woke me from a deep sleep, shaking me awake until I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know she was there. “Go away. Can’t you see I’m sleeping?”

  “Cara.” Her whisper was something I felt more than heard. “Wake up, I need you.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I need your help, Cara. I’m in real trouble.”

  “Why can’t you be in trouble in the middle of the day like everybody else?” I complained, but I got up, shivering as the cold air in the bedroom hit me. I pulled on my jeans and a sweater and followed her out of the guest room. “How did you know I’d be here?”

  “Where else would you be?”

  Couldn’t argue with that logic. “How did you get in?”

  “Why do you have to ask so many questions? All you’ve been doing since I came back is ask questions. Why can’t you just trust me?”

  “You’d be easier to trust if you didn’t keep lying to me.”

  “I never lied to you.”

  “You never stopped lying to me, Taylor.”

  She turned to look at me. “You never call me Taylor.”

  “It’s the middle of the night. Where are we going?” More importantly, why was I following her when Dan had me half convinced she was a murderer? I took a step back.

  “You know, don’t you?” Her eyes flashed in the darkened stairwell. I saw a glint of light bounce off a blade in her hand. Where had that come from? “Dan told you about me, and you believed him.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I kept going backward, feeling for the next step and pulling myself up. Dear God, how many steps were there? I don
’t remember taking this many steps down. What would she do if I ran up the stairs? What if I started screaming? Could Bent get here in time? At least it would alert them to the danger so she couldn’t get the drop on them.

  “You little idiot.” Taylor’s voice was close, too close. I hadn’t seen her take a step, yet her voice was right at my ear. “If you’d just kept quiet, I’d have given you a share of the money once the estate was settled.”

  “I don’t want Johnny’s money.”

  “It’s my money! My money for putting up with that sniveling coward and his ape of a father.”

  “I thought you loved Johnny.” That had been the one thing I’d been sure of when I hadn’t been sure of anything else about Taylor. That had been the one truth that always made me forgive her, no matter how mad I got.

  She started to laugh, but there were no fairy bells this time. She sounded like something out of a horror movie, right before the demented killer slashed another hapless teen. I pushed her as hard as I could and ran up the stairs. She screamed, and I heard her falling and screaming until she hit the wall at the bottom and the screaming stopped. Only it didn’t stop. I could still hear the screams, but they sounded like they were coming from a long way away. Why was she still screaming?

  “Cara! Cara, wake up! Honey, it’s okay. You’re safe.”

  I opened one eye, and when I saw Mel sitting on my bed and Bent standing in the door behind her, the other. It had been a dream. “Oh, Mel, thank God you woke me. It felt so real. Taylor was here. She said she was in trouble and she needed my help. Then she turned on me. She had a knife! I pushed her down the stairs. She was screaming and screaming.”

  Mel put her arms around me and rocked me as Mom had when we’d been kids and one of us had had a bad dream. “It was just a dream. Nobody’s gonna hurt you, Cara. We won’t let them.”

  I pulled away from her. “But that’s the problem, Mel. I’m putting you in danger. Taylor said she knew I was here because where else would I be?”