Kiss Me Deadly

by Susan Kearney

  “Yes, sir.”

  Another man would have assumed she had a date or was with a friend. So how had Ray known this man was here to protect her? If she hadn’t been seeing him for months before Lisa’s death, she would have refused to see him at all. When she’d considered whether he could have had anything to do with the attacks on the lottery winners, common sense told her that if he was really dangerous, she would have known it long before now.

  “What happens when you sleep?” Ray asked the bodyguard.

  “My replacement will arrive in eight hours.”

  Ray raised his eyebrow. “And if Maria requires privacy?”

  Heat rose to her face. “Ray!” It was bad enough she couldn’t resist Ray’s combination of mystery and passion, he didn’t have to announce it to a stranger. Maria had never in her life been obsessed with a man. She’d always been a good girl and had told herself Ray was simply a fling, her walk on the wild side before she settled down with Mr. Right. But Ray surprised her, intrigued her, and he was just the right combination of sensitive and tough to fuel her fantasies.

  “I have plans for you tonight, amor mío.” Ray placed a proprietary hand on the small of her back and escorted her to his car. Over his shoulder, he spoke to her bodyguard. “There’s no backseat, but you’re welcome to follow. We’re heading to the cemetery.”

  The bodyguard looked at Maria, and she nodded. Then she slipped into the front seat of Ray’s car.

  Ray slid behind the wheel and started the car. He looked so handsome, and she adored the soft leather seats of his Porsche. However, she didn’t like his assuming she was free.

  “Maybe I had other plans.”

  “Then cancel them.” He didn’t seem the least concerned. “You’ll have a better time with me.”

  His voice implied the sex would be hot. She raised her hand to her neck. Although his strangulation had left no marks on her neck, she still recalled her terror and the explosive orgasm that had followed.

  The mix of danger and pleasure called to her like a drug. She’d worked hard to get a good education, and she deserved some fun. But she had to be careful. For all she knew, Lisa could have died because of an illicit sexual relationship.

  “I don’t know.” Maria couldn’t recall the last time she’d wanted something as much as Ray’s lovemaking. Just thinking about going another round with him elevated her pulse. Moisture seeped between her thighs.

  “I have special plans for us. Afterward, I thought I’d take you to my place.”

  The idea intrigued her. She didn’t even know where he lived. They’d met at a club, and he kept his life private. He’d told her little about himself. She didn’t know what he did for a living or where he worked. He just sent her gifts and showed up—usually with no warning, like he had today. She’d often wondered if he was married, or hiding the fact that he lived with his mother—because Ray had a sensitive side, like showing up to accompany her to the funeral, as well as a darkly sensual side.

  His offer to let her see where he lived, find out more about him, tempted her. Yet going into his territory scared her and excited her. She supposed if she brought her bodyguard, it would be all right. She’d have him wait outside. Just his presence should be enough to stop Ray from going too far. Besides, if Ray had wanted to kill her, he’d already had plenty of chances.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “NICK Vizzi WAS a private eye who worked both sides of the law,” Ben explained to Sylvia at their kitchen table, his voice raised a bit to be heard over the glazier’s bangs as he replaced their shot-out bedroom window. “Apparently, last night I nicked Vizzi’s ear. When he went after Mandy, Zack killed him.”

  Sylvia shivered and sipped her coffee. Ben’s old contacts in the police department were all too eager to inform him of news. She worried about him missing the excitement now that he’d retired. “I’m glad Vizzi can’t bother us anymore. But what did you mean when you said he worked both sides of the law?”

  “He was a good snitch. He knew stuff coming down on the streets.” Ben smeared strawberry preserves on his wheat toast, his expression thoughtful.

  “You knew him?” Sylvia asked.

  Ben nodded. “Vizzi was useful. He tipped me off occasionally, but he also skirted the law, installing illegal security systems for those who wanted to know if their phones were tapped.”

  “Did he have any personal reason to come after us or Mandy or Lisa or Dana?”

  “I don’t know, but Catherine Taylor and Associates handled his divorce. Maybe he held a grudge. Maybe it was coincidence.” Ben frowned. “But Vizzi didn’t kill Lisa. The DNA didn’t match.” He chewed his toast, washed it down with fresh-squeezed orange juice.

  She didn’t remember Nick Vizzi or his spouse. But her memory wasn’t infallible.

  “Vizzi always had money problems. Although he had a rap sheet as long as my arm, he wasn’t violent.”

  Sylvia rolled her eyes. “He tried to shoot us. That’s violent.”

  “However, I could see him scheming to steal the winning lottery ticket. Maybe he had a partner.”

  “The man at the airport who attacked Dana?” Sylvia raised her eyebrows. She didn’t want Ben back on the street investigating. In a wheelchair, he was simply too easy a target. “Maybe you should suggest your theory to Zack,” she said. “Let him look into it.”

  “You want me out of it, don’t you?” Ben smiled at her, his tone gentle.

  “Yes. If I’m being selfish, I can live with that—as long as you’re safe.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  GABBY SAT IN her high chair, playing with her cereal. While Zack found his daughter’s every movement fascinating, an undercurrent of tension in the kitchen kept distracting him from his own breakfast.

  Mandy’s mother sighed, her smile vanishing the moment she’d joined them in the kitchen and noticed Zack and the bruises on his face. Even without the bruises, he’d probably still have that stay-away-from-my-daughter effect on mothers. One look and they usually figured out he was bad news. But Mandy’s mom shot him a curious glance. “I’ve waited two years for an explanation, it’s time to ’fess up.”

  “What do you mean?” Mandy shoved to her feet, her back to the beach and the blue water of the Gulf of Mexico.

  Zack pushed back from the table, too, intending to give the women privacy. He didn’t need to be here for this conversation.

  But before he made his getaway, Mandy’s mom said, “I’ve got eyes, Amanda. I may not have gone to some fancy law school, but I can see what’s in front of my face. Gabrielle is the spitting image of Zack.” Her mother’s piercing eyes found hers. “I can also count backwards.”

  Mandy’s shock showed in her eyes. Apparently Gabrielle looked so much like him that Mrs. Newman had known the moment she’d seen him that he was the father. Zack didn’t say a word, unsure where the conversation was heading, but positive he didn’t want to be here. He was grateful Gabby was too young to understand the conversation, because a lot of the blame was his. So he didn’t move as uneasiness slicked over his skin.

  “And as much as I love Gabby, I’m too old to watch two kids.”

  “Two kids?” Mandy gasped.

  Lord. Zack prayed her mother hadn’t awakened and heard them making love on the balcony last night. Mandy was extraordinary . . . someone special. The effect she had on him was like a drug. Addictive. No way could he have kept his hands off her—especially after she’d made it clear how much she wanted his touch. Damn, they were good together.

  “From the sparks flying off the two of you this morning, it looks like you’re about to make another baby on the kitchen floor.”

  “Mom. It’s not like that.”

  Did what they’d shared show on his face? Obviously, around Mandy, keeping his expression stoic was just not happening.

  Since
Mandy’s mother had figured out Gabby was his, Zack suspected that Dana and Catherine must also know the truth. He couldn’t help feeling bothered that he was probably the only one who hadn’t known. He understood Mandy had had her reasons, and he didn’t have anyone to blame but himself for dropping out of everyone’s lives . . . but damn it—he still felt as if he was standing on the outside of a conspiracy.

  His phone rang, and Zack couldn’t have been more relieved. He answered the call and took it into the living room. When he returned, the women were no longer arguing, although the tension was arcing through the room.

  “That was Ben.” Zack slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Why don’t we go for that walk on the beach, and I’ll fill you in,” he suggested, hoping Ms. Newman wouldn’t choose to accompany them.

  She didn’t. But it wasn’t much of a walk. Even with Mandy and him each holding one of Gabrielle’s hands, the baby kept stopping. “She looks at the oddest things. A broken seashell. A stick. Seaweed.”

  “Everything’s new to her. But if you want to go faster, I can carry her.”

  “I don’t mind. It’s fun watching her. It’s like her world is one big adventure.”

  Wind tossed a stray piece of paper across the beach, and Gabby laughed. Mandy shared a smile of pleasure with him, and Zack couldn’t help smiling back, and his mood lightened. “Gabby seems to have happily accepted me and my bruises without any wariness—as if she expects the best of everyone because she’d always been well treated—unlike Todd, who used to flinch every time I raised my hand to do something innocent, like reach for a newspaper.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I couldn’t be more grateful to you for seeing to this precious little baby’s welfare. I wish I’d been here to help. I wish . . .”

  “What?”

  He didn’t know what he wished. “Knowing about her changes everything.”

  “Yeah.” Mandy didn’t say more. She didn’t press him. She seemed to realize he still needed time to get his thoughts in order. And he realized how lucky he was to know her. She understood him better than he might even understand himself.

  When they finally reached the water, Mandy gave up on the walk and sat in the sand next to the baby. “What did Ben say?”

  The morning light bathed her face in a golden glow, and although neither of them had had but a few hours of sleep, the contented look in her eyes pleased him. For a few hours, they’d forgotten the killer. Over breakfast Sam had called to tell him that Nick Vizzi hadn’t murdered Lisa—so her killer was still out there, still dangerous. Then Ben had suggested Zack might want to search for any connection between Vizzi and the black man who’d attacked the women at the garage. Perhaps an investigation might even lead him and Mandy to the missing lottery ticket.

  With the warm water from the Gulf of Mexico gently lapping at their feet in the still morning, Zack didn’t want to answer Mandy’s question. He watched fishermen returning from their early morning hauls with their catch and a sailboat following the coast. Finally, he broke the peaceful moment and explained Ben’s theory on investigating Vizzi as Gabrielle tried to eat sand.

  Gently, Mandy pulled the baby’s hand from her mouth. “Gabby, no. Sand is dirty.”

  “Dir-tee?” Gabby looked at Mandy and grinned, then picked up more sand and threw it at her toes.

  Zach sighed. “We still have no explanation how Vizzi found us at Catherine’s rental house.”

  “Pretty much everyone at the firm has used it at one time or another. Your mother is a generous woman.”

  Mandy brushed a stray lock of hair from her eyes and glanced at him over Gabrielle’s head. “Do you think it’s odd that Vizzi used to work with Ben?”

  “Vizzi was a paid informant. He worked with several police officers.”

  “It still seems like a strange coincidence.”

  “What are you saying?” Zack asked, uncertain where she was going.

  “I’m not sure.”

  But Mandy’s suspicions had Zack thinking. “You know if Ben had hired Vizzi to steal the ticket and knock off the other winners, he and Sylvia would claim a larger portion of the lottery winnings.”

  “Ben and Sylvia plotting murder? No way. I know them well. Like them. Ben’s a fantastic cop. No one ever has a bad thing to say about the guy. Sylvia’s the grandmotherly type, adored by everyone at the firm. Neither of them seems to have a greedy bone in their bodies. Their behaving like murderers doesn’t wash or make sense. If Vizzi had succeeded in killing me, Gabby and my mom would inherit my share.”

  Zack frowned. “Who’s to say Vizzi wouldn’t have gone after them next?”

  “Although I think your scenario is far-fetched, I’m glad Mom and Gabby are at the beach house and not my condo.” She shivered. “I’ll feel better when their bodyguard shows up.”

  Realizing his words had upset her, he placed an arm over her shoulder. “There’s no point in anyone going after your mother or Gabby while you’re alive—and I intend to keep you safe. Besides, it’s just as likely someone’s targeting members of the law firm out of a personal grudge.”

  “But you don’t think so?” she pressed.

  “I’m trying to think of every possibility. A good investigator doesn’t eliminate any suspect until the evidence clears him.”

  She disagreed. “I still don’t believe Ben and Sylvia could have hired Vizzi. And don’t forget, Vizzi came into Ben’s backyard to shoot Sylvia, maybe Ben, too.”

  “So Ben claims. But we don’t know why Vizzi was there. Maybe Vizzi came to see Ben, his boss.”

  “But Ben shot him.”

  “What better way for Ben to cover his tracks than to kill the guy he’d hired to do his dirty work?”

  Mandy pulled a hat from her back pocket and placed it over Gabby’s head to protect her from the sun. “Anyone could have hired Vizzi. Like Damien Reed, the stockbroker, or even the pediatrician. Or Vizzi could have been working alone.”

  “True. But as you pointed out, Ben already knew Vizzi. Now Vizzi’s dead because Ben warned me he might be coming. That’s a good way to shut a man up, have him killed.”

  “But Sam told Dana to warn us, too. It was the decent thing to do.” She sighed. “And there’s so much money. Why would a good cop kill to get a larger share? Ben doesn’t have a first-class motive.”

  “Three hundred and sixty million dollars is a very good motive. Don’t Ben and Sylvia have seven kids and twice that many grandchildren? Perhaps he’d rather share with his family than the other lawyers at the firm.”

  “Do you believe your theory?” Mandy asked, her brows drawn into a frown.

  Zack shrugged. “Everyone’s a suspect until we figure out who killed Lisa. For all we know, Vizzi planned to take out Sam, Dana and Catherine, Ben and Sylvia, then you and me. That wipes out a lot of winners and some of their heirs. Lisa was all alone—maybe that’s why she was the first victim.”

  “Lisa may have died without a will, but Catherine intends to see that Lisa’s share goes to her foster parents.” Mandy wiped sand from Gabrielle’s mouth. “Even if one of the lottery winners, their family, or someone they hired is trying to kill the rest of us in order to keep a bigger share of the lottery, there are still holes in your theory.”

  “Because Vizzi rammed your car off the bridge before anyone knew you’d bought the winning ticket?” Zack asked.

  “Exactly.”

  Zack stared at the horizon. “Vizzi’s still our best lead. After the funeral, why don’t we check him out? See if we can find a link between him and any lottery winners or the guy who attacked you and Dana at the airport.”

  “Won’t the police—”

  Zack shook his head. “My source at the department told me the police department is focusing its efforts on tracking down an ex-boyfriend of Lisa’s. Right now he’s the prim
e suspect in her murder.”

  “I like that theory much better than one of us turning on the others out of greed.” Mandy fluffed sand, which had landed there during one of Gabrielle’s misfires, out of her hair. Zack appreciated her easy companionship with the child. Mandy didn’t fuss or worry about the sand. She simply enjoyed her daughter and kept her safe, stopping her from eating the sand but letting her enjoy playing in it.

  “Apparently,” Zack said, “Lisa’s boyfriend had a temper. During an argument with his mother, he put his fist through a wall. When a former girlfriend broke up with him, he dragged her out from behind her station at the hair salon into the parking lot. He slammed his fist into her car’s windshield, and the police had to break up the argument.”

  “Have the cops brought him in for questioning yet?” Mandy’s voice rose in frustration.

  “They can’t find him.”

  “If one of us has stolen the ticket and hired Vizzi to come after the rest of us, then none of us are safe.”

  “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma.” Gabby stood, using Mandy’s shoulder to steady her shaky upright position. The baby bobbed up and down on her toes, her eyes bright with excitement.

  “What is it?” Mandy asked.

  A flock of sea gulls had landed on the beach, and her daughter tried to step toward them but fell back on her bottom. Undeterred, she crawled toward the birds with such determination that Zack laughed. “I wonder what she’d do if she caught one.”

  Mandy grinned. “Hopefully, we’ll never have to find out.”

  Mandy’s mother came out onto the deck and motioned for them to leave the beach and return to the house. About a hundred yards away, she couldn’t have overheard their conversation, but from her stiff posture, she looked tense.

  Zack spoke gently. “I think your mother wants us to come inside.”

  “She wants to talk to me—alone.”

  He raised his eyebrow. “How do you know?”

  “She gave me her I-want-to-talk look over breakfast.”