Scottsdale Sizzle: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 3)

by B A Trimmer

  “If you wish, Miss Black. However, we may be able to speak a little more openly if an attorney is not present during our interview.”

  I couldn’t argue with that since I knew he was probably right. At this point, the FBI knew more about this than I did and I needed to learn all I could. If Lenny was there, I wouldn’t be able to get as much information. Lenny tends to put people in a bad mood.

  “OK, where do you want to meet?”

  “We are staying at the Scottsdale Blue Palms. I assume you know where that is?”

  The thought of the FBI guys paying to stay in one of Tony DiCenzo’s hotels brought a smile to my face.

  “I know where it is. What time?”

  “Let’s say nine o’clock. We’ll book a conference room where we can talk. I’ll text you the location in the morning.”

  ~~~~

  I pulled into the parking lot of Frankie Z’s right at seven. Being on time was throwing me off a little since I’m typically a little bit late. I drove around looking for a parking space and finally had to park in the last row.

  Frankie Z’s is a small family-run restaurant off Hayden and Via Linda. Looking at it, you can tell it was here long before any of the newer buildings that now surround it. It’s owned and run by Frankie Zappitelli, a small and ageless Italian woman. Frankie’s father, Giovanni, had started the business in the nineteen-seventies and had named it after her. Pictures of a much younger Frankie and her dad still line the walls of the bar. She had inherited the restaurant after Giovanni died, sometime in the nineteen-nineties, and has been running it ever since. She has five grown children and several grandchildren. They all seem to work at the restaurant at various times throughout the year. The only exception is Frankie’s youngest daughter, Isabella, who is still at home raising the last of Frankie’s grandkids. According to Frankie, Isabella can’t wait for her kids to go out on their own so she can go back to working full time at the restaurant.

  As I walked in, I took a deep breath and smiled. I caught the wonderful aromas of garlic, Italian sausage, and freshly baked bread. It’s funny but I sometimes think that walking in and taking that first deep breath is the best part of going to Frankie’s. It’s almost as if the first whiff of garlic is the start of a great meal.

  I saw Frankie was at her usual place at the hostess stand. She was wearing a long black dress, flat black shoes, and single strand of pearls. As always, her salt and pepper hair was pulled up in a tight bun, held in place with a black knitted hairnet. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Frankie wear anything else. She must have a closet full of long black dresses. When she saw me, she smiled her warm motherly smile.

  “Well, I’m glad you came back. It’s nice I can feed you again. You’re still too skinny.”

  “Hi Frankie,” I said. “I always love walking in the door. Everything always smells so great.”

  “That’s because we make everything ourselves, right here. Nothing ever comes out of a can or from a freezer. I cook like they do back home, like my Mama and Papa cooked. Your cute boyfriend is already here. He always is the first to come here, no? I put you two in the corner on the patio, underneath a fan, very nice, very romantic.” She looked up and yelled “Mario!”

  Mario, one of Frankie’s teenage grandsons, came scurrying up to the hostess stand. Frankie handed me off and Mario led me through the lounge. Over the sounds of people talking, I caught the background music, the soundtrack from The Godfather. Over the years, it seems to have become the standard background music for most Italian restaurants. I always find it to be somewhat ironic, given the plot of the movie.

  Frankie’s youngest son, Little Zappy, was working at his usual spot behind the bar. Little Zappy’s in his mid-forties and weighs a good three hundred pounds. He looked up from pouring a beer and waved as he saw me walking through.

  Mario then led me to the outdoor patio. Even though the night was warm, I still preferred to eat outside. Here, the great aromas of the restaurant were mingled with the delicate scent of fragrant jasmine vines that covered the red brick walls of the courtyard. As always, the patio was beautifully lit with dozens of strands of clear Christmas lights. I smiled as the Love Theme from The Godfather softly played in the background.

  Reno was seated at the table, playing with his cell phone. I was almost at the table before he looked up and saw me. He smiled his great smile and stood up, his arms out for a hug.

  “You’re early,” he said, as I walked closer. “I didn’t expect you for at least another ten or fifteen minutes.”

  “Hey, I’m on-time.”

  “I know, but on-time’s early for you.”

  “Jerk, give me a hug.”

  As I gave him a hug, I saw he had a fresh black eye and had a nasty looking scrape on his right forearm. Not unheard of with Reno but still a little unusual now that he generally leaves the actual takedowns to the younger officers. They find it to be exciting and Reno requires fewer stitches.

  Dominic, Frankie’s middle son, came to take our drink order. We each ordered a scotch and started chatting. As always, it felt great being next to Reno. When I’m near him, my life seems to make sense and my problems don’t seem so big. I feel like I don’t have to be the leader and the problem solver. I can let someone I trust lead for a while. Plus he’s as sexy as hell and I love what he can do to me when we’re alone.

  “Did I hear you were locked in your trunk today?” he asked with a slight grin on his face.

  Damn. It didn’t take long for him to find out about that.

  “Sort of. It was an accident.”

  Reno looked at me for several seconds with his blank face cop stare, the one that seems to read my thoughts. I find it sort of weird that both Max and Reno can do that to me.

  “I’m glad Chugger was able to get you out,” he said at last. “That couldn’t have been comfortable.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t so bad. You know, one of those things.”

  “At least you had your phone with you and were able to call it in. How did you get trapped in your trunk anyway?”

  “Like I said, it was sort of an accident.”

  “Doesn’t your car have an internal latch release? Couldn’t you have pulled that to open the trunk?”

  “Ummm, it’s broken. I’ve been meaning to get it replaced.”

  Make sure to cut the latch release tonight.

  Reno looked at me again with the cop-face for about ten seconds. I made an effort not to look down at my wrists where the cuffs had gouged into me.

  Make sure to put makeup on the bruises.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re OK.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Speaking of OK, how did you get the shiner? It looks painful. The scrape on your arm looks nasty too.”

  “Oh that? Ummm, well, it’s no big deal. Actually, it was also sort of an accident. You know, goofing around with the guys.”

  “Really? There’re a lot of accidents in Scottsdale lately. We’ll, I’m glad you’re OK too.”

  Dominic brought out our scotches and sat them on the table. We both sat in silence and slowly sipped them. Neither of us looked directly at the other for a minute. Dominic helped us break our silence when he came over and took our orders. It didn’t take long since we always order the same things.

  “What are you working on this week?” Reno asked.

  “The usual, one cheating spouse, and one real investigation.”

  “What’s the investigation?”

  “The client’s a guy who’s in from Chicago. His granddad died a few weeks ago and left both him and his sister a fortune. The weird thing about the fortune is it’s hidden somewhere in a big house up on Camelback Mountain. If either the brother or sister find if first, they get to keep the whole thing. It’s turned out to be a treasure hunt of sorts.”

  “Maybe Gina had it right,” Reno said. “Maybe I should quit the force and go work for Lenny. Your cases sound more interesting than taking on the Mexican drug cartels.”

  “Not really,
so far it’s been rather dull and routine.”

  Reno looked at me for several seconds.

  “What?” I said. “What’s the look for?”

  “I know what’s routine for you. That’s what always has me worried.”

  At least he hasn’t found out about the latest dead body.

  “So what about you?” I asked. “What are you working on?”

  “It’s the usual for me too. The last few weeks have been all about drugs. I’m helping out with a team that’s targeting some of the larger shipments coming into the city. The team made a big heroin bust a couple of months ago and it got some good press coverage. After that, the city gave them some additional funding. I’ve been assigned to help them out for a while. We’re getting solid information from the Feds and we’ve been able to make some good busts.”

  “I haven’t heard anything on the news about it.”

  “So far, they’ve done a good job about keeping it quiet. We want to arrest as many as possible while the information from the Feds holds out. They must have someone deep under cover to get this kind of information. At least half of the tips they’ve been feeding us have led to arrests.”

  “Are you back to being directly involved with the busts or are you still more in the background?”

  Reno turned a little red and seemed to shift around in his seat a little. I saw him glance down at the forearm that had the fresh scrap on it.

  “Well, mostly in the background. You know, it’s mainly the younger detectives who like to go charging in. Sometimes I get caught up in things, but mostly I’m in the background. My job is mostly routine paperwork and reporting.”

  “Right, routine.”

  I held up my glass. “To our dull and routine jobs.”

  Reno smiled a somewhat knowing smile and clinked his glass against mine.

  Actually, if I was being honest with myself, I really didn’t want to know a lot more about Reno’s assignments. There was always the possibility that the drug shipments he confiscated belonged to Tony or Carlos. Either way, the less I knew about the details, the happier I would be.

  Dominic brought out the dinners and we spent several minutes eating without a lot of talk. I didn’t realize how hungry I had been until I tasted the first bite. Then I started eating and didn’t want to stop. Dominic came out at regular intervals to give us more bread sticks and to bring out fresh drinks.

  At last I had eaten to the point where I was full and feeling wonderful when Dominic brought out two coffees. I poured cream in both of them. Reno stirred his coffee and looked up at me.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “Since you left rather suddenly the other night, I was thinking you’d somehow want to make it up to me?”

  “Like how?”

  “Well…”

  “What? You want me to give you make-up sex?”

  “Well, it only seems fair.”

  “I’m not sure about that. You’re the one who hurt my feelings. I’m thinking maybe I should get make-up sex from you. But even if I agree, what do I get out of it?”

  “You’ll get a sense of fulfillment by knowing that you made your boyfriend really happy.”

  “I can probably live without that. What else?”

  “Well, if you do an extra good job, we could play with the toy. It’s been a while and I like the way it makes you wiggle and squirm.”

  Several months before, almost as a joke, Reno had gotten me a toy. It was sort of shaped liked like a saguaro cactus and I know it was probably expensive. So far, we’ve only played with it a couple of times. Partially it’s because Reno knows when we start, the next hour will be all about me. I think it’s also partially because he’s a little jealous about what the toy can do to me.

  “So what do you say?” Reno asked, with a playful grin on his face. “Do you want to come over tonight and play?”

  “Tonight? Umm, I can’t do tonight. I’m meeting with the client’s sister at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch at ten.”

  Reno’s face fell. “Tonight? You’re seriously working tonight? Creampuff, you have got to organize your work schedule to include time for your boyfriend. I’m a healthy guy. I have needs.”

  “You think you have needs? You talk about using the toy then talk about your needs? What about me?”

  “I’m working evenings for the next week then I’m scheduled for three days off,” Reno said, still a bit sad. “Let’s plan for next Saturday. Let’s schedule an actual sleepover and not just dinner. Maybe we can even spend a few days together. It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve had a weekend to ourselves.”

  “OK, unless the world is coming to an end I’ll tell everyone I’m out Saturday night and all day Sunday. Mother in the hospital or something like that.”

  “So what are we going to do until then?” he asked. “That’s a week away.”

  “We could probably work in a lunch or two.”

  “Lunch is good,” he said. “But I was hoping for something a little more personal.”

  I got a naughty thought and looked down at my watch.

  “Walk me out to my car?”

  “But you don’t have to be at Gainey Ranch until ten.” Reno looked at his watch. “You don’t have to leave for almost an hour.”

  I lifted his hand, put his finger in my mouth, and gently sucked on it. Reno’s eyes lit up and he got a wide smile.

  “So, you gonna walk me to my car?” I asked again. “I’m parked way in the back, where it’s really dark and lonely.”

  ~~~~

  I drove over to Gainey Ranch and pulled into the main parking lot at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale. The hotel is huge and it took a few minutes to walk through the parking lot, past the conference rooms, up the escalators, and through the lobby.

  Fortunately, I had timed it well. By five after ten, I was sitting at a table on the outdoor patio of the Center Stage Bar waiting for Elizabeth.

  I’d been to the lounge a few times over the years and I’d always found it to be a great place for drinks and conversation. Half of the bar was inside the main reception building and half was outside on a beautiful patio surrounded by dozens of date palms. There were high ceilings and splashing fountains that made the lounge a very open and inviting place. There was a performer on a small stage singing love songs and playing an old acoustic guitar. He had a sweet voice that immediately put me in a good mood. Although I had made Reno extremely happy and relaxed, all it did for me was to get me going. I was having some thoughts that had nothing to do with being hit in the head or being thrown in my trunk.

  I was halfway through a twelve-dollar scotch when I saw Elizabeth at the hostess stand, looking around the bar. I waved and she came over right away. A waitress came to the table and Elizabeth ordered a glass of house chardonnay.

  “How was the Grand Canyon?” I asked.

  “It was truly amazing. I’ve seen it before in books and on TV, but there’s nothing that can prepare you for how big it is. I hiked over to Maricopa Point and spent an hour standing on the edge. From there, the canyon is ten miles across and almost a mile deep. The scale is so massive your brain doesn’t even know how to process it. The size alone would make it remarkable, but you add in the pure beauty of the place. I thought it would look like a dusty gray hole in the dessert. I didn’t expect to see a rainbow of colors. The sky up there is a deep blue, the Colorado River is green, and the canyon walls are red, yellow, black, brown, and even orange. Plus there are groves of bright green trees dotting the walls of the canyon all the way down. I’m from hazy Chicago where it’s hard to see more than a few miles on a summer afternoon. But with the desert air, I could see every detail, all the way to the river. I would have loved to have stayed up there and watched the sunset, but I’m still beat from Tuesday night and the time change isn’t helping.”

  “It sounds like you had a nice time.”

  “I really did. You’re so lucky to live here. I imagine you go up once or twice a year.”

  “Honestly, I’ve only been up
to the canyon three times. Once when I was a kid and the family took the train up to the park from a little town called Williams. I went up with some girls from college for a drunken weekend when I was twenty-one. And I went up once with Sophie. She’s my best friend and she also works at the law office. One day she was talking about how she’d never seen the Grand Canyon. Back when she was married, she’d asked her husband to take her up several times, but he never wanted to make the drive. I told her I’d be glad to do it. We rented a hotel room in Flagstaff and made a girl’s weekend out of it.”

  The waitress brought Elizabeth her wine and she sipped it in silence for a minute. I could see she was gathering her thoughts.

  “You wanted to talk about Les?” she asked.

  “Yes. First, you need to know that your brother was taken by a guy with a gun earlier this afternoon.”

  “You mean he was kidnapped?”

  “Well, maybe. They seemed to know each other pretty well and Les didn’t seem surprised to see the guy.”

  “Oh my God. Are you going to call the police?”

  “It might come to that, but right now I’m not sure it would help. I think Les has already been working with the guy and probably would have gone with him even without being forced. Earlier in the day, your brother told me he’d been working with some organized crime members from a group out of Chicago. The guy with the gun seemed like he was from the same group. Les said he was trying to leave the group but it was going to cost him a lot of money. With his half of the inheritance he was going to buy himself out of trouble.

  Elizabeth slowly shook her head and gave a small laugh.

  “You know, that really doesn’t surprise me. Les is always in some sort of trouble and he’s always trying to scam someone. In fact, it explains several things he’s been doing for the last two or three years. He seemed to have a lot of money while at the same time he didn’t seem to have a job. He would sometimes travel to Mexico, or Asia, or even South America on short notice. Sometimes he would be gone for two or three weeks at a time. I only know this because I’m a Facebook friend and I follow his tweets. Before Monday, we hadn’t actually spoken to each other in several years.”