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

by B A Trimmer

  Lenny came out of his office and walked into the conference room.

  “What are you three doing in here?”

  “Laura got the video evidence of George Anson’s affair,” Gina said. “We’re making copies so we can submit the originals to the court.”

  “Beautiful,” he said, now with a wide grin. “Do the videos clearly show George Anson committing adultery in the marital bed?”

  “We have two hours from three different camera angles,” I said. “Everything is in focus and in frame. As instructed, Debbie left a copy of today’s newspaper out where it would be visible. There’s also a calendar on a dresser showing today’s date.”

  “Perfect,” Lenny said. “What about the woman? Do we know who she is? Is she someone who’s prominent in the community? If we threaten to leak the name, it sometimes brings the other side around a little faster. Can we get any leverage off of her?”

  “No,” all three of us answered at once.

  Lenny gave us a look that showed he thought we were up to something, but he ignored it. “Sophie, call opposing council and see if they can make a meeting over here tomorrow morning. Tell him we have conclusive video evidence of George’s affair. Also, tell him if he comes over tomorrow, we’ll make an offer of settlement before we show the videos to our client. That should rattle his cage.”

  Sophie saluted then went to her desk to make the call.

  “Now then,” Lenny said, “where are you on the treasure hunt? Is Elizabeth still happy? We should approach taking her on as a formal client to keep the paperwork trail clean.”

  I downloaded Lenny on what had happened so far.

  “So, you found a clue, and that led to another clue, and that led to a painting, and that itself was a clue. Jeeze, this could go on for weeks. Now, it’s not that I don’t appreciate you accumulating all of these billable hours, but we’ll have a much better chance of actually collecting the fee if you recover the jewelry. Can you concentrate on that?”

  “I’ll try,” I said, desperately wanting to smack him. “What about Les and the police? When’s his next interview? I’ll need to get him away from the Chicago hoods.”

  “I haven’t heard a thing,” Lenny said. “Which typically means they’re building a case around him based on the physical evidence.” Lenny got a smile and he let out a little chuckle. “I need you to find the jewelry soon. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were arrested when we go in. It’ll get busy around here and I need the client to have the funds to pay the fee.”

  Still chuckling, Lenny went back into his office and closed the door. I sighed with frustration.

  “I so want to choke him,” I said.

  “Yup, he’s annoying,” Gina said. “And I don’t think he’ll ever change.”

  Gina and I stayed in the conference room and continued making our own special edit of the video. After making the phone call, Sophie came back and then we all worked on it.

  At about one-thirty Elizabeth called. I told her Morningstar was still at the house today and we would need to wait until later in the evening to sneak over there. We made plans to meet after dinner at the queen palm in the hotel lobby of her hotel.

  By four o’clock, we had finished with the video. I was free until I picked up Elizabeth at eight. I started to think about Reno and his offer to go to his place and wake him up before he had to go to work. The more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded.

  I got to his place at about four-twenty. Since I knew he had to be on the road by five-thirty it would barely give us half an hour before he had to get up and get ready.

  Oh well, a quickie is better than nothing.

  I used my key and let myself into his place. I walked into his bedroom and started quietly calling out his name. I’ve learned it’s not a good idea to startle him awake.

  “Jackson. Jackson Reno.”

  Reno stirred and opened an eye. He at first stiffened then relaxed when he saw who it was. He relaxed further when I crawled into bed with him.

  “You do know my alarm’s about to go off,” he said.

  “So shut up and make me happy, quickly.”

  ~~~~

  At five minutes after eight, I was in the lobby of the Hyatt waiting for Elizabeth. Although being with Reno had been wonderful, it wasn’t the same as being with him for the entire night. Before he left for work, we had reconfirmed our date for Saturday night. Reno made me promise I would be there even if a giant meteorite destroyed all of downtown Scottsdale.

  Elizabeth showed at about ten after eight. She seemed to be in a great mood.

  “Hey,” I said. “Looks like you’ve had a good day.”

  “Well, you told me to keep myself busy until eight, so that’s what I did. I’m really starting to love Arizona. Let’s go get the jewelry.”

  Before we left, we grabbed a couple of chairs in a corner of the lobby and I called Morningstar. When he answered, he sounded tired and discouraged.

  “Yes Miss Black. I hope you’ve made more progress today than we have.”

  “Not really, we checked out four of the properties and there isn’t anything but open desert at any of them. We looked for anything that could be a clue or indicate where one was buried. So far, we have nothing. Elizabeth and I are back at her hotel. I think we’re going to call it a night.”

  As I said that, I saw Elizabeth cock her head to the side and one of her eyebrows went up.

  “We have also finished for the day,” Morningstar said. “So far, we have found nothing. Magic has dug up a good portion of the pool and there are several new holes in the walls of the manor, but no treasure.”

  “We’ll check out the remaining property tomorrow morning,” I said. “I’m not sure where to go after that, maybe up to South Mountain again.”

  “Yes, well call me immediately if you find anything.”

  I said that I would then hung up.

  “We’re done for the night?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Not by a longshot. But I’m going to tell the crooks as little as possible. They don’t know about Penelope or the statue of the discus thrower. I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible.”

  ~~~~

  We drove over to the house on Camelback. When we got to the driveway of the courtyard, we didn’t see any other cars and the house seemed dark. We went in through the front door and looked around to see what progress Lester, Magic, and Morningstar had made. The first place we went was the pool. The concrete decking towards the back wall had largely been removed and holes had been dug in several places. The marble pedestal was lying off to one side. The bust of Elizabeth’s granddad was nowhere to be seen.

  We went back into the house and everywhere we looked was a mess. As Morningstar had said, we saw holes in the walls and in the floor.

  “Wow,” Elizabeth said. “They’ve really torn the place up.”

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go to the library.”

  We walked into the library and expected to see the same level of destruction as in the rest of the house. But when we walked in, the mess was minimal. One of the bookshelves on the upper level, next to the terrace windows, had all of the books removed and the shelves had been pulled down, but that was it.

  We walked over and looked at the statue of the Greek throwing a discus. The statue was maybe two feet high and was sitting on top of a marble pedestal. There was a small brass plaque screwed into the base of the statue. It read Discobolus of Myron.

  The statue and pedestal were in a small recess between the bookshelves. It was the middle of three alcoves against the back wall, the same wall that was built directly against Camelback Mountain. Each alcove was about five feet across and lined in heavy wooden paneling.

  “I’ve looked at this statue a dozen times,” Elizabeth said. “But I didn’t see what it could do with the treasure.”

  “Same with me,” I said. “Well, let’s take a look at it again.”

  The statue was of a guy in the classical throwing poise for a discus.
He was bent over at the waist and had his left hand on his right knee. His right arm was high over his head and he was tightly clutching a discus. After looking at the statue for a minute, we grabbed it and tried to lift it off. We quickly found that it was bolted to the pedestal, which in turn seemed to be bolted to the floor.

  “Well?” Elizabeth asked.

  “We can’t move it. I don’t see a seam where the arm meets the body,” I said. “But let’s try the obvious anyway.”

  I grabbed the arm holding the discus and pulled.

  Nothing happened for a second but then the arm slowly moved forward about three inches. We heard a loud metallic click and the whir of motors starting up from behind the wall and under the floor. The wooden panel in the alcove behind the statue slid up into the bookshelves on the upper level. At the same time, the statue and the pedestal slowly sank into the floor. When it had completely disappeared below the floor, a small wooden panel in the floor slid shut to cover the opening.

  Where the rear paneling had been was now a white marble face with a large stainless steel vault door. There wasn’t a combination dial on the door, only a steel handle. I also saw there were two small glass screens in the middle of the door, each one about two inches by three. Above each screen were both a green and a red light. The red lights above each of the glass panels were lit. Below the left screen was the word Elizabeth. Below the right screen was the word Lester.

  “Well damn,” Elizabeth said. “I take back what I said about Penelope giving us a crappy clue. I think we’re about to get the jewelry.”

  Elizabeth went to the vault door and pulled on the handle. Nothing happened.

  “I think the door is controlled by the glass panels,” I said. “They look like touchscreens.”

  “How do they work?”

  “I’m not sure, but they remind me of the thumb scanner on my phone. Give it a try.”

  Elizabeth put her thumb on the glass panel above her name. The panel lit up with a bright blue light for about three seconds then the red light turned off and the green one turned on. There was a loud metallic click from inside the vault door.

  “OK,” she said. “Let’s see if that did it.”

  She pulled on the handle, but again nothing happened.

  “OK,” she said. “What am I doing wrong?”

  “I was afraid that would happen,” I said. “Do you remember what the clue from the pool said? It would take both you and Lester to get the treasure. There are two locks on this door. I think both you and Les will have to be here at the same time to open the door.”

  “Well, that sucks. How are we going to get Les away from the crooks long enough to get the jewelry?”

  “I don’t know. But we’ll find a way.”

  We tried the door a couple more times, but it soon became obvious that Les also needed to be there to get the door open. After about twenty minutes of trying, there was nothing else to do.

  There was a red button next to the vault door that was labeled Reset. I told Elizabeth to stand back and I pushed it. There was the whir of motors from the wall and under the floor. The wooden paneling slid down and the statue slowly rose back into place. When everything was back where it should be, the motors shut off and there was a loud click.

  I went to the statue and looked at the arm. A seam was now visible where it connected with the body. There also seemed to be some sort of metallic clay that had been disturbed when I had moved the arm. I smoothed out the clay with my finger and the seam again disappeared.

  “Well, at least we know there’s no way they can get into the vault without you, even if they do happen to find it. Let me get you back to your hotel and I’ll figure out how to work this out.”

  ~~~~

  I dropped Elizabeth off at her hotel and told her I’d call her in the morning. I then started to drive randomly around the city. I’ve done this before when I’ve needed to solve a problem. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. As I drove, I went over the facts in my head.

  Lester was deeply involved with some gangsters from Chicago. He wanted out but it was going to take a lot of money. Elizabeth didn’t need the money as much but she seemed like a nice person and I wanted to help both of them. I now knew where the jewelry was and how to get to it. My first problem was Morningstar and Magic. They weren’t going to let Les hunt around for the treasure on his own. I knew if they were there, they would simply take the jewelry and leave. My second problem was the dead guy we had found in the vault. It was looking like Les was involved and he perhaps even committed the murder himself. The police were building a case against him and it was possible that after they interviewed him they would arrest him. My last problem was the FBI. They wanted Les to testify against his fellow criminals. I knew they weren’t simply going to let him go.

  As I thought about the FBI, I started to get the seed of an idea. Both the Chicago hoods and the FBI were causing me problems. Could I use one group against the other?

  I drove around Scottsdale for another half an hour and sorted out my thoughts. I then called Special Agent McCoy.

  ~~~~

  I woke up Tuesday to the alarm clock chirping away. I looked over and remembered I had set it for seven-thirty. I sat up but was feeling groggy. I walked to the kitchen to put on coffee then to the shower, still feeling fuzzyheaded. I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before and I knew I was going to have a busy day.

  After the shower, I put on a pair of black Capris, a black tee shirt, and black sneakers. I put on minimal makeup and put my hair in a ponytail. I fed Marlowe and then I was out the door.

  I called Morningstar on the way to the office. Since he already knew about the coffin rock, South Mountain was about the only place I knew he wouldn’t be this morning.

  When he answered, he sounded a bit surely. “Yes Miss Black, what do you want?”

  “I’m only checking in. I’ll be looking up at South Mountain today.”

  “South Mountain? What’s to be gained at South Mountain?”

  “The last clue said South Mountain is where we could find the coffin rock and that would lead us to the treasure. Since you aren’t having any luck at the house, I thought I’d try South Mountain one last time. If I can find the clue up there, it might keep you from digging random holes at the house.”

  “Very well, keep me informed.”

  I told him that I would then I hung up.

  I then texted Les and asked him to call me when he was alone.

  ~~~~

  The conference between Lenny, George Anson, and George’s council had been going on for about half an hour when Lenny called me into the conference room. Once there, Lenny introduced me as the investigator who had placed the cameras at the request of our client, Debbie Anson. I then went on to explain at length when I had placed them, where they were located within the various rooms, and how the videos were reviewed for evidence. Lenny then went over the procedures for deleting any files that were not relevant to the investigation. All in all, it went on like this for another half an hour. To me, it was very dry and routine. For the attorneys it meant racking up billable hours. For George, it meant his costs were rapidly going up.

  After several more minutes of going over the procedural aspects of the videos, Lenny got to the meat of the matter.

  “No one has seen these videos except for my investigators and myself,” he said. “To this point, I have hesitated showing them to my client, even though considering the circumstances she has a perfect right to see them. Now to be completely honest,” Lenny said with a straight face, “I would hate to have to introduce these videos into evidence. Once I do that, they’ll become a public record. Anyone will be able to go to the courthouse and request a copy. There would be nothing to stop these videos from, say, being posted anonymously to the internet. It is my sincere hope that you and Mrs. Anson can work out a settlement.”

  Lenny and opposing council then asked for a few minutes alone so they could negotiate the details of the settlement. As
George Anson came out into reception, Sophie asked if he could follow her into the back break room. He seemed somewhat confused that Sophie wanted him to go somewhere, but he followed willingly enough. When Sophie smiles at a guy, they usually do what she asks. Gina and I trailed behind as we all went into the back offices.

  On the table in the break room, I had set up a laptop computer. When we all had sat down, I started talking.

  “We know you’re about to get divorced. And we know Lenny and your lawyer are currently arguing about how much you are going to pay Debbie a month in support. But what we care about is that you’ve been having an affair with Debbie’s sister Connie. We like Debbie, even if you don’t. Yes, we want you to give your wife an overly generous spousal support, but we also want you to cut off the affair immediately. Never talk to Connie again, never see her again, never text her, and never email her.”

  “And why would I want to stop seeing her?” George snorted, anger rising in his voice. “After I’m divorced, I can do whatever I want with whomever I want. You know, I don’t take too kindly to people who try to tell me my business. Especially not three little girls.”

  George stood up and was about to walk back to the front offices when Gina spoke.

  “Yes, but in your line of work, people often decide to shop with you or not based on your reputation. People already have a pretty low opinion of auto dealers. You know this better than anyone does.”

  “Yeah,” Sophie said. “Isn’t that why you’ve been calling yourself ‘Honest George Anson’ in your commercials for all of these years? Isn’t that why you always make sure to show the anchor tattoo on your arm? To show how honest and trustworthy you are?”

  “What of it,” he snapped. “My reputation is solid and I’ll sue the ass off of anyone who tries to fuck with it.”

  “If you don’t end your affair with Connie immediately,” Gina said, “we have a video ready to go to the internet. Before we release it, we’ll come up with an excuse to have Lenny introduce all of the videos we recorded into evidence at a hearing. Then they’ll be public record. I imagine we won’t be the only ones who request a copy.”