Scottsdale Heat: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 1)

by B A Trimmer

  “I just love that guy,” she said to me, a little out of breath, but still with that infectious smile. “He takes one hell of a hard spanking and then complains I was too soft. It’s the belt for him and plenty of it.”

  “You’re saying he likes it?”

  “He’s one of my best clients. He has a three-hour appointment, same time every week.” She bent closer and whispered to me confidentially: “His wife thinks he’s golfing.”

  “But, that’s three hundred dollars!”

  “Plus, he usually tosses a tip on top of that. He’s so sweet. I always try to think of new punishments, to surprise him.” Again, she broke out in the smile.

  Jeez, and I sometimes think I’m the one with the issues.

  ~~~~

  We went back to Suzie’s computer and looked to see what was in the file. What had popped up on the screen was a spreadsheet. It contained a dozen columns of numbers and letters; each with a heading in a language I assumed was Russian. I scrolled down through page after page of numbers. Each page was the same as the last, just different numbers. The spreadsheet ended at line 287.

  “Do you have any idea what these numbers and letters mean?” I asked.

  “Not a clue.”

  “I don’t suppose you read Russian?”

  “Not a word.”

  “Do you have any friends at the University who read Russian?”

  “Not a one.”

  Great, another dead end.

  Suzie sat at the computer, digging into the file, looking for hidden macros, or anything else that might be in it. Finally, she gave up.

  “The file is just as it appears,” she softly said. “A simple spreadsheet with twelve columns and almost three hundred rows of numbers. The only words on the sheet appear to be Russian, but I’m no expert. Maybe you could try translating with Google.”

  She hit a button and ten pages printed out from her printer. I folded the papers and put them in my purse. I’d need to find someone who could read Russian to let me know what I was looking at, or maybe I’d try the Google thing.

  The chicken started clucking again and Suzie stood up. “Sorry, can’t keep the councilman waiting.”

  “Thanks for all your help. I hope everything goes all right in there,” I said, nodding to the door.

  “Him? Don’t worry. He’s putty in my hands.”

  ~~~~

  Keeping my eyes open for the homicidal brothers, I went back to my apartment and tried to think. If the file on the disk was in Russian, what did it have to do with Boris and Ivan, the two Russians who had tried to kidnap me? What did the Smith and Jones know about the Iceman, Albert Reinhardt? I decided to call Reno and see if he could help me put together the connection. He answered on the third ring.

  “Are you still keeping track of Reinhardt?” I asked.

  “Yes, and I’m back on the team shadowing him. The captain is getting nervous. Reinhardt never stays in Arizona this long. He’ll either make the buy soon or pack up and go home. He’s still up at the Scottsdale Princess. But so far, all he’s done today is shoot a round of scratch golf.”

  “I might have some information on him.”

  “It figures. I’m scheduled go back on shift at the Princess tonight at 7:30. There’s a Bistro there with an outside patio. It’s on the lower level next to the pool. I’ll meet you there at 5:15.”

  I looked at the clock and it was almost 3:30. I’d have to leave my apartment by 4:30 to make it to the Princess on time.

  How did Reno expect me to get ready in an hour?

  ~~~~

  After a quick shower, I spent several minutes and did a passable job on both the hair and the make-up. I put on a shiny purple top and a black skirt I save for special nights on the town. Between the low-cut top and my push-up bra, I was showing a respectable amount of cleavage. I put on a pair of black medium-heeled sandals and I was out the door.

  ~~~~

  Reno was waiting for me at a table out on the patio, overlooking the main pool. He stood up when he saw me and I saw his old smile was back. Although I had told myself I wouldn’t give him any goofy smiles, or go the least bit schoolgirl on him, I also broke out into a smile. Once I saw him I didn’t care if I looked goofy or not, I couldn’t help myself.

  The waiter came over and we each ordered a coffee.

  “Have you found your Alex yet?” Reno asked, still smiling.

  “No, there hasn’t been anything. His girlfriend is beyond worried, his grandmother is still calling the Mayor, and Lenny’s in a near panic.”

  “Just your typical day at the law office?”

  “Don’t joke about it. I’m worried about him too.”

  “I wasn’t joking. This is actually pretty calm for you.”

  “Did you forget about the dead guy I found in Alex’s apartment?”

  “Nope, I’m just surprised you’ve only found one so far.”

  “You’re such a jerk. Have they found out anything on the dead guy?”

  “Only that we still don’t know who he is. Some of his clothing had Russian tags, for what that’s worth. He didn’t have any ID and without hands he doesn’t have any fingerprints. Nobody matching his description has been reported missing. And, his dental records and DNA don’t match anything in the database.”

  “So, he’s still just the dead guy?”

  “Yup,” Reno said. “He’s still just the dead guy.”

  “Did you find anything in Alex’s apartment?”

  “Not a thing. No drugs, nothing that had been stolen. They broke and smashed everything, but didn’t seem to take anything obvious. You said you had news about Albert Reinhardt?”

  “I was with two men, supposedly brothers, today,” I said. “They were foreign, with accents I couldn’t place. Middle Eastern or Asian maybe. They were convinced Alex had some things that belonged to them and Reinhardt would want to buy these things. They were upset they couldn’t locate Alex or their merchandise.”

  “Any idea what the something’s could be?”

  “Not a clue, but whatever they are, they’re probably responsible for Alex’s disappearance.”

  “Can his girlfriend help? Maybe she knows what Alex was fencing?”

  “I don’t think so. I get the feeling she’s in the dark about all of this.”

  “She may know more than she thinks she knows. Talk to her. You might get more information than if a badge interviews her again.”

  “Do you think Reinhardt could have anything to do with Alex’s disappearance?” I asked.

  “It’s possible, but I still don’t see more than a minor connection between Alexander and Reinhardt. We saw him possibly fencing something with Reinhardt at the Tropical Paradise the other day. But, it’s not the kind of exchange Reinhardt’s usually involved in. There’s a structure to his buys. It’s never in a public location, there are always bodyguards, and there are usually multiple groups involved. You said Alex was out on parole as a con man and working as a used car salesman? Any dealings with Reinhardt would be out of his league. I don’t even see how Alex could be a middleman on a sale like that. It doesn’t make sense. Who were these brothers you were with?”

  “Jealous?”

  “No, but they must somehow fit in with this.”

  “All I know is they called themselves Smith and Jones. Smith had an English accent with someting foreign thing mixed in. They were operating out of an abandoned printing shop south of Curry Street. It didn’t look like they had set up an office there or anything. I think it was just a place they found and were temporally using.”

  “Let me know where it is and we’ll check it out. Do you know anything else about them?”

  “They were driving a white Chrysler 300M. It looked like a rental.”

  “Did you get the license?”

  “Sorry, I was sorta preoccupied at the time.”

  Reno arched one eyebrow. “That’s not much to go on, but I’ll hand the information over to our squad leader and to the detective handling Alexander
’s case. Maybe they can put something together.”

  ~~~~

  We sipped coffee for another 20 minutes, watching the sun drop below the horizon. There were several clouds in the western sky and they had turned a bright yellow.

  “It looks like a nice sunset tonight,” Reno said. “Let’s go for a walk. I know a good spot.”

  He stood up and tossed a ten on the table. We walked off the patio, around the pool, and onto a path running down to the golf course. About fifty yards from the hotel building, a side path branched off from the main path. This path led to a secluded bench facing west. It was empty and Reno walked me to it.

  Although Reno didn’t sit very close to me, he was right about the sunset. It was beautiful. We watched as the clouds turned a brilliant orange and then to a dull cherry red.

  We talked a little at first and then watched the darkening sky for almost ten minutes without speaking.

  As it got darker, small lights along the path turned on, as did thousands in the trees throughout the resort.

  “I love the lights here,” I said. “It gives everything such a soft glow.”

  “Yeah, you always looked better in the dark.”

  “Reno, you’re such a jerk.”

  Reno looked at me. “I’ve missed you.”

  My heart jumped in my chest. Once again, I broke out in the smile. Damn him.

  “Oh yeah? So now you miss me? What do you want to do about it?” I asked and leaned over to him. “You got any ideas? Like maybe you want to kiss me?”

  “Listen, cream-puff, I don’t need you to give me any ideas.”

  “Cream-puff? I’m nobody’s cream-puff.”

  “Sure you are,” he said. “You’re crusty on the outside but all tasty and soft underneath, a cream-puff.”

  “I’m not crusty and I’m not soft,” I said in a tone I hoped sounded both tough and angry. As I said it, I saw him smiling at me and I didn’t feel tough. I was soft. I wanted to be held, and kissed, and touched. I desperately wanted to be touched all over.

  Reno must have read my thoughts. He bent over and kissed me. It was the lightest of kisses, our lips barely touched, but I felt the kiss down to the tips of my fingers. It was like a starter’s pistol firing to wake my entire body up.

  He kissed me again. His mouth was slightly parted and I felt his tongue flick against my lips. If the first kiss had been a pistol shot, then this one was a cannon blast. My heart sped up and I felt my face get hot. His hands slid around my waist and pulled my body to his. I reached up and grabbed his face, holding it against mine. I found my body responding to each new kiss. It was getting hard to breathe and I was again starting to tingle all over.

  As we kissed, he lightly ran his hand up and down the inside of my thigh. The feeling was maddening and I knew I couldn’t stand it any longer. I pulled away from him, gave him my sweetest smile, and looked into his eyes.

  “I want you Reno.”

  “I know I’m going to regret this, but I want you too,” Reno said, giving me another soft kiss.

  “You won’t regret this,” I said, kissing him back.

  “Oh, I probably will. God help me.” Reno moaned.

  Yes! The time has come.

  “Do you want to go to my place or yours?” I heard myself ask.

  “I can’t. I have to be back up here in an hour,” Reno said. That’s hardly enough time to drive down to my place and come back. Your place is even farther.”

  My heart sank.

  It’s always something.

  “My car in the parking lot?” I asked.

  As I looked at him, I saw he was smiling and giving me that look.

  “You want it bad, huh? Why don’t we just get a room here?” he said. “We could get a good start now.” He leaned over and softly kissed me. “And then, after I’m done with my shift, we could stay up and watch the sunrise from the balcony in the room. They say room service here serves a great breakfast.”

  I got a flashback to my dream about Reno and me making love here at the Princess.

  “You aren’t wearing your red silk boxers, by any chance, are you?” I asked.

  He smiled, but didn’t say anything.

  Oh God!

  My heart pounded harder. I could feel my body tighten at the thought that Reno and I would soon be together. I leaned over to kiss him again.

  My cell phone rang.

  There was an uncomfortable moment while we both pretended it wasn’t ringing. I ignored the phone and after half a minute it switched over to voice mail.

  We stood up. Reno put his arm around my waist. I snuggled against him as we walked toward the main lobby and the reception desk.

  My cell phone rang again. I ignored it again. Reno looked at me.

  “You should either answer it and get rid of them or just turn it off.”

  I pulled the phone out of my bag to shut it off. As I was about to hit the power-off button, I saw it was Danica.

  “Hold on one second” I said as I opened the phone. “Danica might have some word on Alex.”

  “Danica?” I said as I put the phone to my ear.

  From the phone came the unmistakable sound of a woman in the depths of hysteria.

  “Danica? What’s wrong?”

  She wasn’t speaking words, merely making loud moaning sounds.

  “Danica?”

  Now there was sobbing and crying mixed in with the loud moaning sounds.

  “Danica? Where are you?”

  “I’m . . . at . . . home,” came the answer between deep sobs.

  “Don’t move,” I said. “I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

  Shit.

  I closed the phone and looked up at Reno. I expected him to be pissed.

  “Go,” he said. “It sounds like she needs you. If it’s anything big, call me right away. I’ll have a car there in five minutes.”

  “But, our night?” I asked.

  “There’ll be another night.”

  I hugged him, then turned and ran out to my car.

  ~~~~

  I sped down Hayden to Danica’s house. I had crazy thoughts of Alex lying dead in Danica’s living room. I pulled into her driveway and I knew something was very wrong.

  Danica was sitting on the front edge of the small front porch, her legs hanging over the sides. I got out of my car and walked up to her. She had a look on her face I’d seen before; the dazed and vacant look of a woman who has just been traumatized.

  “Danica?” I asked, “Are you all right? What happened?”

  She looked up at me. Her face was wet from tears. “My house, go in and see what someone did to my house. It’s terrible.”

  I eased open the front door and slipped in. The house was trashed, just as Alex’s apartment had been, but on a much larger scale. The couch had actually been ripped in half. Jagged pieces of it were lying on either side of the living room. Chairs were gutted and overturned. Pictures were ripped off the walls and flung onto the floor. Everything that could be turned over was. Everything that could be ripped opened had a hole in it. Someone had been looking for something and they didn’t care about being restrained.

  I reached into my bag and pulled out the Baby Glock. I’d learned my lesson from last time. Whoever trashed the house could still be there. I went from the living room to the kitchen, then to the garage, and then to the master bedroom. Each room was as bad as the last. Satisfied the house was now empty, I went outside, where Danica was still staring into space.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked.

  “About half an hour. I got home and found the house this way. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should call the police. I had your card, so I called you.”

  “Well, I doubt this was a random act,” I said. “Is anything missing?”

  “That’s the strange thing,” Danica said, “I don’t think anything is. All of my jewelry is in a pile in the bedroom. The paintings are on the floor, but they’re still here. Some are worth over ten thousand dolla
rs. The TV and stereo are broken, but they didn’t take them. Nothing seems to be missing.”

  “You’d better call the police. It somehow ties in with whatever has happened to Alex. Besides, the insurance company will need a police report to get the paperwork started.”

  ~~~~

  The police came, took pictures, and dusted for prints. Danica filled out a statement and some forms. An hour and a half after the police arrived, they packed up and left.

  The police didn’t see a direct tie-in to Alex’s disappearance. Since nothing seemed to be missing they didn’t see it as anything other than kids or perhaps an angry former boyfriend. I still thought somehow it had to be linked to Alex. But why would someone ransack her house now? It’s been my experience that the timing of these things isn’t random. What were they looking for? Why didn’t they do it yesterday or the day before? Why not tomorrow for that matter? I just didn’t know enough to come up with the answers.

  As I was going over the facts in my head, I looked over at Danica. She was staring at the mess that had been her living room, absent-mindedly petting her cat, which fortunately had escaped unharmed.

  “Are you going to be OK?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to stay here tonight,” Danica said. “My mom lives over in Sun City. I don’t work tomorrow. I think I’ll stay rest of the weekend with her. Maybe by Monday I’ll be ready to start cleaning up the mess.”

  I told her I’d call her if I got any information on Alex.

  ~~~~

  I drove back to my apartment and climbed up the three flights of stairs to my floor. I heard noises down the hallway so I eased the Baby Glock out of my purse. I carefully rounded the corner and saw Grandma Peckham standing in front of her door. She was holding two large bags of groceries and was trying to balance them with one hand, while trying to push the key into the lock with the other. I stashed the gun and took both bags from her. She then used her key to open the door.

  “Thanks,” she said. “I hate to set the bags down, it hurts too much to bend over and pick them up again.”

  We walked into her apartment and I sat the bags down on the counter.

  “Thanks dear,” Grandma Peckham said. “Would you like a Diet Pepsi?”