“I believe these belong to you,” she said.
Alex made no move to take them. The sun overhead was bright, causing him to squint. Kayla own eyes were shaded by sunglasses.
“You must be mistaken.” He sounded haughty, befitting their luxurious surroundings. The restaurant business had made him a wealthy man, she realized. Whatever she did, however, she couldn’t let him intimidate her.
“I’m not wrong.” She took a few steps closer to him and indicated the right lens of the glasses. “The pair you were wearing when you hired me had a scratch exactly like this.”
“You sure about that?”
“Positive.” She’d made some mistakes while learning the ropes of private investigation, but she was improving by the minute. She’d always been observant, a trait that would serve her well if her uncle Carl kept her on. “These are your sunglasses.”
He said nothing, waiting for her to play her hand. It was time to go for broke, she thought. She raised herself to her full height.
“I know you’re behind what’s happening to Santa,” she declared.
She heard him exhale before his neighbor a few docks down revved the engine of his boat. Two teenage girls ran to join him, their laughter and bright voices filling the silence. Kayla waited, refusing to lose the stare-down.
“Okay, you got me.” He finally broke eye contact and the silence, his voice matter-of-fact. “But I’ll deny it if anybody else accuses me.”
Kayla caught her breath not because she was surprised but because she’d wanted to be wrong. The image she’d had of Alex for the past few years didn’t jibe with what she now knew to be true.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “You’re a member of the merchants association. Why would you pull those pranks?”
“You’ve seen the statue.” He let out a short laugh. “It’s commercialism at its worst, flying in the face of what Christmas is supposed to be about. I was trying to get the association to take it down.”
“Couldn’t you have just asked?”
Alex crossed his arms over his chest, stretching the material of his shirt. He had a surprisingly thin chest. James, who was several inches shorter, was built better. “I tried the diplomatic approach when we were discussing getting a statue commissioned. I even got another artist to present an alternative proposal. It didn’t work.”
Kayla remembered hearing that Alex had opposed the statue from the start. Heck, hadn’t he told her that himself? She’d be more careful about checking all the angles in future. This case proved that sometimes the most obvious answer was the right one.
“You must have volunteered to handle things when the association decided to hire a private investigator,” Kayla said, thinking aloud. “The better to throw suspicion off yourself.”
He clapped three times. “Very good.”
The wheels in Kayla’s brain continued to turn. The Keys weren’t teeming with private investigators, but every other P.I. she could think of had more experience than she did. A pelican was perched on a nearby post, seeming to listen in on their conversation. Even the pelican could have put this together.
“You knew my uncle Carl was out of town,” she said with sudden insight. “You didn’t think I could crack the case.”
“Ah, I was hoping you wouldn’t think of that,” Alex said, seeming sheepish. “It doesn’t sound good and I’m really not such a bad guy.”
“You must have gotten worried when I called on Maria DiMarco for help,” Kayla said.
“It turns out I should have been most worried about you. Was it only the sunglasses that gave me away?”
She shook her head. “I found out you and James Smith are cousins. You were tipping him off so he could get the photos. You even used a prepaid cell phone so the texts you sent him couldn’t be tracked.”
“Very good detective work,” Alex said. “Like I said, it seems I underestimated you.”
“Alex!” a melodic female voice called from the direction of the house. Kayla turned to see a tall, stunning brunette walking toward them from the pool area. She wore short shorts that highlighted her long legs and a sleeveless top showcasing her large breasts. She stopped halfway down the dock. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Vanessa, this is Kayla,” Alex said. “Kayla, Vanessa.”
“Hi,” Vanessa said with a friendly smile. “I thought I heard the doorbell when I was in the shower. Was that you?”
“That was me,” Kayla verified.
“I just came out to say I need a few more minutes to get ready for our boat ride. Okay, Alex?” Vanessa asked.
“Take all the time you need,” he told her with a smile.
“Thanks!” She blew him a kiss and hurried back toward the house. Her shorts were so brief they barely covered her rear end. Alex watched her go, a slight smile curving his lips.
“Vanessa is your girlfriend,” Kayla stated.
Alex nodded. “That’s right.”
“Why did you tell me at the pub that she wasn’t?”
“I did say that, didn’t I?” Alex sucked in a breath. “I shouldn’t have misled you. But I knew you had a little crush on me, and thought I might be able to use it to my advantage.”
Kayla stifled a groan. How could she have been so stupid? “That’s why you invited me to the pub.”
“I was trying to figure out when you’d be watching Santa, so I knew when I could strike again,” he said. “When you told me about the security camera, I had everything I needed to know. But first I emailed the merchants association about the camera so I wouldn’t be the only suspect.”
“You covered the camera,” she stated.
“It was surprisingly simple to sneak upstairs at the souvenir shop,” Alex said. “There were a lot of people inside and that clerk is easily distracted.”
Kayla’s stomach tightened. What Alex had done wasn’t so awful in the great scheme of things. She even agreed with him about the tackiness of the Santa statue. However, if she couldn’t get him to come clean, it would appear as though her investigation had failed.
“You’ll really deny all this if I put it in a report?” Kayla asked.
“I really will.” Alex smoothed an errant hair back from his handsome face. “I’ll be sorry if your uncle doesn’t keep you on. I like you, Kayla. I just like my position in Key West society more. One more thing. Under the circumstances, I’m sure you’ll understand I have to fire you.”
Kayla gave a short laugh.
“What’s funny?” he asked.
“Remember that crush I had on you?” she asked.
He nodded.
“It’s gone,” she said before turning and leaving him on the dock.
* * *
IT WAS NEARLY CLOSING TIME when Maria and Logan got to the popular Cuban-American restaurant owned by Alex Suarez. Maria had wanted to confront Billy Tillman straight away, but Logan persuaded her it was best not to crash the kitchen when lunch hour was in full swing.
The wait had given Maria time to come up with a few possible scenarios.
“Billy could have known all along that Mike was alive,” she said, speaking her leading theory aloud as they crossed the outdoor seating area. “He could be helping Mike get back at Caroline for the way she treated him.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Logan said. “Let’s just talk to Billy.”
Maria nodded, knowing he was right. Since they’d spotted Mike’s friend on the surveillance recording, Logan had
been more clear-headed than her. He’d not only suggested waiting until the restaurant wasn’t so busy, he’d verified that Billy Tillman was working today.
“I didn’t even think about questioning the cooks about Mike the last time we were here,” Maria mused.
“Why would you? Cooks don’t usually come in contact with the customers,” Logan said. “No way could you know Billy worked here.”
“His mother doesn’t even know. She told me he lived in California.”
“Exactly.” Logan squeezed her elbow gently as they reached the restaurant interior. “So stop beating yourself up over it. We’ll know soon enough what’s going on.”
Logan was right. Maria could be minutes away from finding out what really happened to her brother on 9/11. She wiped her damp palms on the skirt of her sundress. A thousand butterflies seemed to flutter in her stomach. Hope? Or dread?
As an investigator looking at the case from all sides, she’d been forced to concede that not all the possible scenarios had happy endings. She mentally stamped out the negative thoughts and chose to hope.
“Sorry, we’re about to close.” A smiling young waitress who hadn’t been working the other day approached them.
“We’re aware of that.” Maria eyed a swinging door at the back of the place and pointed. “Your kitchen is through there, right?”
“Right.” The waitress sounded perplexed.
“Thanks.” Maria looked at Logan and indicated the kitchen with a jerk of her head. He nodded, receiving her silent message. When she headed straight for the kitchen door, he was with her.
“Hey, you can’t go back there,” the waitress called.
Maria ignored her, pushing the door open with an outstretched arm. The kitchen was spacious and modern, with stainless-steel appliances and gleaming white countertops. Three pairs of startled eyes flew to Maria and Logan. One of them belonged to Billy Tillman, who was beside the grill.
She read panic on his face before he dropped the spatula in his hand, turned and fled out the back door. Adrenaline surged in Maria like a tsunami. She gave chase, knocking aside a kitchen cart along the way. It clattered against a cabinet, a plate falling off and crashing to the floor.
“Hey! What’s going on?” shouted a young kitchen worker in a hairnet.
Maria didn’t take the time to explain. She followed Billy out the door and found herself in an alley. She looked left, then right, spotting him maybe twenty yards from the back of the restaurant.
“Hey! Stop!” she yelled.
Billy kept running. Maria dashed after him, her heart pounding at an even faster tempo than her feet.
“I just want to talk, Billy.” She could barely get the words out as she ran. This was crazy. She knew he worked at the Daybreak Café so she could eventually track him down. Surely she could say something that would make him listen to reason. “I know where to find you.”
Billy slowed noticeably, then came to a stop between a row of palm trees lining the fence of someone’s backyard and the rear of a pale pink building that housed a retail shop. He bent over at the waist, gulping in air. She stopped, too. Within moments, Logan was upon them.
“Why did you run like that?” Maria demanded. She was breathing fast, too, but more from the adrenaline still coursing through her system than exertion.
Billy gazed up at her, trying to catch his breath. “I dunno. It was dumb, I guess. I wasn’t thinking.” His eyes shifted to Logan. “Logan? What are you doing here?”
“He’s helping me,” Maria answered for him. “We want to talk to you about Mike.”
“Aw, hell,” Billy exclaimed, standing up straighter and scrubbing a hand over his face. “This isn’t the way I wanted things to go. I never thought Caroline would involve you.”
Maria frowned. “So you know about the phone calls and the blackmail note?”
“Blackmail note? Hold up!” He put up a hand. “I wouldn’t have asked for money. Not after I found out you were in town. You’ve gotta believe me.”
“I’m not the police, Billy,” Maria said. “All I’m interested in is the truth.”
“Okay.” His features contorted. “Here it is. The bitch doesn’t deserve to marry a rich guy and live the high life, not after what she did to Mike.”
Maria wanted to yell at Billy to skip ahead. She didn’t care about Caroline. Her only concern was Mike. If Billy told the story at his own pace, however, she’d have a better understanding of the events of the past few weeks. She forced herself to decipher his comments.
“You were trying to stop the wedding,” she observed.
“Hell, yeah,” Billy said with gusto. “Caroline was the reason Mike dropped out of high school and went to New York. Why should she be happy?”
Maria had thought the same thing when Caroline stopped by her Lexington office and set the search for Mike in motion. “Caroline isn’t happy. Her fiancé broke up with her after she told him about the photos.”
“Great,” Billy said. “That’s all I wanted. I swear it.”
A cold hand seemed to grip Maria’s heart. Billy kept saying I instead of we. If Mike were alive, wouldn’t he and Billy be in on this scheme together? They had to be collaborating, though. Maria still believed that Mike wouldn’t have passed on those nude photos of Caroline. Not when he’d been angrier at Maria for interfering than at Caroline for breaking up with him.
“Where did you get those pictures, Billy?” Logan voiced the question that had stuck in Maria’s throat.
Billy hugged himself and rubbed his upper arms, as though he was cold even though the temperature was in the low seventies. A chill swept through Maria as she waited for his answer.
“I found them in Mike’s stuff.” Billy looked at her with sad eyes. “Remember? I volunteered to help go through it.”
In the dim recesses of her memory, Maria could picture Billy in the house when her family had undertaken the heartbreaking task of sorting through Mike’s belongings. Her throat felt like it was closing up.
“I knew Mike had naked pictures of Caroline,” Billy continued. “Your folks had been through enough. I didn’t want them to find the photos and think less of him.”
Logan edged closer to Maria and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, trying to prepare herself for the blow that was coming. Her throat was so clogged with emotion she didn’t trust herself to speak.
“Do you have a tattoo on your left forearm, Billy?” Logan asked.
“Yeah.” He seemed surprised by the question. He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a ruby serpent. “Me and Mike got them together, for our favorite band.”
Repeat had overheard Billy talking about the naked photos, not Mike. Billy, who must have known that Caroline sometimes called his friend by the hated nickname Mickey. The nickname was another reason Maria had convinced herself there was hope. She felt sick to her stomach.
“Mike wasn’t in on this with you, was he?” Logan asked Billy. The question was barely audible above the traffic noises coming from the nearby street.
Billy shook his head, his eyes bleak. “I pretended to be Mike to fool Caroline. I didn’t want to hurt Mike’s family. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known it would go this far.”
A sob caught in Maria’s throat. The terrible truth was that Mike was truly gone. He’d died on 9/11 in the tragedy that had rocked not only the DiMarco family but the nation.
“This wasn’t cool, Billy,” Logan said, flint in his voice. “
Your little stunt caused the wrong people a lot of pain.”
“I didn’t mean to,” he said. “I should have come clean when Maria and I talked on the phone, but I was afraid.”
Maria could barely see past the tears that had gathered in her eyes. Her knees felt as if they were giving way. Logan’s arm tightened around her.
“So afraid you didn’t even tell your mother you were in Key West so nobody could figure out you were behind the blackmail?” Logan countered.
“Hey, that’s not the way it was,” Billy protested. “My mom thinks I move around too much. And I mailed the second note about an hour before I talked to Maria on the phone. After that, I was done with all of it. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Especially you, Maria.”
She could barely hold her tears at bay. Now she’d never get the chance to apologize to her brother and tell him how much she loved him. She’d have to live the rest of her life knowing that Mike had died resenting her.
But wait a minute. What had Billy just said? She cleared her throat and forced herself to ask for an explanation. “Why especially me?”
“Mike was close to his brother and both his sisters,” Billy said. “But he told me all the time you were his favorite.”
Maybe at one time she’d been Mike’s favorite sibling. That hadn’t been so at the time of his death. She shook her head.
“It’s true,” Billy said in response to her silent denial. “He even said you were right about Caroline.”
Maria couldn’t imagine how that could be so. The last time she’d seen her brother, before he’d stormed out of the house and went to New York, he’d vowed he’d never forgive her for wrecking his relationship.
“It was when I called him in New York,” Billy continued. “He felt real bad about the things he said to you. He was gonna phone you and apologize.”
The tears that Maria had been battling trickled down her face. Within moments, great gulping sobs racked her body. Logan immediately drew her into his arms, cradling her face against his chest.
Wish Upon a Christmas Star Page 22
