“Riding or falling?” Suzette inquired amiably.
“Either.” He looked again at the sheer material, “or else it isn’t really a dress. Maybe she just sprayed gold paint on and then rolled around in some glitter.”
Dr. Lin put his hand on his daughter’s bare arm and shook his head. She glared at him, then yanked her arm away. Quickly, she turned and ran up the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight, she slowed to a walk. Once in her room, she flipped open her cell phone.
********
The hotel was the most expensive hotel on the beach. The wealthy of the United States and Europe walked the beaches as if they owned them. The man that paused for a second to let the doorman pull open the door, matched the surroundings. The clothes were expensive, the shoes were shined, the hands were manicured and every hair was in place. The figure shouted money, but anyone who looked in that direction didn’t look back. There was something slightly strange, something a little twisted about the figure that made the hairs rise on a person’s neck.
The phone was ringing as he entered the large suite. He tossed his keys on the dresser and picked up the phone. “Yes?” The voice carried no inflection.
“She’s here with some big hunk.”
“What’s the schedule?”
“Dinner until 8:30 when the rest of the guests arrive. There’s to be bridge in the library and dancing on the terrace and in the living room. Cordelia’s parties break up early, usually about 12:30 or 1:00.”
“You know what you’re supposed to do?”
“Yes.”
She turned her cell phone off, then hugged herself, spinning around. “‘Operation come down’ is commencing,” she said to herself. Quickly, she went over the plan that he had outlined, then walked out of her room and slowly down the stairs. Her smile wasn’t pleasant.
Chapter 15
Suzette steered Mitch toward Cordelia. “Come on, Cordelia is dying to meet you. I’d better warn you though, she really doesn’t like cussing as she calls it, so no ‘damns’ or ‘asses’, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll be on my best behavior from now on,” he chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Suzette frowned, tensing a little.
“My mom’s tried everything, including washing my mouth out with soap, to get me to quit cussing, and you stop me with one sentence.”
“And you’d better figure out a way to introduce Verlynn and Mike besides being your back-up. It might ruin the party for her.”
Suzette guided him over to the tiny, gray-haired woman who was wearing a deep blue sequined gown. “Cordelia, this is Mitch Scott, the friend I told you about.”
Cordelia looked up and up. “My word, young man, you go up forever. Do you ever get dizzy from too little oxygen?” When Mitch laughed, she added, “You’re up in the nose bleed section all the time, aren’t you?”
Grinning he responded, “I’ve always wondered why I had a tendency to bloody noses, now I know why.”
Pretending to be stern, Cordelia added, “Deidre just told me that you and Suzette were making out on the porch. Shame on you for kissing the wrong woman.”
“Cordelia!” Suzette’s cheeks were bright red.
“You should have been kissing me.” Cordelia chuckled at Suzette’s blush.
“I can remedy that,” he said, putting his hands on her tiny waist. He lifted her up and vigorously kissed her on the lips.
“Aunt Cordelia!” Hallie looked scandalized.
Cordelia smirked, “I do believe you’re jealous, Hallie.”
“Don’t be ridiculous in front of your important guests,” Dorothea snapped as she moved forward to greet Dr. James Haskins, Dr. Lin’s second in command.
Cordelia gently slapped Mitch’s hand as he set her down. He winked at her, saying, “I’m ready for another round anytime you are.”
Laughing, Suzette added, “Cordelia, you keep your lips off my man.”
Mitch quickly and quietly introduced his ‘friends’ that he was staying with. He apologized for inviting them without asking permission; but from what Suzette had told him, he figured that she wouldn’t mind.
“Of course I don’t mind. I like young people around me, well not too young, but just the right age.”
As she turned to greet Dr. Haskins and his wife, Cordelia looked at Suzette and said, “If you can’t keep him, you don’t deserve to have him.”
Grinning, Suzette led them into the summer living room. Mitch laughed, then said quietly, “I simply can’t see Miss Cordelia being the head of this gang we’re looking for unless she’s one of the world’s greatest actresses.”
After they had crossed the living room and walked out on the balcony, Suzette turned to Mike and said, “Mike, what are you doing here? You can’t be on vacation, since you are working with Mitch, but San Francisco is your jurisdiction.”
“Quiet.” Mitch said, “You two can talk later. There are too many ears around right now. We need to get back to business.”
Suzette forced a smile, “Come along. I’ll introduce you to Derek and Doug and the rest of the crime ring.” She looked up at him, then whispered, “Just promise me that you’ll protect me. I’m not sure I can defend myself in this dress if Doug decides to make a move on me.”
Mitch grinned, “He’d have to be more of a man that I think he is to take you away from me. Which one is Derek?”
“He’s the short fat one standing by the fireplace in the purple tuxedo with the pink shirt and the bright yellow and pink paisley cummerbund.” Mitch rolled his eyes. “I can see what you mean when you say you can’t see him as the head of the gang we’re looking for. I can’t believe a gang leader would be that conspicuous or that badly dressed.” His gaze sharped. “Who is the woman he’s talking to? She looks more the type!”
“The older woman is his mother, Dorothea Duncan. The younger woman is Julie Stewart, the sister of my client and the daughter of the murdered woman. She’s supposed to be flying home on the ‘red eye’ tonight. The tall, blond man is Doug, the creep I told you about.” She looked up at him. “Please remember that I am friend of Jeremy’s not a hired insurance investigator.”
He looked down at her. “Right. I’m wondering if he is a lecherous creep or a criminal creep.”
“Good question. I know he’s a lecherous creep, but I’m not sure he has the mentality to be a criminal creep, unless he’s faking being dumb.”
“If he’s in the financial field, he’s probably very smart,” Verlynn said softly.
“I don’t know. I think he inherited being dumb from his father.” Suzette’s sentences were clipped because of nerves.
“I wouldn’t underestimate him, anyway. It’s easy to play dumb.” Mitch said, “I would be very careful about writing him off, my last case featured a man like him. Looked dumb, acted dumb and lead us all around by the nose for the better part of a year.”
Verlynn said, “I think Mike and I had better take a walk on the beach. He might recognize me because I’m from this area.”
Mitch nodded. “Good idea. It might be best if we don’t seem like we’re all together.”
Suzette took Mitch’s arm. “Are you ready to meet the lioness and her cub?” She asked lightly as they walked over to Dorothea.
“Dorothea, I’d like you to meet Mitch Scott, a friend of mine from New Hampshire.” Dorothea looked up at him, smiled and introduced him to Derek, Doug and Julia. Doug said, “Is this your first visit to Florida?”
“It is.” Mitch answered easily. “It’s a lot different from New Hampshire. Definitely a lot warmer.”
“Have you had a lot of snow up there?” Derek asked coolly.
Mitch raised an eyebrow, “Not as much as usual. We haven’t had a storm in three weeks.”
“So what do you do in New Hampshire?” Derek muttered, looking a little angry at Mitch’s short answers.
“Mostly ski in the winter. We have some beautiful lakes for fishing and water skiing in the summer.”
“I mean what do you do
for a living?” Doug asked, sending a warning glance to Derek.
“I’m in computers,” Mitch replied, slowly.
“A programmer? We really need programmers in our area.” Doug said enthusiastically
“I design and build computer systems, program them, write programs, and service the computer systems we set up. I do whatever BuTech needs me to do.”
“You work for BuTech. That’s a very classy company,” Dorothea said, slowly, looking him over carefully.
“It’s a good place to work, good pay, good benefits, leisure time bonuses.”
Doug began running his hand up and down Suzette’s bare arm. “You didn’t tell us your boyfriend was coming.”
She pushed his hand away. “I didn’t know until he called me from his hotel. It was a wonderful surprise.”
Mitch looked at Dorothea. “Suz tells me that a Spanish Galleon was found just off the coast here. She said that you were the one who figured out where it was. I’d like to know how you did it.”
Suzette rolled her eyes as Dorothea began a detailed explanation of how she figured out tidal drift, wind currents and other variables. Doug took Suzette’s hand and began tickling her palm. Then he began rubbing his hand up her bare arm.
“Doug, stop that. You’re making me itch.” She pulled her hand away from him.
“Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry.
The room was hot and Suzette began making fanning motions with her hand.
“Let’s go outside,” Doug said, softly. “It’s much cooler out there.”
Suzette started to say no, then thought, maybe I can find out if he’s a criminal creep by talking to him. They excused themselves to Dorothea and Mitch and walked through the sliding glass doors onto the terrace. Doug took her hand and pulled her over to the railing. “Isn’t this much better?”
Suzette closed her eyes. “This is heavenly. I can’t believe the difference between Cocoa Beach and San Francisco.”
Doug smiled down at her. “You must be feeling better. Mom said that you had pneumonia when you got here.”
She shrugged, wondering who had told Dorothea that she had pneumonia. It had been several months since she’d finally gotten rid of the bug, but no one in Florida knew anything about it and she couldn’t imagine Randy calling to tell Cordelia about it.
“I understand Aunt Cordelia hired you to investigate the gazebo fire?” Doug looked down at her. “I can’t understand why it would catch fire.”
“Who told you I was hired to look into the fire?” Suzette said neutrally. “I wasn’t. Jeremy asked me to come down and check on Cordelia. He was worried about her.”
“Mom told me. I think Aunt Cordelia told her.” He rubbed her arm. “I can’t understand why it would catch on fire. It was just a trellis on wooden supports with a roof.”
“It’s probably a good thing that your mother and Cordelia were at that séance.”
He snorted angrily. “Mother is totally nuts to be trying to contact her old fiancé. He’s been dead for years. If she’d have married him instead of Dad, she would have been disappointed in him. Dad just couldn’t compete with the ‘perfect’ man, a dead man.”
“You could be right,” Suzette replied softly.
He turned to face the railing. “That must have been some night. The séance, the fire, Aunt Jeannette getting knifed. The only time we have any excitement and I miss it.”
“So you weren’t here the night of the fire? I thought Derek said you were.”
“Nope, I was on my way to Washington, D. C. I was going to fly, but my flight was cancelled due to a mechanical malfunction so I ended up leaving late. I had to be in Washington at 8:00 a.m. so it meant an all-night drive.”
“What time did you leave?”
“I think I finally left the airport in Orlando around eleven. You know, I saw a swimsuit in a shop window this morning that I think would look great on you. I think I’ll see if they still have it in the morning. I can’t wait to see how you look in it.”
In your dreams! She thought. “What about Derek?”
“What about him? He’s a very irritating little brother who is too stupid to know who the real boss is. But going back to the subject I’m interested in,” he continued, “It’s a one piece, cut low–down to here. He put his finger on her navel. “Then it comes up like this,” he ran his finger across her breast, “And ends in straps that hook around the arms.”
Ignoring his hands and his comments, she asked, “What was Derek doing that night?”
“How should I know? I’m not my brother’s keeper. Knowing Derek, he kept busy.”
“I’ve heard he was with Deidre very late that night. Neither of them had much on.” Since Deidre is supposed to be Doug’s girlfriend, I’d like to see Doug’s reaction.
Doug laughed, “You’ve been listening to family gossip again. Mother said that Derek and Deidre went out late for a midnight swim in the ocean. It’s something Derek likes to do.”
“Do you really think that’s all Derek had in mind was a swim when Deidre is always three-quarters or more naked?”
Doug moved behind her. “Look,” he said pointing toward the horizon. “Those lights are the security lights for the galleon.”
“They look like fairy lights from this distance.” I wonder how those lights will affect Hallie’s turtles.
He slid his arms around her waist, pining her arms to her sides. He began nuzzling her bare neck and shoulders. She squirmed against him. “Doug, stop that.”
He licked her neck. “You don’t think I came out here to talk about Derek, did you?”
“Stop it. Deidre will have my head.” She tried to twist free of him, but he tightened his hold.
“Forget her. She’s ancient history,” he said indifferently.
“Maybe to you, but how does she feel about it? You and she seemed pretty close the last few days.”
“Besides,” he said as he pushed her head back against his shoulder, “she’s been two-timing me. I prefer someone who pretends to be hard to get.” He pressed his lips to hers, forcing his tongue between her lips. She clamped her teeth tightly together. I’ll probably have to see a dentist tomorrow for cracked teeth.–What a creep.
She tried to jerk her head away, but his grip on her chin tightened. I’ll probably have a hand print there tomorrow. Well so be it. She had raised her foot to stamp on his instep, when Deidre attacked. Surprise caused Doug to loosen his hold. Suzette quickly pulled away from him.
Screaming furiously, Deidre raked Suzette’s arms with her long, false nails. Before she could reach for Suzette’s face, Doug pulled her away, forcing her to bend over the terrace railing.
“I’ll kill her,” Deidre said, gasping for breath as Doug pushed harder on her upper back. She was bent almost double over the railing which moved back and forth as she fought him. “Let me up. I’ll kill you.”
“Listen, you little two-timing whore I’ll date who I want to date and I’ll kiss whom I want to kiss. Don’t yell at me like you owned me.” Doug snarled.
Deidre started kicking out with her feet, trying to free herself.
When it looked like the railing would break, Suzette grabbed Doug’s arm. “Let her up.”
“No. I’ll teach the little bitch a lesson she’ll never forget,” he said through gritted teeth. “If you want to act like a baby, I’ll treat you like a baby.” He raised his hand and slammed it against her upturned bottom. Again and again, he spanked her.
“Doug, stop it. You’ll really hurt her.” Suzette grabbed his arm but he just swung her back and forth as he hit Deidre.
“That’s what I want.”
Deidre was no longer swearing, but her screams and sobs were getting louder.
Turning her head, Suzette saw that the people in the living room were beginning to converge on the door. Urgently, she shook Doug’s arm “People are coming. You’d better do something about her mouth.”
Grimly, Doug hauled her up, putting his hand across her mouth, then
grabbing her around the waist, he lifted her off her feet and marched down the stairs and into the dark.“We’ll finish this in private,” he said grimly.
Staying out of the light, Suzette moved around the terrace until she could lean back against the house. Carefully, she wiped her eyes with shaking hands. “I’ll never be alone with him again,” she said out loud. “He’s a slimy creep and what a temper he has.” The bushes rustled, even though there was no wind, but Suzette was too preoccupied to notice.
Gently, she rubbed her arms where Deidre had scratched her. “I should hope Deidre comes out of this with a whole skin, but I really hope she has to eat standing up for a couple of days.” She grinned to herself. “She deserves whatever Doug gives her, though. It might teach her a lesson.”
She jumped when Mitch spoke out of the darkness. “Why are you out here hiding in the dark and talking to yourself?”
Her voice broke as she explained what had happened. He quickly reached for her, pulling her into his arms. He didn’t try to kiss her, just held her. “It will be okay, Suz. It will be okay.”
After a few minutes, the tears ran dry and she stopped shaking. “What a mess,” she muttered. “When I go inside, everyone will see the claw marks and will want to know what happened. I’ll be the sensation of the evening, practically raped by that lecherous creep, then attacked by his demented girlfriend.”
Mitch chuckled. “You’re getting your sense of humor back again, but I think it would be better if you put some make-up on those scratches.”
“I agree, but how am I going to get up to my room without being seen? If I walk across the lawn, I’ll be eaten alive.”
“We can walk along the path.”
“They will still eat me alive–in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have much on.”
Laughing, he said, “I had noticed. Even Mike said you had a magnificent figure.” Mitch quickly slipped off his jacket and draped it around her. This should keep the mosquitoes off you.” The jacket covered from head to knees with the tails dragging on the ground behind her. Quickly, he picked her up, jogged down the stairs and along the path to the balcony that adjoined her room. As she walked through the doorway, he said, “I’ll meet you in the hall outside your room. That will look better than the two of us coming in from the terrace.”
Sun, Sand and Murder: A Suzette Bishop Mystery (Suzette Bishop Mysteries Book 3) Page 9
