The Michaela Bancroft Mysteries 1-3

by Michele Scott

  "What! What the…" Tommy turned down a one-way street, his tires screaming around the corner.

  Marianne stayed right behind him. Tommy emerged on the other end, but just before Marianne got there, a huge semi started to pull in front of them.

  "Oh shit!" Joe exclaimed.

  Michaela held onto her seat belt.

  "Oh Mary, Mother of God," Anthony muttered.

  Marianne floored the gas and circled around the semi's cab, barely missing it.

  "Around that way!" Joe yelled.

  She followed his directions and they again got behind Tommy's gray jeep. "Now, Mick, now! Can you take out that left rear wheel?" Joe yelled.

  "I don't know."

  "Try!"

  They rolled down their windows. Joe stuck his gun out the front window, Michaela the back, pointing it as best as she could at the tire. They were heading toward the freeway and traffic increased as they weaved between cars. The last thing Michaela wanted was for anyone to get hurt.

  Anthony had his phone out. Michaela heard him calling the police, which at this point was an excellent idea. He reported an abduction and gave a description of the car. Tommy went down another street, away from the freeway and toward suburbia.

  "Take the shot, Mick! You've got a better vantage!" Joe said.

  She aimed and fired. The jeep squirreled out and then zipped around a light post, finally straightening out. "I think I got him!"

  The jeep started to slow. Michaela watched as Tommy leaped out. "Stop the car!" Joe yelled.

  When Marianne did, Joe scrambled out and started after Tommy. Michaela followed. What happened next seemed like it took place in slow motion. No one figured Tommy had a weapon on him, but he turned around and fired, and Joe went down. Michaela sprinted to him as Tommy ran off.

  "Asshole got me in the knee." Joe winced. Marianne was by Joe's side in seconds, with Anthony behind. "Go check the girl. Make sure she's okay," Joe told Anthony.

  "Oh no, Joey, Joey!" Marianne cried.

  He reached a hand out for her. "I'm fine, sweetie. It hurts, but I'll be okay. Now, where did that SOB go?" Joe said, his face paling as the pain hit him hard.

  "He got away. Again," Michaela said and took Joe's other hand.

  FORTY-THREE

  MICHAELA LEANED AGAINST THE COLD, HARD wall of the hospital corridor, coffee in hand and thoughts racing through her mind. Joe was in surgery, having a bullet removed from his knee. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Detectives were questioning Lucia, and Michaela was afraid that all of them would be facing some sort of criminal charges.

  Marianne was in the waiting room; Anthony had gone down to the cafeteria. Michaela had no idea what Lucia would tell the police. If she told them what Marianne and Anthony had said, then, yes, they would all be in a lot of trouble. She didn't know if Lucia was even aware of her involvement in the car chase. Once the police had been called and emergency crews arrived, it all happened so quickly. The area had been sealed off and a manhunt for Tommy ensued, with no results. He had definitely eluded the authorities.

  She turned to see Anthony walking down the hall. He held out a cookie for her.

  "No thanks," she said. "What do you think will happen?"

  "Joe is gonna be fine. He's tough."

  Michaela nodded. She prayed that his knee would be okay. "How about Lucia? What do you think she'll tell the police?"

  "She's not going to tell them anything. That's why I was looking for you. I just got a call from her and she has refused to talk until she sees me. She told the police that I'm her attorney." He smiled. "I better get on downtown. Don't worry, I'll handle everything."

  Michaela had no idea what Anthony had up his sleeve. But the one thing she'd come to know about the Pellegrino family was that if anyone could get out of a sticky situation, it was them.

  After Anthony left, she went into the waiting area and joined Marianne. She took her small hand. "I'm sorry, Mare."

  Marianne turned and looked at her, her eyes red from crying. "Sorry? Sorry? Oh honey, don't be sorry. Are you kidding me? Joey is gonna be fine and we all knew what we were signing up for with this deal. You don't need to be sorry. I have to tell you, that was the best damn time I've had in years. Please don't apologize. The only reason I'm upset is that I know for the next however long it takes for Joey to heal, I've got to play nursemaid." She started to laugh. "Okay, so maybe I'm a little worried, but honestly, Joe is not a good patient."

  "I imagine not." They both laughed. "I really do hope you know how sorry I am about all of this."

  "Dammit, Michaela, you say that one more time and I'm gonna knock you across the room. Just stop it."

  Michaela gave her a hug. When she pulled away she looked up and saw Jude heading toward them. Her stomach sank.

  "Hello, ladies. Michaela, I think we need to talk."

  She nodded. Marianne excused herself and Jude asked her not to go far, as he planned to question her as well. When she left the room, he turned to Michaela. "Do you want to tell me why you and your friends were chasing a car that Tommy Liggett was driving with Lucia Sorvino inside it? Oh, and don't leave anything out, especially the part where you shot out Tommy's tire."

  He wasn't happy with her and she didn't know how she was going to get out of this. "We spotted Lucia being dragged into a car by Tommy and it didn't look good, so we followed them and could tell she was in trouble. I shot out the tire because I was afraid he was going to kill her."

  "And why would you think that?"

  "Because I found out that Sterling and Tommy were dealing in stolen jewels. Lucia had connected them with her cousin Diamante Pizzini, and then Tommy murdered Sterling, because last summer the two of them were involved in the death of a woman in Santa Barbara."

  Jude placed his head in his hands. "Oh God. Go on."

  "While Detective Peters was busy pointing the finger at me, and you were off on your cruise, I didn't have much choice but to try and figure out who really murdered Sterling Taber." She told him everything she'd found out about Rebecca Woodson and what she surmised had happened last summer on the pier. "I think Tommy was there, and whether or not it was an accident, either Tommy or Sterling pushed her. Then, I think they agreed to cover for each other. I spoke with Rebecca's brother this week and he said that Sterling had tried to get him to meet with him. He told him that he had information about his sister's death. I believe that Sterling was greedy and planned to tell Rebecca's family that Tommy had killed her. Tommy found out about this and so he killed Sterling—because Sterling was about to betray him and also because of the jewels they were dealing in. Sterling wanted all the profit. He wasn't the type to share."

  "Interesting. If you have that all figured out, then why don't you tell me what part Carolyn Taber played in all of this."

  "I think Tommy killed her. I think he had a set of tapes that Sterling probably gave him. When he saw that there might be holes in the case against me, he knew he'd need another fall guy and he chose Carolyn. She was easy to frame. I bet that if you run a handwriting analysis on the suicide note, it won't match Carolyn Taber's handwriting."

  "Maybe you should become a cop."

  "Funny." She smiled at him but he didn't return the smile.

  "You know that Anthony Pellegrino, who is your friend Joe's cousin and who was in the minivan with you and the others, is now downtown with Lucia Sorvino, representing her."

  "He's a good lawyer."

  "He's a tax attorney, Michaela. I know there are blanks to fill in here. You haven't been forthright from the get-go. But honestly, I don't think I want to know everything anymore, because I've got a bad feeling that if I did know, I'd have to arrest you. And I don't want to do that. You better hope that the holes in your story don't get bigger and that none of your partners fill in the blanks.

  "Yep." She took a sip of coffee. It was all she could say. A minute later, Jude stood. She asked him, "Have they found Tommy?"

  "Not yet. But we will. I've got to get back to
the station. Tell Mrs. Pellegrino that I hope her husband is better."

  "You aren't going to talk with her? I thought you said…"

  He held up a hand. "Like I said, I don't think I want to know. I've got enough to file a report and keep you out of jail. But we do need to talk. We really do. Just not now."

  She nodded. Jude left the room and she watched him walk down the hall to the exit. She got up and paced the hall. A few minutes later Marianne came back and said, "Where's the cop?"

  "Gone. He says he hopes Joe feels better and he changed his mind about talking with you."

  "Huh. Okay. Well, Joey is out of surgery and the doctor says it looks good."

  "That's great. Can we see him?"

  "They say he's in recovery and it'll be a while. You know, why don't you go on home and I'll call you. I'm kinda worried about the kids anyway. I'm sure Camden and Dwayne have their hands full."

  "Of course. Sure. Yes, call me."

  Michaela headed home with an empty feeling inside. Her friend was hurt, and she'd done a dumb thing by trying to take down a madman. Jude was right: She needed to stop playing detective. She didn't have the skills for it.

  It was getting dark and all the lights were on at Dwayne and Camden's place. She walked in and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw. On Camden's lap sat a sleeping Isabel; Dwayne was playing Monopoly with Vincent and little Joe. Gen was drawing and Giorgio was watching a TV show. Wow.

  "Hi, Michaela," Dwayne said. Camden smiled at her and brought a finger to her lips. Who knew that Camden could be…domestic? A wave of comfort came over her and she wanted to sit down and start crying, but she knew that would raise too many questions, and the last thing she wanted to do was break up the peaceful scene. She went over to the table where the Monopoly game was going on. "Sorry guys, it took us a little longer than we thought. Um, and I think the kids will probably stay for a little while more. I'll go out and feed the horses and then take the kids off your hands and give them dinner."

  "No, no. I be making some burgers for them. I got the grill fired up already and Cammy girl made the patties earlier for us," Dwayne said. "We all be good. You sure 'bout the horses? I can feed 'em."

  "No. You look like you're having a good time." She glanced at Camden and smiled. "Look at you," she whispered.

  "I know," she whispered back so as not to wake the toddler. "I know." She smiled.

  Michaela left them and headed to the barn. She piled flakes of hay onto the wheelbarrow and began her rounds. She fought back all of the emotion that ate at her, which ranged from anger, frustration, sadness, and fear to the other end of the spectrum after seeing Camden and Dwayne with the kids—which had given her a sense of peace and happiness. She'd had her doubts about those two getting married, but any lingering questions had been wiped away in the last few minutes. They were going to be married and start a family and Michaela wanted all of that and more for them, because it was her strongest desire to have a family, too. If she couldn't have one then her best friend should, and she could share in their joy.

  Her stallion, Rocky, snorted as she passed. Here was her family. He tossed his head as she started to open his stall door. "Okay, okay, easy. I'm getting it," she said.

  Rocky pawed the ground. He was always eager when it came to dinnertime, but there was something off about him tonight. She pushed the stall door open a little farther as Rocky sent a shrill whinny echoing through the breezeway. It all happened in seconds, but Michaela felt something go around her neck. She reached her fingers up, clawing at the object. Someone was strangling her. Rocky reared up inside his stall. She could see the whites of his eyes and his nostrils flare, fear emanating from him. She kicked and struggled. She knew who had her: Tommy Liggett had come to her ranch and hidden out, waiting to strike.

  As she felt the lead rope tighten further, she heard Tommy telling her what a stupid bitch she was. "You didn't have to keep snooping around. I killed Carolyn Taber for you. I actually liked you. I didn't want you to go to jail. Then I thought Carolyn would be a perfect killer to pin this all on and you'd be free. But no, you had to keep after me, send in Lucia and the troops. What the hell is wrong with you?"

  Michaela, still struggling, grew dizzy. She knew she was losing the fight. And as she faded, Rocky shoved his stall all the way open with his head and charged at Tommy, who dropped the rope. Now on the ground, Michaela rolled quickly to her side. Rocky reared up again and came crashing down, knocking Tommy onto his back. He screamed, but it was too late; Rocky's hooves came down on Tommy's chest. Michaela sat up. Her horse had just saved her life.

  FORTY-FOUR

  IT WAS OVER. IT HAD BEEN A WEEK SINCE TOMMY Liggett was taken away in a body bag from Michaela's ranch. The police closed the investigation after running the handwriting analysis, as Michaela suggested. Lucia worked with the police in fingering her cousin in the jewelry scam and told them what Tommy had said to her in the car about killing Sterling. She did not, thankfully, tell the police about Marianne's and Anthony's role in any of it. Anthony was able to get her a deal if she cooperated with the cops, and no one was the wiser about how things had really occurred the day they chased Tommy down.

  Jude and Michaela finally had that talk, and both came to the conclusion that maybe they weren't right for each other. She knew that Jude had been hurt by her dishonesty with him, and she'd been hurt by his lack of faith in her. She had to wonder if she'd ever find the right man and start a family. Joe was back home with his brood, and she'd taken food over for them several times and run errands for Marianne, wanting to help out as much as she could.

  Dwayne and Camden had gone back to putting all their efforts into planning their wedding and running the tack shop.

  Rocky was her hero, and every day she'd gone out to see him with an extra handful of carrots. As horrible as Tommy's death had been, Rocky had saved her life and she was grateful.

  Michaela sat out back, her eyes closed, listening to the waterfall pour into the pool. She thought about Ethan and wondered how everything was going with him. He'd called when he heard what had happened, and wanted to come over. She'd insisted it wasn't necessary. She knew that the two of them needed to have some space between them. Summer was not her favorite person in the world, but Michaela knew her feelings for Ethan were wrong, and she needed him to stay away. She needed to move on with her life, and thankfully tomorrow would be the beginning of that as she went back to giving riding lessons. She got up and went inside to make herself some dinner. Camden and Dwayne had gone out for the evening, and although she thought she'd relish having time to herself after all she'd been through, she felt pretty alone.

  She seasoned a chicken breast and put it in the oven to bake. As she started fixing herself a salad, the doorbell rang. Who could that be?

  Ethan stood on the other side of the door, little Josh in his arms. He looked distraught. "Ethan? What is it? What's wrong?"

  He walked past her, put Josh down on her family room floor, and handed him a set of plastic keys to play with. He grabbed her arm and took her into the kitchen, where in a lowered voice he said, "She left."

  "What?"

  "Can you believe it? Summer. She just left us. I was at work. The baby was at day care. I had to go down to the Rocovich Center in San Diego yesterday. Then, I got this call from the day-care lady, who said that Summer never picked him up. She'd called yesterday and asked her to keep him overnight, but then she didn't show up today."

  "What?"

  "Yeah, so I raced home and picked him up and came home to an empty house. She even took her horses."

  "No, Ethan. No! That's not true."

  He handed her a letter. "Read this."

  Michaela took it. Summer's letter detailed how she couldn't handle being a mother, that she thought she'd loved Ethan but now she didn't think so, and she didn't want the life. She wanted a different life. The words were crazy and unfathomable. How could a woman leave her baby? The letter further stated that she'd met someone, and for Ethan t
o expect divorce papers and that she wouldn't fight him in a custody battle.

  "Oh my God, Ethan. No. Look, you have to find her. Maybe she's going through some type of postpartum depression like we talked about, and she needs help. Women don't just leave their children. They don't do it, and I know she loves Josh. I've seen her with him."

  "Find her? No way. She left her son and me. You read the letter. And you don't know the half of it. I didn't want to say anything. You've had so much going on," Ethan said.

  "I don't understand."

  He took her hands. "Summer. She has not been a mother to our son. I'm so exhausted. I come home from work and he's either hungry or needs to be changed. I don't know what to think. I'm the one who found the day care because I was so worried about him. I tried talking to her and she would scream at me and tell me that she was fine."

  Michaela shook her head. "I had no idea. This is all wrong. She'll be back. This is crazy."

  "No she's crazy. I don't want her to come back. She's found another man, and you know what, the whole way over here, Michaela, I kept running it through my mind. The day she left me at the altar and then wormed her way back into my life, and the way she has tried to keep us from being friends, and I know why. It's because she's seen all along what the two of us haven't, and as far as I'm concerned this is a blessing."

  "What?"

  He leaned in and kissed her hard, wrapping his arms around her. The world, her life, all of it swirled into a blur, as if she was in a dream. But it was real. And it was more than nice and more than special. It was a connection so profound that it brought tears to her eyes, and although she was confused by all of it, at the same time, she felt more clarity in those seconds than she'd ever known. He pulled away from her and said, "It's been you, Mick. Always has. It's that simple. It has always been you and I'm tired of pretending or denying it. I won't do it anymore. Will you? I mean, we want to be in your life and I think there's a future here for us." He looked at Josh and then back at her. "The three of us. Don't you?"