Tahoe Blues

by Lane, Aubree

  Every endearing word he ever spoke to her was now a suspected lie, and with the forced distance between them, she had begun to believe he might have had something to do with her arrest. She mulled over the encounter between him and Duncan and wondered if it had been staged. Duncan had gone down without a fight. Cara knew her ex-husband was no light weight. He and Mark trained together frequently. She had never seen Duncan dirty his hands in a physical manner, but she knew he had a ruthless streak. No matter how Duncan’s attorney advised him, Cara found it hard to believe that Duncan would drop the charges against Tanner so easily. Either he had another plan in order to exact his revenge or the whole thing had been a sham.

  With nothing better to do, Cara picked up a cookbook and began flipping through the pages. Cooking was the only thing that brought her comfort, and in just a few hours she would be able to escape her four constraining walls for an entire two hours of freedom, as long as she didn’t venture out further than two miles.

  Everything chocolate appealed to her, and she had cooked so many delicious meals lately her pants were fitting a bit snugger than usual. If her case wasn’t resolved soon, she was going to end up looking like a whale. Cara found it difficult to care. She had no man to sooth her womanly needs and since she had not asked Martin to revise her monitor agreement, as Officer Waters had suggested, she wasn’t allowed to drink. The one thing she could do was eat, and Cara planned on savoring every single decadent morsel of whatever divine bliss she conjured up.

  Her grocery list was going to be ginormous!

  Wallowing in self-pity seemed like as good a way as any to pass the time. Cara was pretty certain if she were examined by a shrink he would say she was depressed. She rolled that thought over in her head and wondered if having an appointment with a psychologist would be good for a few more hours outside the apartment, and if she played her cards right, she might even be able to plea temporary insanity.

  She wandered into the bedroom and opened the closet door. The top of the box of playthings hadn’t been replaced properly and a running shoe with a hole in the sole, which Cara had forgotten to throw away, rested on the floor beside it. Cara picked up the shoe and lobbed it into the trash several feet away. Cara hit nothing but net and made the two pointer.

  “And she scores!” Cara called out congratulating herself.

  She turned back to the box and pulled out the green leaf vibrator, the one Tanner teased her with the night before she was arrested. Turning it over in her hand a couple of times, Cara blew out a frustrated breath and tossed it back in the box. She simply wasn’t in the mood.

  Just as she shoved the box to the back of the closet, the doorbell rang. Cara looked down at her ragged appearance, but found she didn’t care about that either. She got up and went to answer the door.

  David Crandall stood outside Cara Lee Greene’s infamous eyeball door. It was just as horrendous as everyone said.

  He pushed the bell again, but he was happy to wait. He was more nervous about meeting his client than he had been back when he was on his first case. Being dumb and stupid, he was sure he had come off as a know-it-all ass. He had come a long way since then, and the incident which changed every aspect of his and his family’s life, had brought home every single hard-learned lesson.

  He had come prepared this time. It was uncomfortable as hell, but in the small of his back rested his 9mm mag. No one would get the drop on him ever again. It had been challenging, but he added the precaution of doubling back a few times in order to make sure he hadn’t been followed. Not being all that familiar with the area, he ended up becoming so turned around he had to turn on the GPS just to get himself straightened out. David was absolutely certain no one had followed this inept whacky detective’s path to Cara’s front door.

  The door opened and David smiled. Quickly the curved edges of his mouth dropped. He had a hard time believing the vision which stood before him was the well-kept stunning woman in the video. “Ms. Greene?” he asked, needing confirmation he was speaking to the correct person.

  “Yes, I’m Cara Greene.” She cocked her head and raised a questioning brow. “And you are?”

  David shuffled the laptop he held in his arms to one side and extended a hand. “I’m David Crandall. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  When Cara smiled, David knew he had the right woman, and he realized how difficult the last couple of weeks must have been on her.

  “Mr. Crandall,” she gushed. “Please come in. Is there any news?”

  David walked in and headed directly to the sofa. He placed the laptop on the coffee table and opened it. “A little. I need to see if you can recognize a person on this tape.”

  Cara sat down beside him and rubbed her hands excitedly. “Someone broke in. I knew it.”

  “Calm down,” David warned as the laptop began to load. “It’s far from cut and dry. We can’t make out the intruder’s face. We have ascertained that the break-in occurred one night when you were not at home. We saw you leave earlier in the evening, but you didn’t return until morning.”

  “I have slept here every night except the few times I stayed with Tanner Reed.” She blew out a sigh of relief. “That means he’s innocent, and I can see him again.” She scooted a few inches closer to David and glanced at the loading screen. “Was the intruder about five and half feet tall and bent over with a hunched back?”

  David shook his head. He knew where this was leading. “The perp is well over six feet. I think we can safely rule out your neighbor Mrs. Grimes as well.” He tapped the keyboard and the video began to play.

  Cara looked expectantly at the screen, anxious to see who was behind all the trouble she was in. The figure came out of her bedroom and move through the living room towards the kitchen. The dark image was clearly male, but beyond that, it was hard to make out any other details. “Is that it?”

  David nodded. “At this point, yes. There is still a lot more footage to go through.” He pointed at the screen. “I would venture to guess that this is the night in question.” He prodded Cara to look again. “I’m going to slow it down. I want you to see if anything about him seems familiar.”

  It was Cara’s turn to nod. “You want me to see if I can identify Duncan.”

  David shook his head. “I have watched the fifteen seconds of this shadowy dark man about a hundred times, and I don’t think it’s him. I’ve compared news footage and scrutinized the way your ex-husband walks and moves and this guy doesn’t have his swagger. What I want to know is if this is somebody who might work for him.”

  Cara sucked in a breath. Her ex-brother-in-law immediately came to mind. “Run it again. I’ll watch it closer.”

  David slowed the feed down and enlarged the image as much as he could without totally pixilating it. Cara leaned in. Her eyes narrowed with concentration. She did not want the man to be Mark. He was the only one in the family besides Duncan’s mother who had treated her with respect, and at the end of her marriage, sympathy.

  The man came out of the bedroom. His face was hidden by the hoodie. For a brief moment Cara thought she might have caught a glimpse of something, but then it was gone. “Go back,” she commanded, “and slow it down just a bit more.”

  David rewound the tape and adjusted the speed.

  Cara picked up the laptop and brought it closer to her face. Once again the intruder came out of the bedroom. This time Cara understood what she saw and smiled. “See that right there, wait, back it up again. It’s only there for a moment. Can you slow it down anymore?” She placed the laptop back on the coffee table so David could get a look.

  David slowed the feed down to where it barely crept along.

  “Stop there!”

  David did as he was told.

  “See that shiny thing on his belt?”

  “Yes, it’s a belt buckle reflecting light.”

  Cara shook her head. “No, it’s not in the right place for a buckle. I think it’s a badge. I think the person who broke in here is Officer N
ate Waters.”

  “Who is Officer Nate Waters, and why do you think he’s behind this?”

  Cara sank back into the couch. Other than him coming on to Leah and trying to extract information out of her, something else had bugged her about the man. Her intuition had cautioned her to be wary, but she brushed it off, believing it stemmed from her not wanting to go back to jail. She didn’t think David Crandall was interested in her feelings, but she needed to tell him anyway. “He stopped by the other night because my monitor indicated that I had been drinking. I didn’t want to be arrested, so I invited him in to have dinner with Leah, Tanner and me. Later on, he went home with Leah.” Cara took a breath. The more she talked, the more she realized how insane she must sound. “According to Leah, all they did was chat.” She rolled her eyes skyward. “Have you seen Leah? Doesn’t that sound odd to you?”

  David scratched his ear. It did sound odd, but not for the reason Cara mentioned. “Let me see your leg monitor.”

  Cara lifted her leg and laid it across David’s lap.

  David picked up the black box and examined it. “I think we’ve just found ourselves a viable suspect.” He let Cara’s leg fall back to the floor. “I’ll do a little research, but I don’t think that’s the booze bracelet.” He pulled a notebook out of his jacket and jotted down the make and model of Cara’s monitor.

  “Then how did he know?”

  David glanced over at the large front window. “I think he probably looked inside, saw an opportunity, and ran with it.

  Cara felt so stupid. If she had contacted her lawyer right away and asked him to amend the monitor agreement as Nate Waters suggested, they would have had their suspect days ago. “I have an easier way to find out if this is the booze bracelet.” She walked over to the fridge and reached inside. “You want a beer?”

  “Cara, it’s barely past noon.” David admonished.

  Cara returned the bottles to the fridge. And that was exactly why she hadn’t contacted Martin to amend the alcohol clause. She’d been drinking way too much lately.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mark pulled into Granite Gates Estates and parked near Cara’s condo. He wanted to see how she was doing and tell her not to worry, but being that he was a fully-vested member of the enemy camp he doubted she would open the door. He turned left and walked up to Tanner’s place. The hunk, the hanky, and the whore had agreed to meet here instead of Rookies. If the news of the four of them huddling around a table and conspiring against Duncan ever got back to him, it would be disastrous for whatever good they hoped to accomplish.

  Mark snickered. The look on the old lady’s face when he picked her up and carried her up the hill was priceless. That one action had shut her up for the entire drive to the trailhead parking lot. He was relatively certain she would have regained her senses by now and expected to find the little old hellcat on the attack once more.

  He knocked on TJ Reed’s door and waited. The expensive black suit he wore was perfect for his job at the casino, but out here he felt like a gangster ready to pebble the place with his Tommy gun. All that was missing was a silk-banded fedora. Slipping off the double breasted jacket, he hung it over his arm, and knocked again.

  Lisa opened the door. Her wild flaming red hair was a little wilder than usual. She gave him an arm flourishing King’s Welcome and slurred, “Come on in and join the party.”

  Mark stepped in and found Mrs. Grimes and TJ Reed slugging back beers on the sofa and that the coffee table was already littered with empty bottles.

  He glanced back at Lisa, who brushed her hair away from her face and shrugged. “Don’t judge us,” she said. “It’s not every day that we trespass on private property and run the risk of being murdered. We are simply celebrating the fact that we are intact and our remains aren’t cemented into the walls of those nasty tunnels.”

  Mrs. Grimes waved him over. “It’s about time my chariot arrived. Come on in and join us. You didn’t happen to bring a bottle of Jack did you? This guy only has beer, and wine. It’s not cutting it for me.”

  Mark looked at the old woman’s glazed over faded gray eyes and disagreed. “Be careful, grandma. That stuff can sneak up on you. We don’t want it knocking your medications out of whack and end up having to take you to the hospital.”

  “Grandma!” Mrs. Grimes humphed. “Thanks to that bastard Viggo Hanson, I never had the opportunity to have kids of my own, let alone grandkids.”

  Mark narrowed his eyes at Mrs. Grimes. “When I ran facial recognition on you I found photos of you and your husband at the Alexander Gala about twenty years ago. It doesn’t sound like you care much for the family. Why did you attend?”

  Mrs. Grimes leaned in close to educate the boy on the family history, but her body kept moving forward. She crashed into Tanner’s shoulder. Tanner relieved her of the beer bottle and struggled to keep her upright. He pulled her into his chest and snuggled her close. Mrs. Grimes sighed. “You are a good boy, TJ.” she cooed to the only person she’d ever had the opportunity to parent.

  Tanner gently patted her head. “Tell us about Viggo.”

  “My love worked for that monster for most of his life. He wasn’t as bad as his dad, but he didn’t have to be. Prohibition was over, and all he had to concentrate on was bringing in cheap liquor and building the casino. My man was in charge of smuggling hooch in from across the lake. Distributors from Canada would meet up with him and help him load the cargo. Unfortunately, greed wasn’t just a Hanson trait.” She glared at Mark and pointed a crooked index finger in his direction. “That one there knows the story.” Then she shifted her outrage onto Lisa. “She does, too. They both called me Grimy today, and that was my husband’s handle.” Mrs. Grimes closed her eyes and rested her head on Tanner’s shoulder. “Nicky began to siphon off little bits of the shipments and selling them to the competition. We were building quite a nest egg. I always worried he would get caught, but I never imagined I would become a casualty. One day a man, with the same look as Mark over there, knocked on my door and told me to go pick up Grimy’s sorry ass.

  “I knew his smuggling days with Viggo were over, and I believed I was going to have to drag his maltreated body out of the tunnels. The joke was on me. Nicky was still out on a run and when he returned, he ended up being the one to haul my battered carcass out of that hell hole.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “That wasn’t all. They wouldn’t let Nicky leave. He never pilfered so much as a stick of gum after that. The day we received the invitation to the gala, we weren’t so much as honored as we were relieved that his transgression had been forgiven. It wasn’t an invitation we could refuse. There was always a veiled threat in everything concerning the Cascade Bay Resort and Casino. The day Nicky had a heart attack, he asked me to please let him die. He never complained about his life, and I think he enjoyed the excitement of taking risks, but he wanted me to be free. He told me he never expected to live as long has he had, and that it was time for me to be happy.”

  Mrs. Grimes covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. “I honored his wishes and refused to let the doctors perform a surgery which might have extended his time. He passed away a few hours later. I will have to live with that decision for the rest of my life. I try not to feel guilty. The doctors all told me there wasn’t much else they could have done. The years of smoking, drinking, and living the highlife had done its damage.” She eased out of TJ’s embrace and reached for the beer he placed upon the coffee table. “I don’t think about those days much anymore, but when I tip a cup or two, it always comes back. This business with Cara makes me want to bring that family down. I’ve pondered different ways over the years and when we are able to prove that Duncan is behind this, I will finally be able to exact my revenge.”

  Mark crossed his arms over his chest. He hadn’t known the story. His only crime was that he rarely called anyone by their real name. Cara began calling Lisa, Blackjack Barbie because of him. When Cara finally accepted the fact that Duncan was cheating, he was the only
one she could talk to. At first he tried to make light of the situation, but when he realized Cara was serious about getting a divorce, he confessed the depth of Duncan’s indiscretions.

  Duncan had never been faithful. He counseled her to get out while she still could and not to get stuck as he had. After one heavy conversation, he told her that Duncan and Blackjack Barbie were not worth what she was going through. He cleaned up his reference to Lisa Hill. In his mind the redhead had originally been dubbed, Blow Job Barbie.

  Mark had known for a long time that he wanted a different life for Drew and himself. Drew was weak and found it hard to stand up against her mother who ruled the Alexander realm with an iron fist. When Inga relinquished the throne to Duncan, Mark thought it was their chance, but Drew refused to leave. She was used to a certain way of life and simply being a regular everyday person frightened her more than her mother’s wrath.

  A large part of Mark looked forward to the fall of the family, and if his wife had anything to do with Cara’s legal problems, he looked forward to the dissolution of their marriage.

  Lisa was the first one to break the gloomy silence. “Holy shit, old woman, do you think Duncan and I laid around discussing you and your husband?” She took a few steps toward Mrs. Grimes. “Do you think I don’t have a story just as horrible as yours? I broke his marriage up on purpose because that ass-hat knocked up my older sister, and she died of a brain aneurysm in childbirth. The Alexander family paid all her hospital bills and they have arranged for little Sibby’s support, but that won’t bring my sister back.

  “Duncan broke every promise he every made to her and that witch of a mother is a vicious shrew.” She turned on Mark. “I’m sure you didn’t know about that one. They don’t use you to clean up the important messes. They do those themselves. Inga forced my parents to sign a non-disclosure agreement before she would cough up any money. The hospital bills alone would have bankrupted my family. When the Alexanders decide to play hardball, they don’t mess around. I changed my name and dropped out of my family’s life so I could try to find a way to destroy them. Dry those tears Mrs. Grimes and buck-up. We are going to bring that house down with every last one of them inside.”