“Having visitors this week seems to agree with you,” Lee commented.
“It was so nice having them here. I’ve missed Brianna so much, and I worried about her every day,” she said solemnly. “I reported her as missing, and I never did understand why the police couldn’t get any leads on her. Now, I understand.”
“Why was that?” Lee asked.
“She was in witness protection. Whatever they were told about her was enough to keep them from looking for her. Broke my heart, though. I just thought they didn’t care about her. But, she explained everything, and I can’t blame her for running back to Noah. Don’t think she didn’t get a good tongue-lashing for not calling me as soon as she was able, though.”
“I’m sure you put her in her place.” Lee smiled. “Are they coming back over today?”
“No, they’ve all gone back home now. They promised they’d be back in a few weeks. Noah is looking into expanding his business, and he found a place here that will work out well.
“Wouldn’t that be nice, Lee?” Liz exclaimed suddenly. “You know, my kids don’t ever come see me. At least this way, Brianna and her family would come see me regularly.”
“Why wouldn’t your kids come to see you?” Lee took a sip of his tea and kept her talking.
“They’re too busy with their own lives and don’t have time for an old lady. My son is a doctor and his patients need him. My daughter has plenty of activities to keep her busy.” Liz shrugged.
“Where do they live?”
“My son is in Texas and my daughter is in California.”
“It’s too bad they don’t live closer to you,” Lee lied. “Have you considered moving to be nearer to one of them?”
“Oh, it’s crossed my mind,” Liz explained as she kept her eyes trained on the table. “But I couldn’t pick one over the other. Besides, it’s time for them to live their lives and not worry over me. Their kids are in their early teens now and off doing their own thing. My son and daughter are enjoying just being married couples and having some time to themselves again. I’d be a third wheel to either of them.”
Lee made an exaggerated show of checking the time on his watch as he quickly rose from his chair. “I’m sorry to rush out like this, Liz, but I’m late for an appointment. If you don’t mind, I’d like to come by again soon. It seems we’re both alone here.”
“That’d be great, Lee.” Liz smiled. “I have to admit, I never really thought you liked me much.”
“What’s not to like?” His charm oozed out of him as if it were natural. “I’ve had my own problems lately and I’ve been preoccupied. My mind is clear now.”
“Glad to hear that. We don’t need any muddled brains around here,” Liz laughed good-naturedly.
As Lee left, his smirk covered his face. His plan would work out even better than he’d originally thought. With her only family members living multiple states away, she’d be a much easier barrier to remove. She’d become very familiar with him and could too easily identify him. That wouldn’t matter after he’d exacted his revenge, but he had to eliminate any possible hindrance ahead of time.
“Say goodbye, Mrs. Elizabeth Stanton. Your time here is drawing to a close,” Lee said smugly to himself as he got into his car.
Keeping up appearances would be important now. He had to appear to leave for work at the same time every day, come home after work at staggered times, and begin planting the story around the nosy neighborhood of his upcoming required business travel. Once his alibi was firmly set, the neighbors would be less likely to implicate him during the aftermath.
He could picture the neighbors’ dumbfounded replies when the police finally found Liz’s dead body in her townhouse.
Lee will be so upset when he gets home. He loved Mrs. Stanton.
No, officer, I don’t have his cell phone number. He said he’d be back in a few days.
“By the time these idiots realize I’m not coming back, my trail will be as cold as ice,” Lee said aloud.
* * *
“Where have you been for the last two weeks, young man?” Liz playfully chastised Lee.
“Work has been just crazy lately.” He shook his head. “I finally took some time off to get a break.”
“What do you do?” she probed.
“Nothing I want to talk about on my off day.” He winked.
She patted his cheek in her motherly way. “One day, you’ll tell me all about yourself. You think you’re hiding that pain you carry around, but I see it.”
He was taken aback for a few seconds. He’d never allowed anyone to get close enough to get a read on him before, but her words made him second-guess what he thought he knew. Was she really that intuitive, or had he slipped and revealed more than he realized?
“The only pain I have is that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, independently wealthy, so I don’t have to work.” He attempted to play it off, avoid her directness, but the look she shot him was unmistakable. She wasn’t buying it.
No matter, he thought. It’ll soon be over.
“I hate to trouble you on your off day, but I need some help unloading bags of mulch for my flower beds. Do you mind helping me?”
“Not at all,” he lied. “Lead the way.”
His sole purpose was to see his plan through, and he’d planned the perfect time. At that time in September, schools in the area were starting back. Most of the parents in the neighborhood were away from home, taking their young children to school, and preoccupied with all the first day activities. In their distracted state, they wouldn’t pay attention to a single man and an elderly lady.
Liz walked out the front door and toward her car. Popping the trunk open, she motioned to the bags stacked in the back, one on top of the other. “We can just put them here on the grass,” she pointed. “That’ll make it easier for me to put them out in the beds.”
A mountain of unopened mulch bags waiting in her front yard would definitely draw attention. The whole neighborhood knew Liz loved working in her flower beds. She bragged about them to anyone within earshot who would listen. Every single day, she could be found pulling weeds, meticulously making them perfect. Lee knew there was no way he could leave it unfinished without calling attention to them both.
“Let’s go ahead and spread the mulch,” he suggested. “Working outside will do me good after being stuck inside behind a desk all the time.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind?” She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
“I don’t mind at all.”
For the following two hours, Lee split one of the plastic bags open, poured the mulch into the beds to Liz’s exact specifications, and grabbed the next one to repeat the process. When he finally reached the last bag, the buildup of tension had him wound as tightly as a metal coil. Purposely maintaining his outward cool, he completed his task and waited for Liz to make the offer he knew was coming.
“Everything looks beautiful, Lee,” she gushed. “Thank you so much for helping me.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
“Surely you had something better to do than spend your off day with an old lady. Don’t you have a nice young lady in your life?”
“No, no one like that.” He shook his head.
“A wild, free-spirited girl, then?”
The twinkle in her eye almost made Lee laugh. Liz had a way of getting under his skin in a way that made him wish he still had his mother. The way she tried to mother him made a part of him long to be cared for, nurtured, and have someone he could depend on. Those feelings and sentiments had frequently been the source of fights and harsh disappointment from his father.
His father had been very traditional and had expected Lee to be the man of the family from a very early age. He’d ruled his house with an iron fist and a thick rod for the backs of children who didn’t meet his expectations. When Lee remembered his father, he couldn’t recall ever feeling like he’d had his father’s approval. It was that feeling that drove his need for revenge.
He’d been robbed of achieving his father’s blessing, leaving him as only half a man.
It was this fact that helped Lee keep his eye on the goal when he was tempted to give in and just live a normal life. “No wild, free-spirited girl, either,” he laughed and shook his head. “What about you? Do you have a secret man in your life?”
“There is no man who could fill the shoes my husband left behind,” Liz said sadly. “I have friends. I have hobbies to keep me busy. But my heart will always belong to my husband. I’ll be with him again one day.”
Lee chose to take her words as a confirmation that he was doing the right thing. “My throat is getting scratchy.” He rubbed his neck. “I’d better go get something to drink. Can I bring you anything?”
“Young man, you know cold drinks won’t help get rid of a scratchy throat. You need some hot tea to soothe that. It’s probably from all the pollen after working in the flower beds. Come inside and I’ll fix our tea,” Liz offered.
“Are you sure I’m not imposing?” he asked, feigning concern.
“Of course not,” she insisted. “I enjoy your company. Come on in and let’s talk about where you can find a free-spirited girl these days.”
“Oh, I have something for you to try. Let me grab it first.”
Lee jogged to his townhouse and rushed to the kitchen. He grabbed the jar from the counter and hurried back to Liz before she put that fucking awful honey of hers in his tea. “Liz, are you in here?” He cracked the door.
“In the kitchen. Come on in,” she answered.
As he stepped inside, he realized that Liz was cooking a meal for them to share. “What are you making?”
“Thought we’d have some croissants and tea. I saw this recipe on a television show and it looked delicious,” she replied animatedly. “You get to be my guinea pig and try them out for me.”
“Only if you’ll try something for me, too. It’ll actually go perfectly with your croissants.” He attempted to entice her.
“I’m not scared of trying something new.” She placed her hand on her hip as she cocked it to one side. “You got a deal, young man.”
Lee smiled smugly, pleased with how flawlessly everything was coming together. As Liz worked on creating the perfect homemade croissants, he planned his next move. Waiting weeks for her friends to return so he could kill them all at once was not an option. His pride, his honor, and earning the respect of his father forced his hand and his timetable. He suffered through the tedious conversation until the oven timer rang.
Death for whom the bell tolls, he thought.
When Liz served the hot pastries, Lee took the opportunity to open the jar. “Now it’s time for you to try a real delicacy. Put some in your tea and slather it all over your croissant. You’ll love it,” he promised.
He dipped a small drop of honey into his tea and put another drop on his plate beside his pastry. He patiently sipped his tea while he watched Liz spoon the large blob of honey into her tea and then generously drizzled it across the top of her pastry. Lee’s eyes followed the stream of honey, knowing her sweet tooth wouldn’t allow her to stop when most other people would. That was exactly what he was counting on.
With every couple of bites of her pastry, she’d stop and take a drink of her tea. Lee patiently pretended to sip on his tea, raising the glass to his lips but not actually drinking it any longer. The pastries were delicious, he had to admit, and Liz had quickly scarfed hers down. When she reached for a second one, Lee sat back in his chair and watched as the intense reaction started.
The first sign was her unsteady hand as she stretched her arm across the table. When her hand dropped to pick up the croissant, she completely missed the plate. Lee lifted his eyes to hers and smirked as the bewilderment in her expression increased. She attempted to pick it up again and at last managed to succeed.
As she brought her arm back toward her body, she began to sway back and forth. Her eyes became more vacant as she started having a harder time staying upright in her chair. Her eyes swung to Lee’s, fear now mixing with the confusion, knowledge that something was terribly wrong had settled in, and the uncertainty of how to convey her predicament crippled her.
“Lee?” she pleaded with one word.
He remained silent, still, and emotionless as he watched as her body succumbed to the toxins. She attempted to stand and move toward the phone, but Lee knew it was fruitless for her to even try. Her small frame crumpled to the floor as her heart rate slowed. He stood over her and watched as the life faded from her eyes.
“Goodbye, Liz,” he whispered as he stepped over her, locked the door behind himself, and drove away.
6
CHAPTER SIX
Noah was fully engrossed in planning a complex security detail when his cell phone on his desk rang. He absently held the phone to his ear and answered. “Steele.”
“Is this Mr. Noah Steele?” the man asked.
“Speaking. Who is this?”
“I’m Special Agent Landry with the FBI in the Denver office. I need to ask you a few questions in regards to a case that landed on my desk.”
Noah’s curiosity was piqued enough to put the security detail to the side and focus on the phone conversation. “I’m glad to help if I can.”
“Did you visit the Boulder area in late August?”
“Yes, I did. Why do you ask?” Noah replied, his senses immediately on alert.
“Did you visit with a Mrs. Elizabeth Stanton while you were in town?”
The fact that Special Agent Landry had just completely ignored Noah’s question didn’t go unnoticed. “Landry, right?” Noah asked, his tone of voice sharp.
“Yes,” he replied, clearly not pleased that his hard-earned title had been omitted.
“Since you’re calling me, I’m sure you’ve already been briefed on my background. There’s no need for a pissing contest, because I guarantee my security clearance is higher than yours. Cut the bullshit where you try to establish your authority so we can get to the part where you tell me about the case you’re working.” The intent of Noah’s direct and demanding tone was impossible to misunderstand.
Noah waited patiently through the few seconds of silence on the other end of the line. He could tell Special Agent Landry was fighting to keep his cool, wishing he could just hang up, but Landry knew he had called Noah called for a reason. “Mrs. Stanton was found on the floor of her home. If her son hadn’t shown up exactly when he did, she would’ve died. Fortunately for her, he’s a doctor and kept her alive until the paramedics got there to transport her to the hospital.”
“Is she all right?” Noah jumped up from his desk as he asked. His first thought was to make sure Brianna was safe.
“She is now. Her heart rate dropped dangerously low and led to a heart attack. She spent a few days in CCU,” Landry explained.
Noah picked up his keys and quickly moved toward the door. There was no reason for the FBI to call him to tell him about Mrs. Stanton’s health scare. “Let’s hear the punch line.”
“The paramedic noted in his report that she had what’s called widened QRS complex. The initial thought was that she’d had a bad reaction to a toxin in her system, possibly an overdose of medication. But when she regained consciousness, she was adamant that she’s not on any medications.”
“So, are you thinking it was an environmental accident or an intentional poisoning?” Noah climbed into his truck, intent solely on getting to Brianna, but he already knew what the agent’s reply would be as he transferred the call to Bluetooth.
“Her son insisted that the medical staff figure out what had happened to his mother, so a couple of technicians went back to her townhose with him to have a look around. There was evidence that someone else had been there with her and that they’d eaten just before her heart attack.
“The techs took the plates, food, and drinks back for testing. The results came back positive for something called grayanotoxin. It comes from deli bal,” Landry paused.
Noa
h’s heart also paused before racing at breakneck speed.
“Mad honey,” Noah muttered disbelievingly.
“So you’re familiar with it,” Landry replied with a chuckle. “Why am I not surprised?”
“I spent enough time in the Middle East, Landry. Mad honey is found in a certain area of Turkey,” Noah said as he pressed the gas pedal harder.
“That’s right, and it’s lethal in large doses. People in that area know to take it in extremely small amounts. Mrs. Stanton had a large amount in her teacup and even more left over on her plate. The second plate had a small amount that appeared to be untouched. The second cup had a miniscule amount in it, but whoever was with her didn’t drink enough of it to make a difference,” Landry explained.
“It was obviously someone who knew exactly what an overdose of mad honey would do. Intentional poisoning, since he was careful with how much he consumed but probably watched her use way too much.” Noah envisioned the event in his head in many different scenarios, but he saw Lee in every one.
“Sounds like you have a suspect in mind,” Landry probed.
“There was a weird vibe from her neighbor,” Noah replied. “His name is Lee, but I didn’t get his last name.”
“Actually, his name is Ali Babek Turan. Mrs. Stanton positively ID’d him from a photo we showed her. He’s been on an FBI Watchlist for some time, but we apparently lost him,” Landry explained.
“Do you think I’m on his shit list since I was there with Mrs. Stanton?”
“I think you’re on his list, but not for that reason. After I searched your name and Turan’s name in a federal database, I was suddenly locked out of it completely. Spooks showed up in my director’s office and took the whole case file right out of my hands. Something’s obviously up, and with your impressive service history, I thought I should give you as much of a heads-up as I can.”
“Thanks, Special Agent Landry. I really appreciate it. I’m sure the CIA will be waiting for me when I get home,” Noah replied.
Wicked Nights Page 5
