by Jade Astor
“Our daughter,” Bodie had said. But he wasn’t referring to himself and Iris. He meant his and Gabrielle’s.
Iris confirmed his suspicions.
“Bodie means that I’m not Zara’s mother. Not biologically, anyway.”
“What?” Ange asked, while Rikki merely gaped.
“She was Gabrielle’s daughter,” Iris went on. “And Bodie is her father. Ange is right. We did meet Gabi when she was a student. We were having problems, and Bodie had an affair with her. She wasn’t interested in being a mother, and we thought we couldn’t have any children. The solution seemed obvious—we adopted Bodie’s child, and Gabrielle went on her way. She changed her last name from Davis to Duval—so much more Continental, don’t you think? As far as we knew, that was the end of it. Then she returned—and she wanted to meet Zara. Fine, we thought, as long as she kept her distance. But we should have expected that wouldn’t work out. In a matter of weeks, she’d pulled Zara into her web.”
“Zara knew, then?” Darian asked.
“Yes. Gabrielle told her, though we specifically asked her not to,” Iris said.
“That’s because Gabrielle is a sociopath,” Bodie replied calmly. “Most of them are very attractive people, you know. But they wrap us around their fingers. The women, in particular, will do more than that—they’ll string you up by the tender bits.”
Nobody moved. Rikki eyed her cell phone, sitting only a few feet away, but didn’t reach for it. Ange spoke next. “Bodie, where is Zara right now?”
“Gone,” Bodie said proudly. “She backed me into a corner. What choice did I have?”
“You didn’t—” Rikki covered her mouth, aghast.
“Oh, please! What did you think I meant? I bought her a plane ticket. Zara’s on her way to Europe to live the kind of life she’s always wanted to.” Bodie smirked. “She’s so much like Gabrielle. All those years ago, when she told me about the baby, I begged her to stay and marry me. I would have left Iris for her in an instant, but Gabi only laughed in my face. Oh, I enjoyed killing her. I’ll never forget how good it felt to take off my tie, wrap it around that slender white neck of hers, and pull it taut. All those years of rage, and pain…it was a wonderful release. Even better than having sex with her, when I was a much younger man who could still enjoy such things.”
“Your tie…that was the weapon,” Darian marveled. “Lanislaw couldn’t find it.”
“Of course he couldn’t. I simply put it back on, flipped down my shirt collar, and went back into the party. Everyone thought I’d been looking for Maurice.”
“Was it just coincidence that he wandered off just when it would benefit you most?”
Bodie snickered. “Theresa couldn’t watch him every moment. As soon as she left the table for a moment, I made it a point to tell Maurice about the dance floor and the patio. I reminded him that his daughter didn’t want him going out there under any circumstances. Come on! I’m married to a professor of psychology. I understand oppositional defiant disorder in dementia patients.”
“Where did the knife come from? Was that your original plan?”
“No. That was Gabrielle’s little insurance policy. When I told her we needed to talk in private, she convinced me to sneak out of the party and meet her on the beach. She must have grabbed the knife on her way. I honestly think she planned to kill me. When the moment came, though, she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. Ironic, isn’t it? Maybe she did have some kind of feeling for me after all. Then again, she was probably just afraid she’d get caught. That woman was more like one of her fancy ice sculptures than a human being.”
“Bodie, stop,” Iris begged.
“Don’t act like you aren’t enjoying this,” he snapped at her. “Seeing me brought low. It’s what you’ve waited for all these years, isn’t it, Iris? You’ve hated me ever since the day Zara was born. Just like you hated her, deep down.”
“That’s not true. I tried to love her. She didn’t want me to.”
“Well, all right, fair enough. She’s like Gabrielle in that way.” Bodie turned to Darian and laughed. “You had a narrow escape, buddy. When the two of you were teenagers, Zara set her cap for you, as they say in those Jane Austen novels your mom likes to study. Lucky for you, you turned out to be gay. She didn’t gain the kind of power over you that Gabrielle had over me. And you know what’s funny? Looking back on it, I’ll bet Gabrielle really wanted Iris the whole time, just like she wanted Rikki. Breaking up relationships gave her pleasure. She couldn’t snag Iris, so she went after me. It was all a game to her. One she was good at. You got off lightly, too, Ange.”
Darian didn’t care for the way Bodie’s attention focused on his moms. He leaned forward in his chair to distract him, but interlaced his fingers the way Argo did when he wanted to put a suspect at ease.
“So what happened with Carl? Was he blackmailing you because he saw you kill Gabi?”
“He saw me do it, all right. Turns out he’d been hiding in one of those beachside cabanas after Gabrielle chased him out of the hotel. And yep, blackmail was the first thing he thought of. He came to my house to offer what he considered reasonable terms.”
“It was his face in Zara’s window?”
“Correct. She didn’t put it all together anywhere near as fast as you just did. Anyway, he saw too much. I pretended to go along with a payoff, but I knew he had to die. It was laughably easy for Zara to lure Ange to the hotel with that tale about her car, and even easier to lure Carl to the locker room—what better place to drop off the cash? I almost feel sorry for the moron. He was an even easier target than Gabrielle when he turned around to grab the envelope from its hiding place. Dragging him into the sauna was an afterthought, but a good one. Don’t you think? Cranking up the steam would make the time of death harder to pinpoint. After that, all she had to do was say she’d seen Ange sneaking around the hotel. Tied up Lanislaw’s case with a big red Christmas bow.”
Darian felt numb. So Zara was the mysterious witness Lanislaw had referred to when he’d come to the house. It was just bizarre enough to make perfect sense.
Iris, it appeared, was hearing the full story for the first time. “Bodie, what in the world?” she asked, her voice breaking. “You and Zara framed Ange? Why?”
Bodie went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “You know what the kicker is? When Zara found out what I’d done for her, she didn’t appreciate it at all. After everything I did, and all of it to protect her, she made fun of me. Turns out she had no problem with Gabi doing what she did. In fact, she’d been in on it the whole time. She got a kick out of seducing those nasty old guys and letting Gabi video it. They were sharing the profits from the blackmail. And if anyone figured out what was going on, they were going to frame Rikki.”
Rikki went pale, making Bodie laugh. Darian realized that if Zara’s plot had succeeded, not just one but both of his moms would have gone to prison for Gabi’s and her crimes.
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you hadn’t figured it out, Gabi was using you. She excelled at that, you know. And she was teaching Zara all the tricks of the trade. Almost succeeded, too. I’m not sorry for what I did. I just wish Zara would have appreciated what I did for her. What I sacrificed for her.” He paused, rested his beer bottle on his right knee, and seemed to stifle a sob. “Ungrateful little wench. I should have expected she wouldn’t care what I gave up for her sake. The farther out of my sight, the better. At least the worst of it’s over now. Talking about it is kind of a relief, really. It’s true what they say. People have a psychological need to confess. Or at least those of us with consciences do.”
Iris got up from the sofa. She stood over her husband, her fists clenched and her gaze steely. “Bodie, this has gone far enough.”
Ange found her voice next. “Iris is right. Time to call Stuart Lanislaw.”
“Go ahead.” Bodie stood up, holding the bottle by the neck. Darian and the three women backed slowly away. “Have fun telling him my secrets—or shoul
d I say our secrets, Iris. You’re as much to blame in this as I am. By the time you’ve finished spinning out your tale of woe, I’ll be long gone. Zara’s not the only one who had her escape planned. For years I’ve counted the days until I can be free of this place—and of you. Finally, it’s here. Almost anticlimactic, in a way. But I’ll take what I can get.”
He moved across the room with the most determined expression Darian had ever seen him wear. Rikki grabbed her cell phone at the same instant he flung open the front door.
Argo stood there with his hand extended toward the knob.
Bodie froze, clearly astonished to see someone on the other side of the threshold. He hesitated for a second, then cocked his arm and swung the bottle at the side of Argo’s head.
Darian cried out a warning, but Argo’s reaction was faster. Propelled, Darian assumed, by years of training as well as pure instinct, he decked Bodie with a shattering punch to the jaw.
Bodie hit the floor like a tree cut down by a single swipe of a giant woodsman’s axe. He sprawled out on his back, moaning. Argo stood framed in the doorway, blinking.
“I came back to say I was sorry I took off on you like that,” he said as a flurry of action erupted around him. “What the hell is going on?”
Chapter 15
“Finally!”
Darian added the final ornament, a tiny flying reindeer encrusted with glitter, to the outstretched palm leaf. Then he stepped back to admire the Christmas decorations they had finally succeeded in unboxing and putting up. An artificial pine tree and an artificial palm tree, both looking real and sparkling with tinsel and bulbs, occupied two opposite corners of the living room. The palm tree had been a surprise for Argo, who refused to accept the possibility of a tropical-themed Christmas tree.
Darian’s moms studied his reaction. “What do you think, Argo? Did we win you over?” Ange asked.
“It looks better than I would have expected,” Argo had to admit. “Kind of gives the season a fresh twist. Never hurts to look at something from a whole new angle.”
“But you like it, right?” Darian pressed. The following morning, he planned to present Argo with the gorgeous watch he’d bought at the hotel. He wanted everything to be perfect.
“Okay, yeah, fine. I like it.”
“We’ll turn him into a snowbird yet,” Ange said. “You have to admit, Argo, you wouldn’t miss those terrible snowstorms.”
“It might take some getting used to, but I guess I could live without shoveling ice and snow off my driveway. And I wouldn’t miss helping half-frozen motorists tow their heaps out of snowbanks because they can’t be bothered to put on the right tires and drive slowly.”
“You see? There are definite advantages to Florida living.” Rikki turned to Iris, who was on the sofa, quietly sipping a glass of cinnamon egg nog spiked with Kahlua. They were trying their best to include her in their modest celebration. Still, she was unlikely to forget, even for a second, that her husband and daughter were both spending Christmas in jail. “Are you doing okay, Iris? Want me to freshen up your drink?”
“I won’t say no,” Iris said, holding out her glass. “I’m not sure if I’m actually celebrating or just numbing myself, but either will do at this point. Cheers.”
While Rikki poured, her eyes drifted toward the door, and Darian knew she was recalling the image of Bodie on the floor, tied up with extension cords and string of Christmas lights while they waited for Lanislaw to arrive. Since he had confessed in front of everyone, the arrest had gone quickly and smoothly.
Ange had also followed her gaze across the room and seemed to read her longtime friend’s mind. “Never let it be said we don’t host memorable holiday gatherings. I’ll bet the neighbors are still talking about the fleet of cop cars in the yard and a guest being marched out in handcuffs. I don’t even want to think about the wild tales that will be circulating at the college when we go back to class.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rikki said. “Two professors foiling a crime in progress? You and Iris will become legends.”
“I hope not,” Ange said, scowling, though Iris perked up a bit. Then her shoulders sagged.
“I’m so sorry my family caused yours so much trouble.”
“Nonsense,” said Ange. “You didn’t do anything wrong. We’ve been friends for decades. Nothing can change that.”
“Not even framing you for murder?” Iris asked.
“I never trusted Bodie, if you want the truth.” Rikki scowled. “Too sure of himself.”
“Common ailment among professors, isn’t it?” Ange asked. “Can’t say I’m immune.”
“Luckily for you, some people find your particular brand of self-confidence endearing. Mostly because you’re willing to admit when you’re mistaken.”
“I do admit that, happily,” Ange said. She and Rikki shared a smile.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Iris went on. “Seeing Lanislaw haul Bodie out of here was one of the best gifts I ever got. And to think I put off divorcing him because I thought it would be too hard on him. I knew he’d been unfaithful to me even before Zara was born, but at the time I blamed myself. Can you believe it? He managed to convince me his infidelity was my fault for not appreciating him the way he deserved.”
“Guys like that are good at manipulating the people around them,” Argo told her. “I see it all the time, I’m sorry to say.”
“Even at the time, I knew better, but I wanted to believe in him. Partly, I didn’t make waves because of Zara. I’d wanted a baby for so long, but it never happened. She seemed worth forgiving him for. I guess, in the end, she wasn’t.”
“What have you heard about Zara?” Darian asked. “Lanislaw told Argo they caught her as soon as her flight landed in France.”
“He told me the same thing. Imagine. All that way, and she never made it out of the airport.” Iris sighed. “Apparently they’ll charge her as an accessory after the fact, but Lanislaw warned me that she’ll probably take some sort of plea deal. She’s good at wriggling her way out of things. Always was.”
“At least Gabrielle never got around to leaving her the hotel,” Ange said. “Maizi and her sister will be taking it over, and they’re planning to keep Rikki in charge. A wise choice, if I do say so myself.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure I want to stay,” Rikki said. “That place has unpleasant associations for me now. Soon they’ll be tearing out all Kyle’s electronic surveillance equipment. Once word gets around, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to stay in the VIP suite, though.”
“If you decide to look for a new job, I know you’ll find one in no time,” Ange said. “But you know I’ll always have your back, whatever you do.”
“Thanks, hon.” Rikki squeezed her hand.
“In some ways I can’t hate Bodie for what he did,” Iris mused. “He genuinely wanted to protect her, but he found out the hard way she didn’t need or want his help.”
“Never be surprised at what people will do for their children,” Ange said.
“You’re right,” Darian said. “Argo told me about a case involving a woman who got busted for hiring a hitman. She wanted him to bump off her daughter’s high school cheerleading rival. Now that’s seriously hardcore.”
“I doubt your moms would ever go that far,” Argo teased. “For one thing, I’ll bet you shake a mean pompom and wouldn’t need any outside help.”
“Absolutely right,” Darian said, miming a cheer.
“Even if we were tempted, we wouldn’t dare now that we have a cop in the family,” Rikki added. “Keeps us on the straight and narrow.”
“Well, maybe not so straight,” Ange said.
“Funny thing.” Argo winked at Darian. “I know someone else who uses that expression.”
The doorbell interrupted the conversation. Ange went to get it.
“Ah, Detective Lanislaw,” she announced loudly enough for the others to hear. “Come on in.”
“Sorry to disturb you, but I was passing by and I had a couple
of follow-up questions to ask Argo. I hope that’s okay.”
“If he doesn’t mind, I don’t,” Ange said. “No hard feelings as far as I’m concerned. I know you were just doing your job. It’s not like you actually charged me with a crime.”
Darian heard the unspoken implication—if you had, all bets would be off. But Ange maintained a friendly smile.
“Let’s go out to the pool room,” Argo suggested. He gave everyone an apologetic look and led Lanislaw through the sliding glass door. From the sofa, Darian watched them take seats at the umbrella table.
“What’s that all about?” Rikki asked.
“Loose ends,” Ange said. “That’s what they always say on TV cop shows. I’m not really sure what it means.”
“Come and have some egg nog, Darian,” Rikki said, seeing that he was staring. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
They went on chatting with Iris, whose mood seemed to improve steadily. Of course, the Kahlua Rikki kept adding to her egg nog most likely helped with that. Now and then, Darian stole a peek at Stuart and Argo. Stuart was leaning forward while he spoke, gesturing with one hand. Argo remained solemn, his head bowed in the way Darian knew so well. It meant Argo was listening carefully, digesting every word.
So much for Argo giving Stuart an additional statement about the case, he thought. This looked more like Stuart was making some kind of declaration.
“Wonder what that’s all about,” Rikki commented, noticing as well.
“No idea.” Darian choked out the words.
Eventually Lanislaw emerged from the patio alone. Argo stayed seated by the pool, looking thoughtful.
“I’ll be off, then,” Lanislaw said, waving cheerfully. “Enjoy your holiday, everyone. Safe journey back north, Darian.”
“Thanks,” Darian said. While Rikki showed Lanislaw to the door, he excused himself and went to join Argo, who gazed wistfully out at the water.
“What happened?” Darian asked.
“Well, your former friend Kyle’s being charged with blackmail. He’s still in the slammer and not very happy about it. Thought that might give you a certain sense of satisfaction.”
