Dangerous Deception

by Beverly Barton

  “Would you like something to drink?” Gray asked. “I know it’s not quite noon, but I—I—” his voice cracked. “I think I need a little brandy.”

  “Why don’t you sit down and let me get it for you? I know where the liquor cabinet is.”

  “You’re too good to me.”

  Grayson appeared weary and defeated as he sat down in the white leather chair facing the floor to ceiling row of windows that overlooked downtown. He leaned his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. Poor darling. He’d sobbed intermediately on the drive all the way from the medical examiner’s office on Amnicola Highway to his downtown penthouse.

  Audrey had loved this huge open apartment the moment she saw it and insisted that their father buy it for Gray and her. She’d hired an interior designer from New York to come to Chattanooga and decorate the five spacious rooms and three baths. Then once she had everything just the way she’d wanted it, Audrey had thrown herself a lavish housewarming party, inviting the who’s who of local society. Although Audrey wasn’t well liked, no one dared refuse her invitation out of fear they might offend Edward Bedell.

  Cara busied herself fixing Gray’s drink. Despite needing the soothing influence of liquor, she decided against joining him. After all, she couldn’t properly look after Gray if she didn’t keep a clear head.

  “Here you go.” She handed him the brandy snifter. “Just relax and try to rest, if you can. I know you didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  Gray took the snifter with one hand and reached out for her with the other. Grasping her wrist, he looked up at her. “You won’t leave me, will you? I can’t bear being alone. Not now.” Tears filled his eyes.

  She eased her wrist from his grip. “I’m not going anywhere. Not until you’re feeling better.” She walked over and sat down on the hot pink and white striped sofa. “But eventually, I’ll have to talk to Daddy. I can’t put off telling him for more than a few hours.”

  “Edward won’t be able to handle this. He loved Audrey as much as I did.”

  Cara shook her head. “No, he loved her more than you did. He loved her more than life itself.”

  Gray took a sip of brandy, then sighed. “Who do you think killed her?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she and Bobby Jack shot each other.” That would have been justice, but the odds of that were slim to none. “Or maybe that Raney woman killed them both.”

  “There will be so much to do.” Gray sipped on the brandy. “Once the police release Audrey’s body…” He closed his eyes and shook his head sadly. “We’ll have to arrange for a funeral. I want no expense spared. A white casket, don’t you think? Lined with pink satin. Hot pink satin. We should special order something unique. Audrey hated being like everyone else. She always wanted to be different. Orchids and roses for the blanket. And we should have a violinist play her favorite songs.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Gray lifted his half empty glass in the air. “Would you be a dear and top this off?”

  Cara hurried to do his bidding, all the while wishing he would stop talking, stop rambling on and on about Audrey’s funeral. He had become far too calm and seemed engrossed in the details of how best to handle the funeral arrangements.

  “White limousines, don’t you think?” He glanced at Cara. “We may have to order them from Nashville, if we can’t find enough locally.”

  She handed him the refilled brandy snifter. “There will be plenty of time to make arrangements. It could be a week or more before the police department releases Audrey’s body.”

  He downed a large gulp of brandy, then coughed several times before asking, “How did she look?”

  “What?”

  “How did Audrey look when you saw her? I imagined her as beautiful in death as in life. Was she? Was she still beautiful?”

  Dear God, had he lost his mind? Yes, he had. He was insane with grief. She couldn’t tell him the truth, that the corpse she’d seen at the medical examiner’s had born little resemblance to Audrey, little resemblance to any living human.

  “She didn’t look like herself,” Cara finally managed to say. “But you have to remember that the Audrey we knew—and loved—is gone. She left that body weeks ago.”

  Gray chugged down more brandy. “You won’t desert me, will you, Cara? You won’t let Edward toss me out like yesterday’s trash.”

  “You’re talking nonsense. Daddy is very fond of you. He handpicked you to be Audrey’s husband, didn’t he?”

  “And I made a lousy husband. I disappointed her. I made her terribly unhappy. So unhappy that she had to go to other men to find satisfaction.” Gray finished off the brandy, then held out the snifter to her. “Just a little more, please.”

  “Are you sure? Haven’t you had enough?”

  “Just a little more…to deaden the pain.”

  Reluctantly, she did as he requested.

  “Why don’t you lie down for a while,” Cara said. “I’ll turn down the covers for you.”

  “Not in her bedroom,” he said, his speech slightly slurred. “I use the guest room. We haven’t shared a bedroom in years.”

  “Oh, Gray, what did she do to you?”

  He snapped his head up and glared at Cara. “It was me…all my fault. I was a lousy lover. She told me so. She laughed at me.”

  Cara knelt in front of him and put her arms around him. “Audrey could be cruel, but I had no idea that she could be that evil.”

  “Pretty boy with a pretty little dick. That’s what she’d say. You’ve got a tiny little dick and you don’t know what to do with it.” Tears poured down Gray’s cheeks.

  Cara held him tighter and tighter, wanting more than anything to ease his pain, to erase her sister’s unforgivable taunting. “She didn’t deserve you. You were always too good for her.”

  He lifted his left hand and patted the back of Cara’s head. “I should have fallen in love with you. Everything would have been so different.”

  The snifter slipped from his right hand and hit the white carpet, spreading a dark stain over the luxurious pile.

  “Oh, Lord, look what I’ve done,” Gray gasped. “Audrey will be so angry. She can’t abide stains on this carpet.”

  Gray shoved Cara aside, almost toppling her to the floor. She managed to right herself and stand, then turned to find Gray on his hands and knees, rubbing his palm over the stain, spreading it, making it bigger and bigger.

  “But Audrey’s not here to scold me, is she?” He looked up at Cara. “She’s dead. Dead…dead…”

  “Yes, my poor darling, she’s dead. She can’t ever hurt you again.”

  LAUSANNE HAD BROUGHT HOME grilled chicken sandwiches and potato salad from the Chicken Coop for their supper. When they finished, Dom cleared the bar where they’d eaten, then poured them each a cup of coffee and removed a couple of doughnuts from the fresh six-pack he’d purchased at the grocery store before picking Lausanne up from work a little after three.

  He laid her dessert on a clean napkin in front of her. “Cream filled. Those are your favorite, right?”

  She smiled at him. “I mentioned that fact only once and you actually remembered.”

  “I remember everything you tell me, honey. Everything about what you like and dislike, what you want and—”

  “You’re buttering me up for a reason,” she said. “And I think I know why.”

  He shrugged.

  “You’re still planning on leaving for Buenos Aires tonight, aren’t you? And you’re not going to let me tag along.” Lausanne glared at him.

  “Sawyer is flying Deke Bronson into Chattanooga on the Dundee tonight. He’ll take over the Bedell case and work with the Chattanooga PD on behalf of the Bedell family in the continuing search for Audrey. I’ll take the jet to South America, find Megan Reynolds and bring her back to the U.S. if it all possible. If not, I’ll get the necessary information from her. And while I’m gone, Deke will keep an eye on you.” Dom winked at her. “Just not too close an eye.�
��

  Lausanne frowned. “I wish there was a way I could go with you.”

  “I know, but we’ve already gone over the reasons why that’s not possible.” Dom grasped her shoulders. “Besides, I shouldn’t be gone more than a few days, if I don’t have a problem locating Ms. Reynolds. In the meantime, you stay put, behave yourself and don’t give Deke any trouble.”

  When she didn’t respond, just gazed at him with those hypnotic green eyes, he shook her gently. “Promise me.”

  “I promise that I’ll behave myself.”

  Dom eyed her skeptically, his gut telling him that she had given in far too easily. But before he could question her sincerity, a loud, repetitive knocking on the door announced they had a visitor.

  “You stay put.” Dom tapped her playfully on the nose.

  “Are we expecting somebody?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  Dom crossed the room, peered through the viewfinder and groaned. “It’s Lieutenant Desmond.”

  Lausanne slid off the bar stool as Dom opened the door.

  “Evening folks,” Desmond said. “May I come in?”

  “Depends,” Dom said.

  “Let him in.” Lausanne came up behind Dom.

  Desmond stepped over the threshold and Dom closed the door behind him.

  “Please come in and sit down, Lieutenant,” Lausanne said.

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  As soon as Desmond took the single chair in the room, Lausanne sat on the sofa across from him. Dom stood behind her, one hand resting protectively on her shoulder.

  “Why are you here?” Dom asked.

  “To give you the news in person,” Desmond replied. “It’ll be front-page headlines in tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press and I thought you deserved to hear about it from me instead of reading about it in the newspaper.”

  Lausanne held her breath.

  Dom narrowed his gaze. “Tell us.”

  “Audrey Perkins’s body washed ashore near the Walnut Street Bridge,” Desmond said. “She was identified by her sister earlier today and dental records verify that the woman is Audrey Perkins. Ballistics reports say the bullet came from the same gun that killed Bobby Jack Cash.”

  Lausanne went chalk white. Dom tightened his grip on her shoulder.

  “She’s dead?” Lausanne’s voice quivered. “Audrey Perkins is dead.”

  “I now have a double homicide on my hands,” Desmond said. “And unfortunately, Ms. Raney, you remain a person of interest to the Chattanooga police department.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  DEKE BRONSON WORE a tan overcoat, unbuttoned and hanging loosely on his large, muscular frame. He entered Lausanne’s apartment with the deadly quiet of a warrior sneaking up on his enemy, a feat she found quite remarkable considering the man’s size. He was taller than Dom by a couple of inches and outweighed him by at least twenty pounds. His face was lean, his cheekbones high, his jaw square, and there was a hint of a cleft in his chin, but the day’s growth of beard stubble concealed the depth of the indention. Although dark-haired, with leather-tan skin, this man possessed none of Dom’s remarkably handsome Hispanic features. He was neither good looking nor ugly, but he was overpoweringly masculine in a rough and rugged way.

  “Come on in,” Dom said. “I want you to meet Lausanne. I’ll need you to keep an eye on her while I’m gone.”

  Deke glanced past Dom to where Lausanne stood in the kitchenette, a dish towel in her hand. “Ma’am.” He nodded.

  Lausanne offered him a hesitant smile.

  “Daisy contacted me on the flight from Atlanta,” Deke said. “I understand the assignment has changed, that Audrey Perkins has been found.”

  “Yeah, Mrs. Perkins’s body washed ashore this morning, near a downtown pedestrian bridge,” Dom replied. “You’ll need to report to the Bedell family in the morning and tie up any loose ends. But even if they dismiss Dundee’s now that Audrey has been found, I want you to remain in Chattanooga until I return from Buenos Aires.”

  Deke glanced at Lausanne again, this time allowing his gaze to linger on her for a long moment before focusing on Dom. “I’d planned to check into a hotel tonight, but if you prefer, I can stay here with Ms. Raney.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” Lausanne tossed the dish towel onto the kitchen counter and rounded the bar. “I mean there’s no need for you stay tonight. I won’t leave my apartment until I go to work in the morning. I promise. I’m not doing any dog walking now, so—”

  “Pick her up for work in the morning at five-forty-five. She has to be there by six,” Dom said. “Then pick her up tomorrow afternoon and bunk here every night while I’m gone.”

  Deke simply nodded.

  Lausanne sensed that the two agents wanted to converse without an audience, so she took the hint and excused herself. “I have a few things to wash out by hand. I’ll just go take care of that now.” She looked right at Deke. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Bronson. Thank you for agreeing to keep watch over me for Dom.”

  “Yes, ma’am. My pleasure.”

  Lausanne hurried into her bedroom and closed the door. Pausing for several seconds, she listened, hoping she could hear Dom and Deke talking, but all she heard were the creaks and whines of an old apartment building. Scurrying about, she gathered up several pairs of silk panties and two lace bras, then headed for the bathroom. After drawing water in the sink and adding liquid soap, she dumped the garments into the suds and then dried her hands. She tiptoed into the bedroom, removed the phone book from the bedside table and picked up the portable phone. Knowing that she had to work quickly, before Dom finished his conversation with Deke Bronson and came looking for her, she crept back into the bathroom and shut the door.

  After closing the commode lid, she sat down, placed the phone on the edge of the sink and laid the phone book in her lap. Flipping through the yellow pages, she searched and found what she was looking for rather quickly.

  Dom had made it perfectly clear that he would not allow her to fly to Buenos Aires with him, but she had no intention of letting that stop her from going. Why couldn’t Dom understand her need to talk to Megan Reynolds face to face, to find out directly from this woman why she’d hired Lausanne and either intentionally or inadvertently set her up for a possible murder rap.

  Dom couldn’t understand why she needed to be part of this, why she couldn’t simply allow him to handle things. Hell, even she didn’t fully understand why she felt this desperate need to personally confront Megan Reynolds. Maybe it was simply a matter of not fully trusting anyone else. Once she was released from prison, she had promised herself that never again would she put her future in anyone else’s hands, that she would take full responsibility for her life.

  The operator put her through to the booking agent, who gave her the information she needed. Thinking fast, Lausanne booked her flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. Once Dom left, which was bound to be soon, she would call a cab and go by her bank where she’d use her ATM card to remove all the money she had in her checking account. Although she had one credit card in her own name and had used it to book her flight, she knew she might need some cash to convert to pesos when she got to Argentina.

  Delta had a 10:25 p.m. flight leaving Atlanta tonight, but there were no direct flights in the evenings from Chattanooga to Atlanta. She’d need to rent a car, make the two hour plus drive and be at the Atlanta airport in time to make the flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil, the only stopover.

  Lausanne opened the closet, stood on tiptoe and grabbed the edge of her carry-on bag. When it toppled from the shelf, it barely missed hitting her face, but slammed against her upper chest instead. Reeling backward, she struggled to steady herself as she latched on to the Louis Vuitton case. She’d travel light, several changes of underwear and socks, a couple of lightweight tops and a pair of pajamas. Before packing, she removed her passport from the satin pouch inside the case. Strange how things happen, she thought. She’d never had a passport, never dreamed she’d
ever need one. But when she went to work at Bedell, Inc., she learned that one of the requirements for employment was having an up-to-date passport.

  She put her passport in her purse, then packed quickly. Only moments after she slid the carry-on under her bed, Dom opened the door.

  Acting as innocent as possible, Lausanne smiled warmly at him. “Is Mr. Bronson gone?”

  “He just left.”

  “And you’re going to leave now, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Let me go with you,” she said, knowing he’d refuse her request yet again. But she also knew that if she didn’t ask one more time, he’d wonder why.

  “Honey, we’ve gone over this—”

  “I know. I know. It’s just I hate to be left out of the loop. After all, this is my life, my problem. I should be allowed to question Megan Reynolds myself.”

  Dom came toward her. She slid her foot across the carpet and kicked the edge of the Louis Vuitton case out of sight, hiding it completely beneath the bed.

  He took her hands in his, pulled her to him and kissed her. With his face lowered to hers, his breath warm against her lips, he sighed. “I’ll call you when I get there in the morning.”

  She nodded meekly, knowing she would be in flight when he called, winging her way to Argentina, only a few hours behind him.

  “Deke filled me in on what to expect when I get there,” Dom told her. “Dundee’s has arranged for a man named Tito Gomez to do some digging for us. Dundee’s has used him on several previous assignments. He has an excellent reputation for unearthing secrets.”

  “Do you think he can find out where Megan Reynolds is staying in Buenos Aires?” Lausanne asked.

  “If she can be found, he’ll find her. Apparently she’s using an alias and that’s the reason we’ve been unable to locate her using routine methods. Deke said that Señor Gomez has promised to locate Ms. Reynolds by noon tomorrow.”