Dangerous Deception

by Beverly Barton

  “I’M SORRY, but if you want the best—”

  “I want Lausanne Raney eliminated immediately. The woman has a letter in her possession written by Megan Reynolds.”

  Interesting that there would be a second letter, one perhaps written before the unfinished missive found in Ms. Reynolds’s room at the Alvear Palace Hotel.

  “My contact has assured me that this gentleman will be available tomorrow and can fly directly to Chattanooga,” he explained.

  “I thought I made myself clear. I can’t wait another day. The woman has a letter, which I assume makes an accusation against the person she believed killed Audrey and Bobby Jack Cash. I cannot allow this letter to fall into the wrong hands.”

  “I understand, and if you’re willing to let me use someone already in the area, then—”

  “You’ve used incompetent locals twice before and they failed miserably to eliminate Ms. Raney. No, I will not pay one red cent for another botched job.”

  “Then perhaps you can speak to Ms. Raney, make her an offer she can’t refuse, buy yourself some time.”

  “I would prefer not to get my hands dirty, but it seems I have no other choice. I’ll take care of Ms. Raney myself.”

  “But wouldn’t that be a mistake? Her death could be traced back to you and—”

  The dial tone hummed in his ears. Damn arrogant…He’d just lost a hefty commission because his client was running scared. He had tried to explain the proper course of action, one that involved bribery and patience, but it was apparent that his client had run out of patience.

  HER NERVES FRAYED and her patience wearing thin, Lausanne paced the floor in her hotel room. Everyone had cleared out for an hour, leaving Dom and her alone. They hadn’t talked much. He had held her in his arms for most of that time, the two of them sitting quietly, and for a few brief moments, she’d felt safe.

  A knock sounded on the outer door. “It’s Lt. Desmond.”

  Lausanne eased off Dom’s lap and sat down in the chair opposite him, then said, “Yes, come on in.”

  Lt. Desmond glanced at the telephone on the desk. “We’ve let our suspects stew for a couple of hours. It’s time to allow calls to come through now.”

  “Any word on their reactions?” Dom asked.

  “All three have left the Bedell mansion,” Lt Desmond said. “We have someone tailing each of them. Mrs. Bedell has gone to her hairdressers for her weekly appointment. Mr. Perkins went to his penthouse apartment. And Ms. Bedell telephoned police headquarters and asked to speak to me. I sent Sergeant Swain to meet her.”

  “Why would she want to speak to the police, to you in particular?” Lausanne asked. “Do you think she intends to report my phone call?”

  “Maybe. We won’t know until Mike talks to her and finds out what she wants.”

  “In the meantime?” Dom asked.

  “We wait to see if anyone took the bait.”

  Five minutes passed. Lausanne paced. Ten minutes passed. Dom paced with her. Fifteen minutes passed. Lt. Desmond joined them and when his phone rang, the three of them bumped into each other.

  Lt. Desmond flipped open his phone and said, “Yeah, Mike, what have you got?”

  Dom’s gaze met Lausanne’s and they waited anxiously for the detective to finish his brief conversation. When he closed his phone, he glanced from Dom to Lausanne.

  “Cara Bedell just told Sergeant Swain that Lausanne Raney telephoned her earlier this morning and left a message telling her that she had received a letter, via Senor Lopez, from Megan Reynolds. It seems Ms. Bedell believes Ms. Raney wants to blackmail someone in the Bedell family.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Dom said.

  “Ms. Bedell told Mike that undoubtedly Ms. Raney didn’t kill Audrey or Bobby Jack, but knows who did.”

  “Well, that certainly narrows down our suspects, doesn’t it?” Dom slipped his arm around Lausanne’s waist and gave her a comforting hug.

  As if on cue, Lausanne’s phone rang. Three pairs of eyes zeroed in on the telephone. She looked to Lt. Desmond.

  “Let it ring three times, then answer it,” he instructed.

  She did just that and picked it up after the third ring. “Hello.”

  “Ms. Raney?”

  “Yes.” She didn’t recognize the voice, but it was definitely male. It had to be Grayson Perkins.

  “I understand you have a letter written by Megan Reynolds, is that correct?”

  Whoever she was talking to, it wasn’t Audrey’s husband, but his voice sounded vaguely familiar. She glanced at Lt. Desmond, knowing he could hear the conversation, and gave him a questioning stare, silently asking him if he recognized the voice. He shrugged and shook his head.

  “Yes, that’s correct,” Lausanne replied.

  “I wish to purchase that letter.”

  Lausanne swallowed hard. “That’s good, because I want to sell it.”

  “What’s your price?”

  She looked at Lt. Desmond. He mouthed, A million dollars. Cash.

  “A million dollars,” Lausanne said, keeping her gaze focused on Lt. Desmond. “In cash.”

  “I can’t get my hands on that large amount today, but I can make a sizable down payment.”

  “How sizable?”

  “Let’s say a hundred thousand. Call it good faith money.”

  “All right. I’ll want the money deposited—”

  “No! If you want the money, you’ll meet me when and where I say.”

  Her gaze collided with Lt. Desmond’s. He nodded his head.

  “All right,” Lausanne replied.

  “Bring the letter with you.”

  “Do you think I’m crazy? No million dollars, no letter.”

  “I need some assurance that you will not hand the letter over to the authorities,” he said.

  How did she respond to his request? Thinking fast on her feet, Lausanne blurted out, “If you can get your hands on five hundred thousand today, I’ll bring the letter with me. It’s a real bargain at that price.”

  “You have a deal, Ms. Raney.”

  “When and where shall we meet?”

  “Bedell, Inc. In the basement parking garage. At nine o’clock this evening. And come alone. Our business is private.”

  “Tonight at nine.”

  She hung up the phone, shot out of the chair and faced Lt. Desmond. “That wasn’t Grayson Perkins.”

  The lieutenant shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. The call was traced to the Bedell mansion and I’m relatively certain the man you just spoke to is Jeremy Loman, the Bedell butler.”

  “You’re right,” Lausanne said. “I thought his voice sounded familiar. But he’s not even one of the suspects.”

  “He is now,” Dom told her. “Right, Desmond?”

  “Yeah. This is a new, unexpected twist,” the detective said. “In our investigation, we didn’t come up with any reason why Jeremy Loman would want to kill Audrey or Bobby Jack. He’s been a devoted employee for over twenty years and it’s the opinion of everyone who knows the man that he’d cut off his right arm before harming anyone in the family.”

  “If your information is correct, it means Loman didn’t kill anyone,” Dom said. “He made that phone call to Lausanne on someone else’s behalf.”

  “Grayson Perkins,” Lausanne said.

  “Possibly,” Dom agreed. “Or maybe Cara Bedell went to the police to throw them off track and had Daddy’s devoted servant do her dirty work.”

  “When you meet with Loman tonight, you’ll be wired, so we’ll be able to hear everything that’s said,” Lt. Desmond told her. “During the day today, we’ll gradually move our people into position in the underground parking deck at Bedell, Inc., and we’ll have to do it so that they’re not detected. At this point, we can’t trust anyone.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  A CHATTANOOGA POLICE officer drove the taxi that would take Lausanne from the hotel to Bedell, Inc. headquarters only a few blocks across town. Lt. Desmond and Dom accompanied he
r on the elevator ride to the lobby.

  “You have the sealed letter?” Lt. Desmond asked.

  Lausanne patted her chest. She had folded the blank letter the detective had provided for her and slipped it inside her shirt pocket, after the female police officer had “wired” her. She felt ten pounds heavier wearing the concealable bullet-proof vest, although the vest was relatively lightweight.

  When they reached the lobby level, Dom hit a button to keep the doors closed, then hauled Lausanne up against him and kissed her. Lt. Desmond looked down at his feet.

  “I won’t be far away at any time,” Dom told her.

  “I know.” She pulled out of his embrace, hit the open button and marched out of the elevator, leaving Dom and the lieutenant behind, as she was supposed to do. According to the police, none of the suspects, which now included Jeremy Loman, had figured out where Lausanne was, but better to play it safe than to be sorry. There was no need to advertise the fact that she had police backup.

  Lausanne walked outside where the taxi waited. The driver got out and opened the door for her. “I’m Officer Anderson,” the man told her.

  She nodded, then got in the back seat and said, “I’m ready to go.”

  Lausanne’s thick, long hair hid the device planted inside her right ear that allowed her to hear Lt. Desmond.

  “Once you arrive at the underground parking deck, I won’t make contact unless we know you’re in trouble or I feel it necessary to give you information or instructions,” he had explained. “But we’ll be able to hear everything that’s said, so if something goes wrong, we can move in immediately.”

  “Lausanne.” It was Dom’s voice, not the lieutenant’s she heard in her ear.

  “Yes?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Look, Desmond’s letting me relay info to you for the time being. It seems Patrice Bedell is attending a charity fashion show this evening and Cara Bedell is staying in tonight. Grayson Perkins is still at his office in the Bedell Building.”

  “What about Jeremy Loman?”

  “Loman is driving Edward Bedell’s Bentley,” Dom said. “He’s coming up Broad Street and should arrive at Bedell, Inc. about the same time you do. One of Desmond’s men has been tailing him since he pulled the car out of the garage at the Bedell estate.”

  Dom kept talking to her, shoring up her confidence, reassuring her she’d be safe, that she would be surrounded by Chattanooga’s finest. Before she realized it, the taxi took her underground to the parking garage.

  “Do you see the Bentley?” Dom asked.

  “No, not yet,” she said.

  “Loman arrived about two minutes ago. Do not get out of the taxi. Wait until you see the Bentley, then have the driver park behind the Bentley and wait for Loman to make the next move.”

  “I see it,” she told Dom. “But I don’t see Loman.”

  “Okay, honey, I’m handing things over to Desmond now.”

  “Dom?”

  “It’s going to be all right, honey. When this is all over, you and I have a future to plan.”

  “What did you—”

  “Lausanne,” Lt. Desmond said. “Get out of the taxi and wait for Mr. Loman to approach you. We have him under surveillance, but we can’t be sure he’s not armed. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  The taxi stopped.

  “When I hop out, you drive off, right?” she asked Officer Anderson.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She opened the door herself, pulled some bills the lieutenant had stuffed into her coat pocket before she’d left her hotel room, and handed them to the driver. She stood there, stiff as a poker, her heartbeat thumping maddeningly in her chest and watched the taxi drive away and out of the underground garage.

  As soon as she was alone, a man emerged from the driver’s side of the Bentley. Steeling her nerves, determined to meet danger without buckling, she faced Jeremy Loman, but didn’t approach him.

  He looked right at her, but it seemed that he was looking through her.

  “You’re alone?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You brought the letter?”

  “Yes.”

  “I want to see it.”

  “I want to see my money first,” she said.

  The Bentley’s left side back door opened and a voice from inside said, “Please get in the car, Ms. Raney. I have your money.”

  Lausanne’s heart skipped a beat. Oh shit!

  “Was that another voice I heard?” Desmond asked through the device in Lausanne’s ear.

  “Mr. Bedell, is that you?” Lausanne suddenly felt nauseous.

  Edward Bedell leaned forward just enough for Lausanne to see him clearly. Well, this was one scenario none of them had figured on.

  “Yes, Ms. Raney. Weren’t you expecting me?”

  “Ah, not exactly. I thought Mr. Loman was handling the transaction.” God help me, Lausanne prayed silently. I don’t know what’s going on here. I feel as if I’ve just stepped in quicksand and I’m sinking fast.

  “I’d prefer to conduct our business out in the open, Mr. Bedell,” Lausanne said, doing her best to act as if she knew what was going on.

  “Very well. As you wish.”

  When he emerged from the back of the Bentley, the first thing Lausanne noticed was the gun he held in his hand. Knowing nothing about guns, she had no idea what make or model it was, but her brain registered that it was large and deadly. Was it the same weapon used to kill Audrey and Bobby Jack?

  “What would you like to say to me, Ms. Raney?” Edward asked. “Would you like to tell me that Megan Reynolds wrote you a letter telling you that I paid her a small fortune to impersonate my daughter, that I warned her to leave the country and never return? Instead she hired you to impersonate Audrey and then she ran off with my million dollars and wanted more.”

  Lausanne swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. “That—that’s not all she told me in the letter.” Brave this out, she told herself. False bravado is better than letting him know you’re scared out of your mind, even if you are.

  “I have no idea exactly what she told you. But she didn’t know anything for certain. She only suspected what had happened because she had known about Audrey’s plans to speak to me and when Audrey didn’t return to the penthouse…”

  Think, Lausanne, think. What could Megan Reynolds have written to incriminate Edward Bedell in his own daughter’s death? Can’t go that route. Use another tactic.

  “You killed Bobby Jack Cash,” Lausanne said.

  “Yes, I did. And I took great pleasure in shooting him repeatedly, until I was certain he was dead.”

  “But why did you kill your own daughter?” Lausanne stared at the gun Edward held in his unsteady hand. Are you there, Lieutenant Desmond? Do you have me surrounded with police protection? Can I really count on you, Dom, to make sure I’m safe?

  “Keep him talking,” the voice in her ear said very softly. The lieutenant’s voice.

  “It was an accident,” Edward said, tears glazing his eyes. “She and that filthy bastard Cash came to see me that day. Audrey told me she was divorcing Gray and marrying Cash, that she loved the man, that they were leaving Chattanooga together and unless I accepted Cash into the family, I’d never see her again.

  “Cash stood there looking at me, a smirking grin on his face. I told him I’d never let him have my precious Audrey and he laughed at me. That’s when I took the gun out of my desk and aimed it at him. When I pulled the trigger, Audrey stepped between us and…” Edward broke down and cried.

  “Sir, are you all right?” Loman asked. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  Edward waved his left hand around, all the while keeping the gun in his right hand aimed at Lausanne. “Please, come and get in the car, Ms. Raney. I want you to take a ride with me.”

  “Why should I do that?”

  “I would prefer not to kill you here.”

  “I’d prefe
r you didn’t kill me at all.”

  “If you don’t come with me willingly, I’ll be forced to allow Loman to use force.”

  Loman took a tentative step toward her. She backed up a couple of feet.

  “Then Loman’s just going to have to use force,” Lausanne said. “Because I’m not going anywhere with you. I thought we had a deal. I’d swap you the letter for the five hundred grand. Then I’d keep my mouth shut.”

  “I had a similar deal with Megan Reynolds,” Edward said. “But I don’t believe you’re anymore trustworthy than she was.”

  “You didn’t mean to kill Audrey.” Lausanne said the first thing that came to mind, trying her best to buy some time. “It was an accident, right? Why should you be punished for something you didn’t mean to do?”

  Okay, guys, where the hell are you? Why haven’t you made a move? You’re leaving me out here on a cracked branch that’s going to break off any minute now.

  “Audrey was my life. I wouldn’t have harmed a hair on her head,” Edward said. “She shouldn’t have stepped in front of Cash and taken the bullet that was meant for him.”

  “When you realized what had happened, that you’d shot Audrey by mistake, then you turned on Bobby Jack and killed him.” She jerked her gaze back and forth, from the gun Edward Bedell held, to Jeremy Loman, who kept inching toward her as if he thought by coming at her very slowly, she wouldn’t run from him.

  Lausanne backed up until her hips encountered the front end of a massive SUV parked behind her. “Your ever faithful servant, Mr. Loman here, cleaned up after you, didn’t he? Literally. He disposed of the bodies for you by dumping them into the river and then he cleaned up all the blood in the den or the living room or wherever the shootings took place.”

  “You’re a very smart girl, Ms. Raney,” Edward said. “Far too smart for your own good. Megan thought she could outsmart me. She didn’t. Neither can you.”

  “No one ever suspected you, not the grieving father who had all but worshiped his elder daughter.”