T
HE FRONT DESK HAD NO PROBLEM TELLING US THAT Mindi Mills was in room 1918. I would have suspected that Benjamin had something to do with it if they’d known I was the one asking.
“I’m beginning to wonder about the security here,” I said as we rode the elevator upstairs.
“What, with Derrick’s murder and all?”
“Sure, there’s that, too, but they just gave me the room number without a fight.”
“Just count your blessings she’s not staying at the Brunswick.”
“If she was, I’d just find a way to get Benjamin to tell me.”
Zach laughed. “So, apparently the security level is about the same, if you know how to work the system.”
“You’ve got a point.”
As the elevator doors opened, we could hear yelling the second we got off on the nineteenth floor.
“What do you suppose that’s all about?” Zach asked.
“Hang on a second.” We paused in the hallway, and I could make out Cary’s voice, though it was quite a bit louder than it had been the last time we’d spoken.
“That’s Cary Duncan,” I told Zach.
“How’d she get over here that fast?”
I looked at my watch. “We were at the park for nearly an hour. She had plenty of time to ditch Brady and come over here.”
Zach started creeping closer to the bend in the corridor, and I followed. We could start to make out words now, and they were rough ones at that.
“You shrew. How dare you?” That was clearly Cary.
Another woman’s voice, this one nearly an octave higher, replied, “I wouldn’t have been with him if you’d taken care of him better yourself.”
“A harem of women wouldn’t have satisfied that old goat. If you think you’re getting away with this, you are sorely mistaken.”
There was a real sense of outrage in the other woman’s voice as she said, “You’ve got some nerve. You’re the one who killed him. Everyone knows it.”
“Maybe in your feeble little world,” Cary shouted.
The elevator door opened back down the hallway, and two members of Hotel Security got out.
Zach made a decision quickly, and moved toward the battling women before he consulted me. That was fine. If he had a plan to make this work in our favor, I was all for it.
“Cary, Mindi, Hotel Security is on its way,” he said as he reached them. “Unless you both want to go to jail for disturbing the peace, follow my lead.”
Was he kidding? This was his plan?
To my amazement, both women nodded.
As the security pair rounded the corner, Zach said in a loud voice, “I told you that television was too loud before. Thanks for turning it down.”
“No problem,” Mindi said with a rise in inflection.
“We’ll see you later, then,” Zach said as he ushered Mindi into her room and quickly returned to the hallway.
Cary looked dumbfounded as Zach took her arm. “We need to go. We’re late for our meeting.”
“Of course we are,” Cary replied.
“Is there a problem here?” the lead security man asked.
“Just a television turned up a little too loud. Sorry about the commotion.”
One man looked at the other, and it was clear that neither was fooled by Zach’s story, but some kind of silent conversation went on between them, and the older man finally shrugged. “Just tell her to keep it down from now on.”
“It’s taken care of,” Zach said.
After the men left, Cary said, “Not that I’m ungrateful, but how did you happen to be here?”
“We were looking for a friend staying at the hotel,” I lied. “When we heard the commotion, we decided to see what was going on. Zach stepped in so there wouldn’t be any more trouble.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I figured you’d been through enough already,” my husband replied. “I’d hate to give the police another reason to question you.”
Cary shuddered noticeably at that comment. “How right you are. If I can ever repay you, all you need do is ask.”
“I might just take you up on that,” Zach said.
Cary barely looked in my direction as she headed for the elevator herself.
Once she was gone, I asked Zach, “Are you serious? That story honestly worked on everyone?”
He shrugged. “Savannah, Hotel Security just wanted the problem to go away. I found a way to let them ignore it in good conscience, and that was enough for the moment. If Cary and Mindi go at it again, it’s going to be on their heads, not mine.”
“Nice save, Zach.”
“I do what I can.”
He knocked on Mindi’s door, and she answered, cowering behind it as though she was afraid to come out. “Yes?”
“I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself before,” my husband said smoothly. “I’m Zach Stone, and you’ve already met my wife, Savannah. May we come in?”
To my amazement, she nodded and stepped aside. “Of course. Thank you for coming to my rescue. It’s hard to tell how ugly that could have gotten if you hadn’t stepped in when you did. Hi, Savannah. You’ve got quite a husband there.”
“I was glad to help,” Zach said, and I was amazed he didn’t throw in a “Shucks, it was nothing” while he was at it.
I looked around the room and was surprised to see that it was as neat as could be. It was hard to believe that Mindi had been able to stand cohabiting with Derrick after seeing what a slob he could be.
After she closed the door to her modest room, Mindi said, “I’m not afraid to say it; that woman frightens me.”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “She was really blasting away at you.”
“Normally, I hate confrontation,” Mindi said, “but I couldn’t just stand there and listen to her abuse. It’s not called for in polite society.”
Neither is sleeping with another woman’s husband
, I said in my head. I wasn’t there to point fingers, though. Zach and I were looking for clues. “Do you believe what you said to her?”
“What’s that?” Mindi asked, looking slightly confused.
“You told Cary that everyone knows she killed her husband.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Mindi asked. “She’s getting a fat insurance settlement, from what I’ve heard.” Mindi began to whimper softly, and then she added, “She didn’t even love him.”
“And you did,” I said softly, not making it a question, but rather a statement.
“It’s true. I did.”
“Listen, I hate to bring this up, but we need to know. Was there anyone else in Derrick’s life?”
“You mean romantically?” she asked as she looked at me quizzically.
“That’s exactly what I mean,” I said.
“He’d never be unfaithful,” she said. “Derrick loved me.”
“And yet he was still married to Cary,” Zach said. “That must have infuriated you.”
Mindi didn’t rise to the bait. “They had an arrangement. She didn’t care if he slept with me, as long as we were discreet.”
“Did Cary tell you that?” Zach asked.
“No, Derrick did, and I believed him.”
Zach just shook his head, and she asked, “What are you trying to say?”
“If he really loved you, he would have left his wife, wouldn’t he?”
For a split second, Mindi hesitated, and then began crying with such force that I was certain someone from Security would be back.
I tried to calm her down, but she just pointed to the door and shrieked, “Leave this instant.”
We had no choice but to comply, and as Zach and I walked to the elevator, I said, “Smooth, Zach, really smooth.”
“Those tears were a little too convenient, weren’t they?”
I looked at him. “You noticed that pause before she busted loose, too?”
“Hey, I was once a trained detective, remember?”
I shook my head, though I couldn’t hide my smile. “She got out what she wanted to say, and once you started pressuring her, she kind of conveniently fell apart.”
“It didn’t work though, did it?”
“What should we do now, tackle the other writers under Derrick’s thumb, or go after Kelsey Hatcher?”
His stomach rumbled, and Zach asked, “Is there any chance we can get a bite to eat? I saw a hamburger joint on the corner. We wouldn’t even have to drive to it, so we can keep our space in the hotel parking lot.”
“Fine, I know how you get when you’re hungry,” I said. “Let’s go eat, and then we’ll tackle the rest of them.”
A
FTER A QUICK MEAL, WE WENT BACK TO THE HOTEL TO finish our second round of interviews.
Zach asked, “Can we stop off at the car for a second?”
“Sure, what did you forget?”
“Nothing. I just want to get another pen.” He’d taken notes about what had happened so far during our lunch, and his pen had slowly failed him.
“I have one in my purse that you can use.”
As we walked back past the car, I noticed that it was sitting lower than it had before. Was it sinking into the pavement of the hotel’s parking lot?
Zach must have noticed it the same time I did. “Hang back a second, Savannah.”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun. “I didn’t even know you were carrying that.”
“It’s a new holster,” he said. “You should go inside.”
“I’m not leaving you out here by yourself.”
“Savannah, stop arguing with me.”
“Then stop ordering me to do things you know I have no intention of doing,” I said.
He shook his head in disgust, but he quit trying to drive me away. If anything happened, I was going to be there for it, no matter what. The not knowing was the worst part about it.
I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Zach moved back to the rental car, his gaze taking in our surroundings with laserlike precision. Once he was satisfied no one was around, he reholstered his gun. “It’s all right.”
I joined him, and we examined the car together. All four tires had been slashed. There was no patching that could fix it, no hope for them at all.
“The question is,” Zach asked, “was this random, or was it directed at one of us?”
I noticed a note on the back windshield wiper. At first I’d taken it for just another menu that littered some of the other cars around us, but as I reached for it, I saw that someone had written on it with a black marker. The note said simply, STOP DIGGING, OR DIE.
“What do you make of that?” I asked Zach as he read it over my shoulder.
“You probably ruined any prints that were on it.”
“Hey, I held it by the edges.”
“Maybe that’s good enough.” He took the note from me using one corner of his handkerchief, a faded old bandana that he always carried around with him. “It looks like we hit a nerve somewhere.”
“Yes, but where?”
I studied the note. “I can’t tell if it’s in a woman’s hand, or a man.”
“That’s kind of the point of block printing,” Zach said. He opened the car door and put the note on my seat.
“We need to call a tow truck,” I said.
“Four new tires aren’t going to be cheap,” Zach replied. “We’re going to have to pay for them, too. I didn’t get any extra insurance on it.”
“So we’ll pay whatever it takes. It beats running around on rims. At least we’re getting closer.”
He shook his head. “I don’t see that. It feels like we’ve antagonized most of our suspects with the same amount of grief. How do we know what we’re getting to?”
“That’s a point,” I said. I looked at the tires again, and then added, “Then that means that all of this was for nothing.”
He hugged me. “I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s a call to start pushing harder and see what happens.”
I pointed to the note in the seat. “That means nothing to you, does it?”
“Savannah, we’ve both been threatened before. The only way we can lose is to give up, and I know neither one of us is about to do that. Now, let’s see about getting those new tires.”
“We’re calling the police first, aren’t we?”
Zach nodded. “As soon as I call a tow truck, I’ll call Murphy. How much do you want to bet on who gets here first?”
“I’ve waited on two tow trucks before. No bet.”
D
ETECTIVE MURPHY SHOWED UP SEVEN MINUTES AFTER Zach called him. I’d been expecting speed, but nothing this fast.
“Were you just around the corner?” I asked.
“I was having a late lunch at my desk,” he said. I remembered from my previous visit that the police station was just a few blocks away from the hotel where we were at the moment.
He took the note, sealed it in a clear plastic bag, and then looked at it again. “The message is pretty clear. You’re not going to take the advice though, are you?”
Zach shrugged. “Would you, if you were in my position?”
Murphy did something that surprised me. He smiled. “Officially, I have to say that what you’re doing is dangerous, and could undermine an ongoing investigation.”
“And off the record?” Zach asked.
Murphy just shrugged, really all the answer my husband needed. As we stood there, a flatbed tow truck pulled up. “This for you?”
“It’s tough to drive in this condition,” Zach said.
Murphy nodded, and then said, “Have him take it to Lakeland Tire and use my name. You’ll get a good price.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded, saluted with two fingers, and then left.
“What was that about?” I asked. “That’s not the same man I spoke to the day Derrick was murdered.”
“Sure it was.”
“You couldn’t tell by his behavior today.”
Zach frowned. “Savannah, we didn’t know each other then. He gets what we’re trying to do, though he can’t officially endorse it. As long as we keep him up to speed, he’s not going to have a real problem with us digging around the edges.”
“You got all of that how, exactly?”
“We speak the same language.”
“Cop, you mean.”
“Sure,” Zach admitted. “We might not be on the same force, but we’ve both seen a lot of the same things. That counts for something, even these days.”