Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 3) (23 page)

Iris hadn’t seemed like a depressed drinker but then Aubrey had only spoken to her that one time.

“Maybe she finally accepted that Bruce was gone,” she suggested. “And when it hit her she just couldn’t take the pain.”

“Both explanations are plausible,” Shane shrugged. “They’re also running a tox screen on Iris’s blood but they won’t get that back for days. What’s important here is that the reporter talked to Detective Prather this morning after he saw the preliminary report and the detective believes there is no connection between the two deaths.”

“In other words, Martin is still on the hook,” Travis finished for him. “I was hoping that there would be some evidence linking Bruce and Iris together that would exonerate Martin. I sent the photo Aubrey found to his attorney this morning but I’m not sure if that’s going to help him get bail. The judge has been quite uncooperative.”

“This is a murder case,” Aubrey reminded him gently. “Plus Martin has vast resources. They consider him a flight risk.”

Shane tapped the table with his phone. “There’s more.”

“Of course there is,” Travis sighed. “More good news I assume?”

“The final autopsy report for Bruce was filed. It appears that he had sleeping pills in his system. A lot of them. That would have made him sleepy and possibly easy to handle when he was lured out to the beach.”

“So a woman could have done it,” Aubrey murmured, thinking about Iris’s untimely demise. “Do you think Iris did it and then out of guilt offed herself?”

Travis scraped a hand down his face, his expression a mask of tension. “That is entirely possible. From what we know she and Bruce were seeing each other but perhaps she was pushing him for more. Maybe she wanted him to leave Caroline and he refused.”

Shane leveled a gaze at Travis. “But you still don’t believe it was an accident, do you?”

“No,” Travis finally replied, clearly not happy about admitting it. “No, I don’t. I’m sorry but it’s too much of a coincidence. I think Iris’s death was probably not accidental and I think it has something to do with Bruce’s. But I can’t prove any of it.”

Pursing his lips, Shane drummed his fingers against his coffee cup. “We’ve gone over the suspects but what about the evidence? How about the cufflink? If Martin didn’t accidentally drop it stabbing Bruce in the heart then it was planted there. Who might have access to those cufflinks?”

Travis tapped his chin in thought. “Alana. Caroline. The housekeeping staff, but we have to assume they have no motive to frame Martin. Caroline has the most motive of course.”

It appeared Travis didn’t enjoy admitting that either.

“Certainly a wife might want her husband and his girlfriend dead but what does she gain?” Aubrey queried. “In Caroline’s case she wouldn’t have gained anything except her freedom and she could have gotten that with a divorce.”

Shane snapped his fingers. “Money? Did she have a prenup with Bruce? If not, she might have been on the hook for a big chunk of change.”

Travis sighed and shook his head. “They had one. Martin made sure of it. Ironclad too from what he said. If Bruce and Caroline divorced he came out with a small settlement of two hundred and fifty thousand. Hardly the millions he’d grown accustomed to.”

“Then Caroline wouldn’t have much to gain by killing Bruce and Iris,” Aubrey pointed out. “Except for revenge. Honestly she didn’t look like the vengeful type. She seems really sweet.”

“She is,” Travis agreed with a small smile. “But she’s also been the type to not stand up for herself, which is exactly how she ended up in a rotten marriage with Bruce. Any other woman would have kicked him to the curb a long time ago.”

Shane drained his coffee cup and signaled to the waitress for the check. “Then I think we know what we need to do.”

Aubrey’s brows shot up. “We do?”

“We do,” Travis confirmed. “We need to talk to Caroline and Alana. They had access to the cufflinks.”

Shane signed for the bill and the three of them stood, exiting the restaurant.

“So how do we do this? Good cop, bad cop?” Aubrey asked. How did one ask if their friend had a motive for murder? She wasn’t that good at all this cloak and dagger business.

Travis rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re their friends and we’re trying to help.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes and followed Travis and Shane into the elevator. “If they’re innocent and our friends this should go great. If one of them is the killer this could get kind of ugly.”

The kind of ugly that could get dangerous.

‡

I
t was decided
that Shane and Aubrey would go back to the suite and that Travis would talk to Caroline and Alana since he knew them the best. Travis knocked on Martin’s hotel room door and was surprised when Tom Lovell was the one who opened it.

“Tom,” Travis greeted the younger man. “I’m here to see Caroline and Alana.”

He waited for Tom to step aside but instead he stood in the doorway. “Alana’s not here. She’s down in the spa trying to relax. She was very upset when the judge wouldn’t give Martin bail.”

Interesting way to deal with it. A mani-pedi or maybe a facial.

“Then I’d like to see Caroline, please.”

Travis kept his voice level, showing no aggression but also no surrender. The two men stared each other down for a few moments but then a voice from inside the suite shattered the tension.

“Tom? Who’s at the door?”

Caroline.

“It’s Travis. I told him this isn’t a good time.”

“No, I want to see him.” Caroline squeezed next to Tom, frowning at his recalcitrant attitude. “Let him in for Pete’s sake. He’s a friend.”

Travis heartily hoped she believed that thirty minutes from now.

“Would you like some coffee, Travis? Or maybe a soft drink?”

“No, thank you.” Travis sat on the couch and Caroline settled in a chair next to it. Tom didn’t sit, choosing instead to hover in the background as if ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“I want to thank you so much for finding that photograph of Granddad wearing the other set of cufflinks.” Caroline sighed and curled into the cushions, a mug held in her hands. “The attorney is having another go at the judge that denied bail. He seems optimistic that it might help if it raises doubts as to his guilt.”

“It was actually Aubrey who found it but I’m glad that we could help in some small way. How are you holding up with all this?”

Caroline’s teeth sunk into her lower lip before answering. “I’m just trying to take everything moment to moment and day by day. I’m not thinking about the future right now. I hate the fact that Granddad is in jail. I know he didn’t do this. He hated Bruce but he wouldn’t kill anyone.”

Travis didn’t beat around the bush. “If Martin was wearing different cufflinks than what they found underneath the body that means they were planted by the killer. Do you know who might have had access to the suite and to Martin’s belongings?”

Caroline’s nail tapped the ceramic mug. “Me. Alana. Bruce. Housekeeping, of course. I think that’s it.”

“So you and Bruce were staying in the suite with Martin and Alana?”

“Yes, not that Bruce was here all that often.” Tears shimmered in the young woman’s eyes but her chin was bravely lifted. “He spent a great deal of time…out.”

“Out?” Travis echoed, not wanting to push but needing to know if there was someone else that they didn’t know about. “Was he conducting business over the weekend?”

Tom stopped pacing and stared down at Travis with disgust. “Christ, we all know what Bruce was doing. He was with his slut Iris Perry.”

Caroline winced at the blunt statement but then nodded her head, a sad expression on her face.

“Tom’s right. Bruce spent most of his time with Iris, and honestly our marriage was to the point that I was glad that he did. He never missed an opportunity to tell me what a disappointment of a wife I was and being with him had become increasingly difficult. We’ve basically been living apart for the last six months.”

“You should have left him a long time ago,” Tom muttered, restarting his pacing.

“I should have,” Caroline agreed. “But I didn’t. He had me convinced our problems were all my fault and if I just changed everything would be better. I finally realized that nothing was ever going to make our relationship a good one. I’d screwed up picking a husband and I guess I thought that I had to suffer for my mistake. That this was my punishment.”

“You were young and you made an error in judgment. Suffering the rest of your life for it seems like overkill,” Travis argued. “Especially when he was cheating on you.”

“I’m not sorry he’s dead,” Caroline whispered, her voice tortured and low. “He used to yell at me, calling me names. Sometimes he’d physically intimidate me by backing me into a corner and then screaming at me. He made me feel like nothing. Now that he’s gone I’m finally free.”

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
. The poor girl.

Bruce was worse than Travis had thought and that was pretty damn bad.

Tom rounded the couch and sat on the arm of Caroline’s chair, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Caro. You don’t have to talk about this.”

The man gave Travis a glare of dislike as tears began to slide down Caroline’s cheeks. Travis didn’t feel good about this line of questioning but the police would be much less gentle.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

The door flew open and Alana breezed in, a smile on her face until she took in the scene before her – Caroline crying, Tom comforting, and Travis sitting there uncomfortable and grim. She dropped her purse on the floor and held out her arms to the distraught young woman.

“Sweetheart, what’s the matter? Come here, honey. Let me give you a big hug.” Alana jerked her head toward the bar. “Tom, get Caro a drink. A strong one.”

“It’s ten in the morning,” Tom protested but did as the older woman asked after she gave him a quelling look. “I guess one wouldn’t hurt.”

“I’m sorry I’ve upset you–” Travis began but Caroline held up her hand and shook her head.

“I’ve been upset for a long time, honestly. I’ll admit the events of the last week haven’t helped but these tears aren’t about you. They’re about my life and what a mess I’ve made of it.”

“Honey, you’re going to be fine.” Alana perched on the edge of the chair and wrapped her arms around the young woman. “The world will always try and bitch slap you but you just have to get up and kick them in the balls right back. Don’t let anyone tell you to lie down and take their crap.”

Travis crossed his legs, uncomfortable with the thought of anyone getting kicked in the privates no matter what they’d done. Tom was shifting on his feet as well as if he wasn’t happy about the imagery either. He finished mixing some champagne and orange juice in a flute and came to sit down on Caroline’s other side, handing her the drink.

She made a face but Alana tapped the glass and gave Caroline a stern look. “Drink. It will relax you. You’ve been living on caffeine for the last several days so this isn’t any worse.”

Travis narrowed his eyes as he took in Tom’s worried countenance and the way the man’s hand patted Caroline’s knee. Travis had always assumed that Tom was Bruce’s friend but perhaps he was more Caroline’s friend.

“Are you going to see Martin today?” Travis decided changing the topic of conversation would be a good idea.

Alana dragged a decorative throw off the back of the sofa and tucked it around Caroline despite the temperature outside of near eighty degrees. He was impressed by the woman’s motherly instincts even if he wasn’t as impressed by her devotion as a wife.

“Yes, Tom is going to drive me there this morning.”

“I want to go too,” Caroline pushed down the cashmere fabric so it was around her waist instead of her neck. “I need to see that Granddad is okay.”

Tom and Alana were already shaking their heads before Caroline even finished talking.

“You need to rest,” Tom replied, another pat to her hand. “Going to the county jail is only going to upset you.”

“I’m a grown woman and it won’t hurt me to be upset. Not being upset that my grandfather is in jail for murdering my husband would be much worse, don’t you think?”

“Your grandfather is a strong man and he will be fine in any situation.” Alana dug into her purse and pulled out her phone to check her messages. “I agree with Tom on this. You should stay here and rest.”

The scene was rather surreal. Alana and Tom were treating Caroline like she didn’t have a brain in her head. The look on the young woman’s face told the story as well. She was tired of it and was about to say something scathing. Perhaps Travis could do something to alleviate the growing tension between the three.

“Caroline, how about you and Aubrey go downstairs to the spa and have a nice relaxing massage? Aubrey has been saying she’s wanted to go but I haven’t had the time to go with her. She’d love the company.”

Alana clapped her hands together and smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea. Some girl time never hurts.”

Caroline opened her mouth to object but Travis tried his best to give her a side eye that silently told her to trust him. Instead she acquiesced, her gaze still on Travis. “I guess I could do that. I really liked talking with Aubrey the other day. She and I got along really well. And I’d like a chance to thank her as well for finding the photo.”