Night of the Living Dandelion (34 page)

That seemed a bit much to hope for, but the way I felt, all things were possible.

We left my apartment earlier than usual so Marco would have plenty of time to get me safely installed at Bloomers, then start working on the items on his to-do list. First on that list was a stop at his apartment to check the message that had come in for him. After that, he would pick up the enlarged photo of Lori Willis, head out to the casino to watch the rest of the security tapes, and arrive back at the bar in time for Rafe’s next business lesson. After a quick lunch, we’d be off to see my foot doctor.

I got to Bloomers half an hour before Grace and Lottie were due to arrive, so I pulled an order from the spindle and was about to collect my supplies when the phone rang. I picked it up at my desk, noting the caller ID. It said: PARKVIEW HOSPITAL
.
My first thought was that Jillian had taken a turn for the worse.

“It’s me, Abs,” Jillian said in a scratchy voice.

“Jillian? Are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks to my guardian vampire.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Vlad. He was here during the night.”

“Why would Vlad be in your hospital room?”

“To watch over me. We even have a secret code. At least I think that’s what he said.”

She was hallucinating again. “Do you still have a fever?”

“A tiny one. Would you thank Vlad for watching over me when you see him? He left before I woke up.”

Slight fever and hallucinations. “Sure, Jillian. Has the doctor been in to see you?”

“Yes, about half an hour ago. He said if my fever is gone, he’ll release me today.”

Not if I alerted him to the hallucinations. “Will you call me when you’re home?”

“Okay. Gotta go. They finally thought to bring me breakfast.” She covered the phone to say to someone, “Would you take that back and bring me an espresso? Make that a double. With room for cream. Is that supposed to be an omelet?”

My phone beeped, so I said, “Jillian, I have another call.”

“Abby, can you believe they don’t have espresso? What kind of hospital is this?”

At least she had her attitude back. I clicked over to the other line. “Bloomers Flower Shop. How can I help you?”

“Hey, Abby, it’s me,” Marco said. “I’m just leaving my apartment now. Change of plans, babe. It looks like I’m going to have to make a trip down to Grissom Air Base this afternoon.”

My stomach did a nervous flip. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It wasn’t on the message. All I know is that I have to report by four o’clock.”

I swallowed a lump of dread. “The letter said you had to report in three weeks. We’re supposed to have another week together.”

“I know, sweetheart, and that’s still possible. We’ll have to play it by ear. In any case, I should be able to get everything on my list accomplished this morning, and then I’ll stop by to discuss what I found out with you.”

“Can we have lunch together at least?”

“We’ll have to play that by ear, too. The army base is on Eastern time, an hour ahead of us, and I still have to get everything wrapped up at Down the Hatch, just in case, so it’ll be tight.”

Just in case?
How could three words feel so threatening?

“And don’t worry about your doctor’s appointment. Rafe will drive you.”

That was the least of my worries. I said good-bye, hung up, and sat there frozen, stuck on the words
just in case
. When my assistants arrived at eight o’clock, I tried to pretend nothing was wrong, but at our morning meeting, I couldn’t swallow a bite of Grace’s raspberry scone.

“What is it, sweetie?” Lottie asked. “You’re not with us this morning.”

I took a deep breath and tried to get it out in a rush. “It looks like Marco has to report to the army base today. He doesn’t have any more information than that, so it might be nothing to worry about. Or he might be leaving.”

On the last word, tears welled in my eyes. I picked up my coffee cup and tried to take a drink, but my hand shook and coffee sloshed over the rim. I grabbed a napkin to wipe up the spill. “We were supposed to have another week.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Lottie said, and leaned over to give me a hug. “I’m so sorry.”

“Let’s think good thoughts for Marco, shall we?” Grace said, taking her turn with a hug.

Good thoughts didn’t work for me. Only by immersing myself in my flowers was I able to keep my stomach from tying itself into a pretzel. I worked like a fiend all morning, and by eleven o’clock I’d completed all but the last order on the spindle.

It was a bright, joyous arrangement of pink roses, stems of green spray chrysanthemums, red Hedera helix berries, and orange Gerberas, finished off with the greenery Heuchera “Stormy Seas” and Phormium leaves. I gazed at it for a long time, taking pride in my work.

I had just wrapped it when the curtain parted. I glanced up and there was Marco. He gazed at me for a moment, and as always happened when I saw him, my breath caught in my throat. Then I saw the look on his face and felt dark clouds moving in.

He’d come to say good-bye.

“C
ome on, green-eyes, don’t be sad,” Marco said, putting his arms around me. “Maybe I’m just needed down there to sign off on something.”

“I’m sorry, Marco. I’m trying to think positive, but why would they make you drive all the way down there unless they wanted you to report for duty? They could mail papers to be signed.”

Marco didn’t say anything for a moment, just gazed into my eyes, brushing a lock of hair off my face. “You’ll be okay, Abby.”

How did he know that? And why did he have to say it as though he knew he wasn’t coming back? Now I was truly frightened. But I couldn’t let Marco leave home worrying about me. He had enough on his plate. I forced myself to smile back. “Of course I’ll be okay. It’s not me I’m concerned about, doofus.”

“You can’t be worried about
me,
” Marco said, as though he couldn’t believe anyone would doubt his ability to take care of himself.

With my chin trembling, I said, “I thought we’d have more time.”

Marco held me close for a long moment, then kissed me passionately. And all I could think about was what if this was the last time I ever saw him?

He ended our kiss, then pressed his lips to my forehead. “I wish we had all day together, sweetheart, but I’ve got to get going.”

I hugged him hard, breathing in the scent of his skin, committing the feel, the taste, the touch of him to memory. Just in case.

Marco leaned back to gaze at me. “I hate to talk business now, Abby, but I have to bring you up to speed on the investigation. If I’m—delayed—for any reason, you have to do your best to make sure Vlad is cleared.”

All sorts of protests ran through my mind, but all that came out was, “I’ll try.”

“You’ll do it. You love a challenge.”

“Okay.”

“That’s my fireball.”

More like a pile of wet ashes.

“All right. On to business matters.” He pulled up a stool and sat beside me, removing an eight-by-ten blowup of the photo of Lori Willis from an envelope he had with him. “Take a good look and tell me what you notice.”

I noticed she looked as dead outside as I felt inside. I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus. The enlarged picture showed the puncture wounds more clearly, but it also showed a red mark like a pinprick just beneath her jawline. I pointed to it. “Was she stuck with a needle?”

“That’s what it looks like to me. Remember when I told you she might have been drugged? I think we’re looking at the entry point for an injection. The tox screen would tell us whether there was a large amount of sedative in her system, but we can’t count on Kyle for help now. Whether he’s our killer or not, I’m sure he’s upset that we’re looking at him as a suspect. I was going to stop by the coroner’s office to see whether I could coax one of the staff to give me the results, but the best time to do that is early, around seven in the morning, and I probably won’t be here.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“It’s worth a try. Rafe knows the situation and will be available to take you.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Okay.”

“Now, on to the casino report.” Marco took out his notebook and read from his notes. “There was no sign of Kyle in the parking lot other than when he stopped with his partner around nine o’clock. Jerry Trumble, on the other hand, exited the boat at twelve thirty and walked through the lot until he was beyond the range of the camera. After that, there’s no further sign of him. As we know, Willis exited the boat at one a.m.

“So Trumble may have parked off the lot to hide his car from his prying in-laws. It’s also possible he circled around and came up on the far side of Willis’s car, where the camera couldn’t catch him, broke into the car, and hid in the backseat. Another possibility is that he got into his car and followed her home. And here’s another point. Trumble played at the same roulette wheel all evening, from which he had an unrestricted view of Willis at the slot machines.”

Marco turned the page. “Here’s where it really gets interesting. I talked Van Cleef into doing a little checking for me, and he found out that Kyle does not and never did have a tab. There is no debt in his name, so it begs the question of why he lied to his partner. Remember when J.C. said that Kyle asked him to use the emergency call as his cover in case anyone questioned him about the stop? That tells me Kyle was expecting J.C. to be questioned. And again, why? What made him think he’d be investigated?”

“So Kyle made up a cover story—for his cover story?”

“Something like that.”

“So his stop at the casino might have been to see if Lori was there so he’d know to come back later. Marco, I’m beginning to think we found our murderer.”

“Maybe not. Remember Jerry Trumble telling us he’d had only a minor gambling problem years ago, which his wife’s friends disputed? Her friends were right. According to what Van Cleef uncovered, five and a half years ago, Trumble racked up a two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar debt at the casino that he paid down by fifty thousand shortly after Dana died.”

“He blew two hundred fifty thousand dollars?” My mind boggled at the thought.

“That’s right. And I’m betting he got the fifty thousand from Dana’s insurance policy. From that point, Trumble made minimum monthly payments on the loan until three years ago, on April twenty-first, when he paid it off in full. My guess is that he used the settlement money from the lawsuit.”

“So Trumble benefited twice from Dana’s death. If he hadn’t received all that money, he’d be up to his eyeballs in debt.”

“Or he’d have filed for bankruptcy by now. Unfortunately, whatever agreement was reached in the lawsuit is a private matter.”

“I know a clerk at the courthouse who might be willing to help us out.”

“It’s a long shot, but go for it.” Marco turned the page. “Next item, Holloway. I checked with hotel management and security in Phoenix, where Holloway was registered for the conference, and learned that he was there both late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. I also checked flights from Phoenix to O’Hare, and given the arrival times, there’s no way he could have flown to Chicago, driven an hour and a half to New Chapel, abducted Willis, and flown back to Phoenix to finish the conference.

“Just to be sure, I tracked down another doctor who attended the conference. He said it was well known that Holloway slipped away with another conference attendee, but he declined to name her. As for Friday night when the body was dumped, Holloway was called in for emergency surgery at nine o’clock and was there until three Saturday morning. That pretty much eliminates him as a suspect.”

Marco flipped to the next page. “Regarding Diane Rotunno, I spoke with her boyfriend and friends and they all gave the same story she did, confirming her alibi. So I’m ruling her out, too. And finally, my source at the BMV tracked down the license plate number of the gray van that was parked next to Lori’s car. It’s a dead end. The van belongs to a senior citizens’ residence. Tuesday night is seniors’ night at the casino.

“That leaves Kyle Petrie and Jerry Trumble in a dead heat, as far as I’m concerned. Both men lied several times. Both had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Willis, but we still don’t have that smoking gun.”

“So what’s our next step?” My stomach knotted. “I mean my next step, after I visit the clerk’s office and the coroner’s office?”

Marco turned to another page. “This is Kyle’s address. He lives over his mother’s garage on Napoleon, two blocks north of Lincoln. You’ll need to talk to neighbors to see whether they’ve noticed any suspicious activity at his house, and set up a surveillance on the garage to see who comes and goes from it, what’s inside, and where Kyle goes when he’s not working or at home. You can direct and Rafe can do the legwork. He knows where my camera is.”