TICK TOCK RUN (Romantic Mystery Suspense) (30 page)

“Spill.  Who’s using that dead guy’s account?”  Laura dropped her voice to a taut whisper.  “And why the hell did you say
that
in front of Paul?”

“I don’t have a name.  They’re monitoring the account.  I only said that to test something.”

“Great.  Ruin my life by making Paul suspicious for a stupid test.”  Laura placed her hand on the counter so I couldn’t move past her.  “Why’s Lee acting strange?  Whispering?  I thought you were getting rid of him.” 

I blinked fast, feeling on the spot again.  “You noticed, too?”

“Come on, out with it.”

“Laura, I’m trying to help.  It won’t kill you to drop the attitude for once.”

A few seconds later, Laura’s face softened.  “Sorry.”

“Okay.  Lee’s got this crazy idea into his head, that Mark is the one blackmailing you.” 

“Surely not, Chelsea.  What on earth makes him think it’s Mark?”

“He does act weird around us,” I whispered, giving little away.  So, I said, “I mean around
you
as well.”

Laura frowned.  “What do you mean by that?”

I glanced over her shoulder.  We were still alone.  “You must have noticed.  He fancies you.”

Laura’s eyes seemed to widen in delight first, and then again through shock.  “I’ve always had a soft spot for Mark.  I can’t believe he’s capable of this.  No.  He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“We’re each other’s back up plan.  We joke about it.  You know, if we’re both single at forty, we’ll marry each other.”

“Really?” 
Why don’t I have one of those?
  “Maybe he’s doing this to split you and Paul up, out of jealousy.  He wants to nudge things along.  Now I have to go back in there, before Lee says something in front of Paul.” 

I pushed her aside to return to the lounge.

She grabbed my elbow.  “Hold up.  Did Mark know Daryl?”  Her smug tone told me she was blissfully aware that if he didn’t, it would rule Mark out.

“Yes, he did.”  I watched her mouth pop open.  “Professionally.  You weren’t Daryl’s only client.”

“No way!  I’m telling you it’s not him.”  She angled her head.  “But, saying that, he’s intelligent enough.  No.  I can’t see it being Mark.  He’s my friend.  We get on so well.  For God’s sake!  He’s our best man at the wedding!”

“Who then?” I asked.  “Who else knows all three of us?  And don’t say Lee again, or I’ll start accusing Paul.” 

“Shut up, Chelsea.  And keep your voice down.  I’m starting to think that you want Paul to overhear.” 

Having recognised fury within Laura’s eyes, I chose not to retaliate, just gave her a mental slap instead. 

She hurried into the lounge, probably now more worried than I, that Lee would be firing questions at Mark.  I followed her, while thinking,
this isn’t so bad.  Assuming, of course, that it is Mark, then Lee has it all wrong.  Daryl’s death must be an accident.  Mark wouldn’t kill anyone.  He doesn’t have it in him.  He’s just jealous, wants Laura for himself. 

Laura paused in the doorway and I rammed into her back.  We were right to worry.

“So, Mark,” I heard Lee say.  A drop sensation sickened my stomach. 

Laura stretched her arm behind her back, felt for my hand and squeezed it.

Lee continued.  “That was some rain storm earlier.  Did you get caught in it, Mark?”

“I was in a meeting,” Mark replied.

Paul looked at each of them in turn.  “Do you two know each other?”

Ignoring him, Lee said, “You must be on edge with the deadline approaching.  But then, you’ve done this before... to my brother, haven’t you?”

Laura dug her nails into my palm.

“What deadline’s this?”  Paul asked.

I barged past Laura and butted in, “He’s talking about the best man speech.”  I gritted my teeth and stared down at Lee.  ”Aren’t you?”

CHAPTER 24

I
dragged Lee out of the lounge to get him away from Paul and Mark.

Lee shook off my grip as we reached the kitchen.  “Easy, tiger.”

Laura entered a moment later.  She shut the kitchen door behind us and fanned her face with a leaflet from the worktop. 

“Could you be any more obvious, Lee?” I scraped a black, leather high stool out from under the bench and sat on it.  “Want to skywrite it so everyone finds out what’s going on?  If Paul had picked up on—”

“I’m just sick of not knowing who’s doing this,” he replied.  “Someone has to get to the bottom of things.  You two seem to be glued on your asses.  If you won’t do anything, I sure as hell will.”

“I’m sick of it, too,” Laura and I said in unison.

Laura sat down, glared at Lee and spoke in a harsh whisper.  “You nearly dropped me right in the shit then.  I’ve just had to make up some stupid story to stop Paul asking questions.”

Lee stroked my hair and eased onto a stool.  “Sorry.  I guess I was tactless.”

Laura stopped fanning her face.  “I haven’t received a reply to my text.”

“You wouldn’t, would you?” Lee pointed at the door.  “Not when Mark’s sitting in your lounge!”

“Let’s keep calm.  What are we going to do?” I upturned my palms, and stared down as though I’d opened an instruction book on dealing with shitty situations.  “We need a plan to work out if it is Mark or not.”  There was no way I could ask Mark to answer my email questions now.  Not until we’d ruled him out.  And I certainly couldn’t ask Paul, and open myself up to awkward questions.

Lee stared at each of us in turn, ensuring he had our full attention.  “Tell me what’s been going on.  What dirt does Mark, or this person have on you, Laura?”

Phew!  I thought, pleased Lee didn’t lace into her for lying, although the narrowed eye looks they shared showed signs of brewing conflict.

“Someone had footage of Daryl and me stored on a mobile phone, but it got destroyed.  Now they say they have photos.”

“It’s risky to come back for second helpings,” Lee said.  “Maybe money’s not the main thing Mark wants.”

I fidgeted.  “You don’t mean...”

“Yes.”  He pointed across the table.  “Laura!”

She clamped her cheeks between her hands.  “Jeez!  I can’t believe I had no idea Mark liked me
this
much.  You really think it could be him?”

Lee dipped his head and his eyes rolled up to Laura.  “My guess is, he wants rid of Paul, so he can have you all to himself.”

“You think?” she said.

“Yes.  Didn’t you see the way he winked at you?  He could be trying to push you into a confession by demanding money until you can’t pay anymore.  After all, if he tells Paul, well, you’re not likely to fall into Mark’s arms if you find out he’s the cause of all this.”

I exchanged a long, nervous look with Laura.  Perhaps Mark was guilty, and he saw Laura as his prize.  He did seem to light up whenever he shared space with her.

Lee snapped his fingers and broke our gaze.  “Before paying, you needed some assurance that they’d destroy
all
the evidence.  You should have arranged the drop point yourself.  Did you see the footage?  Can you show it to me?” 

Laura’s dark eyes reflected regret.  “They sent a copy to me last week, but... I deleted it in case Paul came across it.”

A loud slap made me flinch. 

Lee had slammed his palm on the bench right under Laura’s nose.  “God damn it!  There could have been a clue on there.”  His hard face and unblinking eyes cranked up the heat as sure as if the radiators had kicked in. 

Laura snapped her head back.  When I saw her doleful expression, I just wanted to hug her.  But she had to listen. 

Lee looked pointedly at Laura.  “You’ve made things worse for yourself and easy for him.  If I’m right about his motive, Mark’ll wait until the last minute before telling Paul about the affair, in the hope that
you
tell him first.  You should have stalled, thought it through, instead of spending your time filling Chelsea’s head with nonsense about me.” 

Disturbing stares shifted between them, fired by blinks.  Laura’s face grew redder by the second.  Even the sudden silence defined their anger.

Here we go!
  I steeled myself for a verbal onslaught.  Laura surprised me.  She didn’t retaliate.  Feeling confused, I looked at her.  She just sat, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, staring, hot-faced, at a wall.  Despite her now silent animosity towards Lee, I assumed she was weak with fear, afraid Paul would overhear the rowing. 

Not getting any bites from Laura, Lee shook his head and looked at me. 

I assumed my burning cheeks were red like Laura’s, which gave a decent impression of a clown – although the opposite of comical. 

I ran my hand through my hair and groaned.

Lee stroked my hot cheek and adopted a gentler tone.  “Sorry.  It’s done now.  Let’s move on.  It’s someone who knows my brother and the two of you.  They know your email addresses, time of your wedding, how much money you can get your hands on.  It’s someone who was not at home or at work when you dropped that money off this morning, unless they have an accomplice.”

“No,” I interrupted.  “The way the messages are phrased sounds like just one person.”

“Or one main person,” Lee said.  “A person who has access to your house keys.”

A door rattled somewhere in the house.  We huddled together as if forming a protective bubble around the conversation. 

“I suggest you check up on Mark’s whereabouts this morning.”  Lee tapped the bench.  “Phone his work.”

Laura nodded. 

“Since I doubt my brother knew any of your family members, and you all work at different companies, I’d place my chips on it being a friend.  Someone you know fairly well must have been keeping an eye on you.  That someone could be Mark.”

Laura wriggled on the stool.

A compassionate shiver ran across my shoulders, having experienced the creepiness of being watched myself.  I was about to reach out to comfort her when Lee spoke again.

“The thing that puzzles me though, is, why involve Chelsea?”

“They used her to pass messages to me,” Laura said.  “And if they told Chelsea about my affair, I knew that if I didn’t pay, they’d definitely tell Paul next.”

“The price of your wedding has certainly been increasing this week,” Lee said.

“And still is,” I murmured.

“There’s something else going on here.”  Lee scrunched his lips.  “Sending messages via Chelsea doesn’t explain scaring her.”  Lee set his hand on my shoulder.  “He must have a separate grudge against you, Chelsea.”

I chewed my nails.  “That did cross my mind.  Stabbing my bathroom wall is a lot different to sending an email.”

“Best friends tend to share secrets.”  Lee appeared confused when he looked at Laura.  “So how did he know that Chelsea didn’t know about the affair?”

Laura shrugged.  “By the way she acted?”

Lee squeezed my shoulder.  “The fact that you dumped Mark just might be his reason for scaring you, Chelsea.”