Deadly Dozen: 12 Mysteries/Thrillers (48 page)

“What about his wife?”

“Sharon?”

“I thought her name was…” He consulted his notes. “Gina.”

“No, that was his fake wife, from the picture. You know,
Huffpo
. No, Sharon was a girl who married him when he was in college.
That
lasted about a year.”

“No children?”

“Oh, no.

“Why did the marriage break up?”

“Because it was reality? That’s my guess.”

“You didn’t call him to tell him to come in the last couple of weeks?”

She looked at him, then looked at Laura. “What are you talking about?”

She seemed agitated.

Lying?

“Someone Sean talked to mentioned he was on his way to Tucson to see his father. They said he preferred to stay in Madera Canyon and drive in for a visit. He never visited your father?”

She stared at him. “Not that
I
know of. But then, he wouldn’t tell
me
.”

Laura thought Anthony was getting to her.

Ruby said, “Do you know who it was?”

“Who it was?”

“The person he talked to? You said you did.”

“One or two of the guests at the Madera Canyon Cabins.”

“I told him
months
ago. And he didn’t follow through—as usual.”

Anthony said gently, “But you didn’t speak to him lately?”

“No.”

“He didn’t call you here at your house? To tell you he was coming?”

She looked from Anthony to Laura. “What are you talking about? He never called here.”

Anthony said, “His phone records show he made a call to this number on May ninth. The call lasted one minute.” His voice was low, gentle. “You don’t remember that?”

“He didn’t call me.”

“Couldn’t he have left a message on your answering machine?”

She looked at Anthony as if he were a unicorn she’d just discovered in her living room. “Are you kidding? He wouldn’t call me! He
never
called me.”

“Phone records don’t lie, ma’am. Someone called from his phone. Are you sure they didn’t leave a message?”

She looked at Laura, then at Anthony. Her voice firm. “He didn’t call me here. I never once heard from him. I had no idea he was here.”

She was adamant.

“Is there anyone else he might have talked to? If he called here?”

“No. Nobody.”

“No friend? Not your husband?”

She colored. “Nobody.”

“Did you buy all that?” Anthony said as they walked out to the car.

“She seems believable. She didn’t seem to be evading. Confused maybe—something’s bothering her.”

“You don’t think she was the one who bought the burner?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Have to admit, she didn’t act guilty. Not that that counts for much. So—what about her estranged husband?”

Ruby had mentioned her husband, Joel Strickland, in passing. They had been apart for a couple of years. She’d told them he had been responsible for the renovation. She’d made a point of telling them she’d liked the old house much better.

“Why no divorce?”

“One party or the other was dragging his feet? Like the guy who rebuilt this house to suit himself?”

Ruby had also told them her father had been in an assisted living facility for the last five years. He had Alzheimer's, among other infirmities.

“He went to all the trouble to raze the one house and build that monstrosity,” Anthony said. “Sounds to me like he wanted to live there.”

Laura knew what Anthony was thinking. Maybe Sean talked to Strickland. “You mean Strickland intercepted the message. He knew Sean was staying in Madera Canyon?”

“It could happen.”

“And he erased the message so Ruby wouldn’t know?”

“If he’s a sociopath, yeah. That could work.”

“Why not just go to Vegas and take him out there? Or hire someone?” Laura realized that they were into a realm of speculation unrelated to the facts.

Anthony shrugged. “Familiar turf?”

Laura brought up Ruby’s phone number and called. She put the phone on speaker.

Ruby answered on the first ring. “Can you tell me about the will?”

“Sure. It’s been on my mind. You can understand why.”

“Are you the beneficiary?”

“Yes.”

“Is your husband in the will?”

“Are you thinking, if I were to die? I put him in my will, but I've been thinking about changing it.”

“But he could contest it if you do.”

“Of course he could.” There was a pause. “You don’t think … you don’t think he had something to do with Sean’s death, do you?” Another pause. There was the beginning of panic in her voice when she said, “Do you think I’m in danger?”

“I doubt it,” Laura said. “But you know him better than I do. What do you think? Is he capable of something like this? Where Sean is concerned?”

A pause. Then Ruby said, “I don’t think so. Joel is a lot of things, a lot of reprehensible things, but I can’t imagine … I don’t want to think so. I can see him staying married to me for the money, yes. But I don’t want to believe he would be capable of killing someone. I don’t know if I could live with myself if he was.”

Laura didn’t want to ask this, but she had to. “Why didn’t you push harder for a divorce?”

Suddenly, Ruby Ballantine’s voice turned cold. “I don’t have to give you my reasoning.”

“No, you don’t. But—”

“If that’s all, I have some work to do.” And she disconnected.

Laura looked at Anthony. He looked as surprised as she was.

“There’s more going on with Ruby than we previously thought,” Laura said.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Ex

They did some digging. Joel Strickland was the owner of Strickland Construction. The contractor built several high-profile buildings in Phoenix and a research center affiliated with the University of Arizona in Tucson. The company appeared solvent, even successful, but they’d have to dig a little more to see if that were true. Anthony took it and ran with it—he was very good on financial stuff. Laura could do it, but her eyes glazed over and she knew she was prone to mistakes. It was like pulling teeth to even do her own taxes. She purely hated QuickBooks.

Laura went back to DPS and worked on the murder book. Once again, she found herself transfixed by the expression on Sean Perrin’s face. Most of the homicide victims she’d seen who had died from gunshot wounds looked shocked. But Perrin didn’t look shocked. There was that quizzical uplift to the corner of his mouth. He looked like he was anticipating something.

What she wanted to know—what she needed to know—did the threat to his life come from Las Vegas, or Winslow, or was it home-grown?

She thought she’d have a better feel for that after they met with Joel Strickland.

Joel Strickland was exactly what they expected. He was a hard-nosed businessman, with fingers in all sorts of pies, coming from a blue-collar background, with a massive chip on his shoulder.

Before he even said a word, Laura could feel his resentment. She could almost see the cartoon word bubble over his head saying, “I’m a busy man.”

He was a manically-busy man.

His office was cluttered, a sleeves-rolled-up kind of place in downtown Tucson that made her think of bare bones and bare-knuckle leadership. His face was red (high blood pressure?), his manner brusque to the point of bitter resentment.

He sat down behind his desk and stared at them both. “So what is it exactly you want? I’m busy here.”

Laura took this one.

“I’d like to talk with you about Sean Perrin, your wife’s brother.”

“Oh,
that’s
what this is about? Yeah, yeah, I know he’s dead. What do you need from me?”

“Did you know him well?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Sir…”

“I never met him. So you came here for nothing.” He leaned toward her, getting into her space. Laura allowed it, but held her ground. She’d dealt with many people like this.

“I bet you knew about him, though. Like his disregard for the truth.”

He was mollified by that, as she’d hoped he would be. “Yeah, I knew he was a liar. One of those people who can’t tell the truth if you waterboarded them.”

Former military
. Laura realized that when she saw the table with the Gulf War memorabilia on it, and the framed Bronze Star above his head.

She decided to skip the sweetness and light, and talk to him in a way he understood. “Sean Perrin was shot between the eyes while he was parked in his car. Did you ever talk to him by phone? Perhaps he said something about coming down here?”

“As a matter of fact he did call me. He asked if he should come.”

“When was this?”

“About a month ago.”

“And what did you say?”

“I said it was up to him.”

“Have you talked to him recently?”

“Recently? No. Why should I?”

“He didn’t call to let you know he was in town?”

“Why would he do that?”

“Maybe he left a message? At Ruby’s?”

“I haven’t been with Ruby for months. So if he did call me there, I wouldn’t know, unless she told me. I’m out of it.”

“It?”

“The running,” he said. His voice hard.

“The running?”

“The running for my wife’s fortune. I wasn’t fooled. Sean called to feel me out. He wanted to know just what kind of hand I was holding.”

“And you told him?”

“I told him what I’m telling you. I’m out. I have enough going on with my own business. I’ve got enough money for my needs.”

“So you told him to come out here?”

“I said it didn’t matter to me.”

“He called you.”

“He called me.”

“May I ask why you and Ruby are still married?”

“It’s easier. Financially, for her and me. I still care about Ruby and she’s going through a tough time, her Dad hanging on like that. So we discussed it and we’re staying married for the indefinite future.”

“You think Ruby has something to hide?” Anthony asked Laura as they drove out. “Like contacting Sean and getting him to come here?”

“Could be,” Laura said. “She wanted him to come to
her
.”

“You mean, she lured him to her neck of the woods where someone could kill him.”

“It does have the earmarks of a hit.”