Night of the Living Dandelion (35 page)

“Are we looking for a place where Kyle might have held Willis?”

“Yep. And this is Jerry Trumble’s address. He has a home on Lafayette Street, seven blocks north of the square. Follow the same procedure with him. And one more thing—I want your solemn oath that you’ll have Rafe or Vlad or someone trustworthy with you during any kind of investigative work.”

“It’s not like I can do much on my own anyway.”

He lifted my chin and gazed into my eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting in that endearing way of his. “Sunshine, I know you. If there’s a way, you’ll try. You have to promise me you won’t.”

I let out a breath. “Okay. I promise.”

“I’ve also arranged for you to have company in the evenings when Nikki is at work.”

“Don’t tell me you lined up Reilly to babysit again, because that didn’t work last time you tried it.”

“It’s not Reilly.”

“Oh, please tell me it’s Rafe and not my parents or your mom.”

“Your parents. My mom is your backup person.”

“You told my parents that you’re leaving?” Worser and worser. I was shocked they hadn’t called. “Marco, I’ll be perfectly fine on my own. I don’t need sitters.”

“It’s just a precaution.” He leaned in to press a kiss against my lips. “I hate like hell having to leave you. All I can do is try to ensure that nothing happens to you.”

“I wish I could do the same for you.”

Marco kissed me again, then closed the notebook and handed it to me. “Do you have any questions?”

Just a few million, such as, how was I going to manage without him? “Will I be able to call you if I need advice?”

“I hope so, but I don’t know what my circumstances will be. I’ll try to call you later today to let you know what’s happening, but in any event, you let me know as soon as you have any information. If I don’t answer, leave a message.”

I nodded. What if there was nothing to tell?

“Don’t worry. You’ll do fine. I’ve been preparing you for this.”

For investigating perhaps. There was no way to prepare for Marco’s leaving. On top of that, he was putting a lot of trust in me. I hoped I wouldn’t let him down.

He sighed and stood up. “I need to get down to the bar and start wrapping things up. I’m riding down to the base with another Ranger from my unit so that Rafe can use my Prius.”

I gazed at Marco in dismay. This was it, then.

He took me in his arms for one more kiss that didn’t last nearly long enough. A year wouldn’t have been long enough. Marco hugged me fiercely, promised that when he got back, we’d make plans for our wedding. And then he was gone.

And just like that, my optimism vanished.

 

“This is Abby Knight. I’d like to speak to Mr. Morgan, please.”

“What is the nature of your call?”

I was not in the mood for the games his uppity secretary liked to play. “The nature of my call is personal. The mood of my call is dark and dangerous, so unless you want me to come across the street and show you exactly how dark and dangerous—”

“Hold, please.”

A few seconds later, Greg came on the line. “Hey, Abby. What’s going on? My secretary said you threatened her.”

“And you believed her? Boy, are you gullible. Listen, Greg, I need a tiny favor.”

“If it involves Marco’s friend Vlad and/or the Willis murder case, no can do. I don’t know why you’re even bothering to ask after what happened to me last time.”

“You still have your job.”

“That’s not funny.”

“I wouldn’t bother you except Marco asked me to handle something for him. Then he got a call last night ordering him to report to army headquarters today.”

“Sorry to hear that. I thought Nikki said he had another week.”

“That was the original plan.”

“Well, you know how those Special Ops Rangers operate.”

As if Morgan knew. The only uniform he’d ever worn had been for Little League.

“What’s the favor?”

“Get me the tox screen results on the Willis case.”

“I can’t risk it, Abby. I wish I could, but no. Now, if there’s anything outside this office I can help you with, feel free to ask.”

I thanked him for the offer and hung up. Wonderful. Now I’d have to get up extra early to visit the coroner’s office.

Lottie came into the workroom and pulled up a stool. “How are you doing, sweetie?”

I shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Trying not to think about Marco.”

She patted my knee. “You’ll get through it. My Herman went to Vietnam right after we got married. He was gone for a year, and I survived. There are a whole lot of families out there who have a loved one overseas. All you can do is get up in the morning, put one foot in front of the other, and keep going.”

In my case, I had only one foot to put down.

“Here’s something that’ll make you smile,” she said. “We sold the new bat mobile. Seems that college student who bought the first one started a trend. Another girl in her dorm bought the second one, and she brought orders for five more.”

“Holy cow! Mom will be thrilled.”

“You want to give her the good news? She called while Marco was here.”

I hesitated. If I called Mom now, she’d inundate me with questions about Marco, and I was still hurting too much to deal with that.

Lottie patted my knee again. “You know what? You’ve got enough on your mind. I’ll make that call as soon as school is out. Do you want to take the first lunch shift?”

“Sure.” Since I had no appetite, I’d use the time to go to the clerk’s office.

After Lottie left, I flipped idly through Marco’s notebook. How was I ever going to accomplish everything on his list?
When
was I going to do it? I glanced at my watch and decided I’d better get started. One foot in front of the—well, whatever.

 

Those crutches were going to be my Waterloo. Given all the cracks in the sidewalk, the uneven lawn, the wide steps, and the bouquet of callas sticking out of my shoulder bag, it was a miracle I survived the trip to the courthouse. Then I had to go through the security line and ride the ancient elevator to the basement, my heart in my throat at its every groan and shudder. At least the crutches made me a sympathetic figure, so the clerk was more than willing to listen to my reasons for needing to see the agreement, especially after I gave her the bouquet.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” Janine the friendly clerk said, admiring the flowers. “But I’m afraid I can’t give you a copy of the agreement.”

Rats. My first solo assignment, and I’d blown it.

“I remember this lawsuit,” Janine said. “One of the women who worked here then was a friend of Dana Trumble’s, and she was convinced that Dana’s husband had done her in. Said he was an abusive jerk. What a shame he ended up making a pile of money from her death.” The clerk sighed sadly. Then she gave me a determined look. “You said one of the things you need is the date the agreement was recorded? Wait here.”

She was back in a few minutes and handed me a piece of paper on which she had made a note. With a shrug, she said, “It’s the best I can do. Maybe it’ll help a little.”

I paused outside the office to glance at the paper. On it Janine had written:
Settlement recorded three years ago on April 11th.

Marco had said that Trumble paid off his debt on April 21, ten days later—just the amount of time it took for a big check to clear the bank. Added to his hatred of Lori, the lies he’d told us, and his presence at the casino the night Lori disappeared, we had a convincing case for him being Lori’s killer.

Yet what nagged at me was the timeline. If Jerry had killed his wife five years ago, what could Lori have found on him recently that would have gotten her murdered? I just couldn’t make it work. The more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed that Jerry was our man.

 

Rafe drove me to my two o’clock foot doctor’s appointment, where the doctor examined my ankle and scolded me for not following his orders.

“So you got busted, huh?” Rafe asked on the way back to Bloomers.

“Ten more days on crutches.” Yet another disappointment.

“Hey, you know the dinner at the country club Friday night? Your mom invited my mom and me to it, so I was wondering if anyone would mind if I brought a date.”

I smiled at him. “You met someone?”

“Your mom’s student teacher, Chelsea. I didn’t know you brought her down to meet me the other night. I got to talking to her later and we just seemed to hit it off.”

“It wasn’t like I didn’t try to introduce you, Rafe. So you really like her, huh?”

He nodded shyly. “It was like an instant attraction. So is it okay to bring her?”

“More than okay.” In fact, it was perfect. Rafe and Chelsea would take some of the heat off me.

“Awesome.” He pulled up in front of Bloomers and came around to help me out. “What time do you want me to pick you up? Five o’clock?”

“That’ll work. I’ll see you then.”

I moved through the day like a zombie, waiting for the phone to ring and, when it did, praying that it’d be Marco on the other end. But it didn’t happen, and with each call I grew more dispirited. What if he was sent overseas without being able to contact me? What if I never heard from him again? I knew such fears were unfounded, but they were, after all,
my
fears.

I saw Lottie’s and Grace’s concerned glances but pretended I didn’t. I knew I was sinking into a black hole of depression, but there didn’t seem to be a way to stop it.

Until I got a call from Rafe.

“Abby,” he whispered frantically, “the cops are here to arrest Vlad.”

Oh, no. My heart began to pound. “Is Vlad there?”

“No, but he’s due in anytime now. It’s almost five o’clock. Should I call and warn him?”

Should he? I couldn’t think. My brain felt as though it was moving through mud. “Better not. Marco wouldn’t want you to interfere with police business.”

“You really think Marco would let Vlad go to jail without a fight?”

Of course he wouldn’t. What was wrong with me?
Get a grip, Abby! What would Marco do?

I needed to pace, but I was stuck in the wheelchair. “Can you get Vlad’s number from Marco’s computer without the cops knowing?”

“I’ll find a way.”

“Okay, call me back as soon as you have it, and I’ll phone Vlad. I don’t want you getting into trouble. Is Reilly there?”

“Yeah, he’s here.”

“Put him on.”

A moment later, Reilly said, “What is it, Abby?”

“You’re seriously going to arrest Vlad?”

“Yes, we’re going to arrest him.”

“Based on what? New rumors?”

“Based on the evidence we found in his apartment.”

Oh, crap
. It was more serious than I thought. “What kind of evidence?”

“You know I can’t answer that. All I’ll say is that it was enough to convince a judge to issue an arrest warrant.”

“Come on, Reilly. At least tell me what prompted the search, or is that a big dark cop secret?”

He sighed impatiently, then said in a hushed voice, “We got a tip that items belonging to the deceased were in the apartment.”

“A tip from whom?”

“Don’t do this to me, Abby.”

“Can’t you tell me a little more? Like what kind of items? Her shoes or—”

“Abby, stop it.”

Immediately, I thought of the missing necklace and earrings. “Was it her jewelry—a big yellow multipetaled flower and—”

I heard a muttered curse. Then he hung up on me. It had to be the jewelry.

I replaced the receiver, my mind spinning wildly. How would Lori’s jewelry have gotten to Vlad’s apartment unless he’d put it there? More dandelions for his collection, perhaps?

“Abby, love, the shop is all set for morning,” Grace said, peering through the curtain. “Is there anything we can do for you? Shall we wait here until your ride comes?”

I was so preoccupied, it took a moment for her words to sink in. “Oh, no, thank you, Grace. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

Lottie peered through, too. Both of them stood there gazing at me as though I was about to expire. My cell phone rang, so I said, “I need to take this call. See you tomorrow, okay?”

I checked the screen, hoping it was Marco. But it was Rafe.

“I’ve got the number,” he said quietly. “Vlad hasn’t arrived yet, so maybe you can catch him before he shows up, because the cops are still here waiting for him.”

I grabbed a pen and took down the number. “Thanks, Rafe. I’ll call you back as soon as I reach him.”

But then I sat there with the phone in my hand, wondering if I was making a huge mistake. If Vlad was indeed the killer, wouldn’t I want to have him arrested?

A memory surfaced: Marco and me in front of Bloomers, his hands on my shoulders as he gazed into my eyes.
I need to help Vlad, Abby. If I don’t get involved, the police investigation will stall right on his head. Then the media will catch the fever, and we’ll have a three-ring circus on our hands. Vlad wouldn’t stand a chance for any real justice. That’s not how I want to leave things. I won’t leave things that way, and I need you to be on my side on this, Sunshine.

When it came to Marco, I was always on his side. And if there was one thing I believed in with my whole heart, it was justice. Whether I thought Vlad was guilty or not, I had to make sure he got a fair shake.

I took a deep breath and punched in Vlad’s number, counting the rings as I wheeled through the curtain and went to the front window to look out. Down the street, three patrol cars with lights flashing were parked in front of Marco’s bar, already drawing a crowd.

The call went to voice mail, so I left a message. “Vlad, the cops are at the bar to arrest you. I don’t know if you’ve been home yet, but they searched your apartment and found something belonging to Lori. I thought you should know.”