The Lady Who Cried Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery) (6 page)

“You know that was so long ago and it was dark when I saw him…”

They finished their respective drinks. His brandy drained, Mac asked, “Did Khloe come in with anyone else besides this Nick?”

“Bevis Palazzi.”

Mac sighed. “Really? I thought he was
your
friend.”

“Are you kidding?” she replied. “I never did like him. He had latched onto Khloe, or rather Khloe’s theater friends.” She shook her finger when a thought came to her mind. “That guy could have been one of her theater friends—playing the role of a crazed kidnapper and all.”

“Maybe.” Mac tucked her suggestion away in his mind. After all, Nick was playing Khloe’s gay best friend on her show. It was a good suggestion, the more he thought about it. “Tell me more about Bevis and Khloe.”

She sighed. “Bevis was a theater groupie.”

“Are you kidding? Bevis was a groupie?”

Lily nodded her head. “He would do volunteer stuff for the local theater groups. You do remember that Khloe was big on the local theater in Morgantown and other groups around here? I worked backstage as stage manager and assistant director. Bevis played the big shot by throwing money around to help support the groups. So they would let him hang around no matter how big of a jerk he was.”

“Was he a closet wannabe star?” Mac couldn’t envision Bevis being a thespian.

She shook her head. “He never performed on stage. It was backstage stuff that he would do in order to hang out with the theater crowd. Khloe may have been a lousy actress, but she did have this star quality that attracted guys—even some gay guys would hang around her all starry eyed. Sort of like she was Liza Minnelli or something. Bevis had it bad. I mean, he was ten years older than us and was a spoiled jerk. But he had money and was generous with it, as long as Khloe and her entourage let him hang with them.” She added, “Florence couldn’t stand the air he breathed.”

Realizing why, Mac nodded his head. “I can imagine.”

“Bevis and Khloe stayed tight,” she said. “When she went to Hollywood, he made regular trips out there to see her and rub elbows with celebrities to drum up support for when he ran for national office. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t seen him in years when he came in with her—and he was in here with her more than once.”

“Did they seem to get along?” Mac asked.

“It’s hard to tell with Bevis Palazzi,” she said. “He’s never happy with anyone except himself.”

Mac was taking the garbage out with Gnarly close behind him to scoop up anything good that might fall out of the container when David drove his cruiser between the two stone pillars that marked the entrance into Spencer Manor. Spying Molly peering out at him from the rear passenger window, Gnarly forgot about the garbage and raced after the cruiser to greet her. The two dogs ran off to frolic in the gardens.

After releasing Molly, David opened up the back of the SUV to reveal bags of groceries and boxes of new dishes and cookware.

“Someone has been shopping,” Mac said.

“Spoken like an ace detective,” David said. “Grab a box and put it in the garage.”

“I tossed out my old dishes and cookware when I moved out here,” Chelsea explained. “They were over thirty years old—used to belong to Mom. So I splurged with my first paycheck from my job and bought new.” She showed Mac the picture on the box. “They’re square. How do you like them?”

“They look familiar.” Mac peered at the image of square white dinner dishes. “Who do we know that has dishes like these?” he asked David.

“The lounge at the Spencer Inn,” David said.

“Yeah, that’s where I know them.”

“I am not copying the Spencer Inn.” Seeing their doubtful expressions, she turned around. “I’ll go show Archie. She’ll tell you.”

“Spencer Inn,” David mouthed.

With a laugh, Mac checked the contents of the grocery bags while David put the cookware in the garage. “Do you want my help in moving Chelsea into the condo after they’re done remodeling it?”

“It isn’t like she has that much to move,” David said. “The new furniture will be delivered there. All she has is her clothes and towels and linens and household stuff.” Seeing Mac examining the steaks, enough for two, he snapped the bag shut and yanked it out of his hands. “Why? Do you and Archie have plans for something else you’d rather do?”

“No,” Mac said, “but if you’d like for us to disappear, I can arrange that. Chelsea’s first night alone in her own place…with you. After spending the whole day doing heavy lifting for her, maybe she’ll want to give you a massage to relax your tired muscles…” His voice trailed off into a chuckle.

“In my dreams,” David said. “Now you’re beginning to sound like Archie.”

“You know what they say about couples,” Mac said. “You hang around each other long enough, and you start to think and act alike.” Seeing David’s lack of humor, he asked, “You two are coming along, aren’t you?” He pointed at the boxes in the garage. “You’re shopping together.”

“Because I drove her.” David picked up the rest of the grocery bags. “Frankly, this is getting old. I’ve been sucking up to her for weeks, and…” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “She won’t even let me kiss her. Everyone tells me not to give up, but I’m getting close to the point that I’m about ready to. What happened in the past is ancient history. I cheated. I broke her heart. I told her I was sorry and I meant it.” Gesturing for Mac to get out of his way, David slammed the back of the SUV shut.

Mac watched David looking down at his feet with the grocery bag hanging from one of his hands. A slow smile came to Mac’s lips when he said, “You know what I think? I think you never had to work this hard for a woman.”

His eyes narrowed, David cocked his head at him.

Mac chuckled. “You haven’t, have you? Every woman you’ve ever wanted just fell into your lap after you flashed a smile and winked at her. But Chelsea’s different. She knows you inside and out. She knows how you play. She knows your tells. She’s not like other women because you can’t get around her. That’s what’s driving you up the wall.”

David whirled around on his heels. “I’m going to go have a beer.” He climbed the steps to the walkway to take him back to his cottage.

“This is really fun to watch,” Mac called to him.

“Don’t make me shoot you, Mac.”

The dining room table was set for two when Mac came back into the house. It had been set for four when he took out the garbage. His assumption about the steaks had been right.

Archie was lying out across the sofa with her laptop resting on her knees.

“Is Chelsea eating at the guest house?” Mac asked her as she sat up to make room for him to sit down next to her.

“She and David are celebrating her first paycheck from her new job,” Archie said. “She’s cooking dinner for him over at the cottage. I guess they’re having a date night.” After setting the laptop aside, she slipped his arm around her shoulders and cuddled up next to him. “Which means we’re getting a date night.” She gazed up at him with a wide grin.

“Date nights are always good.” He kissed her. One kiss turned into two and then three, until they heard a throat clear.

Looking awkward about walking in on them, Chelsea stood at the bottom of the stairs. “I was going to sneak out, but…”

“That’s okay,” Archie assured her.

“What are you cooking for your chauffeur?” Mac asked her. “I saw steaks in the grocery bag.”

“Steak Diane,”’ she said. “It’s one of David’s favorite foods. I’m also serving roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.”

Mac asked Archie, “What are you cooking for me?”

“Salmon and rice pilaf.”

“I’d rather have steak.” He asked Chelsea, “Can I crash your dinner?”

“Behave,” Archie ordered. “It will be hard enough to keep Gnarly from crashing it.”

“Gnarly won’t be any trouble,” Chelsea said. “You talk like he’s a devil dog.”

“You don’t know Gnarly,” Mac said. “If he gives you any grief, tell David to bring him back home.”

“He never gives me trouble.” She started for the doors leading to the back deck.

Calling out, Mac stopped her. “Hey, Chel?”

She turned to them. “Yes?”

“How are things going with David?”

“Fine,” she replied. “Why?”

“Well,” Mac drawled. “You’re cooking dinner for him. He’s helping you move. He drives you to and from work and takes you to lunch.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Are you asking about a return on your investment?”

“Actually,” Mac said, “my question is, are you leading him on?”

“I would never do that,” Chelsea said. “What kind of woman do you think I am?”

“The type of woman who would be straight with a guy.” Mac turned back around. “I just wanted to be sure.”

Chelsea slammed the door on the way out. When she stepped out onto the deck, Molly and Gnarly sounded like a herd of stampeding horses escorting her back to the guest cottage.

“What was that about?” Archie asked him.

“Exactly what it sounded like,” Mac said. “I don’t want her hurting David by leading him on. He’s got it bad for her.”

“And she’s got it bad for him,” Archie said. “She’s been playing touch-don’t-touch for weeks. She wants him, but then she’s afraid that he’ll hurt her again, or she’ll give up her independence, which she has worked hard for. It isn’t that she doesn’t want him. It’s that she wants him so bad that she’s scaring herself.”

“I know exactly what she’s going through,” Mac said. “I’m afraid that if she doesn’t make up her mind soon, she’ll lose her chance with him.”

“David’s not going anywhere,” Archie said. “It’ll do him some good working to win her back. Make him appreciate her more.”

“Sounds like you’ve been thinking about this.”

“And you haven’t?” She sighed. “She wouldn’t be cooking Steak Diane for him if she didn’t care. Women don’t cook for men they don’t want.”

“You cooked for me from day one,” Mac recalled.

“I wanted you from day one,” she said with a smile.

“And you’re still cooking for me.”

“The day I stop cooking for you is the day you should start worrying.” She tapped the keys on her laptop to take it out of sleep mode. “Here’s another show of my love for you. I took a break from my editing to research Khloe’s communications, including her cell phone records.”

“Bogie’s still waiting for those records.”

“Well, I didn’t wait for any to get sent over,” she said, “I just hacked in.”

“That’s illegal.”

“So arrest me.” She closed the lid to her laptop. “I guess you don’t want—“

Mac opened up the lid. “Tell me what you found out.”

“You’re curious.” She giggled. “Lucky for us, Khloe and her friends operate with text messages, which are easy to follow because you actually know what they’re saying.”

“If you can decipher the shorthand language.”

“I know how to decipher the shorthand.”

“That’s why I love you.” He squeezed her shoulders.

She gazed up at him. Anxious to find out what she had learned, he gestured to the laptop. With a start, she resumed. “Another break for our side is that Khloe’s friends all have cell phone and cell phone accounts, so that made it easy for me to identify who she was talking to. For the last month, she was texting almost a hundred times a day.” She added as a sidebar, “No wonder she didn’t have a job. She couldn’t take time off from texting.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Anyway, ten days before her body was found, she makes a phone call, which was a red flag for me. Not only was it a call, but a call to a landline phone. Guess who she called.”

“Who?” Mac asked.

“The phone number was Senator Harry Palazzi’s office in DC.”

Mac grinned.

“You know something?” she asked.

“Senator Palazzi is her birth father,” Mac said. “Ben and Ed met with David and me today to reveal that Florence had left a recording of her confronting Senator Palazzi about raping her—”

“Rape?” Archie sat up straight.

“Palazzi admitted to it on the tape, and Florence held it over his head all these years. Ed didn’t even know, and he was her lawyer. She had left the tape sealed for him to find upon her death. She said that there would be more than one tape. Ed didn’t tell Khloe, but she was living in that house.”

“So she found the tape,” Archie said. “That’s why she called Senator Palazzi’s office. That makes sense with this pattern of calls.”

“What pattern do you see?” Mac asked her.

“Her first call to the office was only a couple of minutes long,” Archie said. “Six days before she was killed. The next day, she receives a call on her cell phone from the senator’s office. That call lasts close to twenty minutes. Less than an hour later, Khloe receives another call from a landline phone, which lasts twelve minutes. That number belongs to a law office in Washington, DC.”

“What law firm?”

“Samuel Brooks and Associates,” she said.

“Palazzi’s attorney,” he said.

“For the next four days,” she reported, “there’s a series of phone calls between Khloe and this law office—three or four a day. Then, communication ceases. Minutes after the last call, Khloe texts Bevis Palazzi. This text reads, ‘Hey, bro, guess what I just found out.’ Later, Bevis replies with ‘Whats up?’ She replies, ‘Did you know you had a sister?” He responds, ‘Wouldn’t surprise me. Who is it?’ She responded, ‘ME.’”

Mac chuckled. “Bevis did know that Khloe was his half-sister at the time of the murder.”

“Obviously, she and the senator could not reach an agreement,” Archie said.

“How did Bevis take the news?”

“Don’t quite know,” she replied. “He called her from his cell. It was a very long conversation. After that call, Khloe started scouting for media outlets to take her story to. I found emails in her sent folder. She said she had big news that was going to shake Washington to the core.” She added in an ominous tone, “Her last posting was on her Facebook page on Sunday afternoon: ‘be sure to catch my interview on E-Entertainment Thursday when I’ll make an announcement that promises to rock this country. You won’t be disappointed.’ That must have been when she was killed.”

“Harry Palazzi is a senior senator,” Mac said. “He’s got a lot of juice. If that tape was made public—”