Alibis and Amethysts (24 page)

Chapter 34

Jaye had been so focused on trying to escape from Quinn that she’d forgotten Luisa
was still in the kitchen. Given the angry tenor of her husband’s voice, it was hardly
surprising that she’d come to see what was happening. But Jaye didn’t know if she’d
brought the knife for protection or because she’d been chopping vegetables and happened
to have it in her hand. “He was about to attack us,” Jaye said, breathless from exertion
and fear.

“From what I saw, you two were attacking him,” Luisa said sharply. “I know my husband
has a big bark, but he doesn’t bite.”

“Then I guess you’re not aware he killed Peggy,” Sierra told her.

Quinn grabbed onto the edge of the desk for support and dragged himself to his feet.
“They don’t know what they’re talking about. They have this cockamamie theory that
I swiped dog fur at K9 Kutz to plant on Peggy’s clothes after I supposedly killed
her.”

“No, Luisa, there’s way more to it than that,” Sierra said.

“There may be, but I’m not interested in hearing it.”

“Look,” Jaye said reasonably, “why don’t we just leave? You have my word we won’t
file charges against him.”

Luisa smiled as if she found the suggestion humorous. “File charges against him for
yelling at you after you accused him of murder?” Jaye realized she was right. Quinn
hadn’t actually threatened them or even touched them. Their fear was based solely
on the belief that he’d already killed someone.

“Let them go,” Quinn said with a disgusted wave of his hand. “I don’t want any more
to do with them.”

“It’s not that easy,” his wife replied.

“Of course it is,” Jaye said brightly. “All you have to do is step aside, and we’ll
be on our way.”

“Never to darken your doorstep again,” Sierra threw in for good measure.

“Luisa,” Quinn said sternly, “it’s over. I’m telling you to let them go.”

“You’re done ordering me around, big shot!” she snarled at him. “No more. You hear
me? No more! You’re the one who brought this down on us.”

Quinn looked stunned. “What are you talking about?”

“You think I don’t know about your gambling? About how much money you’ve lost? I know
about it all. I know you’ve gone through our retirement savings. I know you were trying
to get Peggy to sell so you could expand the restaurant to make up for the losses.”
Her voice was growing increasingly wild and shrill, as if something inside her that
had been held together by a fine thread had finally broken free. “You’re all noise
and no action. That’s how you’ve always been. So
I
went to speak to Peggy, woman to woman.”

Quinn’s face had turned ashen. “Shut up before you make things worse.”

“Before
I
make things worse?” she said with a sardonic laugh. “Everything
I’ve
done was to fix
your
mess!”

Her words made Jaye recoil as if she’d been punched in the gut. After all their diligence,
had they skipped right over the real killer? She could see the same bewilderment and
dismay written on Sierra’s face. If they had been in a courtroom, Jaye would have
asked the judge for a brief recess while they came to terms with this new information,
but since this office was under the purview of a very different authority, she did
her best to process the unexpected twist on her own.

“You were on your way to Mexico the day she was killed,” Quinn mumbled, as if he too
were having trouble making sense of what he’d heard.

Luisa shook her head. “You’re more of a fool than I thought,” she said, contempt making
her lip curl. “Did you ever think to ask me what time I got down to my mother’s place?”

Quinn was clearly too busy riding his own train of thought to respond. “But what about
the fur they found on the body? I’m the one who takes the dog to the groomer and—
Oh, I get it,” he interrupted himself, “that’s why you rushed me to change my pants
the day I fell. You wanted to take the fur off them before I brought them to the cleaners.”

“I’d give you a round of applause if I wasn’t holding this knife,” she said, waving
the weapon as she advanced on him. When Jaye and Sierra saw her move in his direction,
they started edging toward the doorway. But Luisa turned and was on them in a flash,
the knife poised for attack. They changed direction, backpedaling until they were
up against the wall. For a moment Jaye considered trying to make an end run around
her. There was a good chance she’d make it without sustaining a life-threatening injury,
but then Sierra would be left to bear the brunt of Luisa’s rage. No, if they were
going down, they were going down together.

Maybe it was time to use those safe words Daniel had insisted on when they were planning
this confrontation. But the idea of giving up now rankled. They still didn’t have
an actual confession, which was what they’d come for, albeit from a different suspect.
She decided it was time to go for broke.

“Then you killed Peggy?” she asked as pleasantly as one can ask such a question. Just
curious—no vested interest here. Luisa didn’t respond. Her gaze swept from them to
her husband and back again as if she were debating which of them to kill first.

Quinn hadn’t moved from the side of his desk. He was wearing the blank stare of someone
in shock, someone who’d just seen his whole life go up in flames. Which of course
he had. His wife had committed murder because of him and was now clearly thinking
of adding a few more notches to her belt.

“What happened when you went to see Peggy?” Sierra asked, since Jaye’s effort to
engage her had failed. At first it seemed Luisa was going to ignore her too, but then
she broke her silence.

“She wouldn’t listen to reason. She just kept arguing with me.”

“Peggy was a very difficult person,” Jaye said, jumping at the chance to appear like
an ally. “Everyone knows that.”

“She had no manners,” Luisa went on, anger boiling in her voice. “She turned her back
on me like I was beneath her, not worth another second of her time.” Luisa’s lips
curved up in an icy, self-righteous smile. “But the angels were watching over me,
because she fell over the hoe she’d left on the ground and cracked her head on a rock.
There was so much blood I was sure she was dead and our problems were over.”

“But she wasn’t?” Jaye hoped Daniel was getting all of this.

“No more questions, not another word,” Luisa said abruptly. “Quinn, bring me something
to tie them up with. Quinn!” she yelled when he didn’t immediately respond.

“Okay, okay—I’m going. Take it easy.” He sounded like someone trying to grope his
way out of a dark room without stubbing a toe. “I’ll go look for rope or twine or
something.”

Luisa shook her head. “Stop babbling and just do it. We have to get rid of them before
anyone else pops in here.”

Quinn opened his mouth as if to object, then closed it again and scuttled out of the
room, dashing Jaye’s slim hope that he might try to overpower his wife or at least
talk some sense into her.

There was only a single card left to play. “One for all and all for one,” Jaye sang
out, Sierra chiming in as though it were a two-part harmony.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luisa demanded. “What’s going on?” She pressed the
point of the knife against Jaye’s throat. “One more sound out of either of you and
I’m going to bury this knife in you.”

“I thought you were planning to do that anyway,” Jaye murmured, regretting the words
the moment she spoke them. She really had to learn when to keep her mouth shut. Luisa
pressed the knife harder until Jaye felt it bite into her skin. Beside her, Sierra
sucked in her breath, then promptly chomped down on her lower lip to keep other sounds
from escaping.

Jaye felt the blood trickle down her neck, but she made no move to staunch it. She
refused to give Luisa the satisfaction of seeing her fear or pain.

“Quinn, what’s taking so long?” Luisa shouted, without taking her eyes off the two
women.

“I’m afraid he’s going to be a while,” came the wry response. Like a synchronized
drill team, the three women swung their heads toward the voice. Theo Brock was standing
in the doorway. His gun was drawn and aimed at Luisa, who at least had the good sense
to drop the knife and raise her hands in surrender. Although her display of bravado
was gone, she looked more frustrated and angry than repentant.

Jaye’s legs went weak with relief. If she hadn’t been leaning against the wall, she
would have collapsed into a heap on the floor. Given their relationship with Brock
up to that point, she never would have imagined she’d be so utterly delighted to see
the detective again. Sierra let go of her breath and emitted a little screech of joy.

Cal Anastos entered the room holding a pair of plastic handcuffs. He gave Jaye and
Sierra a thumbs-up and a smile, which faded when he noticed the blood on Jaye’s neck.
“Do you want me to get an EMT over here to take a look at that?” he asked.

Jaye assured him it was only a scratch. She had no intention of wasting the rest of
the day in the hospital’s emergency room.

If Brock shared his partner’s relief that the women were virtually unscathed, he was
keeping it a secret. “Why don’t you gals wait for us in the kitchen?” he said. “We’ll
be along in a minute.”

When they rounded the corner into the kitchen, they found Quinn sitting forlornly
on a stool, sporting a matching set of plastic cuffs. A uniformed officer was standing
several feet away, his gun trained on the restaurateur. Not that Quinn was likely
to make a run for it with all of his earthly possessions right here in Sedona, along
with his only means of support. But the detectives were clearly not taking any chances,
given that they’d already been outsleuthed by a group of amateurs who’d accidentally
solved the case.

Anastos marched into the kitchen with the handcuffed Luisa in tow and Brock bringing
up the rear. As Quinn watched his wife pass by, his face read like an open book: loss,
resignation and guilt all in bold print. Luisa didn’t even turn to look at him as
Cal hustled her past them and out the back door. Brock stopped to collect Quinn. Then
the detective asked the two women to leave so he could secure the restaurant and take
Quinn back to headquarters.

Daniel’s eyes lit up when he saw Jaye and Sierra. “Man, you two had me worried,” he
said, his mouth still set in a grim line. “Jaye, your neck’s bleeding.”

“Luisa was not in a good mood,” she replied, reaching up to assess the wound, “and
I might have pushed a little too hard trying to get a confession out of her.” The
skin around the spot was sore to the touch, but her investigating finger came away
dry. She hadn’t bled much at all. In spite of her tumultuous childhood, this was her
first battle scar, and she was oddly proud of it. But with everyone emotionally frayed
at the moment, she decided to keep that thought to herself.

“You should have it checked out at the hospital,” Sierra said, and Daniel seconded
the motion.

“It’s just a nick,” Jaye insisted. “I’m fine.”

“What we have to do now is celebrate!” Sierra said.. She grabbed Jaye and then Daniel
in fierce bear hugs. “We’re free. It’s over. It’s finally over! We should have a party,
a huge party. With a spectacular new dessert to mark the occasion. I’ll take care
of everything. In fact, I’ll get right on it today.” She looked like she might start
doing cartwheels down the street.

Sierra’s exhilaration crashed over Jaye like a wave she wasn’t yet steady enough to
negotiate. On a purely rational level she recognized that they’d succeeded in solving
the case and proving their innocence. Everything had somehow worked out perfectly
in the end, but she was still a bit too shaky and disoriented by the crazy highs and
lows of the past hour to properly absorb what it meant and what they’d accomplished.
On top of it all, there was a fleet of questions circling madly in her brain like
planes awaiting clearance to land.

“We need to talk,” she said when Sierra finally paused to catch her breath. “And Daniel
has some explaining to do.”

“Interrogate away,” he said with a grin. “I don’t have any tours scheduled till the
afternoon.”

Sierra linked arms with him on one side and Jaye on the other. “Let’s go back to
the bakery,” Sierra said. “There should be fresh blondies waiting, unless Ruth’s eaten
them all.”

Chapter 35

The intended debriefing was scuttled by a call from George before they’d even taken
a bite of their blondies. He had a group of walk-ins who were only in town for the
day and wanted to book a tour of the red rocks. His own schedule was completely filled.
Jaye and Sierra insisted Daniel go. He’d played hooky from work too often in order
to help with the investigation. Now he needed to make his livelihood a top priority
again.

“We’ll reconvene tonight at my place,” Jaye said with finality when he still didn’t
seem convinced he should go.

“I’ll bring Chinese,” Sierra added, since it was his favorite. “Now scram!”

He held up his hands in mock surrender, still clutching his blondie in one of them.
“I’m going, I’m going. See you tonight. I’ll bring the champagne.”

***

Jaye reached into the oven with her potholder and withdrew the pan holding the salmon,
a quarter pound fillet just for Raffles. Even though Adam Grayson hadn’t turned out
to be the killer, the not-a-cat’s help with the case deserved recognition. Using a
fork, Jaye broke up the fish to check for any wayward bones and to help it cool faster.
Raffles would probably have been happy to eat it raw, but Jaye didn’t want to take
any chances. She couldn’t exactly look online to find out if not-a-cats should be
given raw fish, so she’d decided to err on the side of caution. She put the salmon
on a plate and set it down in front of Raffles. Without wasting a second to give it
her usual sniff test, Raffles started devouring it, making appreciative smacking sounds
as she did.

Jaye left her to enjoy it and returned to the living room, where her friends were
waiting to dig in to the Chinese takeout. Sierra and Daniel were settled on the floor
near the coffee table, claiming it was easier to eat that way. “Have a seat,” Daniel
said, patting the floor beside him.

Sierra raised one sharp eyebrow at Jaye when her friend appeared to vacillate for
a moment between the comfort of the love seat and the convenience of the floor. In
the end, Jaye gave in to the eyebrow and eased herself down on the hardwood. When
Sierra adopted a cause, it was generally easier to just play along until it ran its
course. Although Jaye had started following her seating advice, nothing had really
changed between her and Daniel. Which was fine. She didn’t want to ramp up their relationship
if it meant potentially losing him as a friend if it didn’t work out. Sierra was a
much more by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of gal who frowned on what she called “pre-worrying.”

Daniel poured champagne into the crystal flutes Sierra had brought along, because
“Champagne doesn’t taste right out of a paper cup.” He raised his glass and toasted
their success as well as the more important fact that they hadn’t been killed in the
process. Then they filled their plates and ate silently for several minutes. It occurred
to Jaye that she hadn’t been this hungry in weeks. Apparently, a carefree mind could
be an amazing appetizer.

“Ummm,” Sierra murmured in a dreamy voice. “Mu shu and champagne—yummy. Who knew?”

Jaye swallowed a mouthful of warm, crunchy spring roll. “Speaking of knowing, Daniel,
you wouldn’t by any chance happen to know how the detectives got wind of our operation
today, would you?”

A sheepish grin tweaked the corners of his mouth. “Would you believe Brock is psychic?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“The truth is I wasn’t comfortable being your only backup plan, and I knew you’d never
agree to bringing Brock and Anastos in on it if I asked you. So I didn’t. It’s that
simple. I’ll accept whatever punishment you and Sierra decide on.”

“I recommend leniency,” Sierra said. “Seeing as how it’s his first offense.”

Jaye smiled. “You’re just lucky we’re in a forgiving mood today.”

Raffles wandered in from the kitchen, having presumably finished her salmon. She gave
each of their plates a cursory sniff, then hopped up on the love seat closest to Jaye,
yawned widely and went to sleep.

“I can’t believe she’s not begging for anything,” Daniel remarked.

“The salmon must have finally filled up that crater she has for a stomach,” Jaye said
between sips of champagne.

Sierra set her fork down on her plate. “While you two were working this afternoon,”
she began, “I packed up an assortment of goodies as a thank-you and took a ride over
to police headquarters.”

Jaye and Daniel were instantly attentive.

“You know, before Peggy’s death I was friends with Theo and Cal. Well, Cal anyway.
Theo’s always been standoffish. I’m still hoping we can eventually go back to the
way things were between us. Sedona’s a small town, and it’s not a good idea to be
locked in a cold war with the local police. When I arrived they were both busy catching
up on paperwork, but when they saw what I’d brought along, even Theo let loose with
a smile. Cal wanted to stretch his legs, so the two of us went out for a walk. He
told me how relieved he was that you and I are finally in the clear. I asked him if
Luisa had confessed yet, and he said she gave them a detailed account of what happened.”

“Isn’t that privileged information?” Jaye asked.

“It must be, because he swore me to secrecy. Said Theo would have his head if he found
out I knew. So you two have to swear not to tell another soul until the police make
an official announcement, or we’ll all be the cause of a beheading.”

“You have my word,” Daniel swore, hand on his heart.

“You can have my firstborn if I leak even a word of it,” Jaye one-upped him.

Sierra laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s a promise or a threat.”

Jaye picked up the plastic knife from the Chinese food. “Start talking or the police
will have another murder to investigate.”

“Yes, ma’am. According to Luisa, when she went to speak to Peggy, she brought along
a knife and the white fur in case she couldn’t talk Peggy into selling. If she was
forced to go with plan B, she was going to dump Peggy’s body at my house, because
she knew everyone considered us enemies. She figured the police would focus on me
without casting a wider net. As it happened, she didn’t even need to use the knife.”

“So, Peggy died in the fall?” Jaye asked.

“I’m getting to that. When Luisa was dragging Peggy into my yard, she started coming
around. Since Luisa had taken the bloody rock along to dispose of, she used it to
finish the job.”

“Things actually worked to Luisa’s advantage,” Sierra went on, “if Peggy had died
from her fall, there would have been very little blood evidence at my place and the
police would have known immediately that she hadn’t been killed there.”

“Then I guess it was the dog fur that was her undoing,” Jaye said.

Sierra nodded. “Oh, and one more thing you’ll find interesting. Peggy
was
in the Witness Protection Program. She testified against a former boyfriend who was
well-placed Mafia-wise. It seems she had quite a knack for picking bad boys.”

“That might explain why she hated you before she ever met you,” Jaye said. “It wasn’t
just the competition. If her livelihood here failed, she might have had to relocate
and start all over again.”

Daniel picked up the champagne bottle and refilled their glasses with more of the
bubbly. “I actually have a little news flash myself,” he said. “Quinn was released.
On my way here, I saw him outside his restaurant. The cops must be convinced he wasn’t
involved in the murder.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Jaye said, “even if we’ll never be welcome in Finnegan’s
again.”

“If he’s smart, he’ll go find help for his gambling,” Daniel added solemnly, and Jaye
knew he must be thinking about his father’s alcohol problem.

“Hey, what ever happened with your art expert?” Sierra asked, the question pulling
Jaye back to the moment.

“Oh, I called him when I got home this morning and gave him the all-clear to contact
the police and bring charges against Adam.”

Daniel speared the last of the spareribs. “I wonder if Adam just blew all the money
on living the high life or if he socked some away for his old age.”

“I bet he never once considered his old age,” Jaye said dryly. “Once he got a taste
of the finer things, he probably never looked back or considered his future.”

Sierra sighed. “Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if they found some hidden bank accounts?
Or mattresses stuffed with money? Then they could divide it up between everyone he
defrauded.” Her friends started laughing. “What?” she asked, looking from one to the
other. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re such a glass-full-to-the-brim kind of girl,” Jaye said, still grinning. “I
think the best we can realistically hope for is that Adam won’t be breaking hearts
or forging signatures again anytime soon.”

Daniel tossed the last bare bone on top of the others. “It’s a wrap, then. We’ve officially
nailed our first case as PIs.”

“You mean first and last,” Jaye corrected him. “Right?”

“Amen,” he said.

Jaye noticed the little smile tipping up the corners of Sierra’s mouth. “What’s spinning
around in that head of yours?” she asked her.

“Nothing, I swear. I just don’t know how you two can be so sure about what tomorrow
might bring.”

“Sierra . . .” Daniel drew out her name like a warning.

“Okay, okay. Believe me, I don’t plan to go looking for any more dead bodies. Does
that make you two feel better?”

“Not entirely,” Jaye said. Daniel just laughed and shook his head.

Sierra held up her glass. “One last toast.” She waited until they had their glasses
in hand. “To awesome friends!”

“To an awesome family!” Jaye added.

Raffles chose that moment to open her eyes. She yawned and stretched her strange limbs,
a reminder that they still had one more mystery to solve. Then the not-a-cat jumped
down from the couch and settled herself in Jaye’s lap with a deep sigh of contentment.