Beauty to Die For and Other Mystery Shorts (13 page)

Joshua’s tone turned serious. “How can I help?”

“Tell me about Eddie Palmer.”

There was silence from the other end of the line. “Why are you asking about him?” he finally asked. “He can’t be your guy. He’s dead.”

“Maybe he had a friend or fan who’s emulating him,” she suggested. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the similarities between Tiffany’s circumstance and Eddie Palmer’s murders.”

“Eddie Palmer killed women who he had impregnated,” Joshua said. “The father of Tiffany’s baby died in Afghanistan. The only similarity is the roses and threats in the form of poems. I don’t think that’s such an original MO. Look elsewhere.”

Cameron was grasping. “Can you at least check to see if anyone connected with Eddie Palmer or his case could be using his MO? Look to see if there’s a connection between anyone connected to him and Tiffany Ambrose. Even a cell mate from when he was in prison.”

“His cellmate killed him. He’s still in jail,” Joshua replied. “But I’ll check. Only because I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Cameron had no sooner hung up and the direct line on her phone rang. The caller ID read Stan Frost.
Where do I know that name? Tiffany’s boss. The owner of Epic Technologies.

She answered the phone. “Detective Cameron Gates.”

“Detective Gates, are you the detective that talked to Tiffany Ambrose this morning when she went in to report her stalker?” For a rich man, Cameron noted an urgent tone is his voice. He didn’t sound as smooth talking as most rich folks she encountered in her job. “Stan Frost,” he replied. “Tiffany Ambrose is my … executive assistant.”

The detective’s ears perked up when she heard him pause before saying that she was his executive assistant.
What were you going to say, Mr. Frost?
She fought to keep from asking.
Lover?
But then, Cameron recalled that Tiffany was pregnant when she accepted the job hundreds of miles away and in another state, away from her family and friends. But then, some men love pregnant women.

“Tiffany just called me,” he said. “She had a doctor’s appointment and has been so upset. So she went home early and that sicko left her another rose and note. She had told me about how you tried to help, so I contacted the police department to track you down. Please. I’m a very wealthy man. I can pay you very well. Can you please help? Can you catch this guy?”

“What did the note say on the rose?”

“She didn’t read the whole poem to me,” he said. “She only read the highlight. Two more days before he kills her.”

Lieutenant Dugan, Cameron’s boss, was a by-the-book type. Their squad was homicide. Tiffany Ambrose was not dead. Therefore, her problem was not theirs. However, as Cameron had hoped, he saw no reason not to bend the rules in an effort to prevent a homicide instead of waiting for it to happen before taking on the case.

“How much comp time do you have?” Dugan asked the detective.

“You know that,” she replied.

“Take it,” he ordered. “Let’s be proactive for once.”

Cameron was on her way to her cruiser in five minutes. She had no sooner climbed inside before her phone was ringing.

“I called the prison,” Joshua reported. “Palmer had no visitors, friends, or family. No correspondence outside the prison. Nothing. No warped fans. We kept our cases very close to the vest in JAG. Rarely would we let our cases make the news.”

“Maybe it is someone who was connected with the case,” Cameron said. “Jury—”

“It was a trial in a military court,” Joshua said. “We aren’t talking about common citizens who are taken off the streets. These people had years of military experience, plus psychological examinations. If any of them were psychopaths, it would have come out before they were put on a military panel.”

“So it’s just a coincidence that our proposed victim is pregnant. Her late husband was a Navy officer—”

“Palmer was an enlisted man in the Marines,” Joshua said. “Big difference.”

“Tiffany came from Norfolk, which is where Eddie Palmer’s second murder took place. Plus, the killer is using Eddie Palmer’s MO.” Cameron asked, “Do you really buy that there’s no connection, Josh?”

“Do you want me to come out there?” It sounded like a threat made by a parent nagged into submission by a strong-willed child.

“Yes,” she replied. “Meet me at Epic Technologies. Top floor. Stan Frost, president’s office.”

As hard as she tried, when she did, Cameron could not stop the smile that crossed her face when she saw “her silver fox”, Joshua Thornton, enter the lobby on the ground floor of Epic Technologies.

Even while making the transition from mid-to-late forties, Joshua Thornton was one of the most attractive men in the room with his head of silver hair that fell to touch the top of his trench coat’s collar. The transition from auburn hair to silver happened during his five children’s teenaged years. Now only one teenager was left at home.

“What’s your plan?” Joshua asked her after a quick hug and kiss in front of the elevators.

“Identify our suspects and see who has a connection to Eddie Palmer,” she replied. “We don’t have a lot of time left. The last note our killer left said Tiffany had only two days left.” She did not like the grimace that crossed his face. “What?”

“Murder Investigation One-Oh-One,” Joshua said. “Start with the victim.” With his hand blocking the closing of the doors, he held open the elevator door for her to step on before him.

“Right now we don’t have a murder victim,” Cameron said. “We want to keep it that way.”

“Find out who will benefit the most with Tiffany Ambrose out of the way, and that path will lead you to your Dead Rose Killer.”

“Who, I guarantee will have a connection to Eddie Palmer,” she said.

The doors shut and the elevator began its climb to the top floor and Stan Frost’s suite of offices.

“Want to bet?” Joshua asked.

Intrigued, Cameron turned to him. “What do you want to bet?”

“Whether or not our killer has any connection to Eddie Palmer or not,” he said. “If I’m right and the killer has no connection, I win. If the killer does, you win.”

“And what do I win?” A naughty smile crossed her face as she rested her hand around his waist and moved in closer to him. She gazed up into his blue eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her. “Loser gets to be the winner’s love slave for one evening.”

“A bet where there’s no losers? I can get into that type of betting.” She pushed him up against the wall of the elevator and kissed him.

They were in a tight embrace when the elevator doors flew up. At the sound of a woman’s loud gasp, they parted and proceeded to straighten their coats.

A woman dressed in a severe looking gray business suit, which contrasted with her long blonde hair and dangerous looking high heels stepped onto the elevator. She clutched a leather binder to her chest. In spite of the humor that Cameron found in the interruption, the new passenger cast a firm glare upon the two of them. She tore her eyes from them to check the buttons for the floor. Her expression turned from chastising to shock. “You’re getting off at the twelfthth floor?”

“Yes.” Cameron smirked at the corporate blonde’s disbelief.

The business woman looked the detective up and down.

Cameron was not your average fast track employee in the world of hi-tech. “We have an appointment with Mr. Frost.” The detective opened her jacket to give her a glimpse of her badge and gun.

Her eyes wide, the woman looked from Cameron to Joshua, who was more befitting the corporate image. The elevator doors opened and the blonde hurried off as fast as her high-heels could carry her.

“That really wasn’t necessary,” Joshua whispered to Cameron.

“I know but it was too much fun to pass up.” She noticed a smirk on his face as he peered down the corridor where the blonde had escaped. “What? I didn’t know you were into corporate types.”

“I’m not.” Joshua took her arm.

“Then why the grin?”

“I was in the military for a very long time,” he said. “I’ve gotten so that I can spot an ex-military from a mile away.”

“Her?” Cameron shook her head. “No.”

“The way they stand. The way they present themselves. Not only was she military, but she was an officer.”

“I wonder if she was a Marine and knew Eddie Palmer.”

“Palmer was enlisted,” Joshua said. “Unless she was his CO, I doubt it.”

They found the corporate blonde in the corner office suite that was home to Stan Frost. Arrogance replaced her fright. Upon seeing Cameron and Joshua stepping through the door, she announced over her shoulder to the administrative assistant behind the desk. “These detectives say they have an appointment with Mr. Frost.”

“Detective Cameron Gates?” the assistant asked in a congenial tone.

With a nod of her head, Cameron added, “And Joshua Thornton to see Mr. Frost and Ms. Ambrose.”

The assistant picked up the phone to announce their arrival.

The blonde told Joshua and Cameron in a challenging tone, “I have a right to know if any of our people are involved in police matters.” She offered her hand to Joshua, not Cameron. “Hannah Pickering. Vice-president in charge of human resources.”

Seeing Stan Frost coming out of his office, she turned on him. “Mr. Frost, why was I not informed that you had an appointment with the police? I had to find out by walking in on them having sex in the elevator.”

“We were not having sex in the elevator,” Cameron said. “We were groping each other. The elevator is too fast for a couple to complete a full sex act. Maybe you have it set that fast for that very reason. By the way—We’re allowed. We married—” She gestured back and forth between them. “—to each other.”

“Now that we’ve announced our personal business to everyone in hearing distance,” Joshua said, “can we get to the matter of our investigation?” Seeing the pregnant woman behind Stan Frost, he asked, “Is this Tiffany Ambrose?” He stepped forward to offer her his hand. “Joshua Thornton. Cameron has invited me to help her with this case.”

“What case?” Hannah objected. “You mean those stupid dead roses?” She turned to the corporate president. “I told you that this was all a prank pulled by some sicko.”

“Hannah, whoever it is, is threatening to kill Tiffany,” the gray-haired man said. “It’s upsetting and it’s not good for her to be upset in her condition.” He reached around her to shake Cameron’s hand. “Thank you so much for coming. Please come into my office. Whatever it takes to make sure Tiffany is safe …Money is no object.”

“If we’re going to have the police on the premises, then I recommend that I be allowed to sit in on this meeting,” Hannah said.

Stan Frost turned around to regard her with a hard glare that would make any employee remember their place.

“It is my duty to know what is going on with our employees,” Hannah repeated in a firm tone.

Cameron was surprised when the company president turned to Tiffany Ambrose to silently ask her reaction. Tiffany consented with a shrug followed by a nod of her head.

“Very well,” the president said before ushering them into his office.

Before following, Cameron turned to Joshua. “Did you see that?”

“Yes.”

“They don’t have your average boss and assistant relationship,” she said. “That’s for sure.”

The top floor corner office provided a view of the airport in the landscape. In addition to the desk and conference table, there was a sitting area where Stan Frost made sure Tiffany was comfortable on the sofa before sitting across from her.

Before taking their seats, Cameron and Joshua made a visual sweep of the office. Seeing no personal pictures of family mementoes, they exchanged glances before yielding to Stan Frost’s call for them to join him, Tiffany, and Hannah, who had taken a seat in the chair opposite the company president.

Cameron sat next to Tiffany while Joshua pulled up a chair to sit on the other side of the coffee table.

“Tiffany, I understand you started getting these roses almost two weeks ago?” Cameron took out her computer tablet to open to her notes application.

Tiffany nodded of her head. “I’ve been getting one a day for the last ten days.”

“Eleven,” Frost corrected her. “Today is day eleven.” He directed his gaze at Cameron. “He says in the notes that on the thirteenth day, he’s going to kill her. That’s the day after tomorrow.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to not let that happen.”

Joshua interrupted, “Can I see the notes that he has been sending her?”

“I made copies of every one.” Frost practically jumped out of his chair in reaching for a folder he had placed on the coffee table in front of him. He handed it to Joshua. “Sick psychopath.” As Joshua opened the folder, he corrected himself. “Except the last one that Tiffany called me about. She hasn’t brought it to me yet.”

“I have it in my briefcase,” Tiffany said.

“Can I see it?” Joshua asked.

With effort, Tiffany pulled up to get out of her seat until Hannah slapped her organizer shut and stood up. “I can get it for you,” she said. “Where is it?”