Bouquet of Lies (23 page)

Lacey listened to Darla tell Uncle D the same story she had told her in the sitting room. The detective was gentle, treating her like the child she was.

“Do you believe me?” Darla asked. “Lacey believes me.”

“You aren’t a liar, are you?” It was obvious to Lacey that the big cop was skirting a direct answer.

“No.” Darla shook her head.

“Well, then. There you go.” He put his notes aside. “I understand you’re taking a drive up the coast for the honeymoon. Making some stops along the way. Going as far as Carmel. Leaving tonight.”

Darla suddenly took Lacey’s hand and squeezed so hard it hurt. “Yes. Is that okay?”

The sweet, innocent Darla is back
, thought Lacey.
The one who doesn’t argue. The one who can’t defend herself.
Lacey looked at the detective and wondered if he was just making small talk or if he was actually making a point.

“Your husband told me you can hardly wait.”

“Oh. Oh, yes. I’m excited. Of course. I . . . I . . .” Her face said otherwise and Lacey wished there was something she could do to stop the honeymoon. But she was as powerless about it as she had been about the wedding.

“Make sure he drives safely along those hairpin turns.”

Darla stiffened.

“And no taking walks too close to the edge along those vista points.”

Fatherly advice from the big cop? Lacey furrowed her brow. Highway 1 along the California coast was gorgeous. But there were a lot of places one could plunge over the side. Was he trying to frighten her? Why? To make her more cautious? Was he worried about her state of mind or was he wary of the groom?

“Are you packed?” Lacey asked.

Darla shook her head shamefully. “I started. I . . . Every time I started, I couldn’t finish.”

“Want some help?”

Darla nodded.

“Are you done?” Lacey asked Uncle D and he said that he was.

Upon entering the foyer, Lacey saw Dan, but not Randy. Darla began to panic. “Where’s my husband?”

Dan looked at her. “He went outside. I think he smokes.”

“Oh,” Darla said, looking unhappy.

“Go on upstairs. I’ll be there in a minute,” Lacey told her.

Darla went.

Lacey and Dan walked into the sitting room. “How’d it go?” he asked.

“To his credit, I thought your uncle treated my sister with kid gloves. Until he started in on the honeymoon. I didn’t understand that.” She snatched the veil from its hiding place in the chair.

“I saw you stuff that down there. Randy looked for it after you left the room, but he searched where Darla had been with him.”

Lacey examined the veil, but only briefly. Randy could return any second.

“I didn’t buy this and it seems pretty important to Randy.” She glanced toward the door. “I have to go help Darla. Can you wait around? I need you to take me to the police lab.”

Dan looked perplexed. “What?”

“Ask your uncle.”

Twenty-eight

WHEN LACEY ENTERED Darla’s room, after stashing the veil in the dresser in her own room, she found Darla still in her wedding gown, seated on the bed. Her eyes were focused on the floor and she was wringing her hands. How was she ever going to survive the honeymoon?

Lacey moved toward her sister and when she was close enough, caught a glimpse of Randy in the backyard. Around him, workers were gathering the tables and chairs. Caterers were cleaning up. The police must have given the go-ahead.

Randy turned and she could see he was on a cell phone. It struck her as odd. Presumably, anyone who was anyone in his life would have been at the wedding. He didn’t have family and he wouldn’t be conducting business on his wedding day unless he really was a jerk. He cupped the back of his neck in a nervous gesture, his feet shuffling in a figure-eight. Could be he was double-checking the hotel reservation for tonight. Except it didn’t seem like that sort of conversation. He appeared to be discussing something of concern.

Darla started to hyperventilate and Lacey sat beside her.

“You don’t have to go on this honeymoon. You have the perfect excuse. Your grandfather was just murdered.”

“But I didn’t love him.”

“I know. But look at you.”

“I can do this. Randy says I can. The Reverend Irene says I can.”

The Reverend Irene. Lacey had forgotten about her. If she was so important to Darla, why wasn’t she at the wedding?

“When did you talk to her?”

“This morning.”

“I didn’t see her today.”

“I invited her. She said she didn’t want to upset the family.”

Lacey nodded. Made sense. “Let’s get you out of that dress.”

Darla stood and Lacey unfastened the gown. “You were beautiful. The most beautiful bride ever.”

Darla looked wide-eyed. “Was I?” Her eyes glistened with tears. She was as panic-stricken as Lacey had ever seen her.

“Yes. Your dress was perfect.” She helped Darla change into slacks and a pretty blouse. “And, Darla. If you’re too nervous tonight. I mean, if you’re not ready. Tell Randy no. If he loves you like he says, he’ll wait.”

“He loves me.” Darla faintly smiled. “I’ll tell him I have a headache.” Her smile widened.

“There you go.”

Darla grabbed her headband from the dresser and put it on. “I really do have a headache.”

Lacey eyed the band. There was something creepy about the way she clung to the thing. And then there was the headband with the veil that didn’t go with the wedding dress. Had Darla developed a fetish?

“Then don’t wear that. Those things can get too tight and put pressure on the scalp.”

Darla looked unsure.

“Wear it later.”

Darla slipped it from her head and held it a moment. “Okay.” She placed it in the suitcase. Lacey put a T-shirt on top of it and when Darla turned away, grabbed the band and tossed it under the bed.

They finished packing just as Randy entered the room. Lacey quickly closed the suitcase and placed it upright on the floor.

“Thanks for helping my wife.” He was all smiles.

Happy, was he? After not getting his way with Uncle D? After talking on the phone with who-knew-who? After saying the things he’d said to Henderson? All smiles? 

“Your wife, my sister,” Lacey said with a return fake beam.

“Where’s the headband I gave you?” Randy suddenly looked hurt. Like Darla was forgetting their first anniversary or something.

The headband again. Why all the fuss?

“I put it in the suitcase.”

“You don’t want to wear it?” he asked, still hurt.

There had to be something significant about it.

“I can. I . . . I . . .” Darla made a move to open the case.

Lacey released a breath. “She has a headache and wanted to wear it later.”

After a beat, Randy’s smile returned. “I totally understand.”

Okay. This was weird.

Darla and Randy left, and Lacey sank onto her sister’s bed, overcome with questions. Attachment to headbands. An absent Reverend Irene. Randy’s oddly timed phone call in the backyard.

And what was the meaning of Uncle D’s advice about hairpin turns and not walking too close to the edge of the coastline? Did he think Darla was in danger? From Randy?

She’d never been into conspiracy theories. With a family like hers, to keep her head above water, she ignored a lot of things. But this was her sister’s life she was concerned about. And her own, if she were honest with herself. Look at all that had happened. Four murders in as many weeks, all of them connected to the family, and none of them solved. Had any progress even been made? What did she know? Nothing, really.

She knelt to the floor and nabbed the headband from under the bed. If she wanted to know what was going on, she’d have to do more investigating herself. She thought of Maggot, she thought of Honey, and hoped no one else she decided to talk to got killed.

Her fingers began to tear at the fabric of the headband, as if ripping it apart also ripped at Darla’s marriage, and under the bow she found some sort of electronic device.

“What the . . . ?”

For a second she thought Randy had planted a bug so he could listen in on Darla’s conversations. But then she remembered that Darla had heard their mother’s voice. She examined the “bug” more closely. It appeared to be a very small radio receiver.
She knew nothing about such things, but was sure that’s what it was. She hurried to her bedroom, grabbed the wedding veil from the dresser and took it apart. She discovered another device.

“What is it?”

She looked up and saw Dan standing in the doorway.

“These were in Darla’s headbands.” She held out her hand. Dan came closer.

“So someone could communicate with her?”

“I think so,” Lacey said. “Darla said she heard Mother talking. For a while there I was worried she was schizophrenic. You should take them to your uncle while I get changed.”

Dan nodded. He grabbed the headbands and the devices and left to deliver the goods.

Lacey took her cell phone out. Darla was in danger. She needed looking after and Lacey knew just the guy to do it. She punched in Jake’s number. “Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.”

He picked up. “This better be good, Miss Priss.” She heard muffled talking. He was with his date. He must have put his hand over the phone so he could say something to her.

“It’s not. It’s bad. It’s Darla. She’s in danger.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen, Galahad, if you ever were Sir Galahad, now is the time to prove it. Leave that hatchling behind and get on your trusty steed. You need to follow Darla on her honeymoon.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“No. They just left. They’re heading up Highway 1. I’m not sure where they’re staying tonight, but they plan to go as far as Carmel and come back. It’s the come back part I’m worried about. They might not. Or rather Darla might not.”

“Lacey . . .”

“I’m serious. Get going. If you don’t catch them, or see them, let me know. I’ll call Darla and ask how she’s doing. That shouldn’t make Randy suspicious. I’ll ask where she is, then I’ll let you know. Go. Go! Don’t let them see you unless you spot something dangerous happening.”

Jake hung up before Lacey did.

She felt better. Jake wouldn’t let anything happen to Darla,
if
harming her was Randy’s plan. She didn’t know that it was. She didn’t know anything for sure. Maybe the headbands were just to control Darla better. He did have a major possessive streak.

Intense concern iced her veins. Before Darla, Randy had been with her. Been highly aggressive in his pursuit of her. Had kept tabs on her constantly and had tried to keep her from her friends. Had he planned on marrying her and killing her?

Stop! She didn’t know that he was planning on killing Darla. She was letting her imagination run away with her. Still. What was the purpose of the radio receivers? Were they to drive Darla crazy?

She changed her clothes and raced downstairs. She found Dan with his uncle in the dining room. The headbands were on the table, the electronic devices in Uncle D’s hand.

“What do you make of those things?” she asked. She slipped her arms around Dan and put her cheek next to his.

“I don’t know. I’ll have the lab check them out.”

“You must have some opinion. Speculate. Speculate.”

“I wouldn’t like to.”

She sighed with a huff. She had found evidence but he wasn’t going to let her in on what he thought. She stopped hugging Dan and took the chair next to him. “I’ll tell you what I think. Those are little tiny speakers. That’s why my sister heard voices.”

“You could be right.” Uncle D rolled one of the devices over in his hand.

“Darla’s loving husband is up to no good,” Lacey said.

“You don’t think much of the esteemed Mr. Barber.”

“I didn’t have anything against him until he married my sister and started killing people.”

She felt Dan take her hand and glanced at him.

Uncle D leaned forward. “See. Accusing Mr. Barber of killing people, that’s a leap. Your sister saw a woman. A blond woman, and I think she’d know if she saw Randy.”

“So he has a helper.”

The detective nodded and scratched the side of his neck. “You know, he has some disparaging things to say about you. He thinks we should look harder at you as a suspect. You inherited your father’s money. You talked to Stark. You hated Edward. He says he’s worried about his own skin.”

“He’s full of it.”

Dan chimed in. “He doesn’t realize you’re aware that Honey’s murder is tied to all this, does he?”

“I may not have filled him in on that tidbit of information. Miss Bouquet, about the urine test.”

Her cell rang and she answered. It was Jake. “I’ve spotted them,” he told her.

“Good. Keep me posted.” Lacey felt a measure of relief. She didn’t have to call Darla, which might have raised suspicion.

“I will.” Jake clicked off.

She looked up and both Dan and Uncle D were looking at her with questions in their eyes.

“Keep you posted about what, Miss Bouquet?”

“You think I’d let my sister go off with a killer and not do something about it? That was Jake. He’s following them.”

Dan broke into a grin. Uncle D chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Lacey didn’t see the humor. “I’m worried.”

“And I don’t blame you. I also put a man on their tail. Just in case.”