Deadly Double (16 page)

What can you do? You let Josephine slip through your fingers.

She grounded her teeth.

If Josephine were out of the picture, then you wouldn’t have to leave town.

“But where in the hell is she?” Again, Michelle cursed Ambrose. If he’d just done what he was supposed to, she wouldn’t be in this situation.

You had a chance to kill her, too, you know.

“She was supposed to kill herself,” she corrected, then wondered again how Josie survived after losing so much blood. “Those slashes were deep. I saw them.”

The memory of Josephine lying so still in the sauna and staring at her slashed wrists flashed through Michelle’s head. Josie’s expression had looked amazingly composed and serene; but in her eyes, Michelle read horror.

At the time, Michelle laughed. It had been so simple, she thought. Well, with Daniel’s help anyway.

“I’m going to miss dear Danny,” she amused. “Having him around did have its benefits. After all, it’d been his idea to slip Michelle’s lithium to her twin sister. It sounded impossible until Michelle’s noticed Josie’s frequent migraines. Danny, in his infinite genius, had the lithium pills made to resemble Josie’s beloved Excedrin tablets.

However, the lithium had little to no effect. So, they upped the ante. The next pulls they transformed were Prozac and OxyContin.

They’d struck the jackpot.

Since all the pills were mixed together in Josie’s bottle and could be taken in any combination, Josie was putty in their hands.

Michelle was amazed how receptive Josie was to suggestion. But whereas Daniel wanted to simply extort money from Josie, Michelle wanted it all, and without splitting it down the center with him.

Even that plan almost blew up in your face.

“I handled it,” she retaliated, as she stormed out of the bedroom and down the long hall to the staircase.

It was still a close call.

“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” She chuckled while she descended the spiral staircase. Minutes later, she reached the bar in the study and made herself a drink.

For the umpteenth time that day, she regretted having let go of the hired help. Of course, it was the third crew she’d fired since she’d been there.

Since Josie had initially returned to Georgia to bury her father and settle the estate, she’d given his employees a sizable severance package. She had no intentions of staying Stateside for long.

Michelle changed all of that.

She glanced around her opulent surroundings and snickered. “It’s like taking candy from a baby.”

Josie is still out there somewhere.

Michelle rolled her eyes, but conceded that the voice had a good point. “I have to find her.”

She’ll go to the police before you find her, then it’ll all be over.

Seething, Michelle turned to exit the room, but instead her attention was drawn to the stacks of paper crumpled under her feet. She started to kick them aside, but her gaze zeroed in on the title Deed of Property.

“Well, what do we have here?” she asked, kneeling. She scanned the paper. “More property,” she said under her breath and shook her head. “The rich just keep getting richer.”

In the past few months, Michelle was stunned to learn just how much land Josephine’s adoptive parents had owned in Georgia alone. There was the estate in which she was currently residing in Alpharetta, a cabin at Lake Lanier, a high-rise in Buckhead, and now this house in Pine Mountain.

Plenty of places to hide.

Michelle frowned as she stared at the deed. Could Josie be hiding out at one of these places? “I think its time I paid a visit to these properties…including this Pine Mountain.

Trisha Turner sobbed endlessly as she sat in an interrogation room. In her mind, she couldn’t stop replaying the memory of seeing her husband off to work that morning.

The door finally swung open. A tall Asian and an even larger, broad-shouldered black man strolled into the room. Something about their severe expressions had a sobering effect on her.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” the woman said. “I’m Detective Ming Delaney and this is my partner, Detective Tyrese Simmons.”

Simmon’s thick lips slid into a smile while he braided his fingers in front of him. “We think there might be a connection between your husband’s murder and one of our cases.”

“Murder?” Trisha’s sniffles gradually diminished. “You don’t think that it was an accident?” Her eyes darted to each cop and her heartbeat accelerated at their hesitation.

“Mrs. Turner, your husband was shot in the back of the head.” Delaney began in a soft lilt. “Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to cause your husband any harm?”

“Shot?” Trisha’s hands crossed her heart. She couldn’t believe the line of questioning. “Why everyone loved Ambrose. He was a kind and brilliant psychiatrist.”

“Yes, I’m sure he was,” Delaney conceded, but her gaze locked on to Trisha’s and wouldn’t let go until it penetrated her soul. “But how was his behavior in the last week?”

Blinking, Trisha lowered her hands to her lap.

“What is it, Mrs. Turner?” Simmons asked.

She shrugged as she thought about. “Well, he’d been a little distracted—but I’m sure it was just because he’d lost a close and dear colleague at the institute this past weekend.”

“Distracted how?” Delaney asked.

Trisha struggled with how to describe what she meant. “Ambrose is…was sort of anal about schedules. He woke up every morning at five-thirty. He jogged, he expected meals served at a certain time—you could set your watch by him.” She twisted her hands. “But lately…”

Silence stretched as she detectives waited for her to continue.

“It’s been longer than just these last few days. He had trouble sleeping and occasionally would go out for long drives. So I assumed that…” She couldn’t hold it together any longer and buried her face in her hands.

Neither officer consoled her, but they gave her all the time she needed to pull herself together.

When she at last quieted down, Delaney asked, “What did you assume?”

“That he was seeing
her
again.” Trisha glanced up to see the cop’s stoic expressions.

Ming watched as tears slid down the widow’s face. She couldn’t help but imagine how distraught she would be if anything ever happened to Conan. But she did know what she would do if he ever cheated on her.

“Did you believe him?” Tyrese pressed.

Trisha hesitated.

Ming read that she was weighing whether to tell the truth or let sleeping dogs lie. “Let’s just say that he didn’t end it. Do you think this woman might want to cause him harm?”

“I should have left him a long time ago,” Trisha rambled. “But he was such a good provider. I’ve been out of the work force for over twenty years, and what would all my friends think if I couldn’t hold my marriage together?”

Ming frowned and was momentarily thrown for a loop by such a Dark Ages comment. “Let’s slow down, Mrs. Turner. What night was he with someone else?”

Trisha crossed her arms. Anger radiated from her. “Friday night,” she said in a sharp clipped tone. “I heard him leave the house around midnight. He was only gone for a couple of hours. He probably thought I wouldn’t wake up.”

Dr. Bancroft was murdered early Saturday morning. Ming glanced over at her partner to see if the same suspicion had crept into his thoughts.

“A few years ago, I hired a private detective to follow him around. I thought if my suspicions were correct, that I could leave him with a clear conscience. But I never did.”

Delaney and Simmons waited patiently.

“I have a file on the affair at home if you want to see it.” Trisha blew her nose and struggled to pull herself together. “Do I know who she is? How can a woman ever forget the name of the whore who’s made a mockery of her marriage?”

Despite it being a convenient way to avoid William, Josie grew restless from lying in bed. She needed to come up with a plan. She couldn’t just let Michelle still her life. She sat up and watched the fading sunlight slide through the blinds.

How on Earth had she allowed someone to do this to her? Just as quickly, she realized that she had allowed anything.

As the soft rap on the door, she turned to see William ease into the room. It magnetic eyes captured her attention, but when he smiled his lips triggered a memory—one when she and William lay naked in front of fireplace while his lips kissed every inch of her body.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, bursting her memory bubble.

Josie glanced away. “Better.”

The room was filled with too many atoms or something because it was suddenly hard to breathe and even more difficult to keep her eyes averted.

“Well, I thought you might want to get out of the house. Stretch your legs for a while.”

She perked up at the possibility. “You mean I can actually be a part of the world again?”

He clapped and rubbed his hands together, and his dimpled cheeks made an appearance. “I think you deserved it. Fresh air along with my company. You’re lucky girl.”

Josie laughed and got up from the bed. “ Nothing is going to attack us out there, is it?”

William touched the fading scratches on his face. “ Just the occasional tree branch.” He chuckled. “ We are nestled against a national park. Generally, there’s no campers out here this time a year, so the most will run up against our deer.”

“Then I’m game.”

The moment Josie stepped out the front door and into the cool breeze of autumn her spirits lifted to wondrous new heights. The cast of the fading sun and the winds gentle caress welcome her back to the land of the living.

“It’s beautiful out here,” she commented as he gave started around the world blanketed with red and gold leaves.

“Yeah, it’s nice.” He let the way across the long wooden porch, then helped her down the small stairs that deposited them onto a paved cul-de-sac next to the garage.

Despite the light sweater, Josie reacted to Williams touch as if it were pressed against their flesh. It seem the longer they were around each other, the stronger the attraction. She met his azure gaze and was almost certain the same emotions flowed through him.

Once they reach the graveled road, she glanced around, and asked, “ so where are we going?”

“I figure we can cut through here,” he said, pointing to all the walls and trees. “A few feet up, there is a hiking trail. We walked along it for while.”