Tacked to Death (17 page)

"No, I don't! And now you have to tell
the police what you know. As far as the letter goes. I don't think
it's necessary for us to tell the cops how either one of us might
have it in our possession, but I'm giving it to them."

"You can't give them the letter." He
pointed to Juliet, who had passed out in Michaela's
chair.

"I don't care about your promises,
Zach. I think you're a good man with ethics. I really do, and now
is the time to live up to them. If Ed Mitchell is guilty and I go
to jail for something that I didn't do, can you honestly live with
yourself?"

Zach stood there for a moment, then
pulled out his cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" Michaela
asked.

"The police."

Twenty-Five

Peters seemed to be as thrilled to see
Michaela at three o' clock in the morning as she was to see him,
which was not at all. But maybe they could get this mess
straightened out and her life back to normal.

Peters questioned Zach over and over on
his story. He stayed true to Michaela, but Juliet, when woken,
freaked out and blabbed everything.

"She broke into Sterling's house." She
pointed at Michaela. "And stole a letter that I'd written to
him."

"Is that true, Ms.
Bancroft?"

How was she going to get out of this?
But Zach cut in. "That's not true. We went into Sterling's house. I
found the letter and didn't tell Juliet. I told her that someone
else had been there and taken it. I made up the story about seeing
Ms. Bancroft there."

Juliet's jaw dropped. "What! I heard
someone in his place, too. Why are you lying?"

"You came here in the middle of the
night to tell Ms. Bancroft this?" Peters eyed them.

Michaela nodded and shot a warning
glance at Juliet, figuring that Zach would possibly corroborate
with her about Juliet breaking into her house and pointing a gun at
her.

"Where is the letter now?"

Before the police arrived Michaela had
taken it from her purse and brought it downstairs. She grabbed it
off the coffee table and handed it to Peters.

"This all smells foul to me, Ms.
Bancroft." He read it, then said, "If you think that this letter
alone merits me waking up one of the most prominent men in this
county to be questioned, then you are sorely mistaken."

"What? You're not going to question Ed
Mitchell?"

"We've already questioned Mr. Mitchell
and he has an airtight alibi during the time of death. He was with
a group of people all day at the event and they have all checked
out."

"You're not going to look into that
then?" She pointed at the letter.

"I'll speak to him about it, but I
don't think it has anything to do with Sterling Taber's
murder."

Michaela had no response. If Ed had an
alibi then the letter probably didn't mean a damn thing. "Don't you
have any more to ask them?" Michaela looked at Zach and
Juliet.

"Good night, Ms. Bancroft," Peters
replied and opened the door, following Zach and Juliet
out.

What a total mess. Had they screwed up
by calling the police? At least Zach had defended her. He was a
decent guy, or had possibly changed his mind about being head over
heels for Juliet when she pointed the gun at him. God, how love was
so very blind. Here a man was willing to protect the woman he
thought he loved, and her father, and deny the truth, likely
sending an innocent woman to jail. Crazy.

If Ed had an alibi, what did that mean
for her? It meant that she's just wasted half a night of sleep and
risked her freedom—and Joe's—at Sterling's place by breaking and
entering. That's what it meant. It also meant that she hadn't
figured things out yet.

There were still so many what-ifs,
including the mystery woman on the videotapes that Sterling had
made, the Sorvino clan, Robert Nightingale's vendetta toward
Sterling, and, from Paige's account, his now supposed
missing-in-action status. Lest Michaela forget, there was also Erin
Hornersberg, who had already killed someone in the past, and who
thought Sterling lower than a dust mote. She'd sure clammed up when
Michaela and Camden had gone to talk to the makeup
artist.

Then there was this bizarre situation
with Sterling's old girlfriend Rebecca Woodson, the dead party
girl. Michaela should've asked Zach about Sterling's family and
what they were like. She would have to talk to Tommy Liggett about
that. Tommy had spent more time last summer with Sterling than Zach
had. Maybe he could shine some light on what had happened there.
And there was the undercover blonde woman in the Ford Explorer who
was keeping tabs on Michaela. It all seemed so strange; none of it
made sense, but at that point her brain was fried from trying to
piece any of it together. She decided to try and get some
rest.

* * *

Michaela didn’t get much more sleep.
After tossing and turning for an hour, she got up and made a pot of
strong coffee. She didn't know if she'd ever felt so exhausted
before. Always an early riser, getting started in the morning
wasn't typically a problem. Her life had been filled with plenty of
ups and downs, like most people, but before this fiasco she'd
finally settled into a peaceful place in her life. Her ranch was a
wonderful place to live; she woke up and took care of her animals
every day; she taught sweet and special children how to ride; and
she thought that maybe there was a possibility with her and Jude.
Only a week ago, she'd been able to wake up and be grateful for all
that was right in her life. Today, it was hard to do, but she did
it anyway, thankful that her animals were there waiting for her and
happy to see her. And she was thankful for the caffeine. She was
going to need it. Only two hours until Sterling's funeral service;
she'd have to psych herself up for the appearance.

She weighed her options. None of them
looked too great. Facts were that if she went, all eyes would
likely be on her, including Detective Peters, who would surely show
up. Wasn't that what investigators did while on a case? Show up at
the funeral in case the perp made a wrong move? Oh goodness, she
had watched one too many Law & Orders. Had Peters really
questioned Ed Mitchell? What if Juliet had convinced Peters that
Michaela had stolen the letter? She knew she couldn't continue to
lie to him. It wasn't who or what she was, and it could prove to be
the final slice in cutting her own throat.

The downside of not going to the
service was that she had a gut feeling whoever did kill Sterling
would be there, and maybe, just maybe, she would pick up on
something that the police had missed.

She slipped into a black dress, knowing
that she had no choice but to make an appearance at that funeral.
She would do her best to make herself nondescript. Maybe no one
would notice her. Yeah, right.

Her plan didn't work. As expected,
Detective Peters was at the church. He eyed her when she came in.
Maybe she was being paranoid, but damned if a lot of people didn't
stare at her when she walked in. So much for the nondescript,
inconspicuous part. She tried to not allow him to unnerve her.
Paranoid. That's all. She was being paranoid.

Then she spotted Robert and Paige
Nightingale, which was odd to say the least. Hadn't Robert left
Paige only two days before, his anger getting the best of him? And
where was Camden? She had chutzpah when it came to the down and
dirty questions. Robert's arm was wrapped protectively around
Paige's shoulders. Quite a change of heart. Obviously they'd worked
out their differences. Or not. Could it be that Paige knew
something about Robert that he did not want the world to know?
Maybe that he'd killed Sterling out of rage and now he needed her
as an alibi? Was it possible that Robert had murdered Sterling over
his grief and his belief that he was to blame for his son's death?
Paige had replaced her child, in a sense, with Sterling. Loss of a
loved one was the worst kind of grief. Michaela knew it firsthand.
Maybe Paige couldn't take any more loss in her life, and had told
Robert that she'd speak the truth if he tried to divorce her.
Michaela had pegged Paige for an insecure woman. Would her sadness
and insecurities force her to remain in a dead marriage? If
Michaela had learned anything on this path called life, it was that
everything was a possibility.

She decided to take a seat at the back
of the church to be able to watch as people flowed quietly in and
slipped into their seats. This way she'd be able to get a good look
at everyone who showed up.

Watching the Nightingales seat
themselves, she again thought about Robert's possible reason to
want Sterling dead, and she understood it. She could not imagine
what it would feel like to lose a child. If Robert truly blamed
Sterling for the untimely and horrible death of his son, then she
could almost understand his need for vengeance. But what about
Paige? She'd been distraught the other day in Robert's office. Did
she have anything to do with Sterling's murder? These questions
needed answers. Michaela was still searching. But what reason would
Paige have to kill Sterling? It didn't add up. So for now, she'd
cross her off her list. She'd also been able to satisfy her mind
that neither Zach nor Juliet had anything to do with Sterling's
murder. True, they'd been up to no good, but she didn't think them
responsible for killing him. Juliet's father didn't look as if he
was a candidate any longer, but what about any one of the Sorvinos?
She thought about the ring she saw Ed give Pepe. Had it been a
payoff of some sort?

She watched as people continued coming
into the church. Zach entered with Tommy Liggett, who Michaela felt
could have some answers for her, at least about Sterling's family
and Rebecca Woodson. Tommy worked for Juliet's father at the
jewelry store. From all accounts, Tommy appeared to be a nice
enough guy. But even nice people had skeletons to hide sometimes,
and Michaela couldn't help but wonder if Tommy was one of those
nice-guy-next-door types who one day went psycho on his good friend
for a particular reason—or for no particular reason at all. Tommy
had wavy light brown hair, sincere blue eyes, and dimples when he
smiled. In a way he looked similar to Sterling, but was cuter,
rather than handsome, like his pal had been.

Michaela turned as someone touched her
shoulder. "I wasn't sure you'd be here, what with the bad press,"
Camden said.

"I had no choice but to come. Wish I
hadn't though; everyone is looking at me."

"Relax. No one is looking at you. And
if they do, I'll stick my tongue out at them."

Music began playing, an indicator that
the services were about to start. As several latecomers filed in,
Michaela's gaze fell on a man and whom she assumed to be his wife
being escorted to the front row. "Are those Sterling's parents?"
Michaela whispered in Camden's ear.

"I don't think so. He had told me that
his folks were older. Those two look, what, in their forties. At
least, the man looks like that. I can't tell with the
woman."

Michaela nodded. The woman's head was
down and it was difficult to get a good look at her face. "Well,
they must be relatives."

"It would figure, but I'm not sure. I
didn't know him that well to get his life story."

"You knew him pretty well."

Camden rolled her eyes. "You are mean
sometimes."

"I know."

* * *

The parishioners listened to the
heartfelt service given by the pastor, whom Michaela was pretty
sure had never even met Sterling, as he spoke in generalities about
the man. Something told her that Sterling didn't frequent church
much.

When the pastor finished, he invited
any attendees up to the podium who wished to eulogize him. It was
strange, but no one took him up on the opportunity. Did everyone
harbor ill will toward Sterling? After a minute, Tommy decided to
go up. Michaela could tell by the way he moved back and forth from
one foot to the other that he was nervous being in front of the
crowd.

"Sterling was a good guy, a good
friend, and all-around good man."

Michaela scanned the crowd and took
note that Ed Mitchell had a protective arm around his daughter. Was
he as uncomfortable as Tommy looked to be? Then she noticed Zach.
He actually appeared almost bored. What a different crowd they all
were.

Tommy went on to relate a humorous
story about Sterling falling off one of his polo ponies and having
to ice his rear. He got a few chuckles from that and then sat
down.

Michaela figured they were about
finished when the gentleman from the front row took his turn at the
podium. All he said when he took the stand was, "On behalf of the
Taber family, we thank you for coming today to honor my brother.
Sterling's life was amongst his friends, and thus his family has
made the decision to have him buried here, where he was loved by so
many. Thank you again."

Hmmm. So the older, distinguished guy
was Sterling's brother. Okay, so maybe, just maybe, there was an
off chance that Sterling's family showed compassion for him by
wanting to bury the man in Indio, but she doubted it. Here the
brother was the only one making an appearance at the service and
that was all he had to say about his sibling? Oh, that made her
skin crawl. No, there was more to it. The Taber family wanted
nothing at all to do with Sterling. Not in life or in death. That
was as plain and simple as it seemed. It made her feel very sorry
for Sterling, and actually she started to form a better picture of
what appeared to be a lost soul. Not that she agreed with some of
the things he'd apparently done or the way he'd conducted his life,
but there may have been some deep, dark reasons for Sterling's
actions and behavior. Michaela couldn't help wonder if the man's
way of life had caused his own demise—a death that maybe his family
was behind, wanting to rid themselves of any more scandal he might
cause them.