Authors: Stephanie Bond
woman was going down on a guy in a movie that had
obviously been recorded on a videocam.
“Man, what’s with all the homespun porn lately?”
“Dude, I’m a distributor.”
“Of porn? Since when?”
“I’ve always done it, here and there. But there’s a bigger
market now for the homemade stuff, and it’s usually
pretty cheap to come by. I buy a master, and send it off to
a shop in Korea. They take care of orders and fulfil ment. I
get a check every month.”
“Why do people buy porn when they can get it free on the
Internet?”
Chance lifted his hands. “It’s one of the great mysteries of
the universe.”
Wesley dropped into a chair and squinted. “This one
doesn’t look that hot to me.”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s that Kiki girl. I paid a hundred grand
for it, but it’s going to make me a mil ion.” He looked up.
“Hey, didn’t you bring her body back from Florida?”
“Yeah.” Wesley leaned in closer. “Who’s she with?”
“I don’t know.” Chance picked up a piece of paper. “The e-
mail says it’s some developer in Atlanta.” He laughed.
“Poor schmuck. If he has a wife and kids, he won’t have
them for long.”
Wesley held his head. His mind was chugging away, and he
knew he was missing something. He dialed Jack Terry’s
number, and after a couple of rings, Jack answered.
“Jack, it’s Wesley Wren.”
“I’m on another call, I’l get back to you.”
“Dude, this might be important.”
“Don’t ever call me dude. Tel me, quick.”
“Kiki Deerling’s sister, the one who owns the restaurant,
what’s her name?”
Jack sighed. “Um, Kayla, I think.”
“Isn’t she engaged?”
“Yeah, to some developer. Why?”
“I’m watching a sex tape with Kiki Deerling and her sister’s
fiancé. You said you needed motive for murder. Is that
enough?”
Jack was quiet for a few seconds. “Ten times over.
Where’s the tape?”
“I got it. But you need to get to that restaurant. That Kayla
chick invited Carlotta to eat there tonight because she was
grateful for her help. Carlotta’s there with Peter right
now.”
“I’m on my way.”
“I’l meet you there with the tape.” Wesley hung up the
phone and ejected the DVD. “Dude, I need to borrow this.”
“Wil I get it back?”
“Maybe. And it’l be worth more.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’re stoned, you’re going nowhere.” Wesley punched
in Coop’s number. After the fourth ring, he picked up.
“Hel o?”
“It’s Wesley.”
“This better be good.”
“Carlotta might be in trouble.”
There was a moment of silence, then, “I’m listening.”
“I need for you to pick me up at a friend’s house.”
“What’s the address?”
Wesley gave it to him.
“Be out front in three minutes.”
35
Carlotta stared at the pendant hanging around Kayla’s
neck. “You kil ed your own sister. You strangled her and
took the pendant. Why?”
Kayla’s face twisted in hatred. “Because she had
everything and it wasn’t enough! She had to have the only
thing that was mine—Jamie.”
Carlotta glanced at the woman’s fiancé. He looked guilty.
And scared. But he was fol owing Kayla’s lead. Was his
obedience in exchange for her forgiveness?
“Jamie gave her the pendant,” Carlotta guessed. “They
were having an affair.”
“He made a mistake, and we’l work through this.”
“It was you Naomi heard Kiki arguing with. You kil ed her
and let everyone believe it was an asthma attack.”
“That’s what everyone wil go on believing,” Kayla said.
“After you’re gone.”
“But why kil Matt?”
“Because the jerk saw me. He was high, but he remembers
enough. And you—you should’ve just minded your own
business.” The woman grabbed Carlotta by both arms in a
steely grip, then looked at her fiancé. “Get her.”
Jamie Reardon approached, Taser raised. A little flash of
electricity jumped between contact probes. Carlotta
screamed as if she’d already been zapped. With what little
strength she had left, she swung her cast back into Kayla’s
stomach, with enough force that the woman relaxed her
grip. Carlotta wrenched her arm loose and raised the cast
against the Taser.
She heard the clicking noise, waiting for the pain to light
up her arm and immobilize her body. Instead, she heard a
thunk behind her.
“Drop it,” Peter said.
She turned to see him standing there in just enough light
to reveal the handgun he held pointed directly at Jamie
Reardon. Carlotta nearly wet her pants in abject relief.
“Peter! Thank God.”
“Get behind me,” he said, and she did. Kayla Deerling lay
on the ground in a heap. Peter must have hit her with the
gun.
Reardon dropped the Taser and kept his hands in the air.
“This wasn’t my idea.”
“He injected Matt Pearson with heroin,” Carlotta said.
Peter handed her his phone. “Call 911, and go inside.”
She called for an ambulance, but the sound of a siren
stopped her from going into the restaurant. A familiar dark
sedan with a red light roared into the parking lot. Jack was
out of the car practical y before it was stopped, his gun
drawn. “I got him covered, Peter. Put away your weapon.”
Peter opened his jacket and put the pistol back into the
shoulder holster he wore.
“Where did you get that?” Carlotta asked, stil incredulous.
“At the pawnshop when I found your ring. Then I got a
permit to carry it concealed.”
“And you decided to wear it to dinner?”
He put his arm around her shoulder. “Sweetheart, I wasn’t
going out with you again unprepared.”
She hugged him tightly. “Thank you for coming to look for
me.”
“I came to apologize for pressuring you. I figured you’d
come out here to have a smoke.”
“I don’t smoke…much.”
He laughed. “Okay. And don’t worry. I’l always come
looking for you,” he murmured, and kissed her.
When the kiss ended, Jack was standing there, frowning.
“Would you like to give a statement now or later?”
“Later,” they said in unison.
“I’m taking her to the emergency room to get checked
out,” Peter said.
“Good idea. She’s been through a lot lately. First the
broken arm, then a hit-and-run, and now this.”
Peter frowned down at her. “What hit-and-run?”
“Jack,” she said, neatly changing the subject, “how did you
know I was in trouble?”
“Wes called me. He saw a sex tape that Kiki made with her
sister’s fiancé and put two and two together.”
Two ambulances screamed into view, and Coop’s van was
right behind them. Jack directed the EMTs to Matt Pearson
and Kayla Deerling. Coop and Wesley jumped out and ran
up to the scene.
Wesley hugged her. “Are you all right, Sis?”
She pul ed back. “Thanks to Peter…and you…and Jack…and
Coop.”
“All right, we get the picture,” Jack said dryly. “It was a tag-
team effort.”
Paramedics revived Kayla Deerling, then loaded her into an
ambulance. Jack sent a uniform with her. She glared at
Carlotta until they closed the ambulance door. The group
watched in tense silence as the EMTs worked on Matt
Pearson, but at last one of them gave Jack a thumbs-up.
Carlotta exhaled in relief. The man had problems, and she
was furious with him for attacking her, but she didn’t want
to see him dead.
A crowd was gathering fast. An SUV pul ed up and a wide-
bodied man emerged.
“Ferragamo Shoes!” she said, pointing.
Jack frowned. “Who?”
“It’s the other man guy who was trying to steal the body!”
“The man who tried to steal my van at the restaurant,”
Coop added.
The big man rushed up to the ambulance where they were
loading Matt Pearson on a gurney, an IV connected to his
arm. “What happened?”
Jack intercepted him. “Who are you?”
“Gregory Young, private investigator.” He held up his
hands. “I have a .38 on my belt.”
“I’l take that,” Jack said, then reached inside the man’s
coat and removed the weapon.
“ID in my breast pocket.”
Jack retrieved it, then put it back. “What’s your
involvement here?”
The P.I. gestured to Carlotta. “Didn’t Matt tel you?”
Carlotta glared. “You and Matt bound and gagged me,
then you left. He didn’t tel me anything.”
When Jack made a move to cuff him, he said, “Hang on a
minute. Let me explain.”
“Make it fast, buddy. Right now you’re looking at assault,
grand theft auto and tampering with a corpse.”
“Matt Pearson came to me a few days ago, said he’d
witnessed Kiki Deerling being strangled. But he’d been
high on heroin at the time, and knew his testimony
wouldn’t hold up in court. He needed an autopsy. When
the M.E. in Boca Raton decided not to do one, he hired me
to take the body for an independent autopsy.”
“That’s a felony,” Jack said.
“To prevent someone from getting away with murder. We
were going to make sure the body got back to the family.
Matt just wanted the truth to come out, that’s all.”
“I’l need for you to come down to the station to make a
statement. And don’t even think about leaving town.”
“No problem.” He looked at Carlotta. “I’m sorry we scared
you, little lady, but we were just trying to keep you quiet
until Matt could explain everything.”
“I think he was trying,” she said to Jack, “before Kayla and
her fiancé came out and attacked him.”
“What happened to Matt?” the P.I. asked.
“He was injected with heroin,” Jack said. “But the
paramedics say he’s going to make it.”
Carlotta gasped. “Jack, I just remembered. Kayla said
something about me missing dessert.” She looked at Peter.
“I’m afraid she might have put something in it.”
“I’l go check it out,” Jack said. “Peter, get her to the E.R.
Do me a favor—put her in restraints once you get her
there.”
“I’ll get the car,” Peter said.
“You might need these,” Coop said, holding up her shoes.
“And is this your purse I found by the Dumpster?”
“Thank you,” she murmured. “Although I have no idea
how those cigarettes got in there.”
He smiled. “Are you really okay?”
“Yeah, I wil be. You?”
“Yeah, I wil be.” Coop winked. “It looks like you’re in good
hands with Peter.”
She nodded. “He is a good man. My cup runneth over
lately.”
He made a rueful noise of agreement. “So,
congratulations, Ms. Wren. Your persistence paid off.
Thanks to you, Kiki Deerling wil get justice.”
“So now there wil be an autopsy?”
“Most definitely.”
“But if she had heroin in her system, her sister might get
off.”
“It’s possible,” he said. “But maybe Kiki was clean.”
Carlotta nodded. “I hope so.”
Peter came striding up. “The car’s ready. Let me carry
you.”
“Don’t be sil y. I can walk.”
He bent down and whispered, “Do this one thing for me.”
Carlotta smiled and relented. She looped her arm around
his shoulder and he picked her up. As he carried her to the
car, she looked back at Coop. The tight, wounded
expression on his face tore at her. It was exactly what she
hadn’t wanted to happen.
“You’l take Wesley home?” she called, her heart in a bind.
“Of course,” he said, then lifted his hand in a little wave,
and turned away.
36
Wesley noticed his hand was shaking when he twisted the
doorknob to open the front door.
“How was your probation meeting?” Carlotta asked when
he walked into the living room. She was lying on the
couch, recuperating from the night before. His gut
clenched when he thought of how badly the scene at
Diamonds could have ended.
“Fine.”
“Did Eldora think this situation with the D.A. is going to
affect your probation?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. She seems to think they might add
on more time, maybe more community service.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“Yeah.” He set his backpack on the floor. “I just hope Coop
gives me another chance.”
“I think he probably wil ,” she said, gingerly pushing herself
up to a sitting position. “He seems like the kind of man
who believes in second chances.”
“Coop’s a good man, isn’t he?”
“I think so, yes.”
“Do you think that Dad was a good man?”
Carlotta took her time answering. “I think there were
some things about Dad that were very good. He was
handsome and popular and he was good at his job. He
made people laugh. He made people feel good.”
“But it’s not the same.” Now that he knew their dad
cheated on their mom, Wes was starting to question a lot
of things. If Randolph could justify his affair with Liz,
maybe he could do the same for filching a few dol ars from
the firm.
“Is something on your mind?” Carlotta asked.
“I’m just starting to think that you were right—that our
father is no good and has no intention of coming back to
clear his name.”
“I never said he was no good.”
“No, but it’s what you’ve always thought, and I don’t