Chasing Suspect Three (10 page)

So, this was the young man Margo had
mentioned. The guy about to be swindled out of everything he owned,
if Claudia had her way. “You’re young to own nice income property
such as this.” He looked immature. He’d grow up fast by the time
Claudia was through with him.

“Let’s go inside.” Billy led the way.

She followed him down the hall toward the
front. There appeared to be an apartment on each side of the
hallway with stairs up to the second floor. She noticed 1B on the
door of the apartment on the right.

“I heard something in the hall. When I opened
my apartment door, I saw that guy at Claudia’s door. I think I saw
something in his hands. He took off when he saw me.”

“Like maybe a lock pick? Of course, you
should call the police.”

“They’re going to tell me to fix the lock on
that back door.” He looked down and shuffled his feet like a little
kid.

“They’d be right. Call them. That prowler
might be going down the block trying doors.”

“Like you did coming in the back way?”

She ignored the remark. “You have women
living here. So make the place safe, don’t you get it?” She moved
closer and resisted tapping him hard on the chest to send him the
message. “Someone breaks in here, it’s not you he has on his
mind.”

“I guess I should.” He stepped away to get
her out of his face. “You’re not looking to rent, are you? You’re
looking for Claudia, I guess. You’re lucky. You caught her at home.
Haven’t noticed you around here. She expecting you?” Billy had
suddenly become the ever-protecting landlord.

“Thanks. Billy.” She stepped around him and
knocked on the door. She heard a TV inside being muted. After a
full minute, the door peephole darkened and the door opened.

It was a tall, slender blonde woman with cool
green eyes who opened the door and regarded Sandy critically. Here
was the woman who had dated Chip and given him the diary. Not bad,
but not quite the voluptuous piece of dynamite she had pictured
from the diary. At that particular moment, she was barefoot in a
sleeveless white lace top over red straight-legged Capri pants
stretching down her long legs. Two green jade bangles were on one
wrist. Her precisely streaked hair was mildly disheveled; even so,
the expensive highlights and flips from her own beauty spa were
obvious. Her classy appearance wasn’t surprising, as Sandy
suspected Chip had his pick of even the most glamorous.

“Yes? Oh, don’t tell me, more police?” The
woman held the door open.

Sandy wished she hadn’t come. Until just
then, she didn’t have a face to go with the mental image she had
created while reading the diary. Now the female lead in the diary
performances stood clearly before her. Did the woman appear capable
of the multitasking in bed as described in the diary? Absolutely.
If the male in the diary was Chip, the picture was now complete.
Neither sex partner remained faceless now. She felt a lump of lead
in her stomach and had to look away. She couldn’t hold her gaze on
the woman without visualizing two entangled naked bodies.

“My God girl, are you all right? You look
pale. Come over here and sit.” The woman tried to take Sandy’s arm,
but she politely turned away. Was this the woman Chip had touched
in every possible way?

“Just let me sit and get my breath, must have
been the heat out there.”

Claudia motioned to the burnt-orange colored
couch. She moved her cork wedge sandals from in front of the couch
and brushed the magazines aside. Sandy sat with her briefcase at
her feet.

“Like some water?”

Sandy nodded, as it would give her an extra
minute to compose herself and look around. The room was nicely
furnished in muted oranges and browns with glass-topped coffee and
end tables. The walls held several paintings of Florida flora. The
far wall near the kitchen was tiled with mirrors and reflected some
hanging plants. Claudia returned and set the glass of water on the
coffee table. She sank easily into the orange leather arm chair and
rested her feet up on the matching hassock. “Look, I’ve seen enough
police for one day.”

This was absurd and Sandy knew it. She shook
all the Kama Sutra illustrations from her mind and looked at the
woman straight on. “I’m fine now. There are a few more questions.”
Worth a try.

“You can drop it, sweetie. If you hadn’t
almost fainted, when you first saw me, I might have bought your
policewoman routine. Who are you in real life?”

“Sandy Reid.”

Claudia’s eyes widened. “Oh, you’re the
brilliant Sandy Reid?” She made a long head-to-toe scrutiny. “I’m
impressed.” Then she took it all back with a smirk and an obvious
roll of her eyes. Deciding Sandy posed no serious challenge in the
glamour game; she leaned back, struck a majestic pose in the chair,
and crossed her long legs. “Just when you thought you were the
center of attention I showed up, huh? Let’s see. Chip told you he
saw me, you blazed into a fit of jealousy, and you are here to
scratch my eyes out.”

Now, after a second look, she decided the
woman was mortal after all. She had a nice, but not stunning shape.
Although she came off as more sophisticated than scorching,
something in her demeanor and speech signaled this woman was more
streetwise than bookwise. If you believed the diary, she was indeed
blazing without bounds in the bedroom, an attribute Sandy never
cared to develop. She assumed such traits gave Claudia extra points
with some men. What it meant to Chip was the question.

“Former girlfriends don‘t bother me,” Sandy
answered. “I got over that in the eighth grade.” She wished it were
true. “This has nothing to do with Chip.”

“Of course not, that’s why you turned whiter
than my lace doilies, when you first got a load of me. Aren’t you
quite a bit out of your league?”

They stared eye to eye. Sandy blinked and
lost. At any rate, she was beginning to get a grip. Under normal
circumstances she’d never be intimidated by such a woman sitting
there looking down her nose. She didn’t care how hot or cold
Claudia was. Sandy was Sandy and had no desire to be someone else.
She didn’t need this woman’s approval and wasn’t going to try to
compete with her. Then again, Chip had a part in this and that sort
of mixed everything up. She reached down and took a yellow pad from
her briefcase to help cover her edginess. “Let’s get to Margo
Larena, that’s why I’m here. I’m her attorney.”

Claudia casually flipped one hand in the air.
“Poor little Margo. Gee, I hope she’s not in any trouble for
murdering my brother in cold blood.”

“Whether she did or not, she’s in big
trouble. Are you interested in helping your sister-in-law?”

“Of course, as long as I don’t have to raise
my little finger.”

“I still have questions about some of your
statements to Detective Jaworski.” Let her believe you know
something, Sandy thought, and perhaps she’ll fill in some
blanks.

“I’m not doing this, Miss Reid. I’ve already
admitted it was my gun.”

Sandy’s mouth dropped open.

The woman continued, “I told the police John
must have taken it, when he was over here at some time. I would
have lent it to him, if he’d asked. I didn’t notice it
missing.”

“Your gun? John was shot with your gun?”

“Funny you don’t look retarded,” Claudia
said. “No, someone used my gun to shoot at Margo at the Community
Center.”

Sandy tried to recover. “Just thinking out
loud. So, they found a gun at the murder scene and traced it to
you. But it wasn’t the murder weapon.”

“Excuse me. Are you getting paid for
this?”

“I’m just trying to find the truth about what
did happen. You said someone used your gun to shoot at Margo. If it
was later found at John’s, doesn’t that indicate he was the
shooter?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”

“I know, you were sipping coffee with Chip.
When did you last see your brother?”

“I’m not going over this again.” Claudia
scooted to the edge of her chair. “As long as you’re here, tell
Margo I know she has a key to John’s condo. I want it.”

“Why do you want the key?” Sandy had it in
her briefcase but wasn’t about to surrender it.

“Because she shouldn’t have one. They were
divorcing. I’m planning a funeral for John, and I need to get to
his suits. Also, there are many things at his condo he wanted me to
have. I’ll need to settle everything, and then I’m moving in
there.” She pointed fiercely at Sandy. “So get me that key.”

“You’re mistaken. Margo will attend to his
final arrangements, and she doesn’t want any service. You are not
to go near his condo ever again without her permission. All of his
property either passes to her outright as surviving spouse or to
his estate. I expect to be the executor of his estate. If he owned
that condo, it goes to her as well.”

“Over my dead body. I’m his next of kin.”

“You’re only a half-sister, according to
Margo, and I’m not sure you can prove even that.”

“I’ll have you know John and I were always
very close, like two peas in a pod. We grew up loving each other
and nearly shared the same heartbeat. We talked on the phone every
day. I was shattered by his death.”

“Whatever. Anyway, under Florida law, Margo
is still his spouse.” Sandy wasn’t certain about how the
condominium was titled, yet it made sense. She made a mental note
to get hopping on whose name was on the deed and his other
property.

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer! I do have
the resources to fight you, you know.”

Sandy’s instincts told her to get up and
leave, however she wanted more. She wanted proof Chip wasn’t this
woman’s partner in the diary. She wanted proof without hearing any
details. She didn’t know what to say for a long minute, then, “Why
did you arrange to see Chip again? He rejected you once.”

“Those scorching affairs burn too hot to last
long.” Her eyes looked upward, pretending to engage in some
reverie. “I never took it seriously. I detected some renewed
interest in me the other night. Be that as it may, I haven’t
decided if I’m interested.” She purposely glanced at Sandy before
adding, “I imagine he’s ready for something out of the
ordinary.”

Sandy’s hands were beginning to form into
fists. She held it in and composed herself; she’d be all right. “It
must get lonely up on that pedestal.”

One or two dates Chip had said; this woman
acts as though she could pick up the marathon sex where they left
off. In any case, Claudia had gone too far. This was getting all
too theatrical. She now sounded defensive. Obviously, she was hurt
because Chip had rejected her again. Even so, she might still
consider herself the big winner, if the rejection didn’t come until
after record-setting sex.

Sandy had heard enough, and none of it
supported Chip’s easy dismissal of Claudia as being not worth
mentioning. Get back to business. “Just give me another minute, and
tell me about Margo’s boyfriend.”

Claudia leaned back and resumed her
condescending manner. “Oh, I can tell you about Margo. I can tell
you she isn’t tied too tightly. She can go days without making
sense. And she has no boyfriend. She couldn’t get laid at Mardi
Gras.”

“What about Richie Grant?”

“Who? Richie Grant? Are you talking about the
reality-show star? Oh, I know who you mean, Margo’s boyfriend. I
forgot she had him around. She mentioned him to you? How about
that? Good idea. Sure I’ve met him.”

“Where does this Richie live? What’s he look
like? What does he do?”

“Don’t actually know where he lives. Don’t
see her a lot. Of course, I’ve seen them together now and then. I
suppose you’d say he’s skinny and nothing in the looks department.
I don’t know where he gets his money.”

“I literally ran into a man meeting that
description a few minutes ago in the hall. Billy saw him acting
suspiciously at your door. Does Richie Grant have an expensive
brown leather jacket?”

“It couldn’t have been Richie,” Claudia said.
“I can promise you that.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I just don’t think it was.”

“I think maybe it was, and he didn’t want to
be seen calling on you.”

Claudia abruptly stood. Her bored look meant
their meeting was over. “Margo can’t be choosy. I like brawny,
good-looking men who smell nice in bed.”

Claudia had tossed in that last remark just
as a jab. Sandy hadn’t intended to go back to the subject, but just
then, facing Chip’s former lover, it seemed more important than any
murder. She couldn’t hold back, she blurted out, “You gave away
your sexy diary to Chip.”

“Oh, I’m surprised he told you about that.
Did you read it together? You should thank me. I bet it fixed you
up for the next forty-eight hours.”

Obviously, Claudia was baiting her. Sandy
felt her face getting warm. She squeezed her hands into fists
again, afraid for a moment she was going to lose it. “No, he threw
it away when he brought it home. Never even looked at it—wasn’t
interested. I saw it in the trash. You can forget sitting by the
phone waiting for his breathless phone call.”

“I believe you, because if he had read it, he
wouldn’t have thrown it away, and you’d never have seen it. But
you
did read it, didn’t you? I can tell, because I have your
guts tied in a knot.”

S
andy faltered
slightly as she walked away from Claudia’s apartment. She turned
enough to make an obscene gesture at the closed door. She had not
been her usual sassy self; it was unlike her not to have blasted
back with clever comebacks. Claudia had unnerved her. Just then,
she didn’t know what to think of the woman’s prior relationship
with Chip. Until she got that all straight in her mind, no clever
put down was going to help.

She had gone there to advance the cause of
her client but had let herself be sidetracked; Claudia had turned
things around with the thought that she remained interested in Chip
and might try to go after him. The woman wasn’t as classy as she
thought she was, but she was shrewd. And all her sexuality was
right there. Was Chip truly not interested in her?