Chicken Caccia-Killer (A Jordan McAllister Mystery) (8 page)

“I won’t stay in that house by myself,” Natalie argued. “I want to go with you two.”

“That’s not a good idea, Mom. Some of the things Jeff will ask could be hard for you to hear. Plus, Kate might be reluctant to tell the whole truth with you in the room. You’ll be okay by yourself for a few hours until—”

“I’ll stay with you until Alex and Kate return,” Jordan offered. “Tomorrow’s Sunday, and I have nothing planned.”

Natalie opened her mouth to argue then simply nodded. Alex stole a glance Jordan’s way and smiled, sending a silent message that he appreciated the gesture and would show her how much later.

He focused his attention back on Natalie. “See, Mom, you have no excuse not to get a good night’s sleep. We’ll fill you in on everything in the morning over coffee.” He tried to grin. “Maybe we’ll splurge on Myrtle’s Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake for breakfast.”

Reluctantly, Natalie agreed and released her daughter. Jordan reached out and grabbed her arm and led the way back into the suite.

* * * * *

The ride back to Ranchero was tense and seemed much longer than usual. There was little conversation in the car, and even that was centered on generic topics. Alex’s mom leaned silently against the door and looked out the window. The past two hours spent at the hotel were never mentioned, and Jordan was glad of that, since it would do no good to rehash the events at the party.

Ray dropped them off at the Empire Apartments, and after throwing a few personal items into a tote bag, Jordan drove Natalie to Alex’s house. She had no idea how long it would be before Alex and Kate made it back home, and she wanted to be prepared to spend the night if she had to.

She was anxious to do whatever she could for Alex and his family, not to mention that Myrtle’s Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake was on the menu for breakfast.

Alex knew her so well.

By the time she and Natalie were settled in the living room and out of their party clothes, Jordan was already yawning as she prepared a makeshift bed on the couch. Even though it was the twenty-first century, with Natalie and Kate in the guest room it was probably not a good idea to sleep in Alex’s room with his mother right next door.

“I’m not sure I can go to sleep until they get home,” Natalie said, plopping down beside Jordan on the couch.

So much for getting some shuteye,
Jordan thought. Truth be told, she was too keyed up to sleep anyway. They might as well wait up to find out what went down in Hamilton’s room.

“Do you want me to fix you a drink, Natalie? Alex has some wine in the refrigerator, and I’m sure there’s a bottle of Scotch somewhere.”

“No thanks, dear. I’m fine.” She reached for her cell phone. “In all the excitement, I forgot that I hadn’t called Kate’s father to tell him about tonight.”

“Why don’t you do that now? For some reason I’m dying of thirst, and I’m craving ice water. Can I get you a glass? A wise person once told me that was the best thing to drink before you go to sleep after a night of alcoholic beverages. Something about the booze dehydrating you.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that, too. It makes sense.” Natalie sighed. “I suppose I should drink something. Those Italian margaritas went down way too easily tonight.”

“I’ll say.” Jordan went out into the kitchen as Natalie spoke to her husband.

When Natalie hung up, she came back into the living room and handed her one of the glasses.

“He wanted to get on the next plane and come home,” she explained after taking a drink of the cold water. “I talked him out of it—said we’d call every day with updates. God help me, I tried to minimize it all so he wouldn’t be worried. This trip is so important to his company, and he’s been talking about it for months.”

“There’s nothing he could do if he were here, anyway,” Jordan said, wondering what else to talk about with Alex’s mother. Since she’d only met her earlier that day—and what had happened at the party was definitely off limits—the silence was a bit awkward.

“So, let’s talk about you and my son,” Natalie started. She smiled when Jordan allowed a groan to slip out. “I know I came on strong today at lunch, but I worry so much about him. He’s been surrounded by strong, independent women all his life, and that raises the bar when it comes to choosing someone to share his life.” She paused to take another big gulp from her glass of water before turning to Jordan. “I have to admit, though, you seem perfect for him.”

Jordan felt the heat crawl up her cheeks. It was uncomfortable discussing her relationship with Alex’s mother even if the woman had just complemented her. She wasn’t exactly sure where her relationship with Alex was headed yet, and hadn’t even discussed it with her own mother. Just when she was trying to figure out a way out from underneath the romantic microscope, Natalie did it for her.

“You think Kate’s in deep trouble?”

Jordan was surprised by the question and decided to answer as honestly as she could. “If you’re asking me if I thought Kate had something to do with Marco’s death, then the answer is no. However, if they find his DNA under her fingernails, that will make them crazy—give them a reason to pursue her as a suspect. I’m worried that it’ll be a case of ‘she said—she said’ since no one else was in the room when it happened.”

“I know. I wish I could tell the police that someone else entered Marco’s bedroom, but I can’t. And I watched like a hawk.”

Jordan’s head jerked up and she met Natalie’s stare. “Why were you watching his bedroom?”

Alex’s mother shrugged. “I saw Kate walk up the steps about ten minutes after she went downstairs to wait for a taxi. Since she’d already basically told me to butt out until she was ready to talk about her relationship with Marco, I did the only thing a mother could do—I kept my eyes on the door and waited, ready to pounce if I sensed trouble. Had I known the SOB was going to use her face as a punching bag, I would have killed him on the spot myself.”

“And you’re sure no one else entered the bedroom?” Jordan held her breath waiting for Natalie’s answer. If another person had been in Marco’s room and could confirm Kate’s story, it might take the heat off her.

But Kate hadn’t mentioned anyone else, either.

Natalie shook her head. “Unfortunately, I didn’t even see Marco go up the stairs, so I figure he must have already been in the bedroom when Kate arrived. Like I said, I kept my eyes glued to that staircase except for the short time I walked over to the bar and shared a drink with Emilio.”

“So it was only Kate and Marco?”

“Yes. I knew I should have marched right up and pulled my daughter away. Had I known Marco and she were up there in bed doing God knows what, I would have.”

Jordan hoped she hadn’t mentioned that in her interview with the police earlier and decided she didn’t want to go anywhere near a conversation about Kate’s sex life with Alex’s mother. She quickly asked, “And your daughter never came out of the bedroom?”

“I don’t think so,” Natalie replied. “Everything happened so quickly, I don’t remember seeing Kate again until she came out screaming, and everyone rushed up to the second floor. Then I saw Tina in the crowd before she took off and ran down the stairs. I assumed she’d heard that Marco was dead and was running out the door to go to him.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure what it all means if anything, but it is something to think about. Did you tell the police any of this when they questioned you?”

She shook her head. “They didn’t ask, and I never mentioned it. Thankfully, no one knows I saw anything. And that’s the way I’m going to keep it. The last thing Kate needs is for the cops to use her own mother as a material witness against her.”

“It’s probably a good thing you didn’t mention it then,” Jordan said. “I don’t have any experience with legal stuff, but in the short time I watched Emilio’s lawyer handle that police captain during Kate’s questioning, I picked up a few pointers. The most important is not to volunteer information unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“I’m glad Emilio had the presence of mind to send that man to represent Kate, even when it looked like she might be involved in the death of his future son-in-law. Although Alex was right there, she might have said something she shouldn’t have.”

“My first impression of Emilio is that he’s a nice man, and I’m not surprised by his actions tonight,” Jordan said. “He seems to have taken a liking to you, too.” She hoped she wasn’t crossing a line, but she remembered how Alex seemed put off by Emilio’s attention to his mother.

Natalie stopped to run her tongue over her dry lips. “Emilio and I go back a long way.”

Jordan sat up straighter, wondering if Alex knew this wasn’t the first time his mother had met Emilio. She decided to probe, feeling a little guilty at first before thinking since Natalie had put her on the spot with a few personal questions at lunch, she shouldn’t be too upset for getting one fired back at her.

“Did you meet Emilio at the Italian Festival last year?”

Natalie stared into space for a few seconds then turned toward Jordan. Sure the older woman was about to nail her with a mind-your-own-business remark, she was surprised when instead, Natalie smiled.

“I met Emilio right after I graduated from high school.” She paused, maintaining eye contact with Jordan before she delivered the zinger. “At one point I was two weeks away from becoming his wife.”

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN

After Natalie’s stunning revelation, Jordan stared at her, sure her own mouth was hanging open. “You were engaged to Emilio Calabrese?” Remembering Alex’s remark about Emilio being connected, she couldn’t quite picture the petite woman sitting next to her on the couch as a Mafia princess.

“I was seventeen,” Natalie explained. “I’d recently graduated from high school and was visiting my cousins in New Jersey. My uncle was a longshoreman, and while I was there, we went to a company picnic sponsored by his employer, who just happened to be Emilio’s father. That’s when I met him.” She sighed as she recalled those earlier days.

Jordan leaned closer when Natalie’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“There I was, a naïve, young teenager from Texas, and he was this big, popular, rich kid who drove a Corvette. It took him no time at all to seduce me with expensive gifts and fancy restaurants. Although he was four years older than me and already working his way up the ladder in his dad’s company, there was a connection between us immediately. After the sheltered life I’d left back in Beaumont, Emilio and his bad-boy persona swept me off my feet.” She stopped talking long enough to take a deep breath. “We spent nearly every day together my entire vacation, and by the time I left New Jersey to return home, we’d made plans for me to return in two weeks. We were going to go to Atlantic City and get married while we gambled the week away.”

“Wow! That’s quite a story,” was all Jordan could think of to say. “What happened?” She hoped Natalie didn’t think she was prying, but her curiosity was killing her.

“After I got away from all the glamour and excitement of the East Coast and settled back into reality at home, it dawned on me that I would be making a foolish mistake. The question I asked myself was whether or not I was willing to give up everything I’d worked for to marry a man I’d known less than ten days.” She took a sip of water before continuing, “The answer was easy without all the distractions. I had a full academic scholarship waiting for me at SMU. I couldn’t just throw that away.”

Suddenly, Jordan’s cell phone rang, and she jumped off the couch to retrieve it from her purse. “Hello.”

“It’s me,” Alex said. “I wanted to call and let you know things are going well. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to get out of here, but I wanted to make sure everything’s okay back there.”

“We’re fine,” Jordan said, wondering if Alex knew about his mother’s teenage love story. Could that be why he was so obviously perturbed when Emilio went out of his way to stand close to her?

“My mom’s not talking your ear off, is she? Please tell me she’s not spilling any of my secrets.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she deadpanned.

His mother was telling secrets, all right, but they had nothing to do with him. Asking about Alex’s childhood hadn’t even crossed Jordan’s mind, but now that he’d mentioned it, it might be worth a few pointed questions, especially since Natalie was obviously in a talking mood. He loved to tease her about everything, and it would be nice to have some ammunition so she could give back as good as she got.

“Yes, I would. Jeff’s back. Gotta go. Don’t wait up for us. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay. Tell Kate to hang in there.”

“Will do. Love you.” And then he disconnected.

She stared at the phone, confused by his last words. Did he just say he loved her? She shook her head. No, it was just something you say to people automatically. It didn’t really mean anything, did it?

“Is everything all right?” Natalie asked, apparently concerned when Jordan didn’t immediately repeat the conversation with Alex to her.

“Oh, yes. Alex said they were getting a lot done and that we shouldn’t wait up.”

Natalie’s face reflected her disappointment. “I guess I’ll have to wait until morning to see Kate. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how much longer I can stay awake, anyway.” She reached for Jordan’s hand and patted it. “Lord only knows why I’m telling you about what happened to me so many years ago when my own husband hasn’t even heard this story.”