Death by Seduction (24 page)

big
bucks.” Burnd started grinning. “Charma and I laughed a lot together about how
much it bothered Eric.”

“I
can see why it would bother Eric,” said Cindy, wanting more.

Burnd
laughed louder then. “Yeah, all these dudes think that Charma loves them, that
they’re the main man.  But  I’m the only one she gives money to. The main man
is me.”

Cindy
thought of Eric and his feelings for Charma and felt like throwing up. Charma
had deceived him completely, was just using him as she used everyone else.

Cindy
had to get to the bottom of this. “Did you happen to see the bracelet Pete gave
Charma?” she asked Burnd.

“Sure,
I did,” Burnd butted his head forth. “I saw Charma’s bracelet and another one,
too. I even told Charma she wasn’t the only one getting the bracelets from Pete
cause I found another one hidden in the leaves on the ground outside her window.
I found it the day Pete died.  Someone must have dropped it there.”

“Who?”
Cindy was stunned.

“Hell
if I know,” muttered Burnd. “What difference does it make?”

“It
makes a huge difference,” said Cindy, completely on edge. “Who was hanging
around outside Charma’s window the day Pete died?”

“Who
knows? Who cares?”  Burnd exploded. “I just found the bracelet because it’s the
spot I always hang in to check on my honey. Habit, I guess.”

Cindy
looked closely at this odd man, tremendously grateful he was on board with her.

 “Do
you know where the other bracelet you found is, Burnd?” Cindy asked, desperate
to see it.

“Right
here in my pocket,” Burnd was gleeful. “I decided to keep it with me until
Charma got out, then give it to her as a welcome home present.” 

“I
need to see the bracelet immediately, “ Cindy said with bated breath.

“Sure,
why not?” Burnd pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Cindy,
proud.

 Cindy
took the bracelet from him and looked at it.  Even though it was coated with
mud and grime Cindy could tell that it was exactly like the one Loretta had,
but this one was amber. Cindy had heard that Pete gave each of his girls
bracelets that had their names engraved on the back of them.  If the name was
engraved on this one, it would tell who else knew that Pete was going to be
killed, and was waiting outside for it to happen. Cindy would have an eye
witness,  and direct evidence linked to the scene of the crime.

Cindy
carefully scraped off the mud and scratched it clean to see if a name was engraved
on the back. When the mud was gone, she held the bracelet up to the light.
Slowly she could see faint, blurry letters. In a few seconds more the letters
came together and she could read the name.

The
moment Cindy realized who the bracelet belonged to, she clutched it to her
breast.

“What’s
the matter?” asked Burnd, seeing how upset Cindy suddenly became.

“Loretta,”
mouthed Cindy.

“So?”
asked Burnd.

“This
bracelet belonged to Pete’s wife,” Cindy uttered.

“Is
that so?” Burnd grinned.

“What
was Loretta doing outside Charma’s window?” Cindy’s eyes flashed as her voice plunged
down to a place deep inside her.

Burnd
jumped away, frightened. “What’s the matter? What’s wrong?” he began to
retreat. “All kinds of women were jealous of Charma. Give me the bracelet. I
want to give it to her.”

“It’s
not that simple,” Cindy called out, “there’s been a murder here. I need to hold
onto it for a little while, Burnd.” 

“So,
hold onto it! What the hell do I care?” Burnd seemed blind sighted.

There
was no reason Loretta’s bracelet should have been found under Charma’s window,
unless Loretta had been there. How was that possible? Loretta had said she’d
never seen Charma or been near the brothel. Cindy thrust the bracelet into her
bag then, pulled out her phone and called Mattheus. 

 “I’ve
got hard evidence,” Cindy breathed when Mattheus picked up the phone.

“What?”
Mattheus was startled.

“I’m
on my way over to Loretta’s room now,” Cindy’s voice got louder. “Stay where
you are, more to follow.”

Cindy
felt shaken to the core as she hung up and then called Loretta to tell her she
needed to see her right away.  

“I
need to talk to you, Loretta,” said Cindy, in as casual a tone as she could
manage.

“Of
course, come over,” said Loretta, “we’re having a gathering here in a few
minutes, anyway. Angela and my father are coming. Everyone thinks you’re the
greatest. They’ll be happy to see you.”

“Thank
you,” Cindy stayed as calm as she could manage. “I’ll be there in a few
minutes.”

*

When
Cindy arrived Loretta was dressed in a lovely mauve dress with matching scarf.
Her hair brushed, and make up done, she looked almost as Cindy remembered back
in college. What have the yeas done to you, Cindy mourned as she and Loretta
looked at each other, eye to eye.

“You’ve
done an amazing job,” Loretta rushed over to give Cindy a hug. “They’ve got
Val, who engineered everything. Pete was obviously killed due to the greed of
the company.” Loretta was putting it all together in a way she could live with.

Cindy
wished she had more time to get into the heart of the matter slowly, but Angela
and Henry were on the way over and Cindy needed to talk to Loretta privately.

“Let’s
go out on the patio,” Cindy suggested, “it’s good to get a fresh breeze.”

“Of
course,” said Loretta, smiling. “The days have been so muggy and I’ve haven’t
been spending enough time outdoors since all of this happened.”

As
Cindy and Loretta walked outside, Cindy looked across the wide expanse of sky
and watched some birds flying across it. Gripped with fear, Cindy had no idea
how Loretta would respond to seeing her bracelet again, or the questions Cindy
had about it.

“You
know I found something surprising,” Cindy started calmly.

“What?”
asked Loretta, still smiling at her.

Cindy
dug into her bag then, and brought out the bracelet she’d put inside. “Do you
recognize this, Loretta?”

For
a moment Loretta didn’t.  Then she blinked a few times, “it’s mine,” she uttered,
 before quickly trying to grab the bracelet away.

But
Cindy held the bracelet tightly in her grasp.

“It’s
mine!” Loretta repeated. “I didn’t know what happened to it. I lost it
somewhere.”

“Where?”
snapped Cindy.

“I
don’t know,” Loretta looked confused, “somewhere.”

“It
was found under Charma’s window,” Cindy replied.

“Someone
must have found it and put it there,” Loretta gasped.

 “You
were there under her window looking in the day Pete was killed, weren’t you?”
Cindy said, watching the color drain from Loretta’s face.

“You’re
starting again with me?” Loretta muttered. “I haven’t been through enough?
You’re determined to hurt me, no matter what?”

“The
bracelet’s part of the evidence now, Loretta,” Cindy replied.

“There’s
no more evidence needed,” Loretta breathed. “Case closed, Val did it. The money
trail points to it.”

“Not
so fast,” Cindy took a step closer to her. “This is new evidence, and we need
it.”

Loretta’s
eyes narrowed as her face flushed. “Evidence of what? That I lost a bracelet?
That someone found it and gave it to you?”

 “It’s
not that simple, Loretta,” Cindy wasn’t buying a word she said.

Loretta’s
eyes narrowed then. “What are you saying then? It’s evidence against me?”

“How
did the bracelet get underneath Charma’s window?” Cindy insisted. “You told me
over and over you never went there and or saw her.”

Loretta
stared at the bracelet.  “It was a gift from Pete.  I cherished it, I was sad
when I lost it. Give it back!” she commanded.

“I
won’t,” Cindy replied, thrusting it back into her bag.

Loretta’s
voice became rasping, “You’re jealous of me and my life. No one gave you a
bracelet, did they? You don’t have a life of your own so you enjoying taking
down other people.”

“What
was the bracelet doing there, Loretta?” Cindy demanded. “Blaming me won’t wipe
out the facts.”

Suddenly
Loretta’s face became contorted. “That’s right, it won’t,” she shot out.
“Nothing will wipe out the facts, will they?”

“Nothing,”
said Cindy. “The facts speak out for themselves when you listen to them.”

“And
I tried to wipe them out for a long time, didn’t I?” exclaimed Loretta.

“Yes,
you did,” replied Cindy. “It didn’t work.”

The
reality of the situation suddenly swept over Loretta as she shut her eyes
tight.

 “You
want some facts, well here they are,” she lashed out. “I knew all the time that
the bastard went to whores, even back in Wisconsin! I knew it and I shut my
eyes.”

“I’m
sorry about that,” breathed Cindy, relieved and shocked to hear Loretta’s
admission.

“Even
though he promised me he’d stop over and over, he wouldn’t.”

“He
couldn’t,” said Cindy.

“No,
wouldn’t,” Loretta shouted. “He’d come home late at night, smelling of cheap
perfume and whiskey and make up all kinds of stories. Do you know what it does
to a woman to have to follow her husband, check up on him in secret, go into
his computer, listen to his phone messages? At the end I realized he preferred
those low lives to me. Do you know how humiliating it is? Finally, we came down
here to make it right, but he had no intention of doing it. Even as he was
signing papers for the condo he was chasing after the bitch.”

“You
knew every move he made all the time, didn’t you?” Cindy was shaken.

Loretta’s
voice grew fierce, “Sure I knew and I finally did something about it! Is that
so awful? Is it so bad? I gave the hundred thousand my father gave me to a guy
at the real estate company, Lou Grand. Then I told him to find someone to
finish Pete off.”

“To
kill Pete?”  Cindy had to be absolutely clear about it.

“That’s
right,  kill him,” Loretta snarled,  “and dump the body in Charma’s room where
it belonged. Charma was paid off for letting us do it. We told her she’d be
taken in as the suspect, but promised she’d be let out soon. Lou had his way of
arranging it. Charma knew Lou and she trusted him.”

“And
then you had Lou call and threaten Taylor’s life?” Cindy’s voice was shaking.

“Taylor
was digging too deep, getting too close. And I hated him anyway,” Loretta
breathed. “Two for the price of one,” she laughed suddenly. “Taylor was smart
though, he hid  away.”

“So,
you threatened Taylor’s life and had Pete killed?” Cindy repeated, wanting to
make sure Loretta heard exactly what she was saying as well.

“That’s
right,” yelled Loretta, suddenly irate. “And you’re next.” She turned and ran
to lock the door and then started pushing furniture around to create a blockade.
“Nobody gets in until I let them,” she yelled.

Cindy
ran after her to restrain her, but Loretta was on a tear now, running back and
forth like a madwoman, pushing chairs back and forth, throwing vases to the
ground.

Cindy
quickly put a call into Mattheus.  “Get over here instantly. Get the cops,”
Cindy shouted.

“I’m
on it, I’m here, right down the hall,” Mattheus was all over it.

 “Calm
down, Loretta,”  Cindy yelled to her above the din then. “You won’t get away
with this, ever. Game’s up.”

“Game’s
just beginning,” Loretta’s eyes shone darkly at Cindy.

 “Mattheus
knows I’m here. I told him about the evidence,” Cindy tried to frighten her.

Loretta
seemed fearless.  “So, I’ll get the bracelet from you after you’re dead, and
bury it where no one will find it,”

Suddenly
there was a knock on the door.  “Open up,” called Mattheus, fiercely.

“You’re
not coming in, no one is,” screeched Loretta.

Mattheus
knocked harder one more time and in a few seconds there was the sound of a
crash as the door fell from its hinges and Mattheus stormed in.

 “I
have Loretta’s bracelet that was found under Charma’s window,” Cindy yelled to
Mattheus. “She’s confessed to arranging to have Pete killed. It’s all here on
my recorder.”

“Your
recorder?” Loretta tore at Cindy then. “You’ve betrayed me in every way!”

“You
betrayed yourself, Loretta,” Cindy said as she watched Brad and a couple of
cops now storm into the room.

The
moment Loretta saw them, she raced out on the patio.

“Hold
up there, you’re under arrest,” Brad announced fiercely, rushing after her.

“I’m
not under arrest,” Loretta couldn’t catch her breath. “I haven’t done anything
wrong, just had a man killed who hurt me. He deserved to die, it’s better this
way.”

Cindy
ran out after them to intervene, but all she could do was watch as Brad tried
to grab Loretta. Loretta whirled around him like a tornado, yanked away and in
a sudden flash of terror, threw herself off the patio onto the ground.

Cindy
lunged towards her and screamed as the loud splatter of Loretta’s body hitting
the pavement resounded.

“My
God, my God,” Cindy yelled as Mattheus flew beside her.

The
other cops dashed onto the patio and in a few moments both Angela and Henry
burst into the room.

“What’s
happened? What’s going on here?” they yelled, looking around at the wild
disarray.  

 “Loretta,
Loretta,” Cindy called from the patio.

Angela
ran to the patio and looked down.

“What
happened? What happened?” Henry called, as he tried to make his way out there.

“Don’t
come out here and look,” Angela called back, stopping him. “Loretta’s jumped.”

“Jumped?
She’s gone?” Henry sounded as though he would faint.

“We
don’t know that yet,” said Mattheus, desperately trying to calm things. “Could
be she’s just unconscious. It’s entirely possible. Give it time, she’s had a
bad fall, but she could still be alive.”