Killing America's Sweetheart: A Natalie Miller Mystery (17 page)

I was speechless at her confession. It’s amazing how much heartache one person could take. I felt a new admiration for Debbie forming.

“Hey, Nat. I know it’s not my business, but are you involved with Detective Ryan?”

I was not prepared for her question. Why on Earth was she bringing up Zack?

“No. I’ve known Zack since we were kids, but there is absolutely nothing going on between us.”

“Good. I wasn’t sure. That girlfriend of his is psycho. She’s the real estate agent with billboards all over town, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, I’ve seen the way she talks to you and she’s obviously a bitch. She’s got to be at least
what, forty? The age difference must make her insecure, which is why she’s always so rude to you. I’ve heard she’s stolen a number of husbands around town in the past. She must be afraid karma is going to come back on her,” Debbie said.

“Why do you say that?” I asked with curiosity.

“Well, it’s just that you two have such great chemistry together. I’m sure she’s seen it, which probably pisses her off. Plus, you’re a decade younger than her and you’re a knockout, so I can see why she’s been stomping around the store lately.”

I had never thought about it that way. Nor did I think I was a knockout. Poor Debbie probably needed to have her eyes checked.

“You’re not going to get involved with him are you?” she asked cautiously.

Just where was s
he going with this conversation?

“Debbie, is there something you’re trying to tell me?” I asked.

She looked down at her nearly empty plate and nodded.

“Look
, I saw Detective Reynolds and Hannah together and it looked kind of serious,” she said with regret.

“You
saw them together? When? Where?” I asked in rapid fire succession.

“It was a few weeks
before she was killed, at City Park, around 9pm. I was out walking and I saw them leaning up against her Range Rover talking in hushed tones. It sounded pretty intense,” she said softly.

My mind was spinning. Zack and Hannah? WTF? It didn’t make sense. What was going on?

“That’s not all,” Debbie continued, interrupting my thoughts. “As I was making my second lap around the park I saw psycho Emma’s white Mercedes pull up behind the Range Rover and that’s when the real show began. Emma accused Hannah of being a slut and screwing Zack and Hannah just laughed. Zack tried to keep Emma away from Hannah, but she struggled. Things only got worse as I moved closer and heard what Hannah was saying.”

Debbie stopped and took a sip of her Pepsi.

“What did she say?” I asked on the edge of my seat.

“She said
that Emma was a small town slut, a two bit lackluster real estate agent, who was clearly past her prime. She said that she looked like one of Hugh Hefner’s retired girlfriends and that she was desperately trying to hold onto Zack,” Debbie said, taking a bit of a lone French fry.

Whoa.

“What did Emma say?” I asked with anticipation.

“She lost it.
She started to go after Hannah and made contact with her cheek. I heard the hit and it was solid. Hannah was pissed and tried to retaliate, but Zack pulled them apart, but not before Emma yelled that she’d kill her. It was pretty intense,” Debbie concluded.

Holy shit.

This put a new perspective on the situation. Why hadn’t this been circulated through the Treeville grapevine? Surely something this juicy would have made rounds in a matter of hours.

“I can’t believe I never heard of this before,” I said amazed.

“Well, the night it happened was a pretty awful one. It was the evening of the first big rain we had. There wasn’t a single person out at that time. I was only out because I hadn’t been able to make my gym run that morning and needed to burn some energy. I highly doubt they saw me and if they did, they paid no attention,” she explained.

Another thought ran through my head.

“Debbie, why are you now just telling me this?”

She was quiet for a moment and said, “I don’t like to gossip. I figured it was a private matter and
I didn’t want to get involved. I knew you were friends with him, but I didn’t think it was my place to say anything, at least not until Hannah was murdered.”

“You never thought to mention this earlier, like right after she was killed?”

I can understand not wanting to get involved in someone’s messy personal affairs, but to not disclose the information after a murder is committed and being a witness to a threat against the victim was hard to swallow.

“I did. You have to believe me Nat. But, I was also scared. Zack is handling the case and I didn’t feel comfortable going to him with this information. You know what I mean? It was only after you told me what Eric did to you and Emma’s part in the matter that made me concerned.”

Yes, I did believe her. How was Debbie to confess to Zack about the incident when he already knew about it? I would bet money that he never mentioned this to anyone. Did that mean Zack could be capable of murder? But, what would his motive be?
              “I started thinking that maybe Emma…” she said trailing off. “Maybe Emma did something to Hannah. She might have just snapped.”

Wow. I never would have come up with this angle before. Bu
t it did make sense. Emma was okay with the possibility of me getting assaulted by a known sex offender just for having a friendship with Zack, what would she do to someone whom he cheated with?

Sudd
enly loud bells began sounding in my head. It was Gilles with a warning of ‘danger.’

After lunch ended, I remembered I had agreed to meet Karen at a mysterious location. The addres
s was on Main Street, so since Judy’s was located there as well, I decided to walk the short distance. When I arrived at my intended destination, I looked around in confusion. Why would Karen have me meet her at an empty office? The address was to a historical building built back in the 1860’s. One of the first constructed back when the town of Treeville had been settled. It was currently divided into three levels of office spaces, each floor home to businesses like accounting, travel, hair salons and on the main floor, a bakery. The address was to a suite on the second floor and as I made my way to the assigned suite I saw Karen dart out from the door and yell, “Surprise!”

CHAPTER
TWENTY TWO

“Well, what do you think?” she asked beaming.

I looked around, which consisted of a single empty room with a street view window lining the far wall. The carpet was well worn and then some, but the architecture was impressive. The lovely restored crown molding and unusual fire place, really added character to the place.

“Ah, what is it?” I asked unsure.

“Okay we may have a problem. What kind of psychic doesn’t know this is her new office space?” she added sarcastically.

New office space? Oh, right we had agreed to go in together to form a
detective agency. Where was my mind? Still mulling over the news Debbie had shared no doubt.

“Sorry,” I said after being silen
t a bit too long. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind. But, this is great. You really jumped in and found something fast.”

“
I had today off, so I thought I’d focus on finding us a place. Oh, I almost forgot, look what I had made!” she said running off to her messenger bag, lying next to the far wall.

She came back and displayed a logo of
a black and white eye with a female silhouette standing in the center, with the words, “Psychic Eye Spy” underneath.

“Isn’t it catchy? Psychic Eye Spy? I know we can’t legally be called a detective agency, but the name does sort of indicate that we do a little spying along with the fortune stuff,” she asked smiling.

I squinted and saw a very small font under the business name, “What’s that say?” I asked.

“Oh, ‘
For entertainment purposes only.’ That way we can’t get into trouble, by acknowledging that we are in no way a full functioning P.I. business.”

Smart. In California one could only become a licensed private investigator if they
had three years of investigative experience, a law degree, a B.S. in police science with two years’ experience, or an associate degree in either police science, political law or justice and 2 ½ years of experience. Since neither of us had any of those qualifications, we were forced to be creative in how we marketed and sold ourselves.

“You work fast,” I said grinning.

“I take it you like the location?” she asked hesitantly.

The
location was prime. Situated in the heart of downtown Treeville, we were sandwiched in a great area, near the courthouse, restaurants, opera house, coffee shops and bakery. Best of all, I’d be able to walk here, weather permitting. Karen really outdid herself.

“It’s
great,” I said smiling.

The fact that my friend would sacrifice one of her split days off to help with such an overwhelming task, made me a bit emotional.

“Awesome,” she said. “Because I just signed a one year lease for us!”

A
one year lease? That meant we would be responsible for twelve months of rent.

“Uh, Karen. How much a
month are we talking?” I asked.

“Four hundred and it includes all utilities too! I figured for that
price it was a steal and we can split it 50/50.”

Oh, I guess tha
t was doable. $200 each eased my panic, but still that meant we would have to get at least that every month from paying customers, and it wasn’t something I was sure this small town was willing to invest in. We definitely need to advertise online.

“It’l
l be fine,” she reassured me. “I can see the look of panic in your face. Business will begin pouring in soon, watch, you’ll see.”

I nodded, but didn’t share in my
partner’s optimistic outlook. Treeville could be brutal to new and small businesses, especially one like this one that was geared toward very open minded individuals.

“Come
on! Let’s go shopping to find us some furniture.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Karen and I spent the rest of the day scouring thrift stores and Ikea for the perfect finishing touches. After we were done
with shopping we headed over to Chipotle in West Sacramento for a late dinner. By the time we parted ways it was nearly ten o’clock. As I drove home on the Old River Road my mind raced with thoughts. Could Zack have been involved with Hannah? Why hadn’t he admitted to knowing her? And more importantly, did he have a motive to kill her? I hated even thinking such terrible thoughts about him, but as life had taught me, no one was who they appeared to be. Everyone had skeleton’s in their closet, the question was, just how deadly were Zack’s?

Before I knew it, my car was parked in front of Zack
’s small bachelor bungalow. The home was modest and tasteful, done in neutral colors of warm beige and black. I’m sure the color scheme was approved by Emma, who sold him the house, (apparently it was how they met). Speaking of Emma as I shut the car off, I scanned the driveway and surrounding area for any sign of her white Mercedes. Thankfully, it was nowhere in sight. So, I gathered myself and made my way to the front door. I was just about to knock when it swung open.

“I was wondering if you were going to come in, or sit outside and stalk me,” Zack said with a slight smile.

“Do you have security cameras or something?” I asked.

“Nope. I’m a cop, I have
ultra-sensitive awareness,” he said gesturing for me to come inside.

“Right,” I responded making my way into the soft toned living room.

“Sit down. Would you like a drink or something?” he asked looking a bit nervous.

“No. I actually came to talk to you about something,” I said taking a seat on the black leather sofa.

Zack took a seat on the chair opposite me.

“Listen Nat,”
he began and then paused. “I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I’m an asshole and I had no right to do what I did. I’m sorry that I crossed the line, in more ways than one.”

I hadn’t come to discuss the incident from earlier. In fact, it was something I’d rather forget.

“Look, I didn’t come here to talk about that,” I said.

“Please let me finish saying what I need to say,” he said looking very somber. “I know that things between us have been strained since that nig
ht. I never regretted it; in fact I wanted to make it right. You’re not a one night stand woman. I never meant for it be just that, but then you left to rehab. By the time you came back it was as if you forgot about what happened. Fuck, Nat…I’ve missed you. The times we spent together, you helping me on a case, the smell of you, the taste of you,” he said moving closer to me, taking my face into his hands.

He was so close I felt my breath quiver.

“But you’re with Emma,” I said licking my lips with nervous anticipation.