Murder of a Bookstore Babe (25 page)

Xavier’s brows were drawn together, and he was patting Risé’s hand, clearly comforting his old friend. Skye wondered whether they were talking about Kayla’s murder, Orlando’s fall from grace, or maybe just the strain of opening a new business in a strange town.

As Skye watched, she saw Xavier reach over and cup Risé’s cheek. Skye was glad Orlando and Risé had moved to Scumble River. It was good to see Xavier with friends in town.

Smiling, Skye resumed her search for Xenia. A quick glance in the café showed it to be empty except for Orlando washing dishes. Skye shrugged. Xenia must have been getting off work when she saw her and had already left the store.

Skye made a mental note to track her down the next day, then went back to the literature alcove. Once she finished tidying the space and made sure everything was back where it belonged, Skye picked up the empty pitcher and tray and walked into the central area. She looked around for Risé, but she wasn’t behind the counter.

Figuring that since the store had closed several minutes ago, Risé might be taking a break in the café, Skye headed in that direction.

When she approached the door, she stopped and put the tray under her arm in order to grab the handle. As she did so, she heard Orlando say, “If you don’t stop, he’s going to tell everyone.”

“But it’s not right.” Risé’s tone was stubborn.

“Right, schmite. Just lay off.”

“No.”

“Do you really want the entire town to know?”

Skye held her breath. What were Risé and Orlando hiding? As she leaned forward to hear better, the tray slipped from underneath her arm. It clattered to the floor, sounding like the cymbals in a marching band.

Immediately the voices fell silent.

A few seconds later Risé pushed open the door, looked at Skye, and said, “Oh, it’s you. I thought you were gone. Here, let me take those.” She grabbed the tray and pitcher in one hand and gripped Skye’s elbow with the other. Nearly pushing her toward the exit, Risé said in a rush, “Thanks so much for helping us out. I really appreciate it. You must be exhausted, so I won’t keep you. Bye.”

As soon as Skye was over the threshold, Risé locked the door, pulled down the shade, and turned the sign to CLOSED.

 

“You should have seen her. She couldn’t wait to get me out of there.” Skye lay on her stomach across Wally’s king-size mattress, her chin resting in both hands. “What do you think they don’t want people to know?”

“More important, who is going to tell it?” Wally was running on the treadmill next to the bed. The exercise machine was a recent gift from his father, who after a health scare was on a fitness kick. “And what does Risé have to quit doing in order to stop him?”

“I wonder if it’s Hugo.” Skye narrowed her eyes. “The first day I met Risé, Hugo was with me, and they had that argument about parking spaces that I told you about. As we were walking away, he said something about most people having to make a living from their business and that he’d done some digging, too.”

“Did you talk to Hugo today?” Wally wiped his face with the towel hanging around his neck.

“No. I didn’t realize he worked such short hours.” Skye played with a loose thread on the bedspread. “By the time I got to the used-car lot he was gone. But he’ll be my priority tomorrow.”

“Good.” Wally increased the speed on the treadmill. “Call me before you go inside, and I’ll have an officer nearby as backup in case there’s a problem.”

“Okay.” She looked at Wally, admiring his powerful, well-muscled body moving with such easy grace as he ran in place. “Any more on the security camera image or Risé’s or Kayla’s background?”

“The crime scene techs had to send the tape to the state, so who knows how long that will take.” Wally took a swig of water from the sports bottle in the treadmill’s cup holder. “Martinez is still digging, but the police from Risé’s old neighborhood said they’ve never heard of her.”

“How about her old job?” Skye asked. “Anything there?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any record of where Risé worked before opening up the bookstore.”

“Wouldn’t her income tax records tell you that?”

“Sure, but we’d need a warrant to see them,” he explained. “I told Martinez just to ask Risé for the info, but I think Risé intimidates her. I need to get on Martinez about that.”

“Or ask Risé yourself.”

“I will if I have to, but Martinez needs to learn.”

Skye nodded. This was the young officer’s first job after police training. “Anything on Kayla?”

“The students at her school seemed to have genuinely liked her. None of them mentioned anyone being jealous.”

“How about those blue plastic pieces the ME found in Kayla’s hair?” Skye sat up. “Do we know what they came from? I’m assuming they must have broken off of whatever hit her on the head.”

“That’s what I think, too, but the ME has no idea what it is.” Wally scowled. “I sure wish it was like TV, where they track a speck of dirt back to the exact location the criminal got it stuck on his shoe.”

“Me, too.” Skye was a big fan of those shows. “Oh, I keep forgetting to let you know Vince’s big news.” After telling Wally about the engagement and elopement plans, she added, “But now I can’t get in touch with him or Loretta, and I’m worried.”

“He’s probably just hiding out at Loretta’s and not answering his messages, in case your mom gets wind of what’s going on.”

“I hope so, but you’d think he’d
want
to talk to me.” Skye wrinkled her brow.

“Maybe.” Wally shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry too much about him. Haven’t you noticed? He always seems to land on his feet.”

“True.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Well, I’d better get going.”

Wally turned off the treadmill, walked over, and stood in front of her. “Why don’t you stay?” He ran his fingertips along her inner thigh. “I could grab a quick shower, and then . . .”

“I really should go home.” Skye’s mouth went dry, and she swallowed. He was so darn sexy. “It is a school night.”

“So?” Slowly and seductively his gaze slid over her. “I’ll set the alarm for six.”

“But I don’t have anything to wear in the morning.” She fought an overwhelming desire to lie back and forget the practicalities. “All I have here are jeans, T-shirts, and tennis shoes.”

“Wrong.” Wally kissed her nose. “I bought you a present.” He drew her off the bed and over to his closet. Pointing, he asked, “What do you think?”

“Oh, my gosh,” Skye gasped. It was the emerald dress she had tried on during their last shopping trip to Von Maur’s, a high-end department store near Yorktown Mall. Although it had fit perfectly, she had decided it was too expensive and had reluctantly put it back on the rack. “When did you get this?”

“When you went to the bathroom,” Wally answered. “Surprised?”

“Yes. But I can’t exactly wear it with my Keds.”

“Look down.”

A pair of matching pumps was lined up on the floor.

“You are so sweet to me.” She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him. “How can I ever thank you?”

“I can think of a couple of ways.” Wally’s grin was devilish as he unbuttoned her blouse and kissed his way down her stomach. “Let’s start here.”

F
ridays were typically bad times to try to test or observe students. Teachers often scheduled special instructional activities then, and Skye felt it was unfair to the kids to make them miss what they considered treats. So when she got to school and found a message from Dr. Wraige ordering her to attend a course on computer-form completion at the Stanley County Special Education Cooperative in Laurel, starting at nine a.m. that day, she wasn’t all that upset.

During the lunch break she tried to call Vince again, and when she couldn’t reach him, she phoned Loretta’s law firm. Her assistant said Loretta had taken the week off and wasn’t expected back until Monday. Skye tried to wheedle additional details from him, but he refused to tell her anything else. Either he genuinely didn’t know where Loretta was or why she’d taken off work, or Skye was losing her touch.

The lesson lasted until two, and while Skye drove back to Scumble River after her class, she brooded over Vince and Loretta’s disappearance. However, as she turned left on Basin Street at quarter to three, she put her concern about her brother and his fiancée aside and concentrated on what she would say to Hugo.

Skye didn’t know whether her cousin had anything to do with the murder, but even if he was completely innocent, Hugo tended to view information as a valuable commodity and didn’t often give it away for free. She hoped he’d make an exception for her, but she was afraid he wouldn’t.

As she had promised, Skye called Wally to alert him that she had arrived at the used-car lot, then waited until she saw a squad car pull up and park a couple of spots away. She noticed that the officer had a clear view through the showroom window and gave Anthony a slight acknowledging nod before going inside.

This time she was in luck. There were no customers when she entered, and Hugo was sitting alone at one of the half dozen small round tables scattered through the space.

Skye approached her cousin, who was playing a handheld video game as he drank a cup of coffee and puffed on a cigarette. The bouquet of multicolored balloons that were attached to a weight in the center of the table swayed each time he blew out a stream of smoke.

“Hi, Hugo.”

He jumped, then muttered, “What are you doing here?” His gaze went back to his game. “Did you bring another one of your juvenile delinquents to cheat me out of a profit?”

“Nope.” Apparently Xenia
had
gotten a good deal. “I came to talk to you about Dad’s birthday.”

“Oh.” Hugo’s sour expression changed to something more neutral. “When is it?”

“Not until January, but I want to throw him a surprise party.”

“Why do you want to talk to me about that?” he asked, his voice indicating mild interest.

“Well, first, I wanted to make sure you have the date free. His birthday is the ninth, but I want to hold the party on the eighth.”

“I’ll have to check with Victoria and get back to you.” Hugo blew a smoke ring in Skye’s direction. “What else? You could have called for that. I suppose you want me to pitch in some money.”

“Not at all.” Skye decided to try and shake him up. “In fact, it looks as if business is pretty bad.”

“We’re just slow today.” Hugo’s tone was defensive. “Saturday there’ll be lots of customers. I’m having an exotic dancer to show that we’re ‘stripping down’ the prices.”

Ew!
Skye hoped her expression didn’t show her true thoughts. “Really?” She pasted a concerned look on her face. “Last Saturday when I was at the Tales and Treats grand opening, your lot seemed deserted. And I know no one moved those cars you had parked in front of the store the whole time I was there.”

“Maybe you missed it when they were taken for a test drive.”

“I don’t think so.” Even though Hugo hadn’t invited her to, Skye pulled out a chair and sat down. “In fact, those same vehicles were there in the exact same spots Sunday.” Skye needled her cousin a little more. “I’m sure Risé’s security camera would show that I’m right.”

“Dammit it all to hell!” Hugo stood abruptly, his chair tipping over and crashing to the floor. “Are you telling me that bitch is recording my cars?”

Oops!
“Maybe she’s taping something else, and your cars are just there.” Skye hadn’t realized that Hugo didn’t know about the cameras. Risé mustn’t have confronted him yet. Was that what she and Orlando were arguing about the night before?

“I warned her not to mess with me.” He stomped over to the glass wall and peered out, apparently not seeing or not caring that there was a police car parked in front of his building.

“You shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Skye soothed. “Maybe she doesn’t intend to do anything with the tape.”

“Of course she does.” Hugo grunted. “Women like her never know when to quit. Now she’s in for it. She’ll learn that most people have skeletons in their closets, but I bury mine so deep they never see the light of day.”

Oh, my God!
Was Hugo admitting murder? “What are you going to do?”

“Tell everyone her dirty little secret.”

Phew!
That didn’t sound too violent. “Which is?”

“Hmm.” Hugo stroked his chin. “Why not? Everyone will know in a day or two.”

“Maybe you should talk to her first.” No matter how much she needed this information, Skye didn’t want him to expose Risé to the censure of Scumble River’s gossips.

“I’m through trying to reason with that bitch.” Hugo extracted a monogrammed silver flask from his inside jacket pocket and took a swig. “Everyone’s going to know that the investment firm she worked for swindled its clients out of millions of dollars, and her boss is in prison for securities fraud.”

“That doesn’t mean she was guilty of anything,” Skye pointed out.

“How could she not know what was going on?” Hugo snorted. “And if she’s so innocent, why didn’t she lose all her money like the people who trusted her?”

“How do you know she didn’t?” Skye asked. “Come to think of it, how do you know all this to begin with?” If Wally’s officer hadn’t been able to find out where Risé had last worked, how had Hugo? Of course, Zelda was fresh out of police training, and Hugo had years of practice being a bastard.

“It was easy. I asked around. They paid cash for the building and have no loans or investors. That’s all a matter of public record on file at city hall.” Hugo righted his chair, sat back down, and picked up his video game. “As to the other, who in his right mind gives up a six-figure income to open up a bookstore in Podunk, Illinois?” His voice was an insinuating purr. “I knew there was a scandal somewhere, and once I found out where she used to work, I just looked online until I found it.”