Suspicions with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Four) (5 page)

I
t was just after eight when Rilynne walked out of her front door. Matthews was waiting outside with the trunk already popped. After dropping her suitcase in, she climbed into the passenger seat.

“Where’s your uniform?” he asked as he pulled away from the curb. “I only agreed to take you to the agency so I could see you in the uniform. The guys wanted evidence. I agreed to take pictures, but now I’m going to have to go back empty handed.” The insincere disappointment in his voice left Rilynne with a grin.

The staffing agency was on a small strip near the high school, tucked between two larger offices. The inside had a single desk sitting in the back corner, opposite a small seating area. The corner behind the desk had two large bookcases, filled with thick, black binders.

“You must be the detective Patrick was sending,” the woman sitting at the desk said when she looked up at her. Her thick, curly hair was pulled up in a clip, making the large pearl necklace around her neck stand out. “I’m Anna Marks. Come have a seat and I’ll pull together everything you’ll need.”

Rilynne rolled her suitcase against the wall and took the seat across the desk from Anna. She watched as she grabbed a thick file out of her filing cabinet and began pulling pages out.

“Here’s a detailed layout of the house. Now, as I’m sure you were informed, I’m only agreeing to this because Patrick has given me his assurances that it will never get out that I’m at all part of this. In order to cover myself, I’m going to need you to fill out all of the standard paperwork. You can start on this pile. Please read everything before signing,” she said. Rilynne couldn’t help but notice the note of annoyance in her voice.

She didn’t say another word until Rilynne signed the last page in the thick stack. The moment the pen left the paper, she grabbed the pages and said, “I’ll make a copy of these for your records. Since you can’t very well be dropped off in a car belonging to anyone at the department, I’ll have a cab come by to take you to the manor.”

By the time Anna handed the stack of papers back to her, the cab was waiting outside. Even though she had worked several undercover assignments in her time on the
department, she still felt a knot growing inside of her as they made their way through the city. It was somewhere between nervousness and excitement.

“You can just leave me at the front gate,” she told the driver as they started up the long, private driveway.

The driver nodded but didn’t respond. She looked out the window and watched the towering trees pass by. After several long minutes, the car slowed and she looked forward to find a large iron gate crossing the road. It was almost frightening. She wondered to herself if that was the intention when it was built.

As the car came to a stop, she pulled her bag out of the trunk and paid the driver. When she turned around, she found two large men staring down at her. They were just as intimidating as the gate itself.

“The agency sent me for the open maid position,” she said, trying her best to sound nervous.

The larger of the two men, who was built like a gorilla, stepped toward her. She recognized him as Rick Olsen, though his pictures didn’t come close to capturing his intensity. His eyes, though a pretty shade of light blue, seemed to burn through her like a hot laser. It took all of her strength not to back away.

He grabbed the papers out of her hand and flipped through them before grunting and nodding to the man in the gatehouse. “Come with me,” he said in a deep, scratchy voice. He tossed the papers back at her and turned toward the gate, which was now half opened.

She dragged her bag behind her as she followed him to a golf cart parked just inside the gate. She thought for a moment that he would help her load the bag onto the cart, but instead he sat down and waited for her to finish. After lugging the bag onto the back, she barely had time to climb into the passenger seat before the cart lunged forward.

After the length of the driveway they had driven before reaching the gate, she had expected the manor to be only moments ahead of them. Instead, they drove another five minutes in silence before the tree line broke and the grounds appeared.

She let out an involuntary gasp when the manor came into view. In her opinion, it was closer to a palace. The layout made her think of a chicken’s foot, with three separate wings branching off of the main foyer. The entire manor held twenty-nine bedrooms and twelve restrooms in addition to the dozens of personal and social rooms. From the layout
she had been given, she knew that the end of the west wing held the rooms occupied by the staff, aside from nanny who had a room near the children.

One thing that had surprised her was the bedroom arrangements. Not only were Jared and Cyndi Lewis sleeping in separate bedrooms, the rooms were on entirely different wings. Jared was on the east wing, along with the children, and Cyndi was on the north. Connecting the ends of the three wings was a large, underground tunnel. Looking at the plans, it appeared that the tunnel didn’t extend beyond those points, but it was something she would want to look at herself.

He drove around to the left of the building, stopping at the end of the west wing. “Come with me,” he said again. She grabbed the bag and followed him through the large French doors. He didn’t slow until he reached an open door twenty feet down the hall. “You will stay here,” he stated.

“Not much of a talker, huh?” she asked, trying to hide her grin. Without responding, he turned and walked away.

The room wasn’t as small as she expected. The walls were stone white, except the one sitting behind the large headboard, which had been painted a dark red. To the right side of the bed sat a black nightstand that matched the bed frame. In lieu of a dresser, the bed had six drawers buildin on either side.

“Not bad,” she said aloud to herself as she continued examining the room.

“You must be the new girl,” Rilynne heard as she pulled the bag up onto the large, cushioned chair in the corner a few moments later. She turned to find a man standing in the doorway watching her curiously. Her first thought was he looked like a statue; his handsome facial features seemed chiseled beneath his dark, flowing hair. The smile on his face left her almost mesmerized.

“I guess so,” she replied. “Judging by the button up shirt and tie, I would say you’re the driver.”

He shrugged in an amused sort of way. “I prefer chauffeur. You can call me Danny, though.”

“Danny it is. I prefer Naomi to new girl. It helps to prevent confusion after I’ve been somewhere for a while.”

He chuckled as he looked her up and down. After he seemed satisfied with what he saw, he winked at her and said, “I guess I’ll see you later then, Naomi.”

She was hit with mixed feelings when he left. Although she was left with an uncomfortable sensation, she couldn’t help but be optimistic after the encounter. She had learned long before that men seemed to be much more forthcoming with someone they were attracted to. She just didn’t know how to take advantage of it without returning his flirtatious advances.

Before she called to check in with Matthews, she went through every inch of the room making sure it hadn’t been bugged. With how paranoid the Lewis’ seemed, she wouldn’t have put it past them to put surveillance in the room, especially after the previous occupant was murdered. After she was satisfied, she pulled out her phone.

“What have you got?” Matthews asked.

Rilynne looked both up and down the hall twice before closing her door. “Nothing useful,” she replied as she sat down on the corner of her bed. “Other than the head of security, the only person I’ve met so far has been the Lewis’ chauffeur. He seems friendly enough, though a bit of a flirt. It didn’t take him more than a few seconds to start hitting on me.”

“Let him,” Matthews said abruptly. “If it will help you get close enough to get information out of him, let him think you’re interested.”

She hesitated, unsure how comfortable she was with his suggestion. “So, let me get this straight. You want me to flirt and lead him to believe I’m interested in him? I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“I’ve seen you play the flirting card in interrogations,” he said. “It won’t be much different than that.”

Rilynne couldn’t disagree with him more. It was one thing to be sitting in a room with someone and bat her eyes while she questioned them about a crime. Flirting with someone who was oblivious to the fact that she might have ulterior motives was a whole other ball game.

“Okay,” she replied with a resigned sigh, though she still wasn’t pleased with it. “I’ll call to check in tomorrow night, unless I find something sooner.”

After hanging up, she lay back on her bed and stared around the room. She knew that playing on the chauffeur’s desires would no doubt make it easier to learn what she needed to, but something about it still struck her wrong. When she really thought about it, the reason was simple: Ben.

Rilynne had hoped to spend her first day getting familiar with everyone in the house, but soon found there was little chance of that. She hadn’t even managed to fully unpack when there was a knock at the door. When she opened it, she found Olsen standing in the doorway with three large binders.

“Mrs. Lewis wishes you to spend the rest of the day going over the procedures of the house,” he said as he held out the binders. “You’ll begin your duties tomorrow. She will not tolerate anything less than perfection.” He turned without waiting for a response and walked tightly down the hall.

She had read over her share of procedural guides, but had never seen anything so extensive. Every room in the manor was given its own section, and it seemed that every item within the room was listed. In addition to a picture and description of the items, there were very specific instructions about how they should be cleaned.

As unusual as they were, the binders were actually very useful. They included nearly every item placed around the house. Rilynne knew that the item used to hit Brittney Price was long and approximately three inches wide. While it wasn’t guaranteed the item was in one of the binders, it definitely gave her a place to start.

As she looked over the instructions for each area she would be responsible for the next day, she made a list of every item that could have caused the bruise found on the victim’s lower back. Though she knew the manor was huge, she found a surprising number of items that were consistent. Unfortunately, none of them were in the rooms she would be cleaning tomorrow.

By the time she finished flipping through the binders and reading over the detailed list of responsibilities she would have, it was just after ten. She walked quietly to the kitchen and grabbed something from the staff fridge, then retreated back to her room.

After pulling on her pajamas and running her fingers quickly through her long auburn hair, she slid under the thick comforter. Her head barely touched the pillow before she felt herself drift away.

“This is the exact type of uniform I was assured I wouldn’t have to wear!” Rilynne yelled into the mirror. The image in front of her made her want to walk out the door and head back to her real life. The puffy skirt barely left her covered, and the top was so low cut that she was afraid she would pop out of it the next time she took a deep breath.

She turned to find the members of the homicide unit standing around her room, each with his own judgmental look.

“Well, I guess that’s as good as it’s going to get,” Wilcome said abruptly. “Off to it then. And if you get fired from this job, don’t bother coming back to the station.”

“You can’t be serious,” she said as the men started filing out of the room. She reached out to stop Wilcome, but he pushed her away and continued out. When she ran out the door after them, she found only a long, empty hallway. She glanced down at her watch and panicked when she realized she was already late. Running as fast as she could, she came upon the first room she was to clean.

When she walked in, she was almost knocked back by the sight. The bathroom, which was as large as her entire house, looked like one you would expect to find in a rundown rest stop. “No time to waste,” she heard coming from the intercom above. “You have one hour to get the room entirely spotless.”

“How am I supposed to get this done in just an hour?” she asked as she pulled the bucket of cleaning supplies toward her. She emptied it out on the floor, but found only a small bottle of cleaner and her toothbrush. “I can’t use this,” she called out.

“Only twenty minutes left,” the voice called out again.

Panicking even further, she grabbed the toothbrush and started scrubbing the sink with it. She had only managed to clean a small circle when a loud buzzer echoed through the room.

“Your time is up,” the voice said. This time there was a note of pleasure in it that left her worried. Before she could respond, though, three large guards walked in and led her out of the room.

She considered running but they soon came to a stop. She looked out and saw a large throne sitting several feet in front of her.

“Tsk, tsk,” the woman sitting in it said. “That just won’t do at all. Away with her!”

Rilynne tried to plead with the woman, but before she could even get a word out, the guards surrounded her and pushed her backwards. She took a step back but the ground vanished below her. She was falling. With every motion her body made, it was met by sharp pain. She was tumbling uncontrollably down a large flight of stairs.