The Good Die Twice (13 page)

Traffic came to a halt as blinking
construction road signs reduced the expressway to one lane.

Uh, oh.

What is it, Sara?

Construction. The car is at a standstill.
There’s a long line of trucks.

Come on home, Sara.

Don’t you want me to try to get the earring
back?

No. They don’t have the real one. I
planted a fake
.

Sara dabbed antiseptic onto the wound in the
back of Dagger’s head and on his face. “Follow my finger.” She
moved her index finger left to right and watched his eyes. His
temples pulsed, jaws clenched. “I think you have a concussion.”

“No. I’ve had a concussion before. Believe
me, this is just a bump on the head.”

“How did they get through the locked
gate?”

“Probably jammed the code. I’ll have to
reprogram it. They must have parked their car behind the garage
because I didn’t see it when I drove up.” He winced as he stretched
his arm. “Listen, the night of Tyler’s party, did you notice how
many of the Tyler men were smoking cigars?”

Sara thought for a moment. “All three of
them, I think. I didn’t go in the smoking room but I’m sure I saw
them go in. What are you getting at?”

“You have to look at everyone as a
suspect.”

“You don’t think Nick had anything to do with
Rachel, do you? It was his brother who had the affair with
her.”

“Just keep your eyes and ears open when you
are in the Tyler house.” Dagger looked at the empty bookshelves and
the books cluttering the floor. “I’ll clean this up tomorrow.” He
turned his attention to the landing outside of Sara’s bedroom and
the steep jump. “How the hell did you jump down from there without
breaking a leg?”

“I guess the same way I was able to shoot the
rope from your hands.”

“Shit, I thought you were going to shoot my
hand off.” Dagger tried to touch his sore chin but Sara slapped his
hand away.

“I saw the rope as if it were only a foot
from me, magnified, the eyesight of the hawk.”

“And I suppose the jump over the railing was
more than human skill.” Dagger smiled. “There’s no end to your
talents.”

Einstein flew into the aviary and returned a
few seconds later, landing on the couch between Sara and Dagger.
The macaw dropped a cheese curl in Dagger’s lap.

“Oh, he’s so sweet.” Sara cuddled the bird.
“Are you mad at Einstein for spouting off?”

“You are supposed to be asleep.” Dagger took
a bite of the cheese curl and fed the rest to Einstein. “I knew
he’d repeat everything which is why I put the fake earring in the
box.”

Sara leaned back against the cushion and
thought about Robert Tyler. “He must be in on it. How else would
those guys know about the earring?”

Dagger shrugged out of his bloodstained shirt
and tossed it on the floor. He ran his fingers through his head and
winced. Now he understood what it meant when people say their hair
hurts. He could feel every hair in his head. Turning he propped a
pillow under his head and stretched out on the couch.

“Actually, we just proved that Robert Tyler
has nothing to do with the killers. Someone at the party heard that
we had an earring. When Tyler was here this morning, he saw where
we kept the earring. But those goons didn’t go right for the box.
Instead, they started to tear the shit out of this place looking
for it.”

Sara saw a videotape sitting on the coffee
table. “What is that?”

“That’s from our surveillance camera at the
gate. Skizzy should be able to get some pretty good pictures of
those three guys off this tape, better likeness than those
composites I gave him.”

CHAPTER 21

The next morning found Dagger nursing his
headache with several aspirin and an ice compress. “No one saw
anything?” Dagger stirred his coffee with deliberation as he spoke
with Padre on the phone.

“This is a pretty spiffy resort. I’m sure
glad my employer is paying for my room.”

Dagger laughed. “Just keep the room service
down to a minimum.”

“Seriously, Dagger. Did you give any thought
to the possibility that they placed Rachel’s body on a boat and
wrapped an anchor around her feet?”

“My witness didn’t see any boats.”

“But it was dark out. Maybe the running
lights on the boat were turned off.”

“No. On a clear night with that moonlight
shining, it would be hard for anyone to miss a boat.”

Dagger opened the hand towel and emptied the
unmelted ice into the sink. He groaned and pressed a hand to his
ribs.

“Are you going to get those ribs taped up?”
Padre asked.

“They’re just bruised. I’ll be fine.”

“I’m going to make another walk around, talk
to a few people, maybe check to see where the hotel stores excess
furniture. Maybe with luck I’ll turn up a bloodstained white
rug.”

Robert Tyler followed Dagger into the kitchen
and placed a box on the table. “I thought this might help. There
were quite a few things of Rachel’s I just couldn’t bring myself to
discard. There are some photo albums and even her high school
yearbook.” He eyed Dagger’s bruised and battered face. “Are you
okay?”

Dagger told him about the three men who had
paid him a visit last night. Then he showed him the composite
pictures. “The night of Nick’s birthday party, do you recall any of
these men being on the premises?”

Robert shook his head slowly, his frown
creating tiny lines around his mouth. “These men had something to
do with Rachel’s murder? And you think they were in my house?”

“Don’t jump to any conclusions. We think they
are involved somehow and might be looking for something in your
house. I didn’t say they know any of your relatives and I
definitely don’t want you going home and accusing anyone. I just
want you to be aware of any suspicious characters.”

Robert studied the pictures again, then set
them on the counter.

“What about your pre-nuptial agreement?”

Robert pulled papers from his inside suit
pocket. “Basically, Rachel would receive a lump sum of twenty
million dollars if we divorced before our third anniversary. Then
it increases to one hundred million if we divorced after our tenth
anniversary.”

“It increased the longer you stayed
married?”

“Yes.”

“So it would have been to Rachel’s advantage
to stick around.”

“Except Rachel was never after money,” Robert
said emphatically. He walked over to the screened door. Sara was
outside watching Einstein fly around the yard, the bright feathers
painting the sky. “You never clipped his wings?”

Dagger joined him at the door. “I couldn’t do
that to him. I used to take him to the forest preserve to get some
fresh air. But this place is more wide open. We still have to keep
an eye on him. Hunters sometimes trespass. I have found nets and
animal traps out there.” Dagger watched for a moment and then
rushed past Tyler and out the door. He stood on the porch and let
out a long, piercing whistle. Einstein had flown out of range, out
of eyesight. Something he knew he shouldn’t do. The moment the
shrill whistle cut through the air, Einstein came charging out of
the trees and landed obediently next to Sara.

“Sara,” Dagger called out. “Don’t let him get
too far.” Dagger walked back inside. “Sara’s training him to answer
to the whistle she has hanging around her neck. Then she can take
him out when I’m not home.”

“That bird is almost like having a kid.” The
circles under Robert’s eyes made him look haggard. His chin seemed
to sag from the weight of his frown and his shoulders slumped like
those of a man beaten and down for the count. He helped himself to
coffee and sat down.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Dagger
huffed. Gingerly, he sat his battered body down and pressed a hand
to his ribs.

After a minute of silence, Robert clasped his
hands in front of him and asked, “Where has Rachel been for five
years?”

Dagger opened a notebook and started writing.
“What do you remember about the last day you saw Rachel? According
to the original police report, she had lunch with you at the yacht
club, then went shopping alone. You were to meet her at the boat
for a night cruise but you had a meeting.”

“Right. I told all that to the police. Rachel
was a little upset with me so she went by herself.”

Carefully, Dagger touched his face. Propping
one hand under his chin, he felt the coarse stubble and wondered
how painful it would be to shave today. The noise alone would
probably sound like scraping a knife on a blackboard. He touched
his swollen cheek, ran his tongue over his teeth to check if any of
them loosened during the night.

“I don’t mean to have you rehash everything
you said previously, Mr. Tyler. I’m looking for what wasn’t said.
How was Rachel mentally that day? Preoccupied? Agitated? Was her
anger toward you unlike her? Maybe something had happened and she
was taking it out on you.”

“I guess you could say she was agitated but I
assumed it was at me, but now that I think about it, she was
agitated before I even told her my meeting would take longer than
expected. I offered to take her sailing the following night but
that didn’t appease her. I had to cancel dinners and even vacations
before and she’d always taken it in stride.”

Dagger checked the police report and jotted
down notes. “Your daughter-in-law and Eric returned that day from a
trip. Did you see them?”

“No. Eric called me at the office to tell me
they had returned from our Ty-Island Resort in the Cayman Islands.
Eric and Edie had purchased some oceanfront property to build a
home. They were meeting with the builder and also checking with our
resort manager at Ty-Island. Eric usually makes the trips to our
resorts to check things out. I’m getting too old for all that
traveling.”

“And they both said they hadn’t seen
Rachel.”

“Right.”

Dagger placed his pen down and pressed his
fingertips to his eyelids. It was a relief not to have the sunlight
glaring in his face. His head was pounding and he knew the pain
reflected in his eyes probably made him look as haggard as
Robert.

The grieving widower was looking for answers.
Dagger knew from past clients that loved ones go into a grieving
limbo, living life just going through the motions. And that was
what Robert was doing now—just going through the motions.

CHAPTER 22

“I have to make an appointment to see my own
father?” Sheila threw the pieces of the check on her father’s desk.
“Daddy! How could you? You paid Dagger to string me along? I
thought you loved me.” Her green eyes flashed and angry tears
welled. She sank into the chair in front of Leyton’s desk.

Leyton pieced the check together and pursed
his lips. “He told you.”

“Of course. And he loved every minute of
it.”

“Naturally. A gentleman would never have hurt
you that way.” Leyton pulled a cigar from his humidor, leaned back,
and lit the cigar in celebration.

“I thought my own father would never treat me
like some bargaining tool. Dagger was my whole life. And you paid
him to drag his feet, to never commit.”

Leyton sat forward, surprise masking his
face. “That’s what that ingrate told you? That’s bullshit. I paid
that idiot to NOT stand you up. I had to pay him to MARRY YOU.”

Sheila stood in the living room of Sara’s
house and gazed up at the steel catwalk, the high ceilings and
skylights. “What a grotesque building,” she whispered. Curious, she
walked over to the doorway into the aviary.

“AWWWKK. WICKED WITCH.” Einstein let out a
long, loud scream that sounded as if he were being attacked. He
fluffed his feathers as though his entire body were shaking in
fright.

“Shut up, you ball of fur. I’m certainly not
thrilled to see you, either.”

“That’s feathers.” Sara stepped around Sheila
and peeked in on Einstein.

“What?”

“Ball of feathers, not fur. Dagger should be
home any minute.” Sara gathered her hair, lifting it off her back
briefly. Its thickness felt as heavy as a rug.

“No problem.” Sheila strolled around the
living room surveying its contents, mentally examining the
decor.

Sara walked over to Dagger’s bedroom door and
closed it before Sheila had a chance to extend her browsing. She
wondered how Sheila managed to find pink shoes, blouse, suit,
jewelry, all in the same color.

Sheila looked from the closed bedroom door to
Sara and recognized the shirt Sara wore as being one of Dagger’s.
Sheila’s gaze drifted up to the second floor. She peeled off her
suit jacket and tossed it on the couch.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“No. I’ll wait. You go do your planting,
baking, or opening mail, whatever it is you do.” Sheila dismissed
her with a wave of her hand. She made her way over to Dagger’s desk
and peered not too discreetly at the notes and papers.

Sara knew there wasn’t anything important
left on the desk. It was when Sheila placed one foot on the bottom
stair leading up to Sara’s bedroom that Sara lost her cool.

“If you don’t mind, the rest of the house is
off limits.”

Sheila’s well-shaped eyebrows arched in
surprise, and then a self-satisfied smile played at the corners of
her mouth. “Well, well. Seems the sugar-and-spice persona was an
act after all.”

Sara folded her arms and leaned against
Dagger’s desk. “Sorry if I get territorial.” Sara could see
Sheila’s eyes light up, knew she thought Sara was referring to
Dagger. “But this is MY house. I only buzzed you in at the gate
because you are Dagger’s...” Sara chose her words carefully...
“friend. If you want to wait for him, you can do so on the couch.
If not, I suggest you wait in your car.”

Sheila’s back straightened, causing her to
imitate her father’s patented stare down his nose at an
insubordinate. “I believe this is also Dagger’s place of business
and he has an open door policy.”