Authors: Debra Burroughs
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Suspense, #Romantic Mystery
The Heart of Lies
THE HEART OF LIES
A Paradise Valley Mystery: Book Two
By Debra Burroughs
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave
when first we practice to deceive.”
~ Sir Walter Scott
Table of Contents
Preview: Three Days in Seattle
PROLOGUE
Lies are deceptive little things. Whether they are innocent white lies or the evil midnight black ones, they all have a way of coming back to expose us at the most inopportune moments.
~*~
The unsuspecting young woman approached the doorway of the dimly-lit private office. She jerked to a halt, catching sight of the man sprawled on the floor next to his desk, his body motionless, his face bloody and battered. Her hand flew over her mouth. Her other seized hold of the door frame for support, feeling her knees begin to give out.
A plethora of painful emotions roiled in her chest as she stared, eyes wide, fighting to stuff down the overwhelming urge to scream. Perhaps the attacker was still within earshot.
Who did this?
Who?
The list of people who might want him dead was long—that much she knew. The only question to be asked was which one actually followed through. She needn’t ask why, though, she already knew that answer.
Hot tears stung her eyes. She fought against the powerful desire to run into the office, to fling herself down and put her arms around him. Under different circumstances, she would have caressed him one last time and kissed him a final good-bye—but not now.
With her heart thudding loudly in her ears, she could hardly think, she remained frozen to the safety of the door jamb. Self-preservation dictated that she could not risk running to him. Someone could discover her there and she would be found out. And if she got his blood on her, she might even be blamed for his murder.
She struggled to hold herself back and cling to the safety of the solid frame, torn between grief, terror, and rage. Nearly choking on the knot in her throat, she whispered a raspy and tearful good-bye. “I’m sorry, James, but I can’t go to prison. Not even for you. Good-bye.”
Her attention was pulled away as she picked up the sound of a car door slamming in the parking lot. Her thoughts flew to the police, who would certainly be coming. Images of them flashed through her mind—finding her there, digging into her background, arresting her. She couldn’t have that.
Her mother always told her that men would come and go, but no matter what, her top priority had to be to look out for number one.
Her instincts to save herself won out.
CHAPTER 1
“Who’s up for the Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed?” Emily Parker asked her cluster of friends as they stood on the sun-drenched sidewalk, watching the end of the Founders Day Parade. The music from the high school marching band began to die down as the last musicians rounded the corner, drifting out of sight.
Emily loved the parade and small town festivities in Paradise Valley, but most of all she loved the interesting women that made up her close circle of friends. After recently taking over her husband’s private investigation business after his murder, no one was more important to her than these three girlfriends were.
They had helped her through her devastating loss, not to mention her transition from real estate agent to lady PI.
A chorus of “count me in” and “me too” rang out from the group, with the exception of one loud dissenter.
“Eeew, fried bull testicles?” Maggie’s face screwed up in a look of disgust. She tucked a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear and rolled her big blue eyes like a teenager half her age.
“Oh Maggie. You’re such a drama queen.” Isabel shook her head. Isabel Martínez was a no-nonsense FBI financial analyst who had seen it all. She and her attorney husband, Alex, had been looking forward to the Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed for months and they clearly weren’t going to let Maggie Sullivan, the Southern belle fitness queen, put a damper on their fun. “They’re delicious, Maggs. You have to put it out of your head what they really are.”
“But they’re fried bull testicles, Isabel.” Maggie frowned. “How can y’all ever get
that
out of your head?”
“They’re a delicacy, Maggie,” redheaded Camille Hawthorne piped in. As a caterer and event planner, sometimes the spiky-haired diva had to put an enticing spin on some of her unique specialty dishes. “Think of them simply as Rocky Mountain Oysters—that’s what I keep reminding my Jonathan.”
“But the thought, Camille—” Her tall, lanky husband, Jonathan, wore a wincing look on his face. “I feel for those poor bulls—ouch.”
“All right, all right.” Emily waved her hands and shook her head, making her honey-blonde curls dance around her neck. “Enough talk. Whoever wants to go to the Oyster Feed, follow me.”
“All y’all can go on without me. I’ll meet up with y’all later,” Maggie called out as the group left her standing her ground.
The small crowd of friends chatted and laughed their way to the city park, where a large open-air tent was set up to serve the Oyster Feed. People had already begun lining up at the serving station to grab a plateful of the “oysters” along with a piece of buttered corn on the cob and a juicy wedge of ripe, red watermelon.
Emily, along with her girlfriends, Camille and Isabel, and their husbands, Jonathan and Alex, descended on a long folding table, balancing their oyster-laden plates and cold drinks.
“I wish Colin could have been here,” Emily remarked.
Six months after her husband, Evan, had been killed, Emily began dating the town’s new police detective, Colin Andrews. Within a few short months, he had been called back to San Francisco to help his mother take care of his father, following a debilitating stroke. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone, but had said he felt duty-bound to help out.
Ex-Marines were like that, Emily reminded herself.
She and Colin tried to keep in contact long distance by way of emails, phone calls, and Face Time on the computer, but it wasn’t the same as having him there in person. She was lonely for him, especially when she saw her friends enjoying life with their men. Her only solace was that Maggie was single too and they could commiserate together.
“How is Colin doing?” Alex asked. They had been basketball buddies, and as an attorney, Alex found himself working the opposing side of some of the cases Colin investigated.
“He misses you all.” Emily’s hair hung in loose tousled curls, brushing her shoulders, as she looked down at her plate, bravely cutting into an oyster.
“But he misses you the most, I’m sure.” Camille patted Emily’s hand.
Emily sighed. “I’m sure you’re—”
“Hey, y’all.” Maggie burst in and stood next to their table. “I told y’all I’d catch up sooner or later.”
“Have a seat.” Isabel motioned to the folding chair next to her.
“I have someone I want all y’all to meet.” Maggie gestured to a young brunette standing next to her in the crowded tent. Maggie stood behind the empty chair and put an arm on the shoulder of the young woman. “Everybody, this is Fiona. She’s new to Paradise Valley, and I offered to introduce her ’round.”
“Hello, Fiona.” Emily was first to greet her, but the others quickly followed.
Isabel’s training in the FBI caused her to always be the first to question and be suspicious. “Where did you two meet?” she asked. Isabel sounded interested, but wore a far-too-analytical look for mere small talk.
“Fiona was in one of my aerobics classes at the Y,” Maggie replied.
“Yes, in aerobics class.” Fiona nodded. “I don’t know anyone here yet, so I figured there might be people I could get to know in an exercise class.”
“Why don’t you two grab some food and come and eat with us?” Emily suggested.
“I already told y’all, no fried bull’s testicles for me,” Maggie shot back.
“What?” Fiona’s eyes widened with surprise as she looked down at the half-eaten food on the plates. “What are you eating?”
“Bull’s testicles,” Maggie repeated, linking her arm through Fiona’s and pulling her away from the tent.
The friends at the table burst out in laughter at Maggie’s over-the-top disgust with their dining choice. Soon conversation began to flow again and the meal was quickly devoured.
Camille was seated across the table from Isabel and Emily, and she leaned in toward them as if she was about to say something of great importance. In response, they inclined forward as well.
“Did Maggie tell you yet about the man she met?” Camille asked, dipping her chin and raising an eyebrow for emphasis. She glanced over at the husbands, who were thick in conversation about the latest baseball scores and rankings.
“No. What man?” Emily asked.
“Yeah, what man?” Isabel repeated with typical concern.
“Well, I thought she would have spilled the beans by now, so don’t tell her I told you girls, but she met a man on one of those online dating sites.” Camille sat back in her chair, running her hands through her short spiky red hair, an intentional pause, as if to let that information sink in.
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Isabel pushed her long black waves over her shoulder. “You never know what kind of kook or pervert is lurking on those sites.”
“They seem to be getting more popular,” Emily remarked. “I think the reputable ones might be safe, don’t you think?” She looked from Isabel to Camille.
“I don’t want to sound paranoid,” Isabel crossed her arms on the table, “but no site is totally safe from scam artists and perverts.”
“Any details, Camille?” Emily inquired.
“All I know is,” she leaned forward again, “his name is Lucas and he has money.”
“Is that what Maggie said?” Emily asked.
It was well known among these close friends that Maggie had always hoped to snag a man with money. She had grown up poor in Texas, escaping that life as a young single mother with a small son, making her way to Hollywood in hopes of becoming a movie star. When her ship never came in, she left her deadbeat husband and moved north to Idaho where her brother and his family lived.
Over the years, her son, Josh, grew up into a fine young man and joined the Navy two years earlier. Her brother, Clifford “Sully” Sullivan, co-owned and ran the local golf course and had been elected Mayor of Paradise Valley a couple of years before.
When Maggie had arrived in Paradise Valley, she’d brought little more than her young son, but she learned all she could about fitness training and she’d opened her own studio, which gave her a decent living. Still, she always said it was her dream to find herself a man of means who would love her and treat her like a queen. Maybe now her dreams were coming true.
“What does she know about this man?” Isabel asked.
