The Michaela Bancroft Mysteries 1-3 (65 page)

"Sorry. I know, the kids. They got a problem picking up after themselves. We're working on it."

She spotted a few French fries on the floorboard and pointed. Joe glanced down. "Throw in a Coke and I might have a meal."

"That Joe Jr.! Anyway, of course you didn't kill no one. I've known you since we was kids, Mickey. I know Anthony isn't exactly what you need. But it was the best I could do on short notice, and he did get your bail posted."

"Yeah, he did do that."

"You could eat a little more these days. I'd tell you to eat that burger but I don't know how long it's been here. Why don't we stop and get a bite?"

"It does look partially dehydrated. Eating isn't always a priority for me. I've been busy. And right now I just want to get home and shower."

"Never too busy to eat." He rubbed his large belly. "I think you get overwhelmed with all you got going on and you are the last person you take care of. You handle the horses, the kids at the center, that crazy broad Camden you live with, and then some. You need some
you
time."

She smiled at his comment. Ah, the big bro she never had—technically, because Joe had become everything a big brother is for a sister. She knew it drove Jude nuts that they were such good friends. He liked Joe, but his family ties made Jude uncomfortable. They didn't bother Michaela, who had seen plenty of Joe's softer side. She'd seen him with his little girl, Gen, Michaela's first autistic student and the reason she'd agreed to open the riding center in the first place. She adored the little girl, who loved to be around horses. No, she was not about to lose any of it—her animals, her friends, the kids, her ranch. She'd fight whoever had set her up. "We've got to get a handle on this. You and I both know the cops won't help me."

"What about Jude? The guy is crazy for you."

"He's on a cruise with his little girl."

"Oh."

"Oh is right, and he won't be back for five days. I can't wait for five days while Peters attempts to burn me at the stake. I've got to find out who did this, who murdered Sterling Taber."

"Oh no. I see where this is going."

"It's not like we've never been down this road before. We make a good team. You know we do, and this time I
really
need your help."

He didn't comment for a second, just sort of frowned, then nodded. "Where do we start?"

She sighed. "By questioning that Sorvino brat. Pepe's daughter, Lucia." Joe turned the corner into Michaela's ranch. A slight sound escaped from her lips. "Oh my God."

"You can say that again. I don't think we start with Lucia."

A LOCAL TV NEWS VAN WAS PARKED OUT IN front, with a blonde-headed woman reporter all miked up and ready to interview, along with her cameraman. It looked as though Camden and Dwayne were trying to chase them off the property, but they were being completely ignored. Now they turned their attention to the oncoming minivan. "This isn't good," Joe said. "I can run them over."

"No!"

"Just kidding. Maybe I can flip a U-ee and we'll make a run for it."

"No, don't do that! What do they want?"

"I think we are about to find out. Keep your head down and walk to the house. I'll get rid of them." Joe parked the van and got out first, asking everyone to back away. He did his best to keep his hulking self in front of her while the reporter shouted obnoxious questions at her: "Did you kill Mr. Taber? Were you in love with Sterling Taber? What about your riding center?"

Michaela turned around and faced the reporter—a statuesque blonde with a crisp navy suit and heels.

"What are you doing?" Joe asked.

"I'm telling them the truth. For the record, I barely knew Mr. Taber. I did not kill him. My riding center will remain open. I ask that you respect my property and my privacy and please leave."

She turned around and headed toward her front door. The cameraman and reporter ran in front of her and were now in her face. The reporter shoved the microphone at her. "How did you meet Mr. Taber? Can you tell us about the mallet?" She tried to push the camera out of the way, which caused her to trip and nearly fall as she reached the front porch step.

Joe lost it at that point. "Get the hell out of here, or I will call the police. You are on private property and Ms. Bancroft will charge you with trespassing. She's made a statement, and has kindly asked you to leave. I won't be so kind. Get the
hell
out of here!" he bellowed.

One look at Joe and the newspeople understood he was serious. Michaela finally made it through her front door and heard her phone ringing. Joe eyed her as she reached for it. "Let me answer it." He grabbed the phone before she could. "No!" he yelled, slamming it down. He looked at Michaela, who set her purse on the kitchen counter. "Reporter."

"Ah. Great! As if I'm suddenly like Angelina Jolie adopting a new kid. At least instead of making
People
magazine's most beautiful list, I'll only have the honor of making Indio's most wanted list. Just what I need—star status. Yeah. Great. Why do they have any interest in me?"

Camden walked in with Dwayne like a lap dog at her heels. Michaela still needed to have that one-on-one with her, and the sooner the better. She had to get to the bottom of what Camden had said after finding Sterling's body.

"The media likes a juicy story, and you are apparently it," Camden said. "Remember that Sterling was voted most eligible bachelor by the women's league of social activities in the desert."

"Oh, what an honor. He was a regular Colin Farrell." Camden made a face at her. "I didn't do jack. I'm a horse trainer. I teach children how to ride. I barely knew that guy, and now this. And I plan to find out who did it. Speaking of that 'most eligible bachelor' thing, weren't he and Juliet Mitchell a couple?"

Camden shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

Sure.

The phone rang again and again Joe answered. "What? No, of course not. Now listen, Rhonda, you've got to be reasonable here. That's ludicrous. Yes." He paused.

Michaela turned her attention to Joe. Rhonda was the woman who headed up the autism society, had been the one to help Michaela get a license, and worked with her on teaching the kids. She had recommended many children to her, and Michaela was now working regularly with seven children, including Joe's daughter, Gen.

"Okay." Joe sighed. Oh, this could not be good. "Yes. No. I'm sure that she'll understand and we will get all of this worked out." He hung up.

Michaela crossed her arms. "Work out what?
What
will she understand?" Joe looked down. "What is it, Joe?"

"Rhonda received a call from channel 8 and they wanted a quote from her for tonight's six o'clock news about your arrest, whether or not you would still be working with the autistic society, and if they would still recommend children to ride with you."

"What? No! Oh no, no!"

Camden placed a hand on her shoulder. Michaela, near tears, shook it off and walked into the kitchen, where she took a pitcher of water from the fridge. She needed to think. "What did she say?"

"She wouldn't give them a quote. But…" He paused. "…she did ask that in light of the negative publicity that for a while, until everything is worked out, you not work with the kids. She's pretty sure that when the parents hear about this, there'll be some fallout to deal with."

Michaela slammed the pitcher onto the counter, spilling water on the floor. "Those are my kids! Those kids are everything to me, along with my horses. She can't do this! She has to know that I'm not guilty."

"Of course she knows, but look at it from her point of view, Mick. She's gotta cover her butt."

Michaela frowned as she said, "Unbelievable!" She grabbed her purse off the counter.

"Where are you going?" Camden shouted.

"To see Lucia Sorvino…but first, I want to talk to you. Upstairs. Now."

"Now?"

"Now." Michaela motioned for Camden to head up first. She wasn't about to let her get out of this.

Camden turned around to look at her. "What's this all about?" she asked when they'd closed the bedroom door.

"The comment you made yesterday about Sterling right after he was killed, about being more than friends. Do you want to elaborate?"

Camden sighed.

Michaela's stomach sank. "Please tell me that you weren't cheating on your fiancé!"

"No, no I wasn't."

"Thank God." Michaela plunked down on the end of her bed atop a coral tropical-flower print.

"But I did sleep with him." Camden tossed back her red hair.

"You better explain this one, my friend."

Camden sat down next to her. "Look, here's the deal. It was a long time ago. A very long time ago."

"Like how long ago?"

Camden scowled. "Do you remember George?"

"Your first husband?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yes. The golf pro."

She nodded. "Sterling was his caddy."

"Oh no. I can already tell that I am not going to like where this is going. Wait, George? That was what, eight years ago?"

"Nine."

"Nine, and Sterling was twenty-six when he died, which means that you and he…when he was seventeen!"

"He told me that he was nineteen."

"Oh my God! You…you're like a regular Mrs. Robinson. That is really disturbing!"

"Hey, I prefer more like an Eva Longoria on
Desperate Housewives
during that first season, when she was sleeping with the gardener kid. He was a senior in high school. Really good story line."

"I don't watch TV, and I don't care who you think you're like. That's just gross."

"He said he was a virgin and he wanted to know what it was like because he was going off to college. Kind of like a soldier going off to war."

"You've got to be kidding me. You're delirious, Cam. You believed him? Young guy like that waiting until he was nineteen? Even at seventeen, I'm pretty sure Sterling Taber did his share of the cheerleading squad long before he graduated. Wait. How did you even meet him?"

"Golfing one day with George. He had those dreamy eyes and his body, wow…And George was already messing around with Debbie, who became wife number four, so I figured, no harm, no foul—"

Michaela cut her off. "It doesn't matter. What I want to know is, were you sleeping with him again?"

"I told you that I wasn't. God, Mick. I just said that it was a long time ago. I'm engaged to Dwayne."

Michaela cocked an eyebrow. "Like that really stopped you in the past. I just want to be sure."

"This is different. I love Dwayne and you know that. I'd never do anything to hurt him."

"Then why even have Sterling close by? Why have him in the show? If you love Dwayne like you say that you do, then why tempt yourself?"

She sighed. "I'll tell you everything from the beginning."

"I wish you would. But, you can leave out any more details from your Mrs. Robinson days. I don't think I want to hear about any of that."

Camden took a sip of her tea before going into her saga. "I hadn't seen Sterling in years. He'd moved to L.A., then back home to Santa Barbara, and then I think he came back here, he said, when he was twenty, but I'd moved on and so had he. We only had a fling—"

Michaela held up her hands. "Forget that. What I want to know is what had been going on between you two as of late."

"I'm getting to it. His family is some well-to-do, high-society-type bunch."

"I thought you said he was seventeen when you met him, but his family lives in Santa Barbara."

She nodded. "He had some ups and downs with his parents. They tried military school and then finally agreed to let him move out here and live with an uncle, who got him the caddy job. If I remember right, the uncle passed away not long after Sterling turned eighteen, but I really don't know. I wasn't in his life at that point. I only caught bits through the grapevine of what was going on with him."

"Okay, and…" Michaela motioned for her to continue, finding herself growing impatient.

"I first saw him a few months back, when that spread ran about him being the most eligible bachelor in the desert and how he rode down at the polo fields. I went to visit him. I thought he'd be a great attraction for the fashion show. It was his idea to do the charity match in the first place."

"Sure, and you want me to believe that you just went over there for a howdy-do, and to ask him to be in the show." Michaela rolled her eyes. "I've known you for a very long time. You're not fooling me, and please don't try. This is my life on the line here."

"Okay, so maybe I was a little curious. We had some good times together. We were friends. But trust me, I had
no
plans to cross that line again, and I
didn't
."

Michaela studied her. She actually believed her. One thing that Michaela knew about her friendship with Camden was they were brutally honest with each other. "You're telling me that Sterling came up with the idea for the charity match?"

"Yes. I don't understand why you didn't like him."

"He was a show-off, and he made me uncomfortable. I don't like overbearing men and he was one."

"He was just confident."

"We don't need to get into the reasons why I didn't care for your friend. The facts are he didn't deserve his fate, and I certainly don't deserve to be charged with his murder."

"No, you don't. I know you didn't do it."

"Did he talk to you at all about his personal life, anything that might have been going on?"

"He did. I told the police yesterday what he told me only a few weeks ago."

"What was that?"

"We met for lunch at the polo lounge. He called me, sounding upset and asked if I'd come and meet him. He said that he felt like someone was watching him. He thought someone wanted him dead."

"Did he say who?"

"Juliet's father."

"Ed Mitchell?" Michaela knew Ed fairly well after riding with him at the polo fields. He'd been the one to give Michaela her mallet. He'd told her it was a gift from the club. She couldn't see a man of Ed's prominence murdering anyone.

"Yes," Camden replied.

"Okay, wait, so he had this girlfriend, Juliet. But he was also considered an eligible bachelor. I've been wondering about that. Do you know what the deal is there?"