Death Vetoes The Chairman (Lizzie Crenshaw Mysteries Book 7) (23 page)

Chapter 30

Kassandra Sherwood scrolled through her contact list and pushed a button. “Good evening, how are you?”

“Getting ready to go out,” a woman replied. “What do you want?”

“I just thought I would let you know that they’re on their way back to Texas.”

“Who is ‘they’”?

“Ethan’s last failed conquest, her boyfriend and a cop.”

“Oh, her,” the woman said dismissively.

“She’s not as stupid as you think she is,” Kassandra warned. “I don’t think you should underestimate her.”

“Do they know who I am?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no.”

“Then I have nothing to worry about, do I? How are things going with Edward?”

“Well, Jake and his little friend have Edward really rattled.”

“That’s great!”

“Well,” Kassandra replied, “I’m not sure about that. He’s made a couple of mistakes.”

“What kind of mistakes?”

“He had Mrs. Simpkins killed, and then he tried to get his man to kill Jake and the woman.”

“Let him hang himself. We don’t need him.”

“But what about our plan?”

“The plan was to get rid of Ethan and Edward. Ethan’s gone. If Edward goes rogue and gets himself arrested, then our worries are over, and we can get on with our lives.”

“No!” Kassandra said. “I want to see the look on Edward’s face when he realizes what we’ve done. I want to see him suffer.”

“If he gets arrested for attempted murder, Kass, then he’ll go to jail,” the woman replied. “Jessica will get justice.”

“It won’t be enough.”

“It will never be enough, but it will have to do. Besides, once he gets out of prison, we can finish what we started then, if he doesn’t get killed by another prisoner first.”

“What about Jake and Lizzie?”

“I’ll deal with Jake when he gets back here.”

“He’s not going back to Texas yet.”

“I thought you said he was on his way here?”

“No, she’s with her boyfriend, who is also a cop, by the way. She and Jake haven’t dated since college.”

“Then if it comes to it, you’ll have to deal with Jake, but he is the least of our concerns. For now, continue to keep an eye on Edward.”

“I hope I don’t have to do this much longer,” Kassandra sighed. “I’m getting sick of his ‘no one is more important than me’ attitude. I continually have to resist the urge to beat him with a hammer.”

“Hm,” the woman said thoughtfully, “that’s a wonderful image. Be sure to give him an extra whack for me if you decide to go through with it.”

“Gladly.”

“Let’s see what happens for the next few days. We can always excelerate our plans if need be.”

“And if he doesn’t react like you think he will?”

“Then I’ll go back there and kill him myself.”

We landed back in Texas around 10 p.m. I didn’t sleep the whole way home, just an hour or so. Too many questions were running through my mind, and there weren’t a lot of answers, which was very frustrating.

I called my mother as soon as I got off the jet, and arranged to meet her for breakfast the next morning at the café. Trixie was waiting for us at the airport, and she gently hugged me when she saw me. “You look like crap,” she said.

“Gee, just think what I’ll look like under the lights,” I joked.

“Where’s Jake?”

“Still in the hospital,” Owen told her as he and T.J. grabbed our bags. “But don’t feel too bad for him; he’s being well taken care of by the nurses.”

Trixie rolled her eyes and shook her head. She hooked her arm through mine as we followed the guys through the terminal. “How are you doing, really?” she said quietly.

“Like I want to hide in my house and never come out,” I told her. “Trying not to cry at the drop of a hat, or jumping at every sudden sound.”

“Oh sweetie, I am so sorry. What can I do to help?”

I shook my head. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve been surrounded by people for the last few days. Half of me wants to spend some time alone, while the other half of me is terrified at the thought.”

“You really should talk to somebody.”

“I talked to Jake the other night.”

Trixie glanced at T.J., who was loading my bags into his truck. “Does he know that?”

“Of course not.”

“I meant that you need to talk to a professional, not your ex-boyfriend.”

“I’ll think about it. Right now, I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed.”

“Do you want me to stay with you tonight?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Trixie gave me a hug. “I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Not too early. Say, around noon?” I laughed.

Owen rode home with Trixie, which allowed T.J. and I to have some private time. “What were you two talking about?” he asked me.

“Nothing important,” I said as I checked my text messages. “Jake sent us some information.”

“We just saw him a few hours ago, not to mention he’s in the hospital. What could he have possibly found out?”

“It seems that Barbara Stephenson, the woman Ethan was dating when he died, was Jessica’s half-sister.”

“Whoa.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Revenge is a good motive for murder.”

“I think we need to go talk to her again.”

“What’s with this ‘we’ bit?” T.J. said. “You’re not going with me. This is part of an official police investigation.”

“But she knows me,” I pointed out.

“You talked to her one time. She probably doesn’t remember you.”

“She’ll be more willing to talk to a reporter than to a cop.”

“Sounds like she’d rather talk to a man than a woman,” he replied. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to sit this one out.”

“Pull over.”

“What?”

“I said pull over!”

T.J. got off at the next exit, and pulled into the nearest parking lot. “What’s wrong?”

“I have had it up to here with people telling me what I can and cannot do. Yes, I’m going through a rough patch right now. I’ve been assaulted and nearly raped twice by an egostical schmuck. My emotions are all over the place right now. Half of the time I want to cry, the other half I want to pretend like this never happened and just live my life. You all are treating me like I’m some china doll that will fall into a thousand pieces if you sneeze. Well, I won’t. I have no intention of allowing what has happened to take over and control my life. That means you have to let me do my job, which means talking to a woman who was close to the victim. I’m a reporter; that’s my job. You can make this easier, and let me go with you, or you can just get out of my way and let me go alone. But either way, I AM going to talk to her. And you, and everyone else, are going to stop tiptoeing around me. You’re going to help me get through this, because it’s what friends do. If I want to talk to someone, be it a professional or a friend, then I will. But I will do it when I am damn well good and ready to do it, and not on your timetable. Is that clear?”

He didn’t say a word. He just looked at me for a minute, put the truck in gear, got back on the access road and merged onto the interstate.

“You aren’t going to say anything?”

“What time do you want to go talk to Barbara Stephenson tomorrow?”

Chapter 31

T.J. wanted to sleep on the couch, but I just gave him a look. He got the message, kissed me good night, and left. Babe and Mittens were at Trixie’s house; I’d have her bring them over the next night.

After taking a shower, I sat down on the couch and grabbed the stack of mail that was on the coffee table. Between letters from insurance companies telling me I’m paying too much, and five credit card offers, my phone rang. “Joe’s morgue. You stab ‘em, we slab ‘em. Where’s the body?”

“You’re in a chipper mood, considering you just flew across half the country,” Jake said. “Did you sleep all the way home?”

“I wish,” I replied, looking at the clock on the wall. “It’s 1:30 a.m. out there. Shouldn’t you be asleep, or accosting a nurse?”

“Actually, Garth and I are planning a prison break.”

“I’m pretty sure your mother won’t let that happen,” I laughed. “So why are you calling me?”

“I just wanted to make sure you got home.”

“Uh huh, right. In that case, I got here in one piece, and I’m just fine. Good night.”

“Hold it!”

“That’s what I thought. What do you really want?”

“Did you see the message I sent you?”

“Saw it as soon as we landed.”

“What do you think?”

“T.J. and I agreed it certainly gives Barbara a good motive for murder,” I said, “but we don’t have any proof.”

“When is Roosevelt going to talk to her?”

“We’re going to visit her tomorrow afternoon.”

“What do you mean ‘we’? He’s taking you with him? Is he out of his mind?”

“It’s not like I gave him much of a choice.”

“Crenshaw, you’re not going to go with him. Absolutely not. That’s his job; you let him handle it.”

I took a deep breath and counted slowly to ten. “Jacob Mathias, I will not let you, or anyone else tell me what I can, or can’t, do. Don’t even think about arguing with me, or I will come back there and take out your appendix with no anesthesia.”

“Did you threaten T.J. in a similar manner?”

“Not really, but he got the point.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. “What are you planning to ask her?”

“Besides directly asking her if she killed Ethan, I have no clue.”

“Remember, Garth told us that she has a Master’s in criminal psychology. If she has anything to do with this, she’s got a plan in place. This isn’t something that was a spur of the moment thing, but carefully planned and executed. She’ll have a contingency for anything and everything.”

“What do you suggest then?”

“Let me think for a minute,” Jake said.

“If we want her to talk, then we need to make her think we are asking for her advice.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Hold on a minute.” I put down the phone, got up and grabbed my laptop. Putting it down on the coffee table, I picked up my phone. “What do we know about her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Does she have any credentials? Has she assisted any police departments or federal agencies with cases? With her degree, surely she would have worked with somebody.”

“Let me send Garth a text right quick…”

“He’s probably asleep. I’ve got my laptop right here.” I did a quick search for her name. “There are a bunch of articles here that mention her profiling skills. Even the FBI has used her before.”

“I wonder if T.J. has worked with her before?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll ask him in the morning.”

“Wish I could hear that conversation.”

“That’s it!”

“What?”

“We get her to profile Ethan’s killer.”

“Do you really think she’s going to fall for that?”

“Why not? I don’t think she’ll be able to resist. If she has been planning this for quite a while, and she hasn’t been caught yet, then she’s going to feel pretty confident about her chances of getting away with it.”

“But if she feels like you are trying to trap her, she could act out. You could get hurt.”

“I don’t think she’ll do anything with T.J. right there with me.”

“What about afterwards?”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t suspect anything, won’t we?”

I heard him sigh. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Quit worrying. Everything will be fine,” I replied, yawning. “I’m tired. You need to get some sleep, and so do I.”

“Promise you’ll call me tomorrow and let me know how things go?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Night, Crenshaw.”

“Good night, Jake.” I hung up, and tossed the phone on the table next to me.

Despite the fact that I was in my own bed again, I didn’t sleep worth squat. When the alarm went off at 6:30, I wanted to throw it against the wall. Instead, I shut it off and got up.

I got to the café at 7:15. Mother was supposed to be there at 7:30, so I had a few minutes to make some notes for upcoming articles. Maddie greeted me when I walked in. “Lizzie! Where have you been? I had to throw out three pecan pies because you weren’t around to eat them.”

“I know that’s a lie,” I laughed. “You probably donated them to the shelter, like you do with all the extra pies and cakes.”

She followed me back to my usual table. “Seriously, is everything okay? I haven’t seen you or Jake in several days, and now T.J. and Owen are gone, too.”

“T.J. and Owen came back with me last night. I’m sure they’ll be in here some time today. Jake…he won’t be back for a while.”

“So you finally chased him off, did you?” I looked over Maddie’s shoulder and saw Gladys standing there. “Men will only put up with being used for so long, Elizabeth.”

“Actually,” Mother said as she walked up behind Gladys, “Jake is in the hospital because he and Lizzie were in an accident. Someone tried to kill them.” She walked around Gladys and sat down next to me. “Hello, my angel.”

“Hello, Mother,” I replied, giving her a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

“I’m so happy to see you,” she said, a tear in her eye as she pushed my hair to one side. “You should have called me, Lizzie. I would’ve come home in a heartbeat.”

“I know you would have, but I didn’t want to ruin your honeymoon with Jack.”

“Are you two going to eat or talk all morning?” Maddie said. She hurried off, leaving Gladys standing there.

“I’m so sorry, Gladys,” Mother said, getting up and moving to the other side of the booth, “I believe you were berating my daughter about driving Jake away. Please, continue. Tell her how she shouldn’t have left that poor young man lying in a hospital bed with a concussion and no spleen. How she should have put his needs before her own concerns. Isn’t that what you would’ve done?”

“Well, I…that is to say, I…” Gladys stammered.

“At a loss for words? That’s a first. Well, since you have nothing else to tell her, would you mind excusing us? I haven’t seen her in three months, and we have a lot of catching up to do.”

Gladys opened her mouth, closed it, turned and stomped back to her table.

“And you always get onto me when I tangle with her,” I admonished her.

“You do it to antagonize her. I was raised to insult people politely.”

Maddie brought a Dr Pepper for me, and coffee for Mother. “Your food will be ready in a few minutes.”

After she left, Mother reached across the table and put her hand on top of mine. “How are you doing?” she said, glancing at the fading bruises on my wrist.

“Physically or emotionally?”

“Both.”

I took a drink. “Physically, I hurt all over.”

“No broken bones?”

“A few stitches, plenty of bruises, but nothing broken, I promise. Jake’s hurt worse than I am.”

“What do the doctors say about him?”

“Well, besides a splitting headache, various bruises, and lack of a spleen, he’ll be fine. When I talked with him last night, he was planning to make a break for it.”

Mother laughed. “It sounds like he is starting to feel better.”

“I’m sure the nurses will be sorry to see him go.”

Maddie placed our plates in front of us. “Enjoy, ladies. Let me know if you need anything else.”

We ate in silence for a few minutes. “What about emotionally, Lizzie?”

“Like I’m on an endless roller coaster.”

“Just what has been going on while I’ve been away?”

Sighing, I took a drink, and then told her everything that had happened the last few weeks, including Harold’s death, how Gladys was accused of murder, and how I reluctantly helped get her off. Mother’s face turned pale as I talked, and she bit her lip to keep from crying. “We still don’t know who killed Ethan, but we have a few suspects. He certainly left a trail of victims in his wake.”

“His father doesn’t sound much better,” Mother said.

“He’s not,” I said.

She let me finish eating before she asked her next question. “Have you been to a counselor yet?”

“No.”

“Why not?” she said. “This is more than any person can handle, Lizzie. You need to talk to somebody. If you don’t, it will eat you alive.”

“I talked to Jake about it a few nights ago, but I’m not ready to go to a stranger and spill my guts yet.”

“You know you can always talk to me.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know, Mother, and I love you for offering. But this isn’t something I could even talk to you about.”

“What does T.J. say?”

“The same as you. As soon as we find Ethan’s killer, I’ll think about it, but not before.”

“You shouldn’t be involved in the investigation. Leave it to T.J. and Owen.”

“I told her that last night,” T.J. said. He leaned over and gave Mother a kiss before sitting down next to me.

“It’s so good to see you, T.J. Thank you for taking care of her while I was away.”

He looked at me. “She hasn’t really let anyone take care of her. I’d swear she was British, with that stiff upper lip she’s been showing everyone.”

“This investigation is the only thing that is keeping me from going off the deep end,” I said quietly. “As weird as that sounds, considering what Ethan did to me, but it’s true. So you can either let me keep sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong, or you can watch them haul me off to the loony bin. Your choice.”

T.J. and Mother looked at each other for a minute. “All right, you can see this through,” T.J. said. “But when this is over, we’ll go to a counselor.”

“We?”

“You and me, Lizzie,” he said. “We’ll do this together, however long it takes.” His phone rang, and he looked at the display. “Excuse me, I’ve got to take this.” He got up and moved to another table.

“That man is a keeper, Lizzie,” Mother told me as she picked up her purse and stood up. “I’ll be right there with you, too.” She gave me another kiss. “I’ve got to run. Call me later to set up dinner for the four of us.”

I watched as she stopped at Gladys’ table and said something to her. Whatever it was made Gladys’ face turn bright red. Mother merely smiled before she went to the register, paid for our food, waved at me and left.  “I wonder what she said to her,” T.J. said as he sat back down.

“I have no idea, and I really don’t care. So what’s the game plan for today?”

“I’ve got some things to check on at the office this morning. I’m planning to call Barbara and make an appointment with her. That way we make sure she’s home when we go over there.”

“Good idea. I did some checking on her last night. Apparently, she’s consulted with the FBI on a few cases. You’ve never worked with her?”

“Not that I remember. I’m going to call Hopkins and see what he’s found on her. What are you doing this morning?”

“Well, since Jake is out of action, I’m going over to the newspaper to talk to Ellen. I’m going to need her help until he comes back.”

“Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

I grabbed my bag and started to follow him. Gladys stopped me when I got close to her. “Elizabeth, I…”

“What is it, Gladys?”

“I…I just wanted to say…” she stammered. I could tell she was trying hard to find the right words to say.

“You want to say what?” I replied.

She took a deep breath. “I owe you an apology. I jumped to conclusions without knowing all the facts, and I’m sorry. I’m glad that you and Jake are going to be fine.”

“Thank you, Gladys, that’s very kind of you to say. I’ll pass your message along to Jake the next time I talk to him.”

She didn’t say anything else, just nodded. I took that to mean I had been dismissed and left. “I never thought I’d live to see the day when Gladys would apologize to you, or anyone, for anything,” T.J. said when we got outside.

“Me, either.”

“Whatever your mother said to her must have been pretty good.”

“She probably threatened to blackball her from the country club or something,” I laughed as I got my keys out.