Give Murder A Hand: Lizzie. Book 2 (The Westport Mysteries) (20 page)

“And?”

“Let’s just go inside.”

“Tell me please. What’s wrong with Bradley?”

Ed let out a long breath. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. He’s dead.”

“Dead?” I couldn’t have heard him right.

“Yes. I found him this morning. He’d been shot. It looked like it
happened a few days ago.”

I felt the world sway and the room turn black, as my stomach
rolled. Ed reached out to me as I stumbled and fell forwards. His strong arms
came around me and lifted me inside. As he gently placed me on the couch, Riley
walked in the door.

“What’s going on?” he asked. Seeing my white face, his expression
turned to concern as he rushed forward to me. “What happened?”

“Bradley’s dead,” I whispered. “He’s dead.”

Riley looked at Ed for an explanation.

“We’re not sure, but we think it may be connected with a video
diary he’s got on YouTube.”

“The one about the body in my garden?” I asked, my stomach diving
south.

“We need to look deeper into it. Nothing’s certain at this stage,
but Bradley had no prior convictions or any associations with crime whatsoever.
The last video diary he made on Monday stated he knew who killed Ronald
Smithson and to watch tomorrow when all was to be revealed.”

“That means whoever killed Ronald Smithson is still alive and
living in Westport,” I said.

“Like I said, we don’t know anything for sure. It could just be a
coincidence.” I thought of Matt’s advice about coincidences.

“Is Lizzie in danger?” asked Riley, concern creasing his brow.

Ed looked uncertain. “I don’t think so. Unless you know who the
killer is?”

I shook my head. “No. Bradley never confided that to me.”

“I’ll have a patrol car drive past here every hour keeping an eye
out for anything suspicious. Just don’t stay alone until this is over, Lizzie.”

“We’re going away today.”

“How long are you going for?”

“Two days,” answered Riley.

“Good. Let me know when you get back and we’ll decide what action
we need to take then. If any,” added Ed.

* * *

Bradley was on my mind throughout the trip into
the city and even though I knew we were going away to relax, I wondered if I
could possibly forget him long enough to do that. But upon reaching the hotel,
it felt like we’d escaped to another planet away from our normal lives.

The hotel was amazing, with one tower for permanent residents and the
other for guests. I stood and looked up at the sun reflecting off the glass
windows as I waited for Riley to give the valet his keys, . I sighed
contentedly.

We entered the grand reception made of glass and stone and did the
check-in thing. We were informed our room wasn’t quite ready, but we were very
welcome to use the hotel facilities and they would call as soon as we could
have the room key. We turned to head to the restaurant, and came face to face
with Mum and Dad.
WTF?

“Mum! Dad! What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice sounding
very much like Alvin the Chipmunk.

“Oh, love!” laughed Mum. “We didn’t know you were going to be here
too.”

Too? Who else was here?

“Are you meeting someone else?” asked Riley, who seemed just as
shocked as I was.

“Well we’re not exactly meeting them, but they are here.” Mum
smiled. Dad just looked uncomfortable.

“Who’s here, Mum?” I asked, my heart rate increasing.

“Danny and Andrew, of course. They said they were going away last
week remember?”

Yes, but I had no idea it was to this hotel. “But ... but ... they
had an argument. They cancelled ...” I stuttered.

“Oh, they kissed and made up. Andrew relented and got a carer in
for his mother. I don’t believe for a second she’s really that sick,” tut-tutted
Mum. I shook my head, trying to clear it and make sense of what I was hearing.

“Why are
you
here?” I
asked.

“Well, when they told us about this place it sounded really nice so
your father and I decided to use the money we raised from the garage sale and
treat ourselves.”

“But ... but ... what about the ring?” I asked, distinctly
remembering Mum telling me she was going to buy a ring with that money.

“Well when I went to Hogan’s Jewelers somebody had already bought
it,” explained Mum.

At the mention of the ring Dad shifted uncomfortably next to her. I
looked to him and wondered what he was up to.

“So Danny and Andrew are here too?” asked Riley, verifying he’d
heard correctly.

“Yes, I think they’ve already checked in. Hang on let me see ... Danny
sent me a message when we were in the car.” She lifted her phone from her
handbag and scrolled through the menu until she found what she was looking for.
“Here it is. Yes, they’re in room 815. What room are you in, love?”

I looked at Riley. He looked at the paperwork in his hand.

“Oh, we don’t have our key yet,” he explained, looking at me
shiftily. “They’re going to call us when our room’s ready.”

“Oh, okay.” Mum turned to Dad. “Go and check us in, Bill. See what
room we’re in. Wouldn’t it be funny if we were all on the same floor next to
each other.” Mum laughed, but I didn’t think it was funny at all. Riley had
just discreetly shown me the paperwork in his hand and it did indeed show our
room number—816—right next door to Danny.

No! This can’t be happening!

I think Riley saw the panic in my eyes as he put his arm around my
shoulders.

“We’ll go and get a drink in the bar,” he explained to Mum. “Let us
know when you’re checked in.” He gave her the mega-watt smile and steered me
towards the bar. As soon as we were out of earshot, he turned to me and said. “Don’t
worry, once your parents are in their room, I’ll go back to reception and
explain the situation. I’ll see if we can move.”

“Maybe we should change hotels.” I sulked.

Riley smiled and ordered me a drink. I know it was only midday, but
I needed an alcoholic drink to soothe my nerves. It had been a stressful
morning. Mum and Dad joined us a few minutes later.

“Our room’s not ready yet,” she explained, “but they gave us our
room number. We’re in 1005. Not next to Danny and Andrew, but maybe we’ll be
next to you.” She smiled. “Are you sure they didn’t tell you your room number?”
she asked, looking at Riley. “They told us ours.”

“I’ll go and chase it up,” said Riley, winking at me, and then
walking back to reception.

“Isn’t this exciting?” asked Mum. Dad had gone to the bar to order
them a drink too.

“Yes ... very,” I replied. I know, I know, I was thinking exactly
the opposite, but Mum just looked so excited I didn’t want to disappoint her.

“I just messaged Danny and they’re at the pool. Maybe once we’ve
all settled into our rooms, we could have afternoon tea together?”

Dad approached the table and put a fruity-looking drink in front of
Mum. I heard his sigh as he sat down. I had a feeling he wasn’t all that
excited about seeing us all here. We sat and sipped our drinks—well, to be
completely honest, I’d skulled mine—and waited for Riley to return.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie,” said Riley, sitting down next to me, “but our
room is on the fifteenth floor. We’re nowhere near your family.” He frowned,
making me want to giggle. God love him. Who knows what he’d had to do to get
our room changed.

“Ohhh ... that’s disappointing,” cried Mum.

“No, let the kids have some time alone. They don’t want to spend it
with us,” said Dad.

I looked at him and saw him wink. I don’t know who was having the
dirty weekend here – us or them. I shuddered, thinking I needed to forget that’s
what they were doing or there would definitely be none of that happening in our
room. Of course, I know Mum and Dad still had a sex life, but it was something
I never
ever
wanted to think about.

“Our room’s ready now if you want to head up, Lizzie,” said Riley.

“Oh okay, we may as well get settled in.”

Riley had his arm around my waist as we walked to the elevator. We
stood in silence as the doors opened. A few people moved aside to allow us in,
and we stepped inside.

“Lizzie?” I heard a female voice behind me and turned. It was my
post lady, Chloe. Dear God. Did this place have a special on or something?

“Oh hi!” I said, my voice sounding like Alvin again. “Fancy seeing
you here!”

“I know, Of all the hotels in the city and we run into someone we know.
What are the chances?”

Yeah, that was my question. What were the bloody chances?

“Oh this is Brody ... my boyfriend.”

The man standing next to her put his hand up and waved. “Hi,” he
said.

He was pretty cute actually, with his dark hair and deep brown
eyes. If I’d been single, I would definitely have checked him out.

“Lizzie and Riley live on my post run,” Chloe explained to him. “They’re
the ones doing up the old house I told you about.”

Brody nodded. “Sounds like you’re doing a nice job of it,” he
commented to Riley.

“Thanks. It keeps me busy.” Riley smiled as the elevator pinged and
the doors opened.

“This is our stop,” said Chloe. “Enjoy your stay.” She smiled as we
stepped aside and let them exit. Once the doors were closed I turned to Riley.

“We plan one dirty trip away and not only does half my bloody
family turn up, so does my bloody post lady!”

The elderly gentleman standing beside me smiled.

“Relax, they’re all here for the same reason we are,” said Riley as
the elevator stopped at our floor.

That was not a comforting thought. I sulked all the way to room
1505.

My
sulking didn’t last long. Once we were inside the room, my mood changed
dramatically, helped by the luxurious king-sized bed placed in the centre of
the room with a view out over the city. At night that view would be
spectacular.

“Riley, this room must have cost a fortune,” I said, feeling guilty
because I knew money was a bit tight at the moment.

“Actually, this room is an upgrade. I explained the situation we
were in to the lady at reception, and she felt so bad for you she upgraded us
for free.” Riley gave me the mega-watt smile. I knew his methods. She’d been so
dazzled by his smile, she would have given him anything he’d asked for.

I laughed and threw myself down on the bed, spread-eagle style, all
thoughts from this morning long forgotten.

Riley took one look at me, assumed it was an invitation and jumped
on top. Now I could have chastised him and told him it was in fact
not
an invitation, but in all honesty, I
didn’t want to.

“Hang on a minute,” I said, pushing him aside and reaching for my
handbag. “I have to turn my phone off.”

Chapter
Eighteen

Afterwards, Riley moved to the bathroom for a
quick shower. I’d told him to go first as I would take ages, but the truth was,
I didn’t want to leave the bed. It was large, luxurious and comfortable. I felt
like I had been transported to another planet that consisted of only Riley and me.
Once I got ready and stepped outside this room, the real world would come
crashing back around me. I stretched and sighed blissfully. I could hear the
shower running and Riley humming a tune that played on the radio a lot. I
closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift to sleep.

I was woken by the beeping of a phone. I knew
it wasn’t mine as I’d switched mine off, and I hadn’t been in a hurry to switch
it back on again. Now the annoying thing about Riley’s phone is that it will
continue to signal a message until you actually open the message. I always tell
him to change the setting, but he likes it that way. He knows he gets too
involved with work and forgets it ever beeped in the first place. This way, he
has to answer it.

Unfortunately, he was in the shower and hadn’t heard it. I sighed
and rolled out of bed. Reaching the dresser, I picked up his phone and swiped
at the screen. It was a message from Jared asking him about a fishing trip they
were planning. I left it for Riley to reply to, reminding myself to tell him
about it later. I was about to put the phone back down when my fingers—all on
their own I promise—hit the back button, taking me back a page to the list of
all his prior messages. I knew it was wrong and I should have stopped there,
but I couldn’t. Not after I saw the name
Allison
sitting proudly at the top of the list, with the words
Thinking
of you xo
, underneath.

My heart stuttered as I looked at the closed bathroom door, Riley
still humming the song he had stuck in his head.

He’d never have to know if I read them would he? I mean, how would
he know? I’d just have a quick look and then put the messages back exactly how
I’d found them.

My fingers clumsily touched the screen and I held my breath as I
waited the millisecond for the stream of messages to appear.

They were of course in backward order, the last of which read
exactly
thinking of you xo
. Above
it was a photo. The image was small and it took me a second to figure out what
I was looking at, but once I opened the photo and saw the larger image, I had
absolutely no problem making out the naked side boob complete with nipple
standing to attention.

My hands fumbled as nausea rolled in my stomach.

The
incriminating photo arrived on Thursday night. Right in the middle of dinner
with his parents
.
Now that I think about it, I do remember him receiving a message
and appearing to be embarrassed about it.

Thursday
27
^th
7.32pm

I’m having a hard time concentrating on what
your parents are saying. I can feel the heat off your body as I try to sit
still next to you. It made me think of the time you and I sent messages to each
other during that boring dinner party. I thought this might be fun
J
Allison xoxo

I once again had to look at the photo, my stomach clenching as I
did so.

Thinking of you xo

The
blood pounded in my ears as the sweat broke out on my forehead. I looked for
Riley’s response to her, but there wasn’t one. What did that mean? Did he just
meet her in the bathroom and have a show-and-tell in person?

I tried
to think about what happened later that night at dinner, and whether or not
they were both out of the room at the same time, but I couldn’t remember. The
nausea causing the convulsions in my stomach made rational thinking difficult.
My knees buckled at the thought of my world being destroyed and I sunk to the
floor.

I was so
consumed with what I was looking at and the repercussions of it, that I hadn’t
heard the shower turn off and Riley re-enter the room.

I looked
up at him standing directly in front of me, his face pale, and his eyes huge.

“Lizzie.
Please listen to what I have to say. Please.”

I
gulped, memories of how I felt only half an hour ago floating in my mind.

“I ... I’m
not sure if I want to throw up,” I managed to say.

I took a
few deep breaths and desperately tried to control the convulsions. Riley ran
back to the bathroom, returning with a wet towel. I took it from him and wiped
my clammy face, welcoming the coolness. Riley sat down next to me.

“It’s
not what you think,” he said, his face full of concern.

“What am
I thinking?” I croaked, tears stinging the back of my eyes.

“You’re
thinking Allison and I are having an affair.”

Well, it
appeared he really could read my mind.

“We’re
not. She sent this to me during dinner at my parents’ the other night. I was
too shocked to even ask her about it. Then I thought about everything you’d said
to me about her and how we argued about it. I thought you were just being silly
and jealous, but you weren’t. You were right about her.”

“Why
didn’t you delete the message then?”

“Because
I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to show you the photo and tell you everything,
just not like this though.”

“Is this
why we’re here?” I asked.

“Yes. No.”
Riley ran his hands through his wet hair. “The night I got the message, I
couldn’t stop thinking about you and all the things I’d said to you. How I’d
defended her. I felt really bad and I wanted to make it up to you. Plus here,
it would be harder for you to run away and not hear me out.”

“Huh. I would
not run away!” I said indignantly.

Riley
looked at me and smiled. It wasn’t the earth-shattering mega-watt smile. It was
his small, intimate smile—the one only the two of us shared.

“Okay maybe
I would have, but how should I react to finding a nude photo of another woman
on my boyfriend’s phone? What do you expect?”

“I’m not
asking for anything more than for you to believe me. I have never encouraged
her. In fact, if you read through all the messages, you’ll see that.”

I
realized I was still holding the phone, almost as if my life depended on it. And
to be honest, my life
did
depend on
it.

“Read
them all please, Lizzie.” Riley’s eyes pleaded with me.

I opened
the phone and scrolled back through all the messages, reading them in reverse
order. My mind jumbled, but the closer to the beginning I got the clearer it
all became.

Prior to
the naked photo, Allison was the last to send a message.

Hi Riley. I have some changes I want made to
the bedroom. Can you pop over and take a look for me please?

I’m a bit busy atm but I can pop over this
afternoon. Is it urgent? I can organize a mate to help if it is.

Oh no. It’s you that I want
J

Ok. I’ll
message you later and let you know what time.

I’ll
be waiting
she wrote
in response to Riley.

Seriously, how could he have not got the meaning in that?

I
continued to read backwards and admitted that they were mostly about the work
he was doing at her house. I stopped and read the first message she’d sent. It
had been the evening of the first time I had met her at her office, back when I
thought my only problem was having nightmares.

Hi Riley. It was so good to see you today. Couldn’t
believe my eyes
J
Allison x

Hi Allison. Yeah it was unexpected that’s for
sure. btw how did you get my number?

Oh your mum gave it to me. Luckily she hasn’t
changed the home number
J

Lucky

So
how long have you and Lizzie been together??

Eight
months

Cool.
Do you love her?

Yes.
Why do you ask? Is it important to her treatment?

No
silly. Just curious.

So he’d
told her he loved me.

I turned
away from the screen and looked into his eyes. Riley had the most expressive
eyes. If you looked closely you could see his emotions dancing right inside
them. Right now, they told me he was hurting. He needed me to believe he wasn’t
having an affair. He needed me in his life as much as I needed him.

“Please
don’t let her destroy us,” he whispered.

I nodded
slowly, the fear from a few moments ago disappearing. “I’m sorry,” I said
quietly. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Riley
grabbed me and pulled me into him, his heart beating loudly in his chest. He
held me tight ... tighter than he’d ever held me before, and I felt like I had
so much love for him my heart would explode. What did I ever do so right in
this world that I managed to find a man like Riley?

Whatever
it was, I was eternally grateful.

* * *

We’d relented and agreed to meet everyone at
the pool for afternoon tea, but I put my foot down for dinner. Riley had
promised me a romantic candlelit dinner for two and by crikey, I was going to
get one. So at seven o’clock, I stepped out of the bathroom in my favorite
white dress. I’d done the smokey-eye thing and had used as much product as I
dared to tame the curls. I hoped I’d done enough to impress him.

“Maybe we could have a candlelit dinner in our room,” he said,
smiling at me.

“So you like the dress?”

“I’d like you better out of the dress, but seeing how we’re going
to the dining room for dinner, this is probably more appropriate.”

I swatted him and followed him to the door.

We made our way to the restaurant in the hotel and waited to be
shown to our table. It was all very beautiful, if a little daunting. Sure I’d
been to many beautiful, high-end restaurants before, but every single one of
them made me nervous. I tended to be clumsy at the best of times. Add nerves to
that and the results could be disastrous, but Riley was so relaxed that after a
few minutes, I relaxed too.

I looked at him as we sat at our table and almost had to pinch
myself. He was wearing a blue shirt, open at the collar, with his black
trousers. It was rare for me to see him so formally dressed and it was actually
a bit of a treat. He looked sexier than ever with the five o’clock shadow, and
as he smiled back at me, those gorgeous sexy crinkles appeared around his bluer-than-ever
eyes. He reached out and took my hand, and the butterflies darted around in my
stomach. Even after all these months, he still had the ability to make those
butterflies dance.

I held eye contact with him and felt an intimacy I had never known
before him, and I prayed to God ...
please
don’t take him away from me.

When I had first met Riley, I remember thinking how I would like to
crawl into his skin and stay there forever. That still hadn’t changed. When I
was with him the world was a safer place and all my worries and anxieties
disappeared.

I was just enjoying the moment when I heard a female voice from
behind me.

“Oh my God, Lizzie ... we need to stop meeting like this.”

I looked up to see my post lady, Chloe smiling at me. Tonight she
looked better than I had ever seen her look. Usually she wore the brightest
high-visibility shirt I had ever seen, her hair color changing weekly. Tonight
she wore a really pretty, pink floaty dress, her hair now with lots of blonde
highlights, her blue eyes sparkling. Next to her stood Brody, who judging by
the look she was giving him, was the reason her smile was so bright.

“Chloe. Hi.” I smiled back. “You look lovely,” I added.

“I feel so uncomfortable,” she said, smoothing her dress. “I’m not
used to this sort of dining. I’m more of a pizza kind of girl.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. That’s usually my kind of a night out
too, but this is pretty nice,” I said, gesturing around the room.

“I know. I had to try it ... another thing to cross off the Bucket List!”
She grinned as the waiter coughed
discreetly,
suggesting she should move on. “Oh, time to go by the sounds of things. Enjoy
your dinner.”

“You too.”

She took a few steps and the waiter held out a chair for her. Looks
like they were at the table right behind me. I sighed. So much for a night away
where nobody knew who we were.