Lizzy Gardner #2_Dead Weight (12 page)

“My missing person case—Diane Kramer,” she lied.

“The one whose disappearance might be connected to Anthony Melbourne?”

Lizzy nodded. “I managed to get Diane’s hard drive from her computer at work downloaded onto a portable disc. I was going through the files when you rang the bell last night.”

“Find anything?”

She nodded. “A couple of interesting to do lists and lots of emails to the parents of her kids.”

“Kids? I thought she was single?”

“She is. She’s a special needs teacher. And she must have made quite an impression on these kids because it’s obvious they looked up to her. It seems she’s made a difference in many of their lives.” Lizzy sighed. “From what I’ve read and heard so far, I agree with Diane’s friends who don’t believe she would have left the school and her kids.”

Jared sat on the edge of the bed and slipped on his socks and shoes.

“Any suspects?”

“A few. I’m beginning to understand why her sister Andrea is having me follow Melbourne. Something tells me Diane’s disappearance has everything to do with her weight.”

“How so?”

“According to friends and family, that’s all she talked about. She was over 200 pounds and she might have been depressed. She tried every diet known to mankind. Pills, gimmicky equipment, some kind of weird cotton ball diet, you name it. I recently learned from one of Diane’s co-workers that she joined an online group called the Weight Watcher Warriors.”

“Can you join the group?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think of that.”

“You might want to join and see what you can ind out as a new member.”

“That’s brilliant. I’ll join the group and see if anyone mentions Diane.” Excited about the prospect of inding a lead, Lizzy pulled on her shorts and T-shirt.

After Jared put on his shirt, she wrapped her arms around his waist.

She might not be ready to live with him, but she couldn’t fathom the idea of living without him. “I don’t want you to leave,” she told him.

“There are so many things I need to talk to you about.”

He held her tight and kissed the top of her head. “Maybe this is exactly what you need. A few weeks without me will give you a chance to think things through.”

Her cheek was pressed against his chest. She wanted so badly to tell him she loved him. .but she was afraid, she realized. Just the thought of saying the words to him caused her heart to beat faster.

She was afraid of being vulnerable and needy.

What if she grew to love him
so
much that she would no longer be able to stand on her own two feet? What then?

Telling him she loved him would be synonymous with saying, “here I am. .here’s all of me, the bad and the good. What you see, is what you get.”

Was she afraid he would judge her or reject her?

She sighed. Her apprehension had nothing to do with Jared and everything to do with her. She was afraid of being honest with
herself
.

Love sucked.

Chapter 18

Nobody’s Perfect

Always aware of her surroundings, Lizzy kept her eyes on the cars parked nearby as she climbed out of her car. Her gaze swept over the buildings and the street as she headed for her of ice. Up ahead, people walked in and out of the coffee shop. Summer or winter, it didn’t matter: everybody needed their caffeine. No unusual shadows; nobody watching from afar. Her shoulders relaxed as she entered her office, bringing inside a surge of dry Sacramento heat.

“How’s it going?” Jessica asked from her desk at the back of the room.

“Not too bad for a Wednesday.” She walked around the front of her desk and put her purse away. “Sorry I haven’t been around much.

Jared will be heading off on business for a few weeks and I wanted to spend some time with him before he leaves.”

“How about your workouts? How was that this morning?”

Lizzy felt heat rise to her face. Her best workout had been last night in bed with Jared. A treadmill and a few lunges didn’t compare. But she wasn’t the type to kiss and tell. She glanced at her watch. “My workouts are later on Wednesdays. I’m supposed to meet Cathy at the gym in 45 minutes for another session of torture.”

Lizzy sat at her desk and began to sort through the mail stacked in her in-box.

“So, what do you think about Melbourne?” Jessica asked. “Is he hiding something?”

“The only things that man is hiding are his laws. Nobody could possibly be that perfect.”

“Are you still sore?”

“No, it only hurts when I blink.”

Jessica laughed.

“Did you and Hayley have any luck yesterday with the Fullerton case?”

Jessica grabbed a ile from her desk and walked it over, placing it in front of her. Lizzy saw the bruise on Jessica’s upper arm, prompting Jessica to yank on the sleeve of her shirt to cover the fingerprints.

“What happened to your arm? Who grabbed you?”

Jessica went back to her desk and sat down. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously a handprint. I’m not your mother, Jessica. I’m not going to lecture you about the guys you hang out with, but I also refuse to—”

Jessica whipped around fast. “You think my boyfriend did this to me?”

“Whoa, there. I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.”

“I don’t. .not really,” Jessica muttered. “But none of that matters because Casey had nothing to do with the handprints.”

“Handprints? You have more than one of those?”

Jessica huffed at her obvious misstep, and then gently rolled up both sleeves so Lizzy could get a good look at her bruises.

Lizzy had never seen anything like it. Whoever had done this to Jessica had left indents on both of her arms.

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you,” Jessica said, “but yesterday, after you left, and at your request, Hayley and I did a search on the Internet for information on Theodore Johnson.”

Lizzy had to bite her tongue to keep from interrupting. Instead, she grabbed a pencil and began chewing.

Jessica walked back toward Lizzy and took a seat in the cushioned chair reserved for clients. “As it turned out, Johnson lives with his mother in a house about ifteen miles from here. .right around the corner from Eric Farrell, the guy trying to collect workers’ comp.”

Please don’t let those bruises have anything to do with Farrell, Lizzy thought. She pulled the pencil from her mouth. “Please tell me that you two did
not
visit Mr. Johnson at his home.”

“You promised you would hear me out first.”

Lizzy began chewing again.

“I hate to put all the blame on Hayley, but I want you to know that I tried to talk her out of it. She wouldn’t listen. She’s the most stubborn person I’ve ever met in my life.”

After a calming breath, Jessica continued. “Yes, we went to Johnson’s home. But you’ll be happy to know, thanks to Hayley’s determined questioning, he gave us a lead.” Jessica gestured with her chin toward the file on Lizzy’s desk. “It’s all in the file.”

At the moment, Lizzy couldn’t care less about the ile. “But Theodore Johnson didn’t cause the bruising on your arms, did he?”

Jessica shook her head. “I know you have to go soon, so I won’t bore you with the details, but long story short—after Hayley and I inished talking to Johnson, we saw Farrell leave his house. He was driving a white minivan. He’s supposed to be wheelchair bound, remember?

Hayley happened to have her camera ready to go, so we followed him.”

“I’ve told you both never to get out of the car to take a picture.”

“We didn’t. Well, I didn’t. We followed him approximately ten miles from his house to an abandoned auto shop. Hayley went across the street to get something to drink at a mini-market and the next thing you know Farrell shoved his arm through my window, opened my door, and dragged me out of my car. He shook me so hard I thought my neck was going to break.”

Lizzy tossed the pencil into the jar and grabbed her phone. “I’m calling the police. That asshole is going to pay.”

“Put your phone away, Lizzy. Please. If you don’t, Hayley will be the one who pays, not Farrell.”

Lizzy’s adrenaline had skyrocketed. “What are you talking about?”

“Hayley must have been watching from the mini-market because before I knew what was happening, she had the man in a chokehold.

That’s how fast everything happened. It was crazy.”

“Hayley had Farrell in a chokehold?”

“She did.”

“Impossible. That man is built like a machine.”

Jessica rubbed the back of her neck. “Farrell is all muscle, but he’s also short, which is why Hayley was able to get her arm around his neck in the first place.”

“Please tell me Hayley is alright.”

“Hayley is ine. At least for now. If anyone tries to press charges against Farrell though, he’s threatened to press charges of his own.”

“On what grounds?”

“Same as mine—aggravated assault.”

“How so? There’s no way she could’ve hurt—”

“She held a knife to Farrell’s throat,” Jessica interrupted. “He peed in his pants, too, and to tell you the truth, Farrell wasn’t the only one who thought his days on earth were limited.”

“How bad?”

Jessica wrinkled her nose. “Just a nick, I guess, but if that man had made one wrong move, he would be in the hospital right now, or maybe even in the morgue.”

“You really think Hayley is okay?”

“Physically, yeah, she’s fine.” Jessica stood and returned to her desk.

Lizzy wondered what Jessica meant. Physically Hayley was okay, but not mentally? She looked at the clock. Damn. She was already going to be late. She was being paid to watch Melbourne. She’d have to deal with this later. Hayley and Jessica were not the best of friends. There was some obvious animosity between them. .and that could not be good for business. But carrying knives?

Lizzy and Hayley needed to have a serious talk.

***

Although the gym was big enough to it a hundred people, only six ladies were in attendance for Melbourne’s “private” class.

Lizzy couldn’t help but wonder if Andrea Kramer had any clue as to what she was spending her hard-earned money on. Or maybe it wasn’t
her
hard-earned money she was spending. Bottom line, somebody’s money, hard-earned or not, was going to waste.

If Lizzy ever decided to continue working out after she was done following Melbourne, she igured she didn’t need a trainer to torture herself. The treadmill was doing a good job all on its own.

Melbourne headed their way. He wore a tight-itting T-shirt that hugged his massive biceps, along with black gym shorts and brand new shoes with thick soles to absorb maximum impact, no doubt. He stood at about six foot ive. He had a nice symmetrical face with everything in the right spots: chin more square than round; mouth not too wide; good strong nose; blue eyes; and his head appeared to be bald by choice, not because of male pattern baldness based on genetics.

“You probably shouldn’t stare at him,” Cathy said. “It’s way too obvious.”

“What’s too obvious?”

“That you’ve been bitten by the Melbourne bug.”

The Melbourne bug?
“I’m only trying to igure out what thousands of women see in him. He doesn’t even have any hair.”

“He’s hot. Not all men can get away with the look. He’s got a nice shaped head and together with his perfectly maintained ive o’clock shadow, he’s got it going on.”

Lizzy tried to imagine Jared without hair and although the idea of it didn’t compute, she knew without a doubt that Jared would look sexy with or without a full head of hair.

“Ladies, if you can talk, you aren’t working out hard enough.”

Lizzy tried not to roll her eyes.

“Okay, ladies,” Melbourne said, clapping his hands together to get their full attention. “Today we’re all going to become acquainted with the elliptical machines. You’ll be able to work your arms and your legs with less stress on your knees, hips, and backs. I want all of you to start at a resistance level of 8 or above. I expect you to push yourselves.”

The other women got up from their mats and headed for the elliptical machines. A woman from the Jane Fonda era, complete with leotard and tights, sprinted to the other side of the room and jumped on the first elliptical.

Lizzy couldn’t help but wonder if the woman was a “secret client,” a consumer hired to evaluate staff or inspire other consumers. No, she decided. Ridiculous. Those secret consumers were paid to be discreet.

Jane Fonda’s clone was anything but.

Lizzy’s sister wasn’t much better. There was an energetic aura hovering over Cathy today. Lizzy felt as if she needed a water break every ive minutes, but Cathy, despite the sweat dripping from her chin, had yet to stop and rest. Lizzy couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her sister look so. .so animated.

Before Lizzy could join the others on the elliptical, Melbourne grasped onto her shoulder and squeezed.

Her instinct was to brush his hand off, but she refrained. She wanted to befriend the man, not distance herself from him. “Hello,” she said, confused.

He snapped his ingers and that’s when she realized he recognized her from the retreat in San Francisco.

“I remember,” he said, smiling. “The seminar—” He wagged a inger at her. “You were the one sleeping with your head in the knapsack.”

She strained her neck to look into his eyes. “How did you know I was sleeping?”

“Let’s just say I’ve been doing this long enough to know what’s going on around me.”

His blue eyes sparkled. She looked deep into his eyes, hoping to see what was really going on inside that head of his. Was he responsible for Diane Kramer’s disappearance? It was no use. He had a naive, ingenuous look to him. He looked like a young, taller, bald Jack LaLanne, a man who happened to be exceptionally passionate about his work.

“You weren’t the only one nodding off,” he added. “I needed to get everyone’s attention.”

“So you used me.”

“Absolutely.”

She smiled. The man might actually be a little bit charming, which seemed appalling to her. He had too many muscles to be charming.

Before she could continue the casual conversation, Cathy popped into the middle of things, her unbridled enthusiasm putting the Jane Fonda woman to shame.