Read Ring of Lies Online

Authors: Victoria Howard

Ring of Lies (12 page)

 


I’d like to speak to
Mr
.
Parous, please.
My name
i
s Grace Elliott
.
I’m calling in connection with my late husband’s estate.

Grace covered the
phone
with her
hand
.

They’re connecting me.

She angled the phone so that Jack could listen
to
the conversation.

 


Hi,
Mrs.
Elliott.
Y
our solicitor told me to expect your call.
I’m kind of surprised to hear from you so soon, though.
What time is it in
England?

 


Actually
,
Mr
.
Parous,
I’m
calling from here
in
Miami.

 

The attorney paused for three beats.

You’re here?
Right now?

 


I arrived this afternoon.
I was rather hoping
we’d be able to meet

tomorrow
morning
,
perhaps
?

 


That’s
pretty
short notice
,
Mrs.
Elliott
.
Or Grace.
May
I call you Grace?

 


Yes
,
of course, but—

 


H
ow
about next week?
I’ve got space on my calendar on
Thursday at ten-thirty
.
I can fit you in then.
In the meantime
,
you can relax and enjoy our fair city.
Take a couple of tours
, m
aybe a day cruise.
Those are great.
My assistant can get you hooked up with a couple of tour operators.

 

Sh
e looked at
Jack
.
He
shook his head
and
covered the mouthpiece
with his thumb
.

 


Sound tearful.
If he still says no, tell him you’ll be there tomorrow at
two
, and then hang up.

 


This is a difficult time for me,
Mr
.
Parous
, as I’m sure you appreciate
.
I
had
rather
hoped to have
everything settled and
be on my way home
by then.

 


I need to
draw up
some
documents
before we can meet, Grace
.
I’m not sure I
can
be ready any sooner
.
That’s stretching it.

 


I’m sure your assistant will appreciate the overtime
, Mr
.
Parous
.
I’ll see you
tomorrow
at
two
.

 

Jack nodded, took the phone
,
and hung up.
He took a pull on his beer.

 


Parous
should be able to tell us
how
Elliott
paid for th
e
house
. He’ll
also know
whether
or not
Elliott
had a bank account here or
whether
the funds were transferred from a British bank.

 

Without thinking, Grace rested her hand on his.
It felt warm and strong, just like she remembered.
When she
realize
d what she’d done, she pulled back.
He didn’t react either to the touch o
r the retreat.

 


Thanks, Jack.
I feel better knowing that you’ll be coming with me.
It
’s
hard enough understanding English legalese
without having to
get my head round the
American legal system too.

She
speared a
nother
shrimp with her fork,
dipped it in
to the chilli-lime
dressing
,
and took a bite.

 

He shrugged and looked away.

No thank
s necessary
.
I’d do the same for any friend.

 

Silently she watched him.
There were more lines
around his eyes
than she remembered, and his once black hair was now
threaded
with
silver
.
But apart from that, he looked no different
than when she’d last seen him.

 


I’ve never heard of Gasparilla Island.
Is it part of the Florida Keys?

 


No, it’s
a
Barrier
island
on the Gulf Coast about two hundred miles from here.
Why
?
Are y
ou thinking of going there?

 


I don’t know.
I haven’t thought that far ahead.
I guess it depends on what
the attorney
says
tomorrow.

 


I’ll ask around, see if I can find out
whether
Zachary Parous
has any unsavoury connections.

 

Grace frowned.

Unsavoury connections?
I
don’t
understand.

 


Miami is full of people
with underworld
connections.
Racketeering, money laundering, drug peddling, murder
; y
ou name it
this city has it
all.

 


S
urely an attorney would
be above all that
?

 


You’d think
.
But not
everyone is as honest as a
newborn
babe
.
People
get sucked in o
n
e small
dirty deal
at a time.
A
favo
u
r
for a friend, and then another, and another, until
they’re
in
so deep there’s no way
out
.

 


What are the police doing about it?

 

He smirked.

Not a lot.
They don’t have the manpower.
For every criminal they take out of circulation, there’s another waiting on the
sidelines
to take his place.
And a lot of the force is crooked too.
It’s n
o wonder
Miami has one of the highest crime rates in the country.

 

Grace didn’t like what she was hearing.
She
toyed with her salad, trying
not to think about
the reasons behind
Daniel
’s
trips to Miami.

 


You
’ve gone
quiet.
You okay
?

 


I’m worried, that’s all.

 


Don’t let your imagination
get the better of you
,
at least not yet.
You said Elliott was an account
ant
.
What was his speciality
?

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