Trick or Deceit (24 page)

“I guess we don't have to worry about Amanda getting him out of jail,” Chaz said.

Jon caught Liv's eye, then looked to Bill. “I'll take her to the house, if that's okay with you.”

Bill nodded, and Jon slowly led Amanda back to the jeep.

The rest of them stood where they were until the jeep drove away.

“Ted's going to be upset that he missed all this,” Chaz said.

“He was manning the phone chain,” Liv said.

A.K. rounded up his men. “Thanks for the use of your boat, Chaz.”

Chaz nodded.

“Good work, Ms. Montgomery.”

Liv nodded. She would have said something but she was beginning to feel a little shaky in the aftermath.

“I think a brandy would do wonders,” A.K. said, but he was talking to Chaz.

“Wait a minute,” Liv said. “Stop bossing me around.”

“I think Liv could use one, too.” Chaz grinned.

A.K. shook his head and left. Bill sent the rest of his men back to the station, then stopped by Chaz and Liv. “Come on, I'll give you a lift back to town. I promised Ted we'd tell him the whole story before the night was through.”

“Not 'til I get there,” Chaz said. “I just have to return the boat to the marina.”

•   •   •

Liv slept in the next day. She figured she deserved it. She and Ted met in time for the opening of the Museum of Yankee Horrors. A ribbon-cutting ceremony by the mayor was accompanied by the zombie band, now back in their high school colors.

Bill walked back with them to town hall. He'd gone to yoga that morning and his sciatica was already feeling better. On the way, they stopped by the Apple of My Eye for some of Dolly's caramel apple cake and the Buttercup for two lattes and a tea.

“You two sure know how to enjoy the workaday world,” Bill said. “If I'm lucky, I get stale donuts and motor-oil coffee.”

“You're welcome to join us anytime,” Liv said as Ted pulled up an extra chair to Liv's desk and laid out the morning fare.

“I have news,” Bill said.

“Do tell.” Ted handed him a china plate with a piece of cake.

Bill took a sip of coffee. “Got a call that the state troopers picked up Stanley Riggs yesterday morning. He was hitchhiking south on Route 87. When they picked him up he was incoherent and they took him in for psychiatric testing.

“He admitted to vandalizing the museum. But he kept insisting that the others weren't his fault because someone had made him do it.

“At first they thought he was talking about ‘voices' in his head, but they finally realized that he meant an actual person. It seems he'd been camping out in one of the cabins at the fish camp.”

“We saw the one where he stayed.”

Bill nodded.

“Rod Crosby found him squatting and threatened to have him arrested unless he agreed to vandalize, for a fee, the Mystic Eye and Ernie's haunted house.

“And the fish camp?” Liv asked.

“That he did on his own when Rod refused to pay him what he thought he was due.”

“Why did Rod want all the places vandalized?”

“Misdirection, I suspect,” Bill said.

“But what about Lucille?”

“Well, according to Rod, who yo-yos between babbling and enforced silence . . .” Bill shook his head. “That's another nutcase.

“I guess he and Lucille went up to the fish camp to ‘talk.' She was insisting he leave Amanda. He said no. She had a fit and he'd had enough. He grabbed her and she ran away. That's when she lost her shoes and scarf, and fell and hit her head.”

“And he killed her while she was unconscious,” Liv said. “That's just the worst.”

“It was certainly the easiest,” Ted said. “And it had the secondary feature of making the suspect list even longer. A lot of people could have strangled her easily when she was unconscious.” Ted helped himself to another piece of cake. “Did he say why he threw Lucille's body in the vacant lot?”

“And why he used Jon's car?” Liv added.

“He used the Mercedes just because it was handy and he didn't want any evidence left in his jeep. Evidently Jon had left his keys downstairs. Rod didn't even have to hot-wire it.”

“And it almost worked,” Liv said.

“We would have gotten to the truth in the end.”

Liv wasn't totally sure of that, but she wasn't going to quibble.

“And the vacant lot?”

“Pure serendipity. He was driving back to the town parking lot, where he planned to drop Lucille's body near her car. But as he passed Barry's Museum, he saw Riggs carrying the mannequins and dumping them in the lot. Rod said he just waited for Riggs to leave, then dumped Lucille along with the rest.”

“And that's when Lola Bangs saw the Mercedes,” Liv said. “That's diabolical.”

“Certainly nasty,” Ted agreed. “But why leave the shoes in Ernie's yard? More muddying the waters?”

“I think at that point it was just plain mean. He'd left the shoes in the car, he was going back for them and then had the brilliant idea of implicating Ernie. He actually chuckled when he told us that. If I hadn't been an officer sworn to uphold the law, I think I would have clobbered him.”

Liv sighed. “Poor Amanda.”

“She'll be better off without him.”

“That's for sure.” Ted said.

Bill reached for another piece of cake. “True. But women don't always reconcile their brains with their hearts.”

“Bill,” Ted said, “that was downright poetic.”

“Yeah,” Liv said. “But poetry won't buy us a new community center.”

“You think Jon will turn us down?

Liv shrugged. “I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see.”

•   •   •

They only had to wait until Monday morning to find out. Ted and Liv were reconciling the Pilgrim dinner sales with the number of tables and chairs that had to be confirmed for delivery when Liv's cell rang. “It's Jon.” She walked to the window to take the call. When she hung up, she turned to Ted. “He's taking Amanda back to the city for a while and he wants me to meet him for a quick lunch at the inn. Do I look okay?”

“You look great for taking his money, but don't accept any job offers.” He cleared his throat. “Or any other offers.”

“Wouldn't think of it. Gotta go. Can you call the party supply place and confirm?”

“Doing it now.” Ted picked up the phone.

Liv headed over to the inn.

When Jon walked her back an hour later, she had a note from Amanda in her messenger bag thanking her and the town. Plus a check for an additional fifty thousand dollars for a down payment on a new location for the community center.

And Jon had hinted that he would give a favorable report to the foundation committee.

They stopped on the sidewalk outside the town hall.

“So I guess this is good-bye for a while,” Jon said.

“I guess so. Since I'm not on the circuit anymore.”

“And don't intend to get back on.” He smiled. A little wistfully, she thought. “You've found a home.”

“Yeah, I guess I have.”

“And you have your peeps.”

He lifted his chin toward Liv's office window.

She automatically looked up. Chaz, Ted, and Bill stood at the window, looking down.

“They're obnoxious and annoying and drive me nuts, but they're definitely my peeps.”

“They're lucky to have you.”

“Yeah. They are.”

“And they know it.”

“You think?”

“Oh, I can tell. I'm a little jealous.”

Liv laughed. “You?”

“All the best, Liv. Call me next time you're in the city. Who knows, maybe I'll be there, too.”

He hugged her and walked back toward the inn.

Liv walked across the street to her office. She opened the door to Bill, Chaz, and Ted all looking guilty—but not repentant.

“Get an eyeful, boys?”

“Hey, we were just hanging out,” Chaz said.

Bill stifled him with a look. “Liv, are you disappointed?

“Not at all. We got a big check from Amanda and a good word from Jon.”

“What about your dapper boyfriend?” Ted said.

“He's an associate.”

Chaz slapped him on the back. “Yeah, Ted, what would she want with some rich, educated, well-dressed New Yorker when she could have some homegrown boys like us?”

“How true,” Liv said. “But you didn't have to be so infantile. At least I'm glad to see A.K. isn't here.”

The outer door opened, and A.K. rushed in. “Is he gone? I got here as soon as I could.”

“What's that you were saying about maturity?” Ted asked and burst out laughing.

“What?” A.K. asked.

Bill and Chaz joined in the laughter.

“Yep. Definitely my peeps,” Liv said and she laughed, too.

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