Ultimate Concealer, A Toni Diamond Mystery: A Toni Diamond Mystery (Toni Diamond Mysteries) (11 page)

She nodded. She’d said almost the same words to Dwayne. Now she began to wonder how many other people had turned down her ex-husband. Of course, if Grant Forstman was one of them, she was only strengthening the case against Dwayne.

“If he asked both you and me for money, he must have asked Grant Forstman. He’s probably the richest man Dwayne’s ever come across.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

She was genuinely surprised. “What? Are you saying that Dwayne is hooked up with a lot of wealthy people here in Vegas?”

“No. I’m saying I’m not sure Grant had a lot of money to invest.”

He spoke carefully, his tone measured. He’d picked up a pencil and was doodling on the paper with the calculus equations.

“But that casino alone must be worth a fortune.”

Brent smiled and looked up. “You know what we sell here in Vegas, Toni? We sell illusions. Dreams. This town runs on greed and hope.”

“I’ve walked through the Double Nugget. It seemed real to me.”

“But is Forstman’s ownership real?”

She felt a little the way she imagined her daughter did trying to struggle through calculus. “I’m confused.”

“I am only telling you this in the faint hope that it might help Dwayne. Frankly, I doubt anything can help Dwayne, but in case it’s useful, please understand I am telling you this in the strictest confidence.”

“Of course,” she said, snuggling her butt further forward on her chair. There was something so delicious about hearing secrets.

“Shortly after we started performing at the Double Nugget, Grant found out I was a CPA. He hired me to do some work for him. On the side, hush hush. He’d bet heavily on real estate and got caught in the crash. He borrowed money against the casino. More than he should have borrowed and from people that don’t like it when you don’t pay them back.”

“You mean the mob?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I suspect Russian mobsters.”

“So, you think Grant Forstman owed a lot of money to gangsters and when he couldn’t pay it they killed him?”

“No. Frankly, I think Dwayne killed Grant. But if I can help you throw some reasonable doubt around, I will. Forstman wasn’t the nicest guy in the world. I don’t think a lot of people will cry at his funeral.”

“Not his wife, certainly,” she said, recalling her meeting with Loretta.

“You met Loretta?”

“Yes. We met at the casino today. I went over there to see if I could find out anything and we got to talking. She seemed nice. Level headed.”

“Yes. Yes, she is.” He suddenly stood up. “Well, I’d better get going or I’ll miss my makeover.”

She let him get halfway across the kitchen then, making sure she could still hear the shower going, said, “Brent?”

He turned. “Yes?”

“How long have Dwayne and Loretta been having an affair?”

His face scrunched up like somebody was threatening it with a fist. “How did you know about that?”

“I guessed. Thanks for confirming.”

He sighed and shook his head. “It was supposed to be a big secret. I told him he was asking for trouble. I mean, come on, the boss’s wife? But Dwayne didn’t listen.”

“How long had the affair been going on?”

“I don’t know. A few months?”

“Did Grant Forstman know?”

“I thought you were trying to clear Dwayne?”

“I will if I can, but I need to know the truth.”

“Did the man Dwayne is accused of murdering know that Dwayne was having an affair with his wife?” He nodded. “Yes. He did.”

She’d decided to wait until she heard from Luke before trying to see Dwayne since she needed to know exactly what their case against him was. So, as she was headed back to the hotel, she was relieved when her cell phone rang and Luke’s photo came up. Every time she looked at the candid she’d snapped of him it made her smile. She pulled over and answered. “Hi, Luke.”

“How’s it going down there?”

“Interesting.”

“It’s about to get a whole lot more interesting.”

“Oh. You talked to your buddy?”

“Yes. You alone?”

“I’m in my car. Alone. I was going back to the hotel. Mother needs more Lady Bianca sample packs.”

There was a short pause. “Right. Not even murder stops you girls shilling your makeup, does it?”

“Believe it or not, a little cosmetics party can give everybody a break from the grimness of a murder investigation. Also, it’s amazing what people reveal when you have them in your hands. You’d be surprised.”

“Having seen you at work, I would not.”

She thought there might be a back-handed compliment under the heavy layer of sarcasm, but she decided not to press the matter.

“Okay. I’ve got my notepad out. What have you got for me?”

“Toni, they can put him at the scene. He was seen entering Forstman’s office on surveillance video. And he was seen leaving after midnight. No one else comes in until the morning when one of his henchmen shows up and finds the guy dead.”

“That’s bad.”

“There were witnesses to an altercation he had the day before, but you know that because your daughter was there.”

She scribbled notes as she talked. “Do they know Dwayne was having an affair with Loretta Forstman?”

“You beat me to the punch line. How the hell do you know that?”

If she told him she’d been snooping he’d yell at her. She said, “It was a hunch.”

She tapped her pen on her paper. The cops always approached crime from who was the most likely to have committed it. But her take was different. If she was bone deep certain that Dwayne was incapable of murder then she had to look at other approaches. Like, if he didn’t do it, then who did?

“I heard that Grant Forstman always had one or both of his hired muscle with him. Where were they when Dwayne had his meeting?”

“One of them was sick with food poisoning. The other, Milos Karank, was there at the start of the meeting. The surveillance camera shows him walking away and down the hall around 11:45.”

“Why would he leave? That doesn’t make sense.”

“He’s the one who roughed your ex up the day before. Maybe there was some delicacy involved.”

She snorted. “Nothing about Forstman or his tough guys looked delicate to me.”

“Toni, it doesn’t matter why the guy left. The fact is that he did and he didn’t go back until the next morning. Dwayne Diamond was alone with Grant Forstman and then killed him.”

“Over Loretta?”

“How do I know why he killed him? All I know is the facts are speaking pretty loudly and they’re saying twenty-five to life.” She’d done a little of her own research on the Internet. Nevada was a death penalty state.

“What about gunpowder residue? Did they find any?”

“No. But he could have worn a jacket he later threw away. He could have slipped on surgical gloves or scrubbed up thoroughly when he got home. Any fool with cable TV knows how to shoot someone and avoid gunpowder residue.”

“I keep telling you, Dwayne’s not that smart.”

“Toni, how do you explain the surveillance tapes?” He was doing his best to be patient with her, but she could hear the sharp note. He was convinced Dwayne had done the deed and clearly believed she was wasting her time.

She thought about it. “I have cable TV too. They can be tampered with.”

“They weren’t tampered with. We have experts.”

A couple of kids walked by, sullen teens. One was chewing gum like it was taking every bit of his attention; the other was moving his head in time to whatever he was listening to through his earphones. Those kids probably had normal lives, parents who worried about them. Dads who weren’t in jail. “What can I do?”

“Seems to me he’s a guy who has it coming. My advice is get on the first plane and get back here.”

“If it wasn’t for Tiffany I probably would. But I don’t want her to grow up believing her dad is a murderer.”

“Tiffany is a smart, stable girl. She’ll find a way to deal with it.”

Tiffany had only met her father a few days ago. She did not want the poor kid having to deal with him being a killer unless it was absolutely, positively certain it was true. “When can I see him?”

“They’re not letting anyone see him except his lawyer until the bail hearing Monday morning. You can see him after that.”

“A bail hearing? But that means—”

“It means that about thirty minutes ago your ex-husband was formally charged with murder.”

Chapter Ten

“Sex is like money; only too much is enough.”

— John Updike

Toni had no idea what to wear to a bail hearing since she’d never been to one, but her usual policy every day was to dress as though something wonderful was going to happen.

So she put on one of her favorite dresses in blues and purples, slipped into heels and stuffed a sweater in her bag in case the air conditioning was too cold. Her makeup and hair were flawless, and she made certain to have a healthy stash of sample packs and her business cards offering free makeovers. She imagined a lot of people would hang around at courthouses with time to kill. Including her.

Talking about makeup and beauty routines would help brighten all their days.

Tiffany had slept over with them at the hotel on the pullout couch. They’d tried to pretend they were having a fun, girls’ weekend away but underneath was always the knowledge that Dwayne was spending his weekend in jail.

“Can I come, Mom?” Tiffany asked, as Toni was deciding between diamond drop earrings or studs.

“No, honey. A courthouse is no place for you. Work on some more calculus or get started on your history project.”

Her daughter threw her head back and made a sound of intense frustration before stomping off to the bathroom and slamming the door. “As if she was at home,” Toni said to her mom. “For which I apologize.”

“It’s her father. Of course she’s upset.” Linda said. “Don’t worry, honey. ,” Linda said. “I’ll look out for her. I was thinking we could go shopping or get our nails done.”

When Toni arrived at Clark County courthouse, she was very glad she’d worn bright colors, especially when she got to the courtroom where the bail hearing would take place. If the people sitting in the gallery weren’t already depressed because of their loved ones being in trouble, looking around at all the black and navy, the droopy fabrics, pale faces and unkempt hair would make them so.

She was doing a little friendly fishing, chatting to a woman who sat near her to pass the time. When the woman’s drug-dealing son made bail, she congratulated her and said, “Here’s a little gift from me to you. If you want to give yourself the gift of looking better, give me a call,” and she pressed the sample pack and her card on the stunned-looking woman.

As she moved to let the woman slide past her, she noticed her mother and daughter coming toward her. Tiffany said, “Mother, you did not seriously try to flog cosmetics to a woman who just bailed her son out of jail?”

“Name me one time when a woman wouldn’t feel better if she looked better?” Toni challenged. Then, realizing that both her daughter and her mother had turned up at the bail hearing, she snapped, “Anyway, that’s beside the point. What are you doing here?”

“She threatened to hitchhike if I wouldn’t bring her,” Linda said.

“Hitchhike?” Had she taught her daughter nothing?

Tiffany fiddled with one of her silver rings. “The bus would have been too slow.”

“I got us a cab,” Linda said. “I figured if I came with her it would be better.”

Toni had a choice. She could read her daughter a lecture or she could accept that the poor kid was worried sick about her father. She shuffled over a couple of seats to where the drug-dealer’s mother had been sitting. “I’m really glad to have the company.” She put a hand on Tiffany’s and gave it a squeeze. To her surprise, her daughter squeezed back.

When Dwayne was called, he came out looking pale and shorter, somehow, as though being accused of murder had shrunk him. The navy blue jumpsuit hung on him. He glanced around, looking apprehensive, and when he spotted the three of them gave his best attempt at his usual cocky grin. She thought he’d have waved if he hadn’t been handcuffed.

He was a no-good, morally corrupt man in so many ways, but Toni still couldn’t believe he was a murderer.

The prosecutor, however, didn’t seem to share her belief. The case was read out briefly, and the prosecutor wanted bail set at half a million dollars.

The defense attorney, who had briefly conferred with her client, said, “My client has family in the area and no reason or opportunity to flee. He does not have the financial resources to raise five hundred thousand dollars. We request a fifty-thousand-dollar bail, your honor.”

The judge glared first at the lawyer and then at Dwayne, then snapped, “Bail is set at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

He glanced back at Toni once more as he was escorted by two courtroom deputies to a side door in the courtroom. She knew from chatting to the drug dealer’s mother that the door led to underground access back to the jail. After Dwayne was gone, they called the next case and Toni and her mother and daughter walked out into the hall.