Bouquet of Lies Part 35

He didn't smile. "Tricks." He sighed. "Maybe I do." He took a sip of coffee.

"Now don't get all morose. I didn't mean anything by it. It was a compliment."

"Oh." He took another sip of coffee and his eyes told her he was a.n.a.lyzing her.

She didn't have time for this. She had meant it as a compliment. She glanced at the clock again.

He put his coffee cup down. "What's going on?"

She smiled at him and shrugged. "You mean aside from the fact that my mother has miraculously returned to my life and there's a killer on the loose and I didn't get enough sleep?"

She glanced at the clock one more time.

"It's a few seconds later than the last time you checked."

"A few seconds, huh?"

"Do you have to be somewhere?"

"Everyone has to be somewhere."

He smiled slightly. "Touche."

Ah. He jokes. That's better.

"I was just thinking, wondering, when Darla and Randy will get back."

"Oh. You're nervous about that." He nodded like he understood.

"Yeah." She moved to his chair and, standing behind him, slipped her arms around his shoulders. With her cheek against the back of his head, she spoke. "I have to go."

He grabbed her arms before she could move away. "You do have to be somewhere."

"I have errands."

"I'll come with you."

"No. They're things I have to do on my own."

"Like what?"

"Don't do that." She pulled her arms free. "I have to go and I don't have to explain." She walked to the sink and held on. She was balancing a tightrope here. She didn't want to be a b.i.t.c.h, but she didn't want him to know what she was planning. He couldn't spend the day with her. She had to show Uncle D her evidence and then she had to get home. She had to set her plan in motion and he would stop her. "Don't crowd me."

"I don't mean to crowd you." He moved to her. "I'm sorry. I'll never put you on a leash. I promise. But if I can't be with you, then how do I ever get in there?" He tapped a finger where her heart was.

She looked at him, and didn't answer.

"I was afraid you'd put more walls up if we made love too soon."

"I don't have walls up and it wasn't too soon."

He smiled. "No. It was great." He kissed her.

She worked to keep her emotions in check. "Okay," she whispered, feeling wimpy when she knew she had to be strong. There was no time for discussions about walls and feelings or promises about a future that was uncertain. She had no time for anything, except taking care of business. He could come with her for the first part, if he wanted. That would be her compromise.

"I'm sorry, too." She entwined her fingers behind his neck. "And, if you want, you can come with me to the police station. That's my first errand. I need to show a couple of things to your uncle. After that, I need to do some running around on my own."

He kissed her. She kissed him back.

Seated at his desk at the police station, Uncle D stared at Randy's "to do" list.

"Why didn't you show me this last night?"

"Oh, I don't know. I got sort of sidetracked when my mother showed up." Lacey sat across from him, Dan in the chair beside her.

Dan reached across the desk. "Can I see that?"

Uncle D handed Randy's list to him. Dan looked it over and eyed Lacey with concern. "Where'd you get this?"

Lacey flinched. "I might have broken into Randy's apartment."

Dan looked disturbed, but Uncle D didn't bat an eye.

"Well. It's something." Uncle D took the paper back.

"I have this, too." She took out her cell phone and pulled up the photo Jake had sent.

Uncle D stared at it. "Okay. That's interesting."

She showed the photo to Dan.

"Jake sent it to me. He stopped this woman from going in to see Darla. She's Randy's accomplice. But you seem to know that already."

Uncle D looked her in the eye. "Why do you say that?"

"You're too nonchalant. If I know as much as I know, you have to know more. Who is this woman? I haven't a clue. This is my family. My life. My sister's life. I need to know. I have a right to know."

The big detective drummed his fingers on the desk. His eyes sized her up. "It's unorthodox."

"What is?"

"My telling you this."

"Tell me what?"

"We know who the woman in the photo is. At least we know some of her aliases. She's in custody as we speak."

"What?" She glanced at Dan. "Did you know this?"

Dan shook his head. Her eyes went back to Uncle D.

"You sent your friend Jake to watch your sister. I told you I had a man doing the same thing. After Jake scared this woman off, she headed back to Los Angeles. We stopped her for speeding. She had no proof of insurance and her driver's license was a fake. We impounded the car."

Lacey raised a brow. "You O'Donnell cops love that trick."

Dan grabbed her hand.

"We ran her prints. None came up a match to any that we found in the library of your house. But, you know. Gloves are a mandatory part of any killer's repertoire."

Lacey put fingers to her forehead. "Killer's repertoire. What's her name?"

"Bonnie Malone. Melissa Scott. Tina Gordon. Take your pick. And those are only the ones we got hits on."

"Great." Lacey shook her head. "None of those names mean anything to me."

"We're waiting on a warrant to search her apartment. Should have it any minute. Hopefully we'll find something that ties her to the murders and to Randy."

"She was at Randy's motel last night. They talked. Jake heard Randy's side of the conversation. And once she didn't make it inside the motel room, didn't she have to meet Randy and explain what happened?"

"No, they didn't meet. He saw her get in her car and he probably called her. But they're smart enough to use burner phones to communicate. And somewhere along the line, probably because she got spooked, she tossed hers. It wasn't with her when she was arrested."

"So what now?"

He shook his head. "The evidence we have that they know each other is flimsy. Both being at the motel. It's a strand, not a rope. We need a lot more."

"I like the old days when people strung up killers and sorted the evidence out later," Lacey said.

"You don't mean that," Dan told her.

"Maybe not exactly. But in this case I'd have no problem."

"The good news is she'll serve time one way or the other. We've got some open charges that we can make stick."

"How much time?"

"I don't know. Maybe seven years."

"But she gets away with killing my Dad, Maggot, Edward and Honey?"

"We don't think she killed Honey."

"Three for four," Lacey responded.

"At least she's not going anywhere. It buys us time. We'll keep digging."

"What about Randy?"

"I can't talk about that," Uncle D said.

"Did he kill Honey?"

"I can't talk about that."

"And this scam artist just claims she doesn't know him and you can't prove she's lying."

"Right now, we can't even talk to her because she lawyered up."

"You can't trace their phone calls because they use disposable phones. What about Randy's phone records from before now? Before they started this murder spree."

"Shrewd question. But I can't tell you any more than I've already said."

"I hate this."

"The life of a cop."

Lacey thought for a moment. "Does Randy know she's been arrested?"

"Don't think so."

"Everybody gets a phone call. She didn't call Randy?"

"She just asked for a lawyer."

"So he doesn't know unless she had her lawyer tell him."

"That would involve connecting him to her. Even with lawyer client privilege, she probably wouldn't want to do that."

"So if he doesn't know and he can't get a hold of her, it wouldn't take much to force him to seek her out."

"What do you mean?" Dan sounded anxious. "No."

"You don't even know what I'm going to say."

"Go on," Uncle D said.

"Randy and Darla are coming back today. What if I told him I found out our mother is alive? That you told me. He'll want to tell this Bonnie-Melissa-whomever creature, right? Since he can't call her, he'll drive to her place. Your guys should be there tossing it by then. He rings the bell. You open the door. Voila! You got him."

Uncle D smiled. "Well, not quite. Guys like him think on their feet. He'll have some sort of explanation. But it's something. Another strand." The detective nodded and touched his fingers together. "Good idea, Miss Bouquet."

She heard Dan sigh. "Is it too much to ask that I be with you when you tell him?"

"No leashes, remember?"

"You can come with me," Uncle D said to his nephew. And he pulled a fresh bottle of Tums from a drawer and took one.