Paid in Full (13 page)

Ari chewed on her nail. This was one of those difficult moments. She knew she should tell her potential love interest the truth, but she’d already pushed Molly to the edge of the trust precipice. Molly’s eyes narrowed, and Ari hoped her candor wouldn’t propel Molly from the condo. “Well, in between the Deborah Thorndike incident and going to the crime scene, Jane and I ran into Russ Swanson outside of Smiley’s. That was just accidental, though,” Ari quickly added. “We approached him and she mentioned I’d been concerned about Thorndike’s murder, and he got really nervous, jumped in his car and took off.”

“This was
before
you got knocked on the head?”

Suddenly Ari realized what Molly was driving at. “Yes, it was.”

“And I know for a fact,” Molly continued, “that Russ Swanson knew about the vacant house.”

Ari’s stomach churned at the possibility of what Molly was suggesting. Could Swanson have followed them from Smiley’s to the house?

Molly watched Ari’s face pale. Instead of blowing up again at Ari, she resisted the urge, and instead took her hand. “I take my job very seriously. I risk my life more than I’d care to admit, and you’re doing it practically on a daily basis.” Ari remained silent. “Let’s talk about tonight. You’re all alone in a deserted, dark house. Most likely you met the killer.”

Ari started to shake and tears slid down her face. Molly pulled her close, her anger vanishing. They remained motionless for several minutes until Molly whispered, “Is there any family I should call? You were attacked tonight, Ari.”

“No,” came the simple reply.

“Do you speak with your father?” Molly asked gently. “Not for a long time. Not since my mother’s funeral.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“I’m the only one,” Ari said in a voice that was barely audible. From years of interviewing suspects and witnesses, Molly knew that there was a story there, but she wasn’t going to ask. She drew a deep breath and closed her eyes, Ari snuggled against her, their hearts beating in a pleasant rhythm. Molly wanted to know everything that she could about the woman she held in her arms, but she remained content, breathing in Ari’s strawberry scented hair as she fell asleep.

When Ari awoke, her mouth was dry and the morning light enveloped the condo. She was lying on the couch, a blanket covering her. Molly was gone, but she’d left a note under the bottle of scotch. She blinked and attempted to focus on the flowing handwriting:

Aria, you are indeed beautiful music. As I write, I still feel the warmth of your embrace and the scent of your hair. I can’t wait for tonight. Until then, try to stay out of trouble. I want a real first date.

—M.

Ari reread the words a dozen times, her face pressed against the blanket, breathing Molly’s cologne. It took another half hour before she hoisted herself upright, a difficult task in itself. Her Grand Canyon-sized headache had turned into a dull throb. She could live with it and function.

The phone rang, a foghorn in her ear. She snatched it up before it could ring again.

“Hello,” she grumbled.

“Ari, it’s Bob.”

Chapter Twelve

Wednesday, June 20

9:36 a.m.

“Bob, you’ve got to come back. You’re only making it worse for yourself,” Ari pleaded.

“No,” he said. “I only called you because I knew you’d worry.” His voice hurried through the sentence, and Ari guessed it would be a short conversation. As paranoid as Bob could be, he probably thought the call was being traced.

“Bob, have you talked to Lily? She’s really concerned.”

“She should be,” he said, his tone filled with disgust.

Ari shook her head in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Realizing he had spoken sharply, he backtracked. “Nothing. Look, don’t say anything to her. I’ll call her soon.”

“Tell me where you are. Let me help you.”

“I can’t, Ari. This is my problem, and I’ll deal with it. You just need to stay out of it.”

She absently touched the lump on the back of her head, a dull throbbing beginning at the back of her skull. “Bob, you need to turn yourself in.”

“I can’t right now,” he said firmly.

“Why not? You’re innocent, aren’t you?” She was almost afraid of his answer.

He breathed deeply. “Ari, if you of all people have to ask that question . . .”

“No, I really don’t,” she said hastily. “I don’t believe you killed anyone, and you need to come back and clear your name.”

“Yeah, right. If they don’t convict me for Thorndike’s murder, they’ll put me in jail for fleeing.”

Since her appeal to friendship wasn’t working, Ari switched tactics. Although Bob was an emotional person, he was also very logical. “What are you going to do? Run to South America? You can’t hide forever.”

“I have a plan, but I can’t tell you what it is.” He sighed audibly. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Ari felt sick. “A
plan
? A plan for what? Catching the killer? Are you crazy?”

“Ari, if I come back, they’ll put me in jail,” he repeated.

He was right. If he walked into the police station, Molly would arrest him, but Ari also knew a good attorney could probably get him out on bail, if he could prove Bob had left under duress and wouldn’t do it again. It was risky. “Tell me where you are, Bob,” she said evenly.

“No.”

He was getting short with her, and he wanted to get off the phone. “Bob, are you having an affair with Kristen Duke?” The line was silent. She’d thrown him a curve ball. He didn’t need to respond, because for Ari, a friend of twenty years, the silence was enough.

“Now’s not the time to go into that. Just stay out of this, sweetie.” Bob’s voice was sincere. She heard the hard click and they were disconnected.

*

What Ari really wanted to do was crawl back into bed. The phone conversation had set off cannons in her head, she was emotionally spent from the attack and she just wanted to savor the memory of Molly snuggled against her. Unemployed, this was a day she could have easily made some tea and read the paper surrounded by the soft down pillows, Molly’s musky scent lingering near her.

As much as her body wanted the rest, her mind was on overdrive, and a huge headache was inevitable, so she might as well try to get some answers from Lily. Questions filled her mind as the traffic snaked up Camelback Road. Bob had sounded angry with her for some reason, so did he suspect Lily was the killer or did he
know
she was the killer? Maybe he knew she was seeing Michael Thorndike again.

Her eyes jolted back to the road as the red taillights in front of her glared bright red. She automatically hit her brakes and the tires squealed. Glancing into her rearview mirror, the waving middle finger from the driver behind her was hard to miss. She accelerated again, but her thoughts easily drifted back to some of the images that had crowded her mind for the last few days: her father pulling her into a bear hug on the day she graduated from the police academy, her mother’s emaciated body lying in a hospital bed while Ari held her hand, Molly Nelson’s crystal blue eyes, Bob’s concerned face looming over her and calling her name while she drifted in and out of a fog.

That was the image that kept her pursuing Michael Thorndike’s killer, involving herself in something that could get her arrested and drive away a woman who absolutely fascinated her. She could lose so much, but she had no choice.
Have you ever owed a debt you never thought you could repay?

Dance music blared from inside the Watson’s ranch house, and she had to sit on the bell for almost a solid minute before Lily abruptly opened the door. Her body was covered with a sheen of perspiration and her cheeks were crimson from the hard workout. She wore black spandex biking shorts and a lime green sports bra, her makeup perfectly applied. She stood there with her hands on her hips, revealing long maroon colored fingernails with specks of gold. Knowing Lily, she’d been pumping iron for over an hour, an activity Ari despised. Racquetball was enough. Fortunately, Ari’s metabolism pitied her and she managed to stay in single-digit pant sizes. Still, she envied Lily’s body and knew her arms and shoulders would never look as lean and toned as the short, sinewy woman in front of her.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, relieved. “I thought it was that bitchy detective coming back for another round.” She motioned for Ari to follow her into the house. Lily disappeared down the hallway and the music was silenced. She returned with a gym towel over her shoulders, sipping on a mineral water.

“Let’s go sit out on the porch,” Lily suggested. “Can I get you anything?”

“What you’re drinking looks great.”

They stopped in the kitchen long enough for Lily to retrieve another bottle and pull her auburn hair into a ponytail. She led Ari out to the backyard, which in Ari’s opinion, was the best part of the house. The patio was paved completely in flagstone with a flower bed border, a huge built-in barbecue tucked in the corner. The crystal blue pool shimmered just a few feet away, surrounded by a lush green yard dotted with sculpted shrubbery.

Lily turned on the misters before joining Ari at the patio table. “I take it you haven’t heard from Bob?” Ari asked expectantly.

“No,” Lily said softly. The expression on her face was a cross between fear and anger. “He hasn’t even called. I’m getting worried, Ari. We’ve always been so considerate of each other. Always calling, always home in time to kiss each other goodnight, or you know—” Lily blushed. “I’m worried something’s happened to him. He should be home by now.” Lily seemed afraid, but Ari had to wonder if it was fear of his whereabouts or fear that he might expose her. She pushed the thought away, not ready to accept that Lily was capable of murder.

“Lily, I remember how often Bob used to disappear. He’s been leaving rooms since high school. It’s his mode of defense.”

“Not anymore,” Lily disagreed.

“Do you think there’s any possibility—”

“No!” she shouted. “Don’t even say it! You know him, Ari. Bob could never kill anyone. It’s not in his nature.”

“Lily, I believe in Bob’s innocence,” she said calmly. “But there had to be a reason his name was written behind the bar. He did threaten Thorndike, right?”

Lily’s face darkened and she shook her head furiously. “Those were only words. They didn’t mean anything. Do you know what he did the next day? He called Michael and apologized.” She leaned across the patio table for effect. “He apologized to the man who’d screwed his wife. Can you believe it?”

Ari switched topics, not knowing what else to say. “Tell me more about your relationship with Michael Thorndike.”

Lily shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “There’s really nothing more to tell. Michael pursued me. I hadn’t been looking to have an affair, but it just happened. We were co-chairs of a fundraising luncheon at the Phoenician. Everyone had left and he invited me to take a stroll around the resort. I didn’t realize he had a room.” She stopped abruptly and blushed.

“How long did the affair go on?” Ari asked.

“You mean before Bob caught us? About six months. We’d meet at different places, but never at our homes. Sometimes hotels, sometimes offices that he owned. One time we even did it in a public bathroom.”

This was more information than Ari needed to know. “So, after Bob discovered the two of you, then you just broke it off?” Ari had trouble believing Lily could so easily dismiss a man she loved so much.

“Of course. Bob is my husband, and we’re married.” But that didn’t stop you from bedding Michael Thorndike, Ari thought, remembering Molly’s comment from the night before. “In the last two years I’ve only seen Michael a few times at different charity functions,” Lily added.

“And you’ve never been alone with him?”

Lily’s eyes turned cold. “What are you implying, Ari?”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m trying to establish that your relationship with Michael Thorndike is totally and completely over.”

“It’s over,” Lily said, rising from the chair. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a shower. Between you and that Detective Nelson, I’ve been quizzed enough.”

“Did she come by this morning?” Ari asked innocently.

“She comes by every morning, just to bait me. She asks me these questions, actually it’s the same question over and over in a different way. Trying to see if I’ll change my story.”

“What does she want to know?” Ari asked, already knowing the answer.

Lily wiped some perspiration from her brow and closed her eyes. “She implies that I know where Bob is.”

“And you don’t?” Lily’s nostrils flared, and Ari knew she’d asked one question too many.

“Show yourself out,” Lily growled. She stomped back into the house while Ari finished her mineral water and thought about Lily’s conflicted emotions. She said it was over, but when she spoke of Michael Thorndike, there was a dreamy quality in her eyes that betrayed her true feelings. If indeed she was still in love with Thorndike, then something happened and she killed him, or she must be devastated by his death.

The family room was empty when Ari went back inside. She could hear the shower down the hall. Ari dropped her water bottle into the trash, noticing Lily’s large bag on the counter, the edge of her planner protruding from the top. She knew Lily kept everything of value in that book. It was her life. She glanced once more down the hall, the sound of the water still going.

Carefully pulling the leather book from the bag so as not to dislodge the multitude of paper scraps that were jammed in between the pages, Ari flipped through the months, starting at the beginning of the year. By March, she noticed a pattern. Every Wednesday, the same time was penciled in—no name, just a time. She paged ahead to June and found the seventeenth. Lily had planned nothing on the day of Michael Thorndike’s death. Ari rifled through the blank months yet to come, finding nothing except a cleaning at the dentist. She fingered the papers behind December, a sticky note stuck to the back cover. There in Lily’s unmistakable handwriting, M
ICHAEL
6/10 @ 2:00
P.M
. She reopened the planner and looked under June tenth. The square was blank.