Building Blocks of Murder (6 page)

She sat up so abruptly she almost fell out of bed. “What? How is that possible? I’ve owned it exactly two days.”

“I did some checking,” he said sympathetically. “The order was placed by Ed McNeil. He was the previous property manager, and he says you owe him money. I’ve heard that he does this type of thing a lot because he figures people will pay him off rather than go through the hassle of trying to fight him. The good news is that I think he’s performed some legal cartwheels to make this thing stick. If you found another lawyer, you could probably have it undone.”

“He thought wrong this time because I am going to fight him,” she said, so furious she was practically shaking with anger. “I’m not going to find another lawyer; I’m going to track him down and make him remove it myself.” As soon as Ed McNeil handed over her inheritance, she promptly transferred her holdings to another law firm. She had paid him for the work he did on her behalf, as well as the work he did for her grandmother. His fees had been exorbitant, but it had been worth it to get her grandmother out of jail so promptly. Lacy was sure, however, that she owed him nothing else.

She was glad for the procrastination that had prevented her from erasing his number from her phone. Now with the touch of a button she could gain verbal retribution without ever getting out of bed.

“Mr. McNeil’s office,” an official-sounding voice answered. Lacy was momentarily puzzled before remembering that Mr. McNeil’s secretary had been out sick during Lacy’s interaction with the man.

“May I speak with Mr. McNeil, please?” She tried to be polite; no need to take out her frustration on his hapless secretary.

“Whom may I tell him is calling?”

“Lacy Steele.”

“He’s out.”

Lacy pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it, trying to determine if she had imagined the abrupt change in tone. “May I leave a message?”

“I’ll tell him you called,” the secretary replied, and then the phone slammed hard in Lacy’s ear.

“What was that about?” Lacy muttered. Determined to try again later, she set the phone aside and burrowed out of her covers. It was early, but any future chance of sleep was over.

Jason popped into her head while she was showering, which was unfortunate timing. After she was thoroughly dressed and fed, she called him and reached his voicemail.

“It’s Lacy. I just wanted to say that…” She broke off, realizing she had no idea what to say. After a few seconds of thought, she decided to be honest. “I don’t like it when things are like this between us. I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble, and I’m here if you need me.”

She ended the call and stared at the phone, wishing there was more she could do or say to make amends. Then again, she didn’t want him to think she was chasing him. She had made a move toward reconciliation; now the ball was in his court.

Keegan had a rental car and he had volunteered to drive to the Stakely building, so after Lacy was finished getting ready, she had nothing to do but wait for him to arrive. She decided to call Tosh while she was waiting, but there was no answer and she got his voicemail, too.

“Tosh, I was just seeing if you’re coming with us today. You’re welcome to. I wasn’t sure if I made that clear last night.” She bit her lip, feeling like she should add more, but she didn’t know what. “If you don’t come with us today, I hope we can talk tonight.” She paused again, trying to figure out why she felt the urge to apologize to Tosh, too. “Bye,” she said at last. She hadn’t done anything to Tosh, had she? There was nothing she could think of, but she still had the uneasy feeling that he was upset with her.

There wasn’t much time to brood, however, because almost as soon as she ended the call, Keegan was knocking on her door.

“Hey, pretty lady,” he said as soon as she answered. Then he bent and kissed her cheek.

“Hey,” she said. She felt comfortable with him, but she didn’t want to give him the wrong idea, so she made no move to return the kiss.

“Ready?” he asked.

In answer, she smiled, nodded, and followed him to his car. “Thanks for picking me up,” she said.

“Tosh tells me you don’t have a car,” he said.

She shrugged. Previously she hadn’t bought a car because she hadn’t been able to afford one. But now that she could afford one, she wasn’t sure she needed one. At least not yet, anyway. Here she could walk almost anywhere she needed to go, and she liked that.

Keegan must have read a lot into her shrug because he laughed. “You’re a throwback, Lacy. Very retro.”

Since she had no idea what that meant, she let it go.

The drive downtown took less than two minutes, so there wasn’t much time for conversation. But when he parked the car and looked up at the building, he whistled. “You bought this? That is so awesome, Lacy! I love it.”

They sat in the car for a full minute as Keegan peered through the windshield, taking in the building from top to bottom. As he studied the building, Lacy studied him. She couldn’t quite figure him out. On the surface of things, he seemed sweet and innocent, handsome and happy go lucky. But Lacy sensed there was something more going on behind the façade. Keegan was holding something back.

She gave herself a mental shake. Of course he was holding back; they were strangers. Just because they had Tosh in common didn’t make them instant best friends. Why would he open up to her about his life when he didn’t know her from Eve? Still, she felt his inner conflict palpably, either because it was obvious or because she was attuned to him in the same mysterious way she was attuned to Tosh. As she watched his smile slowly fade and his eyes become troubled, she thought maybe it was the former. But before she could ask him if he was okay, he pasted his perfect smile back in place and opened his door.

“Let’s take a look inside,” he said, sounding once again like a kid who was about to receive a new toy.

His enthusiasm was catching, and she found herself laughing as she trotted behind him, half sprinting to reach the entrance. As soon as she unlocked the door, he clasped her hand and led her into the building before stopping short in the entryway.

“Oh, wow,” he said, and by his serious expression she wasn’t sure if he meant it in a good way or a bad way. Then he turned his beaming smile on her and removed all doubt. “This is awesome.” He drew out each word. “Show me everything,” he commanded.

And she did. They spent the next hour going over every detail of the place. Keegan spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the architectural details and the roof. Lacy hovered near the door during that part, not being a huge fan of heights. Keegan, however, was fearless, walking to the edge and leaning far over in a move that left Lacy breathless. Her natural instinct was to caution him, but she wasn’t his mother, and he was a professional contractor.

“So what do you think?” she asked when he finally—thankfully—stopped hanging over the edge of the roof.

“I think my first instinct was right; you should go green. But I don’t just mean going solar—I mean a living roof up here.”

“Living roof?” she repeated, only vaguely guessing at what that might mean.

He nodded. “This part here,” he pointed to half the roof, “would be perfect for a living roof. You could put the solar panels over there.” He paused to point again. “And then this area would be your living space.”

“Living space?” she repeated dumbly.

“Living space,” he said. “Don’t tell me you’re not planning to live here when it’s done, Lacy. You have the most amazing loft on the fourth floor and with this roof, well, it’s just spectacular.”

“No, I’m not planning to live here,” Lacy said. “I’m going to…” She broke off as she once again realized she had no idea what she was going to do. “In any case, I’m not going to live here.”

“Why not?” Keegan asked.

“It’s so…big,” she said.

“Most people want space.”

“Not by myself,” she said, uncomfortable at revealing too much to a near stranger. How could she tell him she couldn’t imagine living anywhere so vast? The cavernous space would no doubt echo her loneliness.

Keegan grinned. “So marry my brother and fill it with babies.”

“Keegan,” she said, blushing faintly at the mention of babies.

“What?” he asked with mock innocence. “Can’t blame a guy for wanting to see his brother happy. Tosh likes you, Lacy, and that’s saying something. And you’re better than his usual type of girl. Don’t tell him I said so, but he has lousy taste in women. You’re a keeper. And you’d make a good mom.”

Lacy laughed, a small, uncomfortable sound that did nothing to ease her pressing anxiety. “You’ve come to this conclusion after twelve hours of knowing me?”

“I have good instincts,” Keegan said.

Lacy shook her head, rolling her eyes, all the while wondering about Tosh’s other women. He had never mentioned anyone he’d dated. “What about you? When are you going to settle down and have babies?”

For the briefest of seconds, his happy smile fled. “That remains to be seen,” he said seriously. Then he stepped forward and clasped her hand again, pulling her back inside the building.

“So when are you going to get started on this?” Keegan asked as soon as they were safely on the ground and standing by his car.

“As soon as I can get some estimates, but I can’t get any estimates until Ed McNeil takes the stop-work order off this place.” Leave it to Ed McNeil to figure out a way around the system. “Can you drop me by his office?”

“You want me to come in and have a little talk with him?”

By the way he frowned as he popped his knuckles, she wasn’t sure if he meant talk or
talk.
The sudden vision of Keegan getting arrested for beating up Ed McNeil was enough to make her refuse his offer.

“No, thanks, I can handle this myself.” She tried to sound more confident than she felt. Ed McNeil was smarmy and smooth. He was a weasel who could seemingly get away with murder in this town. What chance did she have against him when he apparently knew every trick in the book?

She needn’t have worried, though. As soon as she reached his office, she realized there was no getting around his giant roadblock of a secretary,
Pearl
. Lacy wondered if there was some mistake. Surely the large woman sitting behind the desk couldn’t be named something as delicate as
Pearl
, but that’s what her nameplate read.

When Lacy cleared her throat,
Pearl
looked up with a welcoming smile that soon froze and hardened. How was it possible that she recognized Lacy when the two had never met?

“Mr. McNeil’s not in, Miss Steele,”
Pearl
said with no friendly preamble.

“Where can I find him?” Lacy said, trying not to be intimidated by the woman’s fierce expression, booming voice, and large size.

“He’s in court today, which means he’s off limits to you.” She returned her attention to her desk, effectively dismissing Lacy.

“Excuse me, Miss, uh,
Pearl
,” Lacy paused, suddenly wondering if
Pearl
was her first name or last name. It was the only one listed on her nameplate. “Why do you seem so hostile to me when we’ve never met?”

Pearl
looked up then, her eyes flashing fire. “I don’t like women who take advantage of Mr. McNeil’s kindness.”

Lacy wasn’t sure what was most troubling about that statement, the fact that she thought Lacy had taken advantage or the fact that she thought Mr. McNeil was kind.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

Pearl
narrowed her eyes. Lacy couldn’t help but feel like a mouse standing in front of a python. “Mr. McNeil helped your grandmother out of a very tight situation, and then you left him high and dry without paying your bills. Now that he’s trying to collect on the debt due him, you’re about to make a fuss and say it isn’t so. Don’t try to deny it; I can tell your type.”

Lacy’s jaw dropped. The woman was all but shaking with rage. Was she mental? The answer to that was obvious. “I did pay Mr. McNeil.”

“I have no record of your payment. If you’d like to pay today, I can make copies of your receipts.”

“But
I
have record of my payment. He didn’t give me a receipt, but I have my own financial records. I certainly didn’t pay in cash.” Lacy had purposely created a paper trail, not trusting Ed McNeil, especially not when he had put off giving her a receipt by saying his secretary handled all the paperwork and he didn’t know how.

“Those things can be faked, of course,”
Pearl
said, her obstinate tone telling Lacy she didn’t believe a word. “Mr. McNeil works very hard, and it’s people like you who take advantage of his good nature that make this job hard.”

There was a part of Lacy that wanted to keep arguing with her, but if she did, she had a feeling she would wind up as insane as Pearl McCrazypants. Instead, she simply swallowed her retort and left the office, intending to track down Ed McNeil and get to the bottom of it with him.

He’s good,
Lacy thought.
Hiring someone crazy whose devotion to him knows no bounds. Is there anything Ed McNeil
won’t
do? How low could he go?

She had no idea that when she reached the courthouse, she would get an answer to that question.

There were two courtrooms within the courthouse—one for municipal court, and one for the Court of Common Pleas. Since Ed McNeil usually handled high profile defense cases (or at least high profile in their small town), it was a safe bet that he was in felony court. Lacy turned toward the Court of Common Pleas and opened the door, slipping quietly inside.

She almost gave herself away, however, when she realized the person on the stand was Jason. With a stifled yelp of surprise, she took her seat, instinctively positioning herself behind the person in front of her so she couldn’t be seen. Even though she hadn’t yet heard a word, she somehow knew Jason wouldn’t want her to hear what was about to take place. Lacy thought the examination had just begun. There was a sense of anticipation and settling in as everyone shuffled around and leaned forward intently.