Deadly Magic (19 page)

“
The police were at the house. They were asking me all sorts of questions. They wanted to know if I knew a Tabitha Eddington.”

Straker glar
ed at Grace.

“
Why would they be asking me about this woman? I don’t know her. I’ve never even met her. She meant nothing to me.”

“
What did they want to know?” Straker took his daughter’s hand into his and patted it gently.

“
They wanted to know if I knew about her . . . affair with my husband.”

“
And you told them no,” her father said sternly.

Louisa laugh
ed. “I told them the truth.”

Straker swore
again. “Why? Next time the police ask you any questions, you ask to speak to our lawyer.”

“
Why shouldn’t I tell the truth? She meant nothing to him. He told me just last night that it was over between them. That he was going to make it right again. He loved me.” Her eyes filled with tears. “He was going to make everything right again. It’s all Lily’s fault. She’s the one that introduced them.”

“
Did he say how he was going to make everything all right?” Grace asked.

“
He was going to return the money. Pay it all back.”

“
Money,” Franklin said sharply. “What money?”

“
It was that Tabitha. She found out he was going to leave her. She killed him. She killed my Daniel. She couldn’t stand to see us happy. She was just using him.” Louisa sank down into the couch.

Thursday, December 15th

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Grace look
ed at
the somber faces sitting around the conference room. Basically, it looked like any other conference meeting. Faces full of dread and fear. Straker had an announcement and whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good. All in all, it seemed like any normal Thursday.

The only difference was that t
his wasn’t just a design meeting. This was a company-wide meeting. Everyone was here. The designers, the managers, the toy store personnel, the accountants, even the factory workers. Everyone was crammed into the small little room. Waiting for the bad news. Rumors had been flying since they had found Daniel’s body, but that’s all they were. Just rumors. Usually, Straker liked rumors. He liked keeping his employees on edge. He usually was the one to start them and he almost never addressed them, but he was today. Today for the first time, he was going to address the rumors and that scared Grace more than anything.

He walk
ed into the room without his usual swagger and sat down at the end of the table.

“
I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors by now. I’m just going to get to it. We’re broke. Everything’s gone.”

They all sucked in a breath.
“What does that mean?” Allen asked breathlessly.

“
Mean? We’re broke. We have no more money. I thought I was perfectly clear.”

Everyone start
ed talking at once. “Are we going out of business? . . . What about our jobs? . . . What about our pay for this month?”

Franklin held out a hand.
“Thank you for your concern. I’m touched. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“
And us?” Grace asked.

“
I have just enough to keep us solvent for another month. Maybe two. So you can rest easy until then.”

Grace shook her head. She had heard from Valerie that the news wasn’t good
, but she hadn’t expected this. “What happened?”

“
My late, dearly-departed, son-in-law embezzled pretty much every dime we had. He was planning to run off with that pretty little magician’s assistant and move to an island somewhere.”

“
But he’s dead,” Allen said quickly. “He can’t do that anymore. Where’s the money?”

“
It’s not in the bank where it belongs, so, I’m guessing with her.”

“
You’re just going to let her get away with this?” Allen asked, his voice rising with every word.

Straker look
ed at him in shock. Allen was usually such a good little sycophant. Never a raised voice. Never a hint of disobedience. Straker sat still for a second before finding his voice. “Yes, Allen. You know how I’m such a kind and forgiving guy. What’d you want me to do? The police are out there looking for her, as we speak. Hopefully, they’ll find her before she spends all my money.”

“
Do they think she killed Daniel?” Grace asked.

“
They don’t know, but that’s one of their theories.” He looked at Grace. “I don’t think she did it. Do you?”

♣ ♦ ♥ ♠

“Well, that’s it, I guess.” Valerie sat down behind her desk. “Are you going to stay in New York?”

Grace shook her head.
“No. I’ll probably move back home. I don’t have enough savings to survive a month here.”

“
Well, we’re okay for a month. I’m hoping Straker can afford to keep me on after. He said he should be able to keep the toy store open. He’ll still need a secretary.”

“
Oh, I figured you would be heading to Texas.”

“
No, I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to stick it out here. I’m not going to desert him. He’s a tough old bird, but I can’t leave him. Not now.”

Grace drumm
ed her fingers against the desk. “What about a business loan?”

“
Four months ago Straker gave a speech at the Better Business Bureau luncheon. The speech was entitled,
Why Bankers are Thieves
. We had received a twenty-five dollar fee on one of our statements the day before. It took me ten minutes to get it corrected and refunded to our account, but I made the mistake of mentioning to Straker. We won’t be getting a loan anytime soon.”

“
Wonderful. I guess Daniel was telling the truth when he said he was the glue keeping this company together.” Grace looked out into the hallway. “What did you see in that elevator, Val?”

“
Grace, we’ve been through this a dozen times.”

“
I know. Humor me.”

“
Do you know the police officer laughed at me when I told him?”

“
I know.”

“
He actually laughed at me.” Valerie sighed. “I was clearly hallucinating. I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t slept well the night before—”

“
You must have seen something. Daniel was killed right in front of you.”

“
No, he wasn’t. I didn’t see him die.”

“
Please? Can we just go over it one more time?”

Valerie gave her friend a small smile.
“Okay. I was standing—”

“
No. Could we act it out?”

“
I thought you said that your detective days were over now that the police have taken over.”

“
They are. I just think you must have seen something.” When Valerie shook her head, Grace quickly added, “I know. I know. But you may have seen something important without realizing it.” She reached into her pocket and brought out a diagram of the office. “I made this last night,” she said, handing Valerie the piece of paper.

“But I think it would help to actually go through it again.”

Valerie groaned. Placing her hands on her
desk, she lifted herself up. “Okay. One more time.”

Smiling
, Grace followed her out into the hallway and down the hall until they reached the elevator. Valerie walked over to the wall and leaned against it. “I was right here. Daniel was standing directly in front of the elevator—”

They turn
ed their heads at the sound of the elevator door opening. Allen and Michael walked out. Michael smiled at them.

Valerie continued with her narration. “The doors opened. Ethan got out first. He said hello or something to me. Allen came out next and got in Ethan’s way.”

Allen
and Michael stared at them. “What are you two doing?” Allen asked suspiciously.

“
We’re recreating Daniel’s death,” Grace said.

“
Well, I should be involved in that,” Allen said.

“
Why?”

“
Because I was there. I was the first one off the elevator. Why wouldn’t I be involved?”

Not feeling like arguing, Grace said,
“Fine, you can be involved.”

“
If you’re going to recreate it, then you better bet I should be involved.”

“
Then get on the elevator,” she directed.

The elevator doors clos
ed before he could stop them. Turning around he asked, “Does Mr. Straker know about this?”

“
No.”

“
He should.”

“
Why?”

“
This is his building. You should ask permission first. I’m going to tell.” Allen turned on his heel and dashed down the hall.

Grace and Valerie watch
ed him run. “Amazing.”

“
Quick,” Grace said, “let’s get this over before he comes back.”

Valerie leaned back against the wall.
“Okay. The elevator opened—”

The elevator door open
ed and out walked Kyle and Belle.

They stopp
ed short. Kyle looked from Grace to Valerie and back again. “What’s going on?”

“
We’re recreating Daniel’s death,” Michael answered.

“
Oh, who’s playing Ethan?” Kyle asked excitedly. “Can I?”

“
I can play Daniel,” Michael said eagerly.

Grace smil
ed at Kyle. “You can’t play Ethan.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you will be playing yourself.” She motioned for him to join her against the wall.

“
Oh,” he said disappointedly. “I’m sick of pretending to be me. I want to pretend to be someone else. Besides, you know where I was and what I was doing. You need someone to act out Daniel and Ethan’s parts.”

“
He’s right,” Belle said. “It would be better if we could see exactly what everyone was doing at the time of Daniel’s murder.”

Reluctantly, Grace agre
ed. “Fine. You’re Ethan.”

“
Good.” Kyle lowered his voice a few octaves and wiped his face of all expression. “That would be acceptable.”

Belle coo
ed. “You sound just like him.”

Grace smirk
ed. “No, he doesn’t.”

“
Where do I stand?” Kyle asked.

Grace look
ed over at Valerie. “I don’t know. I don’t remember where we were?”

Valerie point
ed to the elevator. Michael recalled the elevator and held open the door. Kyle dashed forward and took his place inside the elevator.

Grace point
ed to the conference room. “Okay, you too, Belle.”

“
What? I was standing right here.”

Grace shook her head.
“You ran to the conference room to grab your jacket, remember?”

“
Oh, that’s right. I’d forgotten.” Shrugging, Belle walked past Valerie and opened the conference room door. She turned back around and stood in the doorway.

They all turn
ed to Valerie. “Okay, the elevator doors opened—”

“
See Mr. Straker,” Allen and Straker came around the corner. “See, there they are.”

“
Why didn’t someone tell me what was going on?” Straker bellowed. “Now you’re going to have to start all over.”

Valerie smil
ed at Grace and shook her head. “Fine. The elevator doors opened—”

“
No,” Straker said taking charge. “Start from the beginning. Where was everyone? Everyone get in your original places.”

Kyle mov
ed back out of the elevator and stood next to Grace.

“
Good,” Straker said. “Now—”

Allen
raised his hand.

“
What?” Straker asked annoyed.

Allen
pointed to Grace and Kyle. “They weren’t there. They were down the hall standing in front of the men’s restroom, out of sight.” Next, he pointed to Belle. “She wasn’t standing there, either.”

“
Where were you Belle?” Straker asked softly.

“
I was looking for my jacket.” She looked toward Grace. “Do I really have to recreate that part? I can’t see anything from in there.”

Grace
readily agreed. “I think all we need is just a general idea of where everyone was when Daniel got on the elevator.”

Straker shook his head.
“No, Allen’s right. We need to know exactly where everyone was at the time of Daniel’s death. Thank you, Allen. Good thinking.”

Allen
beamed.

Disappointment written over her face, Belle quietly stepp
ed into the conference room and closed the door, as Grace reluctantly moved back out into the other hallway with Kyle. Once again, Grace could only hear what was happening.

“
All right Michael, where were you?” Straker asked.

“
I was in the lab downstairs.” Michael grimaced. “I change my mind, I don’t want to play Daniel. It’s creepy. I’d rather play Ethan’s part.”

“
Ethan who?” Straker barked out before realization dawned. “Oh, Grace’s new boyfriend. I’m surprised he’s still around. That must be a record for you, Holliday.”

Valerie flash
ed Grace a small smile from where she was leaning against the wall.

Kyle made a disgust
ed noise from behind her. Leaning down, he whispered into her ear, “Michael barely knows Ethan. He’s not going to get it right. He definitely won’t get that ‘I’m better than you sneer’ Ethan has. Michael’s just all wrong to play him.”

“
Michael will do fine,” Grace whispered back.

“
I could do better.”

“
We need someone to play Daniel now.” Straker walked over to stand by Valerie. Catching Kyle’s eye, he shouted, “Hey, kid, what’s your name?”