Erotic Deception (21 page)

“Come on,” Denie urged. “Jet asked me to take you to your house. They know who killed that Capriccio fellow.”

“Who?” She sat up too quickly and the room spun.

“Come on, I’ll tell you on the way.”

Lily was still groggy from the light sedative, but responded to the urgency in Denie’s tone.

“I need to get dressed.”

“We’ll take care of that later. Right now just get your shoes and robe,”

Lily did as instructed despite the bits and pieces not making sense. Such as Denie’s black hooded sweat suit.

“Is it raining?” Lily asked.

Denie pressed a finger to her lips and opened the door. She looked down the hall before ushering Lily out.

Something was certainly off kilter here.

Denie led her out the rear exit door and skimmed the area as she rushed Lily to her car parked in the shadows. As they drove away, Lily glanced back through the rear window at the empty parking lot.

“What’s going on, Denie?” Fully awake now, Lily wanted answers.

“I told you, we’re going to your house to wait for Jet,” Denie responded, but she kept glancing in the rearview mirror.

Despite the heat, Lily shivered at the mention of her home. “Anthony’s dead,” she said.

The hollow realization brought no relief. Other than regret at not being able to clear Jerry’s name, Lily didn’t take satisfaction in knowing how brutal Anthony’s murder was. She wasn’t built that way. She never had been.

“That’s right,” Denie said callously. “And we need to get you safe.”

“Safe?” Lily questioned. “From who?”

Denie’s head whipped toward her before settling back onto the road.

“How am I supposed to know all the details? I’m just the help.”

Her attitude caught Lily off guard. It was as if Denie’s disposition had returned to the woman Lily had first met. But why would she be hostile toward Lily now?

“I’m sorry,” Lily replied. “I know I’ve been a lot of trouble to you, but I don’t understand why I had to leave the hospital.” She pushed through her tumbled hair and confessed, “I’m not sure I’m feeling up to going back into the house.”

“You’ll be fine,” Denie muttered in an abstract voice. She shot another glance in the rearview mirror as they pulled into Lily’s driveway.

The yellow crime scene tape circling the home churned Lily’s stomach. She looked doubtfully at the taped entrance.

“Are you sure we’re supposed to be here?”

“Come on,” was Denie’s response.

She opened the door and got out. Reluctantly, Lily did the same. Denie reached into the back and grabbed a small tote bag. Then she started toward the front entry steps.

The house appeared dark and eerie as Denie cut the tape and tugged on the doorknob. It was locked.

“Where’s your key?” she asked.

Lily scrunched her brows. “In my purse, but I’m not sure where that is.”

Denie’s lips thinned. “Probably at the hospital.” She glanced around the front entry. “I’ll have to break the window.”

“Are you sure?”

Denie reached into her bag and pulled something out. A gun? Lily flinched and backed away when Denie began smacking the butt of it against the hard glass of the door. After a few tries the glass gave way under the pressure. Denie reached in and unlocked it.

Alarm bells beckoned in Lily’s head not to enter and Denie must’ve sensed her withdrawal. She pointed the gun at Lily.

“Upstairs,” she said softly.

Lily swallowed and shook her head.

“Upstairs,” Denie repeated. “Or I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

* * * *

Jet took time enough to shower before heading to the hospital. The need to see Lily was eating him up inside, but he had to get the stench of murder off him, if not physically at least mentally. Other than the desire to see for himself that she was okay, he had a lot of explaining to do. How would she ever forgive him for accusing her like he did?

He’d tried calling Denie, but for the first time he could remember, his reliable employee wasn’t answering her phone. Wasn’t that a coincidence?

Jet entered the hospital double doors at the same time Mark was coming up the hall.

“Why aren’t you guarding Lily?” He interrupted Mark’s greeting.

“Someone threw a rock through a window in one of the rooms.”

Jet’s heart stopped. “Lily’s?”

“No, the opposite wing.”

“And you left Lily alone?” Jet growled. “Which way is her room?”

“This way,” Mark answered and then defended his actions. “What was I supposed to do? I had to respond.”

“Why didn’t you call me or Nathan? And while we’re on the subject of your dumbass decisions, would you like to elaborate on why you took Lily to her house when I told you it was off limits?” Jet finally asked the questions that had plagued him all day.

Mark’s discomfort was less than reassuring. “She called me for a ride to get her car.”

“Why?”

“She was leaving Windom Hills.”

Jet stopped abruptly. “Leaving? We’re in the middle of a murder investigation.”

“She didn’t know that at the time,” Mark replied.

“You did,” he spat out. “And isn’t it funny she called you. Why do you think that is?”

“Well that’s a good question, boss. What did you do to her?”

There was heavy tension in Mark’s voice and Jet forced himself to calm down.

The idea that she’d been leaving him left him more shaken than he could’ve envisioned. Without another word, he picked up speed toward her room.

He pushed through the door. It took a moment to adjust his vision to the dim lighting of the room, but when he did, Lily wasn’t in the bed. He frowned and went to the bathroom, but it too was empty.

Lily was gone.

Chapter Fourteen

“Get on the bed,” Denie ordered motioning toward it with the gun.

Lily’s compliance since ascending to the master bedroom shifted to anger.

“Alright Schizo-girl,” Lily lifted her chin in contempt. “What’s going on? Did we forget our meds today?”

Denie’s lip curled as she reached into her pocket. She flung something at Lily and she instinctively caught it. It took a moment to recognize the object in her hand.

“Laugh all you want sister,” Denie sneered. “I’ll consider your smart ass remarks as part of your last words.”

“How did you get Anthony’s ring?” she asked.

A cold smile lit Denie’s face. “How do you think I got it?”

“Well I don’t know,” Lily cocked a brow. “Grave robbery?”

Lily realized she shouldn’t be antagonizing someone holding a gun on her, but since this could only be a dream, she might as well act tough in it.

“Not quite,” Denie’s smile was smug. “Your boyfriend was still breathing when I took it off him.”

The hood had messed up Denie’s hair and Lily could swear she detected actual blonde horns.

Despite Lily’s inner hard stance, tears bubbled up as the seriousness of the situation took a darker turn.

“You killed Anthony?”

“I can’t take all the credit,” she said. “But you will.”

With her empty hand, she reached into the tote hanging off her shoulder and fished around in it, not taking her attention off Lily. She pulled out a pen and notebook.

“Dr. Lily Delaney, you are about to write a confession. No one believed Anthony Capriccio killed your brother so you had to take matters into your own hands. But you just don’t have the guts to live with what you did. You sunk further into depression when your ex-husband refused to break off his engagement with a very influential family after you told him you were pregnant. With your brother dead, what in the world did you have to live for?”

Amidst the horror closing in on Lily, Denie threw the notebook and pen at her feet.

“Put that in a letter,” she demanded.

“Have you lost your marbles?”

Denie spun around at the male voice.

“Nathan,” Lily breathed, never so glad to see anyone in her life.

Instead of the reaction Lily expected, Denie only glowered at him.

“You scared the crap out of me.”

“You just confessed to murdering someone,” he yelled.

“It’ll take the heat off us,” she reassured.

“We weren’t suspects,” Nathan gritted through his teeth. “They think some drug dealer in Kansas City offed Capriccio.”

Lily gasped. “You both killed Anthony?”

Denie cocked her head at Nathan. “See? We have to kill her now.”

Nathan shot a miserable glance at Lily. “It was an accident. Denie got some lame-brained idea to hang a dead cat in your house to scare you away. I was under the impression she was trying to help Jet and his ex-wife get back together. Neither one of us expected Capriccio to be lurking in your room.” He shook his head. “The guy was crazy. He attacked first.” He slapped a hand around his neck. “I didn’t have much choice.”

“Just like we don’t have a choice now,” Denie stressed.

“I only agreed to help you get Lily out of town, Denie. Not hurt her.”

Denie held her hand out in appeal. “It’s too late now.”

Nathan suddenly looked haggard and old. “I didn’t want to admit it before, but it’s the only thing that makes sense now.”

Denie frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Jet,” he replied. “You want Jet. You always have. I’ve been in love with you all my life and I blinded myself to the truth of your real love.”

Denie’s gaze shifted warily. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Nathan addressed Lily with a bitter smile. “You’re pregnant with Jet’s baby and it’s driving her crazy. She’d rather kill you than stand the chance of him finding out.”

“Jet will never find out it’s his baby!” Denie attacked.

Lily stared in shock between the two of them as the realization of their knowledge finally struck.

“Wait. How did you even know I was pregnant?”

Nathan ignored Denie. “The day Bailer came to visit we were upstairs cleaning up the District Attorney’s mess.”

Lily gasped in shock.

“And if you hadn’t gone to get groceries for your famous meatloaf,” Denie spat out sarcastically, “we’d have killed you then too.”

Nathan moved toward Denie. “I’ll take responsibility for killing some low-life from Kansas City, but I can’t let you hurt an innocent woman.”

“Innocent?” Denie laughed harshly, halting Nathan’s advance by shifting the gun toward him. “Women like her and Celeste just take what they want and leave women like me with the left overs. Jet was starting to feel something for me until she came along.”

Denie’s face was turning red in agitation and Lily was sure then that she’d lost it.

“First, I had to stand by while Celeste used him, pretending the entire time I was her best friend. Where do you women get off?” Denie spat out violently. “Women like you and Celeste don’t deserve someone like Jet. Just like now, for months she’s been sniveling around him trying to reconcile. A divorce should have separated them forever, but she felt entitled. Entitled!” Denie shouted.

“I wanted to pin that stupid cat on her, but Jet had to take her to Kansas City with him.” Lily’s head jerked and Denie laughed. “That’s right, Lily. Didn’t Jet tell you she went with him? That should prove he doesn’t care about either one of you.”

Denie’s mouth kicked up. “When Jet sees what a coward you are by killing yourself, he’ll forget all about you. He believed me about your baby. Me! Not you!” She scooted toward Lily and tilted her head to the side. “Can’t you see what type of opinion he has of women like you and Celeste? I’m reliable and I know he cares about me. With you and Celeste out of the way, I might just have a chance with him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you felt that way?”

Denie spun around at Jet’s voice, instinctively raising her gun toward him. His own was already extended.

“Jet!” Denie breathed in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“Put the gun down, Denie,” he implored.

Instead, her grip tightened around it.

“She killed her boyfriend and was trying to kill me and Nathan.”

“We’ll need to arrest her then won’t we?” Jet took a step forward. “But first you’ll have to put the gun down.”

A guarded look entered Denie’s eyes and she shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Because you know she didn’t kill Capriccio,” he said quietly.

Denie looked wildly around. “She confessed to it,” she said, pointing to the unopened notebook on the floor.

“Then give me the gun and we’ll get her some help.”

Denie licked her lips. “Jet,” she appealed, “look what she tried to do to you.”

“What was that, Denie?” Jet asked.

She looked at him in disbelief. “She tried pinning another man’s baby on you.”