Fashion Faux Paw (35 page)

The closet was smaller than Nola’s, but it was still large enough to be considered a room, and definitely more organized. Men’s suits, shirts, slacks, and jackets hung in an orderly and color-coordinated fashion, so all Morgan had to do was reach for a jacket and the slacks hanging above and he was perfectly matched. A dozen pairs of shoes sat in racks lined up under the clothing, while sweaters were stored in plastic boxes and ties were aligned on a walled hanger.

“You found anything yet?”

Hand on her heart, Ellie jumped a foot and spun around. “You scared the heck out of me. Why didn’t you give me some kind of warning, a yip maybe, to tell me you were here?”

Rudy gave a doggie shrug.
“I thought I did when I asked the question.”
He looked at the shoes, each pair costing hundreds of dollars, then eyed the suits, all designer and costing thousands more.
“The guy is some fancy dresser. Have you nosed around?”

“I just got here and I’m doing the bathroom first. I’m trying to find a pad of those Forever perfume sheets in Lilah’s scent, or maybe the entire swag bag. Someone took it out from under the snack table. If it’s here, there’s a good chance Detective Vaughn will bring Morgan Prince in for questioning.”

“I’ll check out the bottom part of the closet,”
he muttered.
“And investigate those fancy shoes. If that swag thingy is here, my sniffer will find it.”

Ellie ducked into the bathroom, which was smaller than Nola’s, but still well-appointed in marble and mirrors. After rifling through the drawers and cabinets, she looked at her watch. She’d been in the bedroom for about fifteen minutes.

“Any luck?” she whispered to her boy as she returned to the closet. But Rudy was nowhere to be seen. She needed to get the two of them out of there. Surely Marcus or Patti, or someone at the party was looking for her. The last place she wanted to be caught was Nola and Morgan’s private area.

There’d be questions. Questions she couldn’t answer.

She raced back into the bedroom, but when she entered the room she skidded to a stop. “What are you doing?” she asked Rudy, who was dragging a bag out from Nola’s closet

“Giving you the evidence you was lookin’ for,”
he muttered.
“At least I think this is it.”

“What? No! Nola didn’t take the swag bag. Prince did.”

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She put her hands on her hips. “Put that back where you found it, right now.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, the nose knows.”
Still dragging the bag, he backed into her foot.
“This is what you want.”

“That can’t be the right bag. Nola wouldn’t have taken Lilah’s gifts.”

He sat up, then nudged the opening.
“How about readin’ the tag? That might help.”

Ellie dropped to one knee, grabbed the name tag attached to the handle, and read aloud. “Well, I’m embarassed. This has Lilah’s name on it.”

“Uh, Ellie?”

The hairs on the back of her neck tingled, telling her they weren’t alone. But Rudy’s warning had come too late.

Chapter 19

“Oh, dear,” Nola said,
tsk
ing. “I knew I should have gotten that bag into Marcus’s apartment sooner. He was the one who should have been arrested. But it was such a busy week.”

She planned to frame Marcus? With Lilah’s bag?

Ellie slowly stood and turned, her temper beginning to boil.

The design maven
tsk
ed again. “It’s just too bad you had to find it before we could take care of it.”

“Hey, I’m the one who found it. Give me a little credit, will ya?”

Nola shook her head and her ultraexpensive hairstyle swayed delicately, then dropped back into place. “The question is, what are we going to do with you?”

“W—we?” Ellie sputtered, rushing to come up with a plan. If she kept Nola talking, Marcus would be sure to come looking for her. “You mean Morgan knows what you did to Lilah?”

Nola’s nasty laugh emphasized her sneer. “Of course he knows. Once I thought it up, he was happy to do his part.” Her eyes narrowed. “We were in this pickle because of him, so it was only fair he lend a hand.”

Pickle? Nola McKay thought killing someone was a pickle?

“Let me guess. Lilah wanted to win the NMD contest and threatened to reveal her affair with Morgan if you didn’t agree.”

Frowning, Nola took a step back and reached into the right-side pocket of her wide-legged, red silk slacks. “Reveal their affair?” Her hand left the pocket holding a tiny gun, possibly a .22, with a pinkish cast to the metal. “Hah! If that were the only problem, I would have let her tell the world.”

Hoping for a smattering of pity, Ellie heaved a loud sigh. “Do you mind if I sit down? I’d like to hear the entire story, and because of these new shoes, my feet are killing me.”

Nola used the gun to gesture toward a wingback chair covered in a lovely flowered silk fabric. When Ellie took a seat Rudy jumped into her lap and gave her face a sloppy lick.

“I gotta plan, Triple E. It’ll only take a minute. I’ll find the right person and bring ’em back here.”

She ran her fingers through his hair. Now was not the time to hold a conversation with her four-legged pal. “Okay, I’m ready,” she said, smiling at her jailer. She didn’t know a lot about guns, but the one in Nola’s hand looked too small to do much damage. And Nola wouldn’t dare shoot it, not with so many people in the apartment who might hear the noise. “I really do want to connect the dots on this story.”

Nola took a seat on the bed, close enough to hit her with a bullet, but not close enough for Ellie to jump the woman without warning. “Don’t think I’m blinded by your ploys, young lady. Patti Fallgrave was correct; you really do have a good head on your shoulders. You got much further in your investigation than Morgan and I gave you credit for.”

Ellie sneaked a peek at her watch. Where in the heck was Marcus? “A ploy? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Oh, but of course you do. You’re hoping to keep me talking long enough for Marcus to rescue you.” She shrugged. “Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Ellie answered, her stomach taking a dive. “Why not?”

“Because when I found him looking for you, I told him you’d left. I made up an excuse—something you ate didn’t agree with you or some such nonsense—and you asked me to give him the news, then you took a taxi home. The poor boy left here before we cut the cake. I saw him walk out the door myself.”

Did Marcus really believe she’d leave without telling him? “And Patti? Or Kitty and the other designers?”

“Why, no one’s mentioned your name. That’s what happens when you get involved in an industry where it’s all about
you
.” Nola grinned. “Everyone is so worried about how they look, what they’re wearing, and who they can impress, they don’t dare think about the worker bees.”

“And Morgan? Where is he?”

“Saying good-bye to the last of our guests, I hope. I pleaded a headache—too much excitement—and even Kitty understood. Jeffery took her home right after the cake cutting and congratulatory toast.”

“This dame’s a whack-job, Triple E. Let me outta here so I can get the cavalry.”

Ellie fingered Rudy’s muzzle, hoping to shut him up. She couldn’t think when he was jabbering.

He jerked back his head.
“All righty then!”
Diving off her lap, he headed for the door.

“Rudy, no!”

Still grinning, Nola watched him leave. “Not to worry, Morgan will catch him. Or one of the caterers, if any are still here. We arranged it so they’d return tomorrow to take care of the cleaning chores, so I imagine everyone is gone by now.”

Did Morgan have a gun, too? If everyone was gone, would he use it on her boy? Rudy was a little dog, but if hit in the right spot, even a bullet from a small gun would kill him.

Morgan took that moment to walk, or maybe skulk was a better description, into the room. “I see you have everything under control, my dear.” His smile was more of a leer. “Just as I figured.”

“I’m getting tired of mopping up your messes, Morgan. Don’t you think it’s about time you started taking care of your own dirty work?” Nola’s tone was sharp, and much nastier than that of a loving partner. “Now what do you propose we do with Ms. Engleman and her dog? And make it fast. We don’t have all night.”

“Stop blaming me for our problems.” He continued with his cheeky grin. “You had a hand in this one, too.”

“I’m still confused. What are you two talking about?” Ellie asked, trying to make sense of their conversation.

“Never mind,” Nola bit out. “There’s no need for you to stick your nose in our private business.”

“But—”

Morgan pulled a gun from his tuxedo jacket, this one on the small side, too. “Shut up, and do as you’re told.” He walked to the window and drew back the beige satin curtain. “It’s dark enough. I think we’ll be able to leave in a matter of minutes.”

Nola waved her weapon toward the door. “Check and make sure every guest is gone. And find that dog. We’ll have to dump him, too.”

The idea of being tossed out like a sack of trash sent Ellie reeling. “This won’t work. People will be looking for me. I live with a cop. He’ll put out an APB. They’ll scan the tapes from your building’s entry and see that I never left.”

“Hah!” Morgan said with a snort. “Last time I checked, this building wasn’t equipped with a security tape. And by the time you’re reported missing, we’ll already have you where we want you. In New Jersey, my old stomping ground. Remember that union boss, Jimmy somebody or other, who disappeared a while back? There are so many seedy places to drop a body in that state, you might never be found.”

“I think you need to come up with a better plan,” Ellie continued, hoping to waste more time. “There’s DNA evidence, fingerprinting, search and rescue dogs, all kinds of forensic technology in use today.”

“
Blah, blah, blah,”
Nola mocked. “We discussed this, but I never believed we’d have to go to these lengths. Especially on our big night.” She glared at Morgan. “Get out there and make a final run. We have to move this along.”

His expression froze into one of contempt. “Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll happily do your bidding.”

He left the room and Ellie searched for the words to keep the woman talking. “Instead of killing me, I think it would be wiser to plead out. Tell the police you didn’t realize how serious Lilah’s allergies were. You just wanted to get her out of the competition. I’m sure, with the right attorney, you could—”

“Oh, puh-leeze! Lilah never shut up about how serious her allergies were. Everyone in this industry knew about them.” Nola again raised her gun. “Besides, once you’ve committed a first murder, what’s one more? Just accept the inevitable and do as you’re told.”

“You have a doorman. Won’t he wonder what’s going on when you’re practically dragging me out of the building?”

“First of all, you won’t ever go past the doorman because we’re taking an elevator straight to the parking garage. And I doubt you’ll make a sound, once you realize your dog is at risk. I’m warning you, Ms. Engleman, give us one moment’s grief and he’ll be the first to get a bullet in the brain.”

Ellie swallowed. Then Rudy trotted into the room with an empty-handed Morgan right behind him.
“Look who I found,”
he shouted, his doggie lips turned up in a smile.

Beatriz followed them both, her gun held high.

“I still can’t believe you’re here,” Ellie said to Sam, who was sitting next to her on the white leather sofa of Nola and Morgan’s penthouse suite. The apartment was crawling with cops, a forensic team, police photographers, and a bevy of other officers doing whatever it was they did to wrap a case.

“Thank that designer guy who brought you here,” said Sam, his expression filled with annoyance. “I didn’t like the way he kept sizing you up, so I decided to protect what was mine. I figured Vaughn would show just to make sure he had all the suspects sorted out, so when I called and offered to lend a hand, he was more than happy to say yes. He figured he’d need someone to ride roughshod over you.”

She didn’t mind that Sam talked about her as if he owned her, not really. What irritated her more was the fact that Vaughn didn’t think she was capable of amassing the correct evidence. “But how did Detective Vaughn know I’d be in danger?”

Sam gave an evil-sounding chuckle. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not. I’ve—”

“We’ve—
” Rudy, who was curled up next to her on the sofa, muttered.

“I’ve been in dicier situations than this, and I’ve—”

“We’ve,”
he again reminded her.

She rested a hand on her boy’s head. He was the one who had saved the day, and Beatriz Alfonso might agree, though Sam and Vaughn would never acknowledge it. “I owe the rescue to Rudy. If he hadn’t found Detective Alfonso hiding in that back bathroom and convinced her to follow him—”

“She’d already called Vaughn on her radio and told him she was ready to move on the arrest when your dog showed up.” The undercover officer had used that out-of-place black flower she wore on her jacket to hide the two-way radio. “Your boy was just wandering the apartment, nosing around, as usual.”