Gemini Rising (Mischievous Malamute Mystery Series, Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Meanwhile, Abe and Elijah were wondering the same thing about AJ.

They had returned to L.A. the previous day, ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, the only things they managed to hit in the past several hours were a series of brick walls.

Victoria had been convinced the Jackson’s plane crash was not accidental. They learned from working long, hard hours with her she didn’t jump to conclusions easily—quite the opposite, in fact—and oh, so stubborn, that one. She routinely drove them crazy with her don’t-tell-me-prove-it-to-me attitude. And yet, the day before she was killed, she’d been so certain, despite the fact they had previously gone over and over the official report, talked to the crash investigator, looked at the crash site and found nothing. What had changed her mind?

While she had likely memorized the contents of the report, Abe and Elijah agreed it couldn’t have been the source of her new evidence. Anna had locked their only copy in the safe weeks ago, and Victoria hadn’t asked her to retrieve it or make copies. They all agreed she would have done so, had it contained the linchpin they’d spent months searching for. As simple of an explanation as that seemed, it was her nature. She simply wouldn’t have made the comment without having evidence to support it. They’d already searched her condo and had come up empty.

That left Winslow Clark, the crash investigator. Surely, she must have contacted him and asked him to confirm some nugget of information? Their disappointment mounted when he said no, not only had he not talked to Victoria, he hadn’t seen her since the three of them had met him at the crash site several months earlier. He didn’t ask about her, and they didn’t offer—no need to voluntarily put her death out there—so once they had their answer, they thanked Clark for his time and hung up.

Too frustrated to think straight, they headed back to the office to touch base with Anna. She was not only an amazing admin, she got them back on track when they went off the rails. Yup, right now they needed a strong dose of Anna.

Anna was delighted to see them again, too. She knew the Phoenix trip had taken its toll—especially after learning of Victoria’s death—but she had also seen grief and anger turn into something else—a mission. It had become personal. For all of them. She smiled warmly as they bounded through the door, like two school boys fresh off the playground. They scooped her up into a big bear hug and spun her around, laughing as they ignored her feigned pleas about wrinkling her outfit. Finally, Abe put her back on her feet, but not before Elijah mock-mussed her hair.

“Touch the locks and you’re done, buster,” she growled, though there was a gleam of mischief in her eyes. She made a display of smoothing the wrinkles out of the black long sleeve cotton blouse she’d paired with rolled-up boyfriend jeans and ballet flats, but a grin peeked out from under the long raven hair that had fallen over her face during their horseplay.

Abe and Elijah laughed heartily. Though she was drop-dead gorgeous—easily passing as a sibling of Angie Everhart’s—and as sweet as they come, she could definitely throw-down when she needed to. Growing up with five older brothers would do that to a girl. Plus, they’d seen her in action at a couple of her martial arts classes. Anna wasn’t a gal you’d want to mess with in a dark alley, much less a well-lit one. Of course, she’d lay you out flat, then apologize by baking you fudge brownies later. Still, they were glad Anna was on their side.

“Any word from AJ?” Elijah asked her.

“Yeah, in fact, we’ve spoken on the phone, as well as e-mailed back and forth a few times. She’s busy tracking down leads at the hospital and adoption agency and is also hoping to speak personally with Jonathan Silverton and Sir Edward,” Anna replied. “Oh, and she fessed-up about her friend Leah.” They all laughed, before she added, “Anyway, I like her. She’s got spunk and isn’t afraid to speak her mind.”

“Kind of like you, huh? Like two beans on a stalk,” Abe chuckled as he went into the kitchenette to fill his water bottle.

“That’s two peas in a pod, smart guy!” Anna shouted at him.

“Thanks for proving my point,” he shouted back, laughing.

Elijah took his brother’s absence to lean in and whisper, “I think Abe has a little crush on AJ.”

“Really?” Anna replied, crooking her eyebrow. Elijah nodded and put a finger to his lips as Abe returned.

“What are you two whispering about?” he asked, eyeing them both suspiciously. “You know my birthday isn’t until next month, though if you wanted to start shopping now, there’s a sweeeet Jag—”

“Stop right there,” Anna teased, “you’ll ruin the big surprise.” Roars of laughter filled the office.

Once the last of the chuckles subsided, Elijah turned the conversation back to the case, “Speaking of Jags, we should follow up with the dealership manager about his missing employee.”

“And the missing paperwork,” Abe added.

“Let me go grab his number out of the file, and we’ll conference him,” Elijah said.

As he strode into the other office, Abe turned to Anna and murmured, “I think Elijah has a crush on AJ.”

“You don’t say?” Anna deadpanned.

As Elijah came back, file in hand, Abe gave her a sly wink, to which she returned a quick nod. His secret was safe with her.

Oblivious to their collusion, Elijah sat down and dialed the dealership’s number. The receptionist transferred the call directly to the manager, who picked up on the first ring.

“Jaguar of Malibu, Paul Switzer at your service. Today is the day—don’t just dream it—drive it!”

He deflated a bit when Elijah introduced himself as a PI—most likely after mentally calculating the probability of a sale—but allowed Elijah to continue.

“My brother, Abe, and my associate, Anna are also on the call with us,” he paused as they said quick hellos. “Victoria Winestone hired us several months ago on another matter. It has recently come to our attention, however, the situation with her mother’s car might be related to this matter, so we’re hoping you would entertain a few questions?”

“I have already explained everything to Victoria,” Switzer huffed, “as well as to the police. Three times.”

“If you wouldn’t mind telling us, just once, we’d greatly appreciate it,” Anna added in her most sultry voice. Perhaps a feminine touch would inspire cooperation? It did. Abe and Elijah rolled their eyes as Anna smirked.

“This ‘situation,’ as you so kindly phrased it, started when I won the dealership’s yearly raffle for a European cruise. First time in twenty years I could take the wife on a real vacation. And this happens. Worse cluster in my entire career and it goes down the minute I walk out of the dealership.” His frustration oozed through the phone.

“My now-former assistant manager, Tanner Dolby, was supposed to be in charge during my absence. Ms. Winestone’s car was delivered on a truck, along with four others, as scheduled. Her car was the only one that had been a custom job. You know—special wheels, tires, leather, etc.—the works. The color was the same as one of the other four, but even then, you’d have to be a complete idiot to confuse the two, which Dolby managed to do.

“Dolby delivered Mrs. Winestone’s car to another customer, Frederick Glass, before realizing his mistake. He claimed to have called Glass back immediately, but Glass rebuffed him, indicating his wife had already fallen in love with her new car. Under no circumstances was he prepared to disappoint her because of Dolby’s oversight.

“Rather than get me involved, Dolby contacted Mrs. Winestone himself and played the sympathy card, appealing to her good nature. She was legendary for it, but he took advantage of her generosity as a means of covering for his mistake. It disgusts me to think about it, especially considering I will never get a chance to make it right with her,” he sighed, his former employee’s manipulation obviously weighed heavily on his conscience.

“Anyway, Dolby convinced Mrs. Winestone to take Glass’ Jag temporarily—still a remarkable piece of machinery, just not what she’d ordered and paid for—while he ordered another customized car. I can’t believe she went for it. It had taken months to get the car in, not to mention the weeks she’d already put into carefully selecting the customizations. Once she agreed, he probably figured the problem was solved, and he was off the hook.”

“So he confessed when you got back and
then
bailed?” Abe asked.

Switzer laughed harshly. “Nope, I didn’t even get the courtesy. He bolted the day Mrs. Winestone took delivery of the car—originally Glass’ car—and never came back. My sales manager didn’t have the good sense to call me while it was going down, so I got hit with everything my first day back from vacation. Let’s just say, the only one I plan on taking in the future is called retirement.”

“Victoria mentioned that when Dolby went missing, Glass’ paperwork did too?” Elijah asked.

“Ha, I wish it was only the paperwork. Dolby not only allegedly removed or destroyed the relevant physical documentation, but the electronic stuff, as well. And, believe me, it wasn’t like you see on
CSI
or
Law & Order
when they are able to retrieve traces of the deleted documents after twenty minutes. In this real-life scenario, the hard drive was g-o-n-e, as in Dolby swapped it out with a new one and took it with him. Allegedly, of course.

“Anyway, I haven’t even told you the best part yet. After Dolby skipped out, Mrs. Winestone’s custom car went missing. And Frederick Glass? Well, he never existed.”

Abe, Elijah, and Anna looked at one another. Something wasn’t adding up. “Seems like a pretty elaborate plan just to steal a car,” Anna commented, to no one in particular. “Why the cover-up? Why not just take Mrs. Winestone’s car and go? Unless…” she paused as they all mentally finished her thought. Dolby needed to get the other car into Mrs. Winestone’s hands. They were silent as they pondered the possibilities.

It was Switzer who finally spoke, changing the subject. “Say, you guys mind doing me a favor? Would you let Victoria know she left her sunglasses here? I would have mailed them, but I don’t know where she lives.”

“Wait, Victoria was there?” Anna stuttered as Abe and Elijah’s eyes widened in surprise. “When was this?”

“Um, a couple of weeks ago,” Switzer replied. “I needed her to come down and finalize some paperwork pertaining to her mother’s car, for insurance purposes and things of that nature.”

“We always assumed she had only called you,” Abe commented, looking at Anna and his brother, who both nodded in return.

“Well, she did call me, but that was on a previous occasion, after my new assistant manager left a message on her parent’s machine about her mother’s car. He’s not from around here and, unfortunately, wasn’t aware they’d been killed several months prior.

“Anyway, on the day she was here, I had to leave her for a couple of minutes while I dealt with a crisis in the service department. When I came back, she was gone. The receptionist, Bonnie, said Victoria literally ran out the door, indicating something urgent had come up, and she was sorry, but she had to leave. Bonnie also said if she hadn’t known better, she would have thought Victoria had seen a ghost.”

Abe, Elijah, and Anna could do nothing but look at each other, open-mouthed, as Switzer dropped that bombshell.

“Anyway, it must have been something important, because she left some pretty nice Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses behind.”

Important indeed.

Chapter Fifteen

As they looked at one another, an executive decision was made. Elijah gently told Switzer of Victoria’s untimely and very recent death. He was quiet for so long, they weren’t sure if he had abandoned them altogether.

His voice was somber when he spoke, “I can’t believe it.” Again, he went silent.

“The thing is, Paul,” Abe said, calling the man by his first name, “Victoria was on to something before she was killed. It’s a long, convoluted story, but in her last voicemail, she said she had proof her family member’s deaths hadn’t been accidental,” he paused to look at Elijah and Anna.

They nodded, realizing he was being purposely vague with Switzer—throwing out enough rope for him to grasp—without being completely untruthful or divulging too much. They both nodded and made gestures with their hands for him to proceed.

“We had worked together for months, coming up with a lot of facts and theories, but no concrete proof, like you mentioned before. Then suddenly, she meets with you and walks—no, runs—out with what might have been the needle in the haystack, because right after that, she left us that ominous last voicemail. The next day, she was found…murdered. You get what I’m saying here, Paul?”

Switzer let out a low whistle before replying, “I do, and I get that you’re giving me enough to read between the lines.” When there was a pregnant pause on the other end, he chuckled. “I may sell cars for a living, but I’m no dolt. I’m good at reading people and situations, even over the phone.” That garnered him a collective chuckle. “However,” he continued, “I’m not sure what you are asking of me. I mean, if you want to come down and look around, all you need to do is ask.”

Anna was the one to breach the silence from their side of the line, “Paul, have you ever considered a job in private investigation?”

An ear-splitting collection of male laughter erupted before he responded, “If I do, I’ll let you know.” More laughter followed. “So, when can I expect you?” Switzer asked.

“We’ll be there in an hour and a half,” Elijah responded.

“And guys?” Switzer said. “Make sure you bring back-up.”

Abe and Elijah grinned at Anna, who sweetly replied, “Honey, I’ll be there.”

Still chuckling, they signed-off and piled into Anna’s massive SUV. Abe and Elijah speculated loudly as to how she managed to park the thing, to which she tartly replied, “Oh my, I think I accidentally ran over one of your ‘toys’ while scootching into my parking space this morning. Thought the Ferrari was a speed bump. Sorry, my bad.” At their looks of horror, she giggled slyly. Still, they might have been a little bit afraid. Yeah, just a little.

Their kidding continued all the way to Malibu, which made for a quick trip as they pulled into the parking lot of the dealership. Switzer must have been watching for them, because a little round man who could have passed for Hercule Poirot’s double, sans the curly-tips on the moustache, was at Anna’s door before she had finished parking.

“Holy crap,” he exclaimed, “with all the money you’ve spent buying gas for this tank, you could have bought one of these.” He pointed to the sparkling new Jaguars that spanned the front of the lot.

“Yeah, and I could have had a V-8, too,” Anna retorted.

“I like this gal,” the little man replied as he stuck out a beefy hand. “I’m Paul Switzer. You must be Anna.”

She took his hand. “Good guess, now I’m convinced you were meant for PI work.” They all laughed as introductions were officially made.

“So, how do you want to do this?” Switzer asked.

“Why don’t we walk through your conversation with Victoria. Where you were, what you did,” Abe suggested.

“That’s easy,” Switzer said as he escorted them into the dealership. They nodded at the receptionist at the entrance of the showroom—who must have been Bonnie—before moving into a spacious glass office behind her desk. Nice, if you were into the whole fishbowl theme.

“We were in here until I left to deal with the service issue.”

“Did anyone stop by during that time?” Elijah asked.

“No, no one. All the sales people were with customers.”

“What about the service people? You said there was an issue?” Abe added.

“The service manager called me from his office. He didn’t stop by.”

“What about when you left?” Anna asked.

“I checked with Bonnie, and she said, no, there was no one. And as you can see, from the position of her desk”—it was literally at the entrance of the dealership—“nobody’s getting by her without her seeing them. And before you ask, she didn’t go on break that entire time.

“Also, not that she was being nosy or anything, but Bonnie didn’t see her take any phone calls. In fact, she said she never saw her pull out a cell, even to check text messages.”

“That definitely sounds like Victoria,” Elijah commented. “She wasn’t one to obsessively check for messages. And she never sent texts.”

He turned to his brother and Anna, who were both looking intently at the wall outside Switzer’s office.

“What is that?” he asked Switzer as he joined them.

“Oh, that’s our employee bulletin board. We post employee accolades, upcoming activities and contests, photos from holiday parties, stuff like that. In fact, you two are looking at the photos from last year’s Christmas party. Pretty random stuff, but a fun time for friends and family.”

Random was right—there were photos of adults and children of all shapes and sizes eating, dancing, singing or playing games.

“What was here?” Anna asked, pointing to a section in the collage where the construction paper backing peeked through, exposing a small piece of transparent tape.

“Wow, I don’t know. Looks like someone pulled one of the photos down.” Switzer squinted, then turned to his receptionist and asked her to join them. The young petite blonde shuffled over, wringing her hands, clearly fearing the worst.

“Bonnie, can you tell me if something was here?” Switzer asked her as he pointed at the empty section.

“I can’t tell you what that picture was of or who was in it, but I’m sure there used to be one there.” She looked at us earnestly, wringing her hands even more feverishly, before adding, “That girl, Victoria, was looking at them right before she left, though I can’t say if she took anything with her.”

Abe, Elijah and Anna quickly looked at one another. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

Anna gently touched the girl on the shoulder. “Hi Bonnie, I’m Anna. We appreciate your help and your honesty. I was wondering, do you happen to know who shot the photographs for the party?” Relief filled the girl’s eyes as she realized she wasn’t in trouble.

Bonnie nodded. “Well, we all did. It’s the same way we do it at all the parties, Mr. Switzer. There are tables with disposable cameras everywhere so anybody can take pictures any time they want.”

“Are there negative of these pictures somewhere, Bonnie?” Switzer asked.

“Negatives, sir?” She blinked. “I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure everything is digital. You know, like on a CD?”

Bonnie wasn’t trying to offend her boss, she was way too sweet to be rude like that, and young. Abe and Elijah tried to keep from grinning while Anna elbowed them both in the ribs, mouthing for them to stop.

“Um, Bonnie, how many of these cameras would you estimate there were at the party?” Abe asked.

“Five hundred,” she replied promptly, “with twenty-seven pictures each. I know because I’m the one who ordered them.”

“Wow, that’s over 13,000 photos, assuming they all turned out and all the cameras were used.” Elijah whistled.

“I currently have all the images on my desktop. I could copy them onto a thumb drive if that would be helpful?” Bonnie offered politely. “Of course, only if it’s ok with you, Mr. Switzer?”

“Yes, Bonnie, that would be more than ok. It would be helpful, wouldn’t it?” he asked as he turned to the others.

“Absolutely, thank you, Bonnie,” Anna replied.

“It will take me awhile, but if you want to grab some late lunch or something, I should have them ready by the time you get back,” Bonnie added thoughtfully.

“That’s a great idea—best one I’ve heard all day,” Elijah agreed, as his stomach growled loudly.

They asked Switzer if he wanted to join them, but the dealership manager graciously waved them off, citing issues that needed his attention. They headed to a nearby chain restaurant, but elected not to discuss the events of the day.

“We’ve got the whole ride home for that,” Abe commented. “No sense giving ourselves indigestion.” Anna and Elijah nodded in the affirmative.

As promised, Bonnie had a thumb drive waiting for them upon their return. Before heading back to L.A., they popped their heads into Switzer’s office to thank him and say their goodbyes. They also had one final question, something that occurred to them on their way back to the dealership.

“You don’t happen to have a picture of Dolby do you?” Abe asked him.

“You know, the police asked me that too. Unfortunately, I don’t. Or at least nothing useful. We took a copy of his driver’s license when we hired him, but the picture is so grainy, it could be anyone, including my mother-in-law.”

“Gotcha, just thought we’d ask,” Elijah said. “Thanks for everything, Paul.”

“You betcha. I’d love it if you guys would keep in touch and let me know how this thing works out. Of course, if you’re ever in the market for a Jag, or want to trade in that tank”—he thumbed at Anna’s SUV—“for something classy.”

“Gee, Paul, you really know the way to a girl’s heart,” Anna replied sarcastically.

Always the salesman, Switzer winked and blew her a kiss.