Of Merlot & Murder (A Tangled Vines Mystery) (23 page)

“I get it, honey.” Elise sighed and hugged her close. “I know exactly how that feels. But sometimes we just have no idea how folks will react to certain things. It could be that he snapped. Maybe all the years of abuse finally caught up to him.”

“Maybe,” Madison murmured. But when she looked up, Elise read the shock and heartbreak in her eyes. “Can we go now, El? I don’t want to be in this room another minute.”

“Absolutely, sweetie. Just let me get my things.”

Taking the button from her sister, Elise stuck it into her pocket, and then put the pills she’d gathered back into the container, dropping that into her purse.

“Are you going to tell Jax about this?” Madison asked as they left the room, climbing back out under the crime scene tape the same way they’d entered. “Won’t he be angry?”

“Oh hell yeah,” Elise sighed as she re-locked the door. “Jax is gonna blow a gasket, but he’ll get over it when he hears what we found.”

“Hello, ladies,” a nearby voice snagged their attention and they both turned in that direction.

To her surprise, Elise found the same man she’d seen with Toby the day before standing next to Madison. “Hello. It’s Sam, isn’t it?” she asked, remembering what Toby had told her when she’d arrived the previous morning. “You were here yesterday. You were just leaving when I pulled in, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. You have a good memory.” The man smiled and nodded, though something about his smile didn’t seem too awfully friendly to Elise.

“So are you a friend of Toby’s or a relative, Sam?”

The man stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet. “You could say that. I’m Sam Raymond.”

“
Oh my gosh!
You’re Toby’s father?” Madison asked with surprise. “How long have you been in town?”

“A while.”

Thinking about all the unpleasant things she’d heard in the past about Sam Raymond, Elise felt the greasy fingers of unease slide through her system. And then he turned his attention to her.

“Now, tell me, Elise. What did you and Madison here find in that
room that was so fascinating?”

“I beg your pardon?” Elise blinked up at him and tried to keep calm, though she was getting a very nasty vibe. Plus, she was having a hard time getting past the fact that he knew both their names.
The note she’d found on her windshield the previous evening flashed
through her mind.

“In the room,” Sam prompted. “What did you find in the room that you figure on telling Deputy Landry about?”

“I’m sorry, Sam, but that’s information regarding an ongoing investigation,” Elise said before grabbing Madison’s arm and inching toward the car. “I really can’t talk about that.”

But Sam stepped into the gap between them and the vehicle. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist, darlin’.”

Madison gasped, and that’s when Elise saw the gun in the man’s hand.

“What are you doing, Mr. Raymond?” Madison asked. “You can’t
just go around pointing guns at people in broad daylight and threat
ening them like this.”

Sam took hold of her other arm and pulled her over to his side. Pointing the gun at her rib cage, he looked Elise in the eye and nodded toward the car. “Why don’t we take a drive? You can ride shotgun, Elise. Madison will drive, and I’ll get in behind her. That way no one will do anything stupid. Now move!”

twenty-three

“What do you mean
you’re pretty sure you know who killed both women?” Jim Stockton asked Toby Raymond with a skeptical look. “That’s awfully convenient.”

“Look, I don’t have any concrete proof, but I think my dad may have killed them both.” Raymond looked back and forth between Jackson and Jim, nervously turning the empty water cup around in his hands.

“Toby, Garrett Larson has given us an alibi for the times of both murders. We haven’t confirmed those alibis yet, but if what he told us just an hour ago is true, then he couldn’t have killed either woman.”

“No. You don’t understand.” Toby shook his head with frustration. “Not Garrett. I’m talking about Sam Raymond, my
biological
father.”

“What?” Jim’s head popped up from his notepad. “I thought you
said you didn’t know your biological father. So, how do you know he’s here in Delphine?”

Toby sighed and rubbed his eyes as if they burned. “Because I’ve seen him, talked to him. We’ve met on several occasions over the last few days. He’s staying in an RV park out by the fairgrounds.”

Jackson sat back and stared hard at Toby. He wasn’t sure if they could believe a word the man had to say, after the way he’d lied before. Plus the guy had embezzled a large amount of money from Garrett Larson’s vineyard, which didn’t help his cause.

By blaming a phantom, a father he’d never met, he could conceivably be trying to save his own ass. But there was something in Toby’s eyes, a fear that had Jackson interested in hearing more.

“Okay, Toby. If that’s true, then walk us through it,” he said. “When did you find out your dad was in town, and why do you think he killed your mom and Grace?”

“Could I have some more water first?” Toby asked, looking like he might drop at any moment. “And maybe a couple of aspirin? I had kind of a rough night.”

“Sure.” Jackson waited patiently while Jim retrieved two aspirins and refilled Toby’s cup. “Now, take your time and start at the beginning,” he said after the man downed the tablets.

Taking a deep breath, Toby launched into his story. “I didn’t know my father. I wasn’t lying when I said that. I only knew
of
him through the terrible things my mother said about him. So when he approached me late Friday afternoon just before I left the festival and introduced himself, I was stunned, as you might imagine, and a bit leery to talk with him.”

“Because of what your mom had told you about him?” Jim asked.

Toby nodded. “Her diatribes regarding my father were always
much
the same. He had a violent nature; he was a loser who ex
pected her to support the entire family, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes she would say that he wanted to take me away from her, other times it was that he wanted to hurt us.

“Don’t get me wrong, I loved my mother, and I think she loved me—as least as much as she
could
love anyone. But the older I got, t
he more I realized how manipulative and self-serving she was, which made me question all those awful things she said about him
.”

Jackson sat forward and folded his arms on the table. “I’m assuming Sam Raymond had a very different version?”

“Yes. His story
was
very different—almost the opposite. And a large portion of what he said had the ring of truth to it. It resonated with what I’d seen and heard in recent years. He said that back then Mom was always looking for more. More money, more prestige, more
everything
. He said she’d never been satisfied with what he could give her, and one night when I was about four years old, she took me and disappeared.”

“That must have sounded familiar as well,” Jim said, leaning back and hooking an arm over the back of his chair. “Grace Vanderhouse had just told you the same kind of story only a few hours beforehand, right?”

Toby stabbed a finger in Jim’s direction. “Exactly. He said she’d cleaned out his bank accounts as well. I was starting to see a disturbing pattern in my mom’s behavior, which is why I agreed to continue the conversation out at Sam’s RV before going back to the motel to get ready for dinner. I wanted to hear more.”

“What else did he have to say when you got to the park?” Jackson asked.

“He told me that he’d never forgotten about me and had looked for us for years, hiring private investigators and the like whenever he had the money. He’d received information about our Georgia location at one point, but by the time he got there, we’d already left. Mom must have been tipped off that he was coming.”

Toby got up and re-filled his cup from the water dispenser for a third time before continuing. “Anyway, he said that there’d been other close calls, but they were always near misses. He’d show up, but we’d be gone.” He sat back down at the table and took a sip of
the water. “Anyway, this last time he’d finally tracked us down to the vineyard and found out we were heading up to the festival, so he followed
us here.”

“That clarifies how he got to Delphine, but it still doesn’t explain why you’re so sure he killed your mom,” Jim said. “I mean, sure, that kind of history and revenge for what she’d done might’ve given him a reason to want her dead, but it also gives you motive. To find out my mother had lied to me for years, used other people that way? I gotta say that would make me really angry.”

Toby’s gaze sharpened, and he nodded. “Yes, and I was. I’d just confronted Mom about Grace, and she’d refused to talk about it, told me I’d
misunderstood
. Then I tracked Grace down and actually talked to her. And on the heels of that conversation, my long, lost father shows up and contradicts everything my mother had ever told me. You bet I was pissed. But she was still my mother, Deputy.”

“Toby, did you tell your mom about Sam showing up when you argued with her Friday night?” Jackson asked. “And that you’d just talked with him?”

Toby blew out a breath, and his shoulders slumped as if weighed down by guilt. “No. We argued about Grace. I told her all the terrible things Grace had laid on me a few hours before, but I didn’t tell her about my father.”

He lifted his palms in a plea for understanding. “I will go to my grave regretting I didn’t at least give her a heads-up that Sam was nearby. But I was still processing everything that had happened in that one crazy afternoon. Grace, my father
…
I was so overwhelmed.”

Dropping his hands, his eyes filled with tears as he bowed his head and whispered. “Had I told her, it might’ve made the difference.”

“Toby, I can see why you think he may have killed your mom, but why would he want to kill Grace?” Jackson asked, sliding a box of tissue across the table toward the man. “He’d never even met her, had he?”

Toby took a tissue and blew his nose, struggling to get himself under control. “No,” he said after a moment. “But I may have been to blame for that, too.”

“How so?” Jim asked with a frown. “Did you introduce them or something?”

Toby shook his head. “Not exactly. Grace came to see me Saturday. Evidently, when I saw her leave my mom’s room on Friday night and drive away, she hadn’t gone far. She said she’d been angry but decided to come back and finish their conversation, clear the air. She pulled into the parking lot just in time to see me go into Mom’s room.”

“What does that have to do with Grace’s murder?” Jim asked.

“She thought
I’d
killed her. When she came to see me Saturday, she begged me to turn myself in. Said that I’d been pushed past my limits by Mom’s past behavior, and the authorities would take that into consideration. She said she’d be a character witness and help in any way she could.” He paused and wiped his eyes. “I kept telling her that I didn’t kill my mother, but she wouldn’t let it go.”

“Okay, but how does that make you to blame for her death?” Jackson persisted. “And how is your father involved?”

“Because I told him about the conversation on Sunday morning over breakfast. I made light of the whole thing, but I’m afraid he may have tried to intervene. He told me not to worry about it—that he would take care of things.”

“You realize how this whole thing sounds, right?” Jim commented. “You’ve told us that you were in your mother’s room right before her death, and we have no proof that
your dad is even here in Delphine. Until we can confirm that he is, and has been since the murders, we only have your word that any of this actually happened. And other than a gut feeling, you have no actual evidence that proves your dad was involved with either murder.”

Toby fidgeted in his seat, his eyes darting back and forth. “I know, I know, but what I’ve told you is the truth. Go out to the RV park. They’ll have records of him staying there. You’ll see. And as for proof, no, I don’t have any, but I know as sure as I’m sitting here that he’s responsible.”

Jackson ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “All right, hang tight for a few minutes, Toby. Jim and I are gonna step out and make some calls.”

“Interview with Toby Raymond suspended,” Jim said into the recorder. He added the time and put it on pause before he and Jackson got up and stepped out into the hall.

“So? What do you think of
that
rambling mess?” Jim asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’m having a hard time keeping track of all the craziness.”

Jackson smiled and nodded. “I know what you mean, but even though he can’t prove any of it, I’m leaning toward believing him. Although I see where he might have it in him to poison his mother, I just don’t picture him strangling Grace—not after just reuniting with her that way.”

Jim shook his head in a disgusted manner. “Though it pains me some to say it, I have to agree. I don’t like him for either murder. So, where do we go from here? You want to hang onto him until we check out the RV park and can confirm his dad is here?”

Jackson pressed his lips together and crossed his arms over his chest. “I think we’d better, just in case,” he said after a moment.

“Then let’s get this party started.”

They stepped back into the room, and just as they sat down to tell Toby what they’d decided, Jackson’s cell phone rang. Pulling it out and checking the readout, he was baffled when he saw C.C.’s name on the screen.

“Hang on a second,” Jackson told Jim. “I’ve got to take this. I’ll be
right back.”

He got up and walked back out into the hallway, answering the call as he went out the door. “Hey, C.C., what’s up? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Yeah? Well, you better get out of whatever you’re doing and hightail it out to the Lost Pines Fairgrounds. And I mean, right this minute.”

Jackson frowned. C.C. rarely called him and when she did she never sounded this upset. “What’s going on? And what are you doing out at the fairgrounds?”

“I think El and Maddy are in trouble, Jax. Please. You need to come
now!
”

Jackson could hear the near-hysteria in her voice and felt his own concern rise. “Trouble? What kind of trouble? Tell me what’s happened?”

“Okay, but don’t blow a gasket. Promise?”

“C.C.,” he said in a warning tone. “Tell me.”

There was a long pause, and Jackson wanted to reach through the phone and shake the woman. Just when he thought he’d lost the connection, she finally spoke up.

“Something had been bothering El about these murders since finding that note on her car the other night, and—”

“Wait, what note?” he asked, interrupting her. “Start from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.”

Less than ten minutes later, Jackson had most of the story, and after disconnecting, he raced back into the interview room to get
Jim. If C.C. was right, Elise and Madison could be in real peril, maybe
even running out of time.

And Toby had been telling the truth.

“What’s up, Jax?” Jim asked, his voice holding a hint of concern. “You look like you’ve had a scare.”

“I have. Seems like Toby here may have been right.” He turned to Toby. “Elise and Maddy went out to the motel over the lunch hour. It was El’s intention to get Harriet Wilson to let them into your mother’s room.”

“What?” Toby looked horrified. “Why on earth would she want to do that?”

“Who knows why that woman does anything?” Jackson ran a hand over his face in exasperation. “Anyway, C.C. was supposed to meet up with them there but was running late. She arrived just in time to watch Maddy’s car turn out of the parking lot and head toward the fairgrounds.” He gave Jim a grim look. “And from what she said, they weren’t alone. Elise and Maddy were up front, and a man she didn’t recognize was in the back seat on the driver’s side.”

“Oh my God! My dad?”

“I don’t know, Toby.” Jackson shook his head and dug his car keys out of his pocket. “C.C. followed them at a discreet distance out to the fairgrounds and thinks they may be in trouble. I’m not gonna wait around here to find out.”

“I’m right behind you, buddy,” Jim said jumping to his feet. “We can be out there in fifteen minutes—less if we push it.”

“I’m going with you, too,” Toby spoke up, shoving away from the table. “If my dad has taken them out to some secluded spot against their will
…
well, I don’t want any more death on my conscience. I haven’t known him long, but maybe I can talk to him, get him to give himself up without more violence.”

It didn’t take Jackson but five seconds to come to a decision. “Okay, but you do what I say, when I say. And no heroics.”

Toby snorted. “Please. No chance of that. Trust me.”

With a confirming nod, Jackson headed for the door. “Then let’s do this.”