Vanessa Gray Bartal - Lacy Steele 07 - Icy Grip of Murder (3 page)

“At least you’ll look good while
you die,” Kimber said.

Lacy shrugged, her expression
morose. Why did she let Riley and her mother do the things they did to her? She
was spineless when it came to them.

“Come on, you know she’s just mad
because she can’t fit in anything pretty right now. Or she’s living
vicariously. Whatever the reason, she’s huge and you’re not. Enjoy the moment.”

“She’s huge because she’s pregnant.
There’s a difference,” Lacy said.

“Girl, are you having baby fever?”

“No, not really.”

“Because I could have a word with
your boy, Jason,” Kimber said with a wicked smile.

“And I could watch a Jason-shaped
cloud of dust disappear over the horizon,” Lacy said. “I have no desire to rush
things. We’re perfect where we are right now. But seeing her so cute and
maternal makes me want to cuddle something into submission. Maybe you should
get a puppy.”

“Me? Why should I get a puppy if
you’re the one who wants to cuddle something?”

“Obviously I can’t have a puppy
while I’m living with Grandma,” Lacy said.

“I am not getting a puppy. Go to
the pet store.”

“The pet store is a sad place. It’s
like puppy prison,” Lacy said. Her phone buzzed. She took it out and Jason’s
face stared back at her. “Hey.”

“Where are you?” he asked, and
something in his tone made her sit up straighter on the stool.

“Kimber’s studio. Why?”

“Stay there. I’m coming over.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I….” He paused, sighing.
“I got a courtesy call from a police department in Minnesota.”

“Someone in Minnesota called to
tell you to have a nice day?” she guessed.

“No, they called to let me know
they’re in town.”

“That’s weird,” she said. “Why
would they do that?”

“It’s common when making an arrest
outside your jurisdiction.”

“Whom are they arresting?” she
asked.

“I’ll tell you when I get there.”

“Jason,” she warned.

“It’s Michael. They’re arresting
Michael.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. They
can’t do that,” Lacy said. She walked to the window and pressed her nose to the
glass, searching for any unfamiliar vehicles.

“They can. They have a nationwide
warrant,” Jason said.

“Did you see it?”

“They faxed me a copy. It’s legit.”

While he talked, a car pulled up
and two men who were unmistakably cops popped out. They had the same look Jason
did—buttoned down, cagey, and authoritative.

“They’re here,”
Lacy
said.

“Don’t do anything. I’ll be there
in a minute,” he said.

“I need to go warn Michael,” she
said.

“Why? It’s not like he can do
anything about it.”

“Do you really think the element of
surprise is best here?” she asked. She left Kimber’s shop and began trotting
toward Michael’s.

“Lacy, I don’t want you involved in
this,” Jason said.

“I have to go,” she said, hanging
up. The men were approaching the door faster than she would be able to make it
to Michael’s shop. She put forth a burst of speed and began sprinting, the
uncomfortable underwear both digging into her hip and hanging on by a thread.
She made it to Michael’s before the men, but was too breathless to speak.

“Hey, is it doughnut day?” Michael
asked.

Lacy shook her head, bracing one
arm on the counter for support. “They’re here,” was all she was able to rasp
out. Jason was right; there was nothing either of them could do to avoid what
was about to happen, but not warning Michael, not being there to lend a hand,
felt disloyal.

“Who?” he asked, but then he saw
them. They entered his shop warily, hands at their sides, ready to reach for
the weapons hidden under their jackets. Lacy hovered closer to Michael. He
shoved her away.

“You’re getting slow in your old
age, boys. Took you longer than I thought to find me,” Michael said. He sounded
cocky. Lacy realized she hadn’t heard him use that tone since he first moved to
town.

“We had some help,” one of the
men
said.

Michael’s smirk didn’t shift, but
his lashes fluttered, the only outward sign that the remark had been processed.

“Are we going to do this the easy
way?” the other man asked.

“Easy for who?” Michael said. His
glance slid to Lacy. He seemed to either be trying to tell her something or ask
her something, but she had no idea what. The tension in the room was palpably
high.

“Ma’am, step away, please,” one of
the
men
said.

“No,” Lacy said.

“She doesn’t take direction well,”
Michael said. “That’s why I like her.”

Everyone came to a standstill,
frozen in position. Lacy stood beside Michael, trying to ignore the stitch in
her side and remain upright. Across from them the two officers were coiled and
ready to pounce. Whether they meant to pounce on her, Michael, or both, she
didn’t know. Before she could find out, Jason entered the Stakely building and loomed
in the doorway.

“How’s it going?” he asked. He was
using the voice, the one he used to soothe out of control people,
the
one he had tried on Lacy once when she was in a bad
mood. He had learned the hard way never to try it again.

“It would be better if the lady
would move about ten feet to the left,” one of the officers said.

Jason looked at Lacy. She shook her
head. “That’s probably not going to happen,” he said as he began easing into
the room. “But I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. I think we can do this
with no injury to Lacy, an innocent, yet frustratingly stubborn, bystander.”

There were undercurrents Lacy
didn’t understand, either some sort of man-speak or code. Whatever it was,
Michael seemed to understand it. His gaze slid from Jason to the two officers
to Lacy, and back to the officers. Maybe it was Lacy’s imagination because his
smile didn’t falter, but he seemed to sag in defeat. He held out his hands. “No
need to be unfriendly after you came all this way.”

One of the officers stepped quickly
forward and handcuffed him.

Lacy stepped forward, too. “This is
a mistake. Michael didn’t do it.”

“Your female fan club never fails
to amaze me,” one of the officers said.

Michael gave a nonchalant shrug,
his smile unwavering. Lacy wasn’t fooled. He was afraid; he had to be. He had
come to their town to get away from the false accusations, and now he was being
arrested for murder.

“I’m telling you that you’re
wrong,” Lacy tried again. “Michael would never hurt anyone.”

The officers ignored her. Jason was
shooting her warning glances, trying to tell her to keep a cap on her temper.
Lacy was trying, she really was, but nothing made her angrier than injustice,
especially when it was happening to one of her friends. “He didn’t do it,” she
tried again, more forcefully this time. For emphasis, she stamped her foot, and
that was when it happened. With a barely audible snap, the last vestiges of her
underwear gave way and shimmied to her ankles. She stood still and ignored
them, hoping no one would notice, but four pairs of male eyes were suddenly
riveted on her feet.

“That has almost never happened to
me before,” Lacy said by way of explanation. Michael laughed, drawing the two
officers out of their trances. They turned and led him away. Lacy couldn’t
follow without either hobbling or stooping to scoop up her underwear and carry
it in her hands. Neither was a good option. Instead, she called out to him.

“I’m getting you a lawyer.”

If she had expected him to protest,
she was surprised by his answer. “Good. I’m going to need it. Lock up my
store.”

The silence left in their wake was
painful. Lacy’s mind was in full throttle, and Jason’s expression was troubled
as well. “How soon can you leave?” Lacy asked as Jason bent to retrieve her
lost item. He held the ruined wad of lace out to her, saw she had nowhere to
put it, and stuffed it in his pocket.

“I should probably head back any
minute. I was in the middle of a meeting,” he said.

“No, I mean how soon can you be
ready to go?” Lacy asked.

“Go where?” he said.

“Minnesota. Where else?”

He stared at her, squinting as he
tried to follow her train of thought. “Lacy, we can’t go to Minnesota.”

“Jason, we can’t
not
go to Minnesota.
Our friend
is in trouble; he needs us.”

“The best thing you can do for him
is hire a lawyer, and you can do that from here.”

“Do you know that since he’s lived
here, not one person from his former life has contacted him? I think we’re all
he’s got,” Lacy said.

“That doesn’t change the fact that
there’s nothing we can do for him in Minnesota,” Jason said.

“There’s something else.”

“What?”

“How did they know where to find
him?” she asked.

He didn’t want to tell her, but it
was obvious she already knew. “I called them when you were missing. I wanted
some background on him.”

“Then this is all our fault,” Lacy
said.

“It’s not. Michael is the one who
got in trouble.”

“You can’t honestly believe he
murdered that woman,” she said.

“No, I don’t. But he put himself on
law enforcement’s radar.”

“How?”

He didn’t want to be the one to
tell her, to disillusion her about Michael’s past. “Michael hasn’t always been
the person he is now.”

“I know he had a wild past, but
that doesn’t equate to murder. We need to be with him and help him in any way
we can.”

“Cases can drag on for months. You
know that.”

“Not if we’re there to put pressure
on the situation. We need to go,” she said.

“No. We need to stay here and
monitor the situation like rational, law-abiding citizens,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she
asked.

“It means if you go there, you will
get involved. You’ll get in trouble. I know you. Your desire to help outweighs
your common sense,” he said.

“At least I have a desire to help,”
she said.

“I want to help too, but in the
right way,” he said.

“What makes you sure that your way
is the right way?” she asked.

“Because I’m a detective, and I
know how these things work. Hire a lawyer and let the wheels turn.”

“You said that could take months,”
she said.

“Maybe it will, but at least you’ll
be here and not there. At least you’ll be safe.”

“I don’t care about being safe, I
care about doing the right thing!” she said.

“You’re so blinded by emotion that
you can’t see what the right thing is!”

“Everything okay in here?” They
whirled to see Joe and Kimber standing in the doorway.

“Whole
lotta
shouting going on,” Kimber said.

“It’s fine. We’re fine. We’re
having a discussion,” Jason said.

“A discussion. Okay,” Kimber
drawled. She tugged on Joe’s sleeve, and they eased away.

Lacy took a breath and purposely
lowered her voice. “I think going to Minnesota is the right thing to do.”

“I don’t,” Jason said. He was also
making a concerted effort to be calm.

“I’m going,” she said.

“I’m not,” he said.

“All right. I’ll call you when I
get back.”

“Have a good trip,” he said tersely.
Then he turned and walked out the door.

Lacy watched him go, a sick heavy
feeling in her chest. This was their first argument as a couple. A part of her
wanted to go after him and make things right. The other part warned her there
wasn’t time. She had other, more pressing things to do.

First, she needed to close up
Michael’s shop. She removed cash from the register, counted it, and called Joe
to deposit it in her bank a few doors down. She left a note with the exact
amount inside the register so that she would remember to give it to Michael
when he returned. Next she turned down the heat in his store, something that
she asked the
store owners
to do every night to save
on utilities. Most of them were good about remembering. If not, Joe checked
each thermostat and made the proper adjustment. When that was done, she tidied
the few things that were out, turned off the light, and locked the door. She
would need to put a sign on the door, but she couldn’t decide what it should
say. Closed until further notice? That felt too final. In the end, she borrowed
an extra “Closed” sign from the ice cream store and left it at that.

Next she went upstairs and began
arranging her own office. While she was away, Suze would face her first taste
of responsibility. Lacy hoped she had done the right thing by hiring her. At
least she still had Kimber and Joe nearby to keep an eye on things. There
wasn’t too much her new secretary could destroy, right? She hoped not.

She invited Suze into the office
and gave her a list of instructions. Suze nodded and took notes as if she were
paying attention, but it was hard to take someone wearing
camo
pants and a Violent Femmes t-shirt as a serious professional. When Lacy
returned, they needed to have a serious chat about wardrobe. Of course, she
should wait until the memory of her lost underpants faded into obscurity.

When she finished at the office,
she went home and packed. Her grandmother fretted in the doorway, stuffing
treats into any available compartment when Lacy wasn’t looking.

“I wish Tom was here to talk you
out of this,” she repeated more than once. “Of all the days for him to have a
trustee meeting.”

Lacy had no idea which meeting she
was referring to. Her grandfather was on the board of several local
organizations. “It’s going to be okay, Grandma. I’m going to lend some moral
support and make sure Michael is properly represented.”

“But Minnesota is so far. Who knows
what they eat up there? I’ve head stories. Are you familiar with lutefisk?”

“No. What’s that?”

“I think fish is involved, but I
don’t know what happens to it. The point is that it’s a different place with
different people and different food. I’m worried about you,” her grandmother
said.

“To be fair, you worry about me
when I’m right here,” Lacy reminded her.

“That’s true, but at least here I
know you’re eating right.”

“Finding food has never been my
problem,” Lacy said.

“I suppose. I would feel better
about this if you weren’t going alone. Maybe I should come with you.”

Lacy almost choked on that
suggestion. While she had no fears for herself, her octogenarian grandmother
was another story. “It’s cold up there, and there’s snow on the ground already.
Besides, Grandpa would kill me for dragging you away.”

“He could come, too. We could be
your, what do kids say, wingmen?”

“I appreciate the offer, Grandma,
but no. I’m going to go make sure Michael’s okay and being taken care of, and
then I’ll be back. This trip is no big deal.”

“I would feel better if you weren’t
going alone,” her grandmother said.

So
would I,
Lacy thought, but she didn’t say it out loud. Instead she finished
packing and pretended not to notice when her grandmother opened a bag of
Tootsie Rolls and dumped them in her coat pockets.