Jennifer Crusie Bundle Read online

  Nick blinked. “Whose murder?”

  “On a guess, Armand’s. He’s the only body in the picture at the moment.” Mitch got up and started to pace. “There’s something going on here, Nick. I thought Armand was doing it, looting his own estate, but now there’s other stuff coming down.” He stopped pacing. “There’s no chance that Armand is still alive, is there? I mean, people did see the body?”

  “Tess heard that the university med school got the remains,” Nick pointed out. “And somebody signed a death certificate.”

  “Somebody could have been bought off.”

  Nick sat down. “Let’s take this from the top. Exactly whom am I representing, you or Mae?”

  “Well, preferably both, but if you have to choose, choose Mae. I’m just in here for driving her car and not knowing where she is.”

  “You really don’t know?”

  Mitch held up his hand. “Scout’s honor. The last I saw of her was this morning. She didn’t mention anything about going on the lam later.”

  “If you don’t know, tell them you don’t know.”

  “I did. They didn’t seem to find it convincing.”

  Nick pushed back his chair. “Let me see what I can do, but then you and I are going to have a long talk.”

  “No problem.” Mitch slumped back in his chair. “All my clients fired me this morning, and my landlord evicted me from my office. I’m pretty much free.”

  “One problem at a time,” Nick said and left to spring Mitch.

  AN HOUR LATER, Mitch stood outside the police station, wilting under the blast of the noon sun and figuring out his next move.

  Nick came out to join him and jerked his head toward the Mercedes. “Get in.”

  Once inside with the air conditioner on, he turned to Mitch. “This isn’t good. The police got an anonymous tip Saturday afternoon that Armand had been poisoned. Then this morning they got a page from his diary in the mail that implies that somebody was putting the squeeze on him to put money in Mae’s trust fund. That somebody is logically Mae.”

  Mitch relaxed. “That can’t be right. She doesn’t have any money.”

  “She didn’t have until a couple of weeks ago.” Nick looked unhappy. “According to bank statements, during the past fourteen weeks, right up to his death, Armand deposited almost eight million dollars to her trust fund account.”

  Mitch blinked. “How many?”

  Nick smiled grimly. “Eight big ones. One deposit alone was for six million. She’s got a motive, Mitch.”

  Mitch swallowed. “Nick, everybody in Riverbend had a motive to kill Armand. She’d have to get in line.”

  “She also had means. The police got a warrant and went to the house this morning and found Armand’s pill bottle in his room. Mae’s prints are all over the bottle.”

  “Big deal. So are mine. We both handled it last night.” Mitch frowned. “How the hell did they get Mae’s prints?”

  “They took them from her room.”

  “And while they were doing that, she skipped?”

  “No, she skipped while they were arresting Carlo. For vandalizing your car.”

  Mitch started. “I didn’t call in a police report on that yet.”

  “Newton did it for you last night. He told the police it was probably Carlo. The Riverbend PD is very enthusiastic about Carlo. That bit with the finger really annoyed them, and then they showed up at Mae’s with the warrant and got him as a bonus. They’re pretty pleased in general.”

  Mitch put his head on the steering wheel. “So now Carlo thinks I turned him in. Great. The last time he thought somebody ratted on him, Armand died. Thank you, Newton.”

  “Forget Carlo. Think Mae. As soon as you find her, bring her in.”

  “I don’t know where—”

  “Don’t mess with me on this, Mitch.” Nick looked grim. “As soon as you find her, bring her to me, and I will go with her to the police. This fugitive bit is not good. We’ve got to get her off the street.”

  “I don’t want her to have an arrest record.”

  “I may be able to stall them on that.” Nick shifted in his seat. “They’ve got enough to charge her, but I don’t think they’re happy about it. They’re not dumb, these guys. If I can guarantee she’ll stay put, they may release her to me. But she’s got to come in. If they find her, they’ll arrest her, and all I’ll be able to do is mop up.”

  “And get her off,” Mitch prompted.

  “That, too, but let’s hope to hell it never gets to court. Mae’s awfully photogenic. She could be the Hard Copy flavor-of-the-month.”

  “Oh, hell.”

  “Forget that for now. Just find her.” Nick started to get out of the car. “Oh, I forgot. What do you want me to do about the eviction?”

  “Find out who’s evicting me, for starters. But I have a pretty good idea whose behind it.”

  Nick nodded. “Sure. I’ll get somebody on it. Wrongful eviction. Financial harassment. I’ll make something up. Anything else while I’m at it? Paternity suit? Breach of promise? Prenuptial?”

  “Nah. Mae can have anything I’ve got.”

  Nick grinned. “You and Mae, huh?”

  “You don’t sound very surprised.”

  “I’m a lawyer. Nothing surprises me.”

  Mitch shook his head. “Nothing used to surprise me until I met Mae. Now everything does.”

  Nick’s expression sobered. “Find her, Mitch.”

  Mitch nodded. “That’s my plan.”

  MAE HAD WALKED for an hour before she realized where she was going.

  She stopped and looked at the tree-lined, lust-drunken street. Armand’s town house was just around the corner.

  Where would the police look for her first? Gio’s or Claud’s, probably. Work, definitely. Mitch’s, maybe.

  And sooner or later, Armand’s place. But probably later.

  She turned the corner and walked to Armand’s front door, fumbling in her purse for the key so she could unlock the door and get inside as swiftly as possible. But once inside the cool dimness of the hall, she stood trembling, finally reacting to the shock of the police. “They’re here for you,” Carlo had said, and she’d accepted it at once. Carlo knew about police. If he said they’d come for her, they had.

  And it could only be for one thing. Somebody was finally taking her lie about Armand’s death seriously.

  She moved slowly through the archway into the living room, listening to see if anyone else was in the house. It seemed filled with the empty silence that only deserted places have, a desolation born of loss. People had been happy here once, and now it was empty. She could feel the unhappiness in her groin, like a cramp, and she ached for Stormy and what she had lost. Even though Armand had been a jerk, Stormy had still loved him, and in his own way, he’d loved her. And love was a terrible thing to lose.

  She knew that because now she had love to lose. She had Mitch.

  She sank onto the soft amber couch and tried to think.

  She couldn’t stay here too long. Sooner or later, they’d come here, if only to look for clues. The temptation to go upstairs and crawl into a bed and never come out again was overwhelming. She could live there forever, going out into the garden at night to see the stars. It would be a sanctuary, and she could stay there alone forever and no one would hurt her.

  Except that someone had to take care of June and Harold, and the police would definitely show up sooner or later, and there were no sanctuaries. There were no safe places in life. That’s why you had to keep moving.

  And besides, she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to be with Mitch.

  Think, she told herself, but she didn’t know enough to puzzle out what was happening to her. Something had happened to all that money, but she didn’t know what. Someone was shooting at her, but she didn’t know who. The police wanted her, but she didn’t know why. She thought longingly of Mitch, not as a savior because he wasn’t the savior type, but as a partner, somebody to share the puzzle with. Sh