A Justified Murder Read online

  Wherever he went for lunch, a restaurant or in his office, some female would “accidentally” show up there.

  Out of frustration, he took his packed lunch and went into a broom closet to eat. He did this three times before he was disturbed. One day the door was opened by a woman. She was fortyish and not especially pretty, but then, neither was his late wife. He wasn’t attracted to the supermodel type. She was curvy, also like his wife was. She jumped in surprise when she saw him, and he had to coax her to stay. He found out that she worked on another floor and didn’t know who he was. She said she was escaping giggling girls in her office who wanted to spend lunchtime talking about men. “There’s some guy on the twelfth floor who is a recent widower. All of the women brag that they’re going to get him. I feel sorry for the poor man. They’re clearly after his money.” He didn’t tell her that he was their prey.

  He and Janet began to meet in the closet every day. She shared her home-cooked lunches with him. He managed to keep his identity secret from her for weeks, but when she found out, she was hurt. She suffered in such a sweet way that he felt strong and protective.

  However, it didn’t get serious between them until he found out that her parents had left her money. She had her own wealth, so even though she knew about his money, she didn’t see him as a living bank account.

  When they were married three months later, Janet had insisted on inviting every female who worked in the building Carl owned. All two hundred and seventy-one of them. At the reception, she told him that she wanted the women to see that she’d won. Carl Olsen had never seen himself as a prize to be fought for, but it certainly felt good. For the second time in his life, he had found someone who saw him as a person to be treasured. His second wedding was as happy as his first one.

  That was years ago and he didn’t like to think about what happened after the wedding ended. But that was the cause of what he had to do now.

  He’d followed Sara Medlar to a hotel because she had Zelly in her car with her. He knew that Janet had practically adopted the young woman, but he’d also seen Zelly with Lisa. She thought Carl hadn’t seen the scraggly-haired woman hiding behind her, but he had. He knew of Zelly’s connection to the women but he didn’t know how much she knew.

  Carl waited by the pool, unnoticed, until Sara left, then he checked into the hotel. After he’d purchased swim gear and a change of clothes in the gift shop, he went out to the pool. As he’d expected, Zelly was there in a tiny bikini and flirting with the staff.

  He would have liked the time to draw her in, but he couldn’t afford it. He told her that he was Janet’s ex and that Chet Dakon and he used to work together. Chet had asked him to look after her. “For Janet’s sake.”

  “That’s good,” she said. “Those people are too dumb to know when there’s trouble. I tried to tell them but they wouldn’t listen.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Chet says too. I bet you know a lot.”

  Zelly smiled. “More than they think I do. They talk when I’m around ’cause they think I don’t understand what’s going on.”

  Carl laughed in a way that said the joke was on them. “I bet you saw the files.” He’d seen them being unloaded.

  “They tried to keep it a secret, but I think he has a picture of some kidnapper.”

  “Oh.” Carl swallowed. “A photo?”

  “Maybe. But those three—you know?”

  “Jack and Sara and Kate?”

  “That’s them. They keep whispering that they know something they don’t want him to know. I think they’re hiding something really big. They’re worried what will happen if that cop finds out what it is.”

  “I would imagine that you’re right,” Carl said. He closed his eyes behind the expensive designer sunglasses. It looked like his warning of Stop the Cop had had no effect.

  Too bad, he thought. Really, really too bad.

  * * *

  The ride home from the jail was in silence. Kate wanted to talk to Jack, but she wouldn’t say anything in front of Chet. She didn’t like the way he’d acted with Tayla. What she’d said about him, that he cared only for clearing his name, seemed to be right on.

  When they got home, they saw that Chet was furious. His face was red to his ears—and it was all rage.

  “Are you going to help me find the kidnapper, or not?” he demanded.

  “That’s what we’ve been doing,” Jack said.

  Kate was glad to see that Jack’s temper didn’t match Chet’s.

  The older man squinted at them as though trying to read their minds. “I’m leaving for Atlanta. I need to check out some facts. I’ll get my things later.” Turning, he went to his van and sped out of the driveway.

  Inside, Kate and Jack sat down with Sara. She told of taking Zelly to a hotel and leaving her at the pool. She’d instructed the manager about bills. There were to be no parties. “I’ll send her back to Asheville as soon as...” She didn’t finish. As soon as what? Tayla was put on trial?

  Sara looked at Kate and Jack. It was their turn to speak. They went over every word that had been spoken in Tayla’s jail cell. Then they told her that Chet was going away for a while. It made them breathe a sigh of relief.

  “I think we should stay out of this. It’s what Tayla told us to do,” Kate said. “She seemed really afraid.”

  “And leave her to the wolves? Or worse, to the lawyers?” Jack asked.

  Kate looked at him. “I thought you were planning to marry Chet’s lawyer daughter.”

  “I am. We can have a double wedding with you and Chris.”

  “I’m holding out for Garth. We’ll dance all night.”

  “Oh yeah? And who is going to sing for you?”

  “Could you two please take a break?” Sara said. “The problem now is Tayla. We have to do something to help her.”

  The faces of Kate and Jack said they knew she’d solve the problem.

  “I do know a few lawyers. One of them deals with criminals.”

  “Think he’ll take her for a client?” Kate asked.

  “He likes cases that he can’t possibly win, so when he does, he’s jubilant.”

  “I like him already,” Jack said. “Maybe he can get Tayla to stop telling everyone that she’s guilty.”

  “Did she say anything about stabbing or shooting?” Sara asked.

  “Nothing,” Kate said. “Tayla said she poisoned Janet. Swore she did it.”

  “Interesting,” Sara said. “If I were writing this...”

  “Yes?” Kate and Jack said in unison.

  “I’d have an autopsy prove that the poison didn’t kill the victim, so Tayla would be freed.”

  “So who would be punished?” Jack asked.

  “I’d have to start on page one to find that out. I’d make up some really bad guys, but of course no one would know they were bad until I revealed it.”

  “That’s what Tayla said. Nobody is what they seem.”

  “I can believe that,” Sara said. “Sweet-tempered Gil has turned into an angry bull.”

  “Sylvia—who everyone adored—had a daughter who packs a weapon,” Kate said.

  They looked at Jack. “Chet seems sane but with Tayla he was...”

  “Feral,” Kate supplied. “Pushy, demanding, aggressive. I wanted to hug her. Well, I wanted to hug her even without his snapping, but that doesn’t matter.”

  Sara was thoughtful. “Who else is not what he or she seems?”

  “We wouldn’t know, would we?” Kate said. “Until someone lets us inside their minds, we can’t know. It’s like when you read that some man killed his wife and kids. You’re astonished. You just didn’t see it.”

  “But it was all there,” Sara said. “When you know the answer, you can look back and see what the clues were. The question now is What have we seen that we paid no attention to?”

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