LLucy’s Revenge(Divine Creek Ranch 15)(127)
While Lucy was out in the hallway, waiting for Amelia to disrobe, Tamara came to her.
“I heard you laughing so I guess everything is okay?”
Lucy smiled and nodded as she leaned against the doorjamb of her tiny office. “Yes, Tamara, it’s perfect. You’re leaving at eleven for the dentist, right?”
“Yes.”
“I should be done by then,” Lucy said as she softly tapped on the massage door and slipped back into the room, winking at Tamara before she closed the door.
The massage turned out to be just what Amelia needed and she was walking on a cloud when she left Lucy’s spa later that morning, carrying a shopping bag filled with Beck’s beeswax body products.
Tamara checked out at eleven and Lucy was tidying her desk when she saw the little light blinking on her phone, indicating a phone message had been left for her. She dialed into her voice mail account to listen to it.
“Hey, Juicy Lucy. It’s Beck. I have the honey you wanted me to bring by the Retreat. If it’s okay with you, I’ll swing by there right after Patrick and I are done with a meeting at the Dancing Pony. I meant to tell you about it this morning but you had your hands full with PJ. Once we have more details I can tell you all about what’s going on. Anyway, I love you, and I’ll see you later.”
She was just finishing up checking e-mails when her phone vibrated in her hand and began ringing with an incoming call.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Summer. Listen, is there any way I can send someone over there, like right now?”
“Who is it?”
“Remember Emily Anne Bancroft from Lusty?”
“Yeah, but it depends on the time. My schedule is kind of booked after lunch. Is she coming from your place now?”
“Yeah. Is that okay?”
“Sure. Is an upper body massage okay?”
“She’s not coming for a massage. She said she really wants to talk to you.”
“Me? What about?”
“Chloe Rhodes. Emily Anne’s men are there in Divine at a meeting and she’s supposed to meet them for lunch so she wouldn’t stay too long.”
Shit! “Why does she want to talk to me about Chloe Rhodes?” She hated the hard tone she used with Summer. What could Emily Anne possibly have to tell her about Beck’s ex that would make any difference to her at all?
“It sounds like they’re close friends. She doesn’t seem the type to interfere unnecessarily. I think you should hear Emily Anne out, honey.”
“Beck is happy, Summer. If Chloe is planning on coming back to Divine—”
“Whoa. I don’t think you have to worry about Chloe coming back. I don’t think Emily Anne wants to cause any trouble. Just hear her out?”
Lucy agreed to the meeting and Summer promised to send Emily Anne right along.
* * * *
Beck was eager to know how he and Patrick could help to apprehend Baxter. Based on surveillance of Baxter, Ethan and the investigators expected Baxter to stop in to the Dancing Pony for his usual early happy hour beers after running a predictable set of errands around town.
It seemed simple. All they needed were his fingerprints, which Ethan planned to provide to them off of Baxter’s beer glass. They were momentarily distracted by a delivery at the back door but Ethan mentioned that Corinna was handling it so that they wouldn’t be interrupted.
Out of curiosity, Beck said, “I’m confused. How’s getting his fingerprints going to help us? You said he couldn’t be charged because of the statute of limitations.”
Mel answered the question for him. “It eliminates supposition. So that we know for certain the man we are dealing with is Ralph Baxter.”
Connor nodded and said, “That’s only going to be our first step.”
Patrick said, “You want him to implicate himself in the murder of that lawyer. That’s what you’re going after him for. Not for theft or misdirection of funds.”
Mel said, “That’s right. And if we can’t do it by the book, we’ll be sneaky and underhanded.”
“Sometimes you do what you gotta do,” Kemp said. Then he smirked. “Remind me to tell you a story sometime about duct tape.”
Beck leaned forward, fighting an outward show of eagerness. “Is that why we’re here? To do something sneaky and underhanded?” Sign me the fuck up.
Mel nodded. “In a way. First we positively identify Smith as Ralph Baxter. Then, the next time he’s in town, we need to keep him here beyond the time he usually spends running his errands. We have to come up with a stalling tactic so Connor can work his magic.”
“It will take me at least as long as he’s usually here in town to search his house,” Connor said. “When I planted those bugs, I was just in and out. But I also want to cover the outbuildings. Hell, it would probably take me at least a half hour to pick all the locks of the sheds he has out there.”