Death on the Beach Read online

  "Do I need an attorney?" I ask, hating the quaver in my voice. Over the shoulder of the officers, Ben's face tells me I need one. Guilty or innocent. Trouble is I don't know any here.

  Dixie and Ben follow me out into the hallway. I’m glad they’re coming. Moral support is something I need in spades right now. And Ben will probably be able to find me a local attorney by checking with law enforcement friends.

  Of course, not all of us will fit in the squad car. In addition, the officers explains to me that Ben and Dixie can't ride with me anyway.

  "I'll get my car and bring Ben with me." Dixie says with a reassuring smile for me. "We'll need it to bring all of us back here once you're through with the questioning."

  Good ol' Dixie.

  My legs begin shaking and I can't take a single step. As I stand frozen in place, trying to convince myself this will all be routine and I'll be back in no time, I spot a familiar looking face walking toward the front doors of the condo building.

  "Lynette?" I ask as the woman draws even with me. "Lynette Overby?"

  The woman glances at me then stops dead. "Lily Gayle Lambert! What on earth are you doing here?"

  As my company registers, her face takes on a more professional look. "Are you needin' a lawyer, honey? These officers here look like they might want to eat you alive."

  That seems like an exaggeration to me, but what do I know? "Are you practicing law these days?" I ask her.

  "You bet your bippy." She turns her attention to the officers. "Where are you taking her?"

  When they answer, she turns back to me. "Don't you say anything, honey, till I get there."

  So, now I don’t need some lawyer I’ve never met before. I have my old college friend who knew me very well once upon a time. How fortunate she was here just in the nick of time!

  I ride in the back of the squad car thanking my lucky stars Lynette had been on her way into the condo and that I'd seen her. And recognized her. We'd been sorority sisters back at Ole Miss. However, that was a long time ago.

  I briefly wonder what she’s doing at the condo, but since I have bigger fish to fry at the moment, I let it go as unimportant. She'll tell me all about the later. After she's made sure I don't spend any time inside the jail here. We'll have a big ol' bang up sorority sisters reunion with all the bells and whistles.

  At the precinct, Officer Wilder puts me in a small room with a one-way window, a banged up table and two chairs. It looks exactly like the ones on TV crime shows and doesn't do a thing to reassure me I'll be out of here in quick order. I send up another prayer of thanks for Lynette as I lower myself into the chair facing the door. I don't want anyone coming up behind me.

  Officer Wilder comes back in and asks if I need anything to drink or eat. Having been a fan of CSI for so many years, along with other crime shows, I think it would be in my best interest not to leave my DNA on anything. Even though I hadn't killed Alex, I couldn't be sure where my DNA might show up. After all, we'd spent a good amount of time together recently.

  The minutes drag by slower than molasses. I examine the room visually in every detail. From the bland beige walls to the bland beige linoleum tiles on the floor. Not much of interest there. And quickly digested.

  I look at the mirror on the wall and wonder if Officer Wilder is standing on the other side watching me for any signs of guilt. Which gets me so nervous I figure everything I do must be making me look guilty as sin. Even though I’m just sitting quietly in here.

  Do guilty people do that? Sit quietly and wait for them to slap on the cuffs? Should I be banging on the door and demanding to be released? Or would that make me seem guilty?

  Where could Lynette be? I wonder as my brain continues to run back and forth like a squirrel on the pavement with a car heading straight for it.

  I've just begun counting the ceiling tiles to keep myself from going plum crazy when the door finally opens again and reveals Lynette standing there.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  "Lynette! Thank goodness you're here." It takes everything I have not to throw myself into her arms and beg her to take me home.

  "You didn't think I was going to let down my sorority sister did you?" Lynette grins. "Not in a million years, Sugar." She drags the other chair away from the table and plops it down. “Now. Let’s get started on getting you out of here.”

  We sit at the ugly table, Lynette with her back to the window. She makes some weird faces at me that I can't interpret.

  Giving up on facial communication, she says. "I had a chat with Officer Wilder before I came in here so I'd know what they're trying to charge you with."

  Anxiety grips me. Lynette reaches across and pats my hand lying on the table. My nerves have gotten so bad by this point my hand is practically banging out a rhythm. I clench my fist to stop it.

  "Don't worry. They have nothing to book you on. Just some nasty suspicions on their part. In addition, they'll try to trick you into admitting you did something. So you be sure and say nothing. No matter what they say to you." She frowns at me. "I remember what a short temper you had back in college. Don't let them get your goat today or you'll end up in the pokey despite my best efforts."

  I take a deep breath, mentally girding my loins for battle. I’m not going down for something I didn't do.

  "Now." Lynette goes on, pulling a yellow legal pad out of her tote bag. "You write down everything you can think of that's pertinent to the case. I hate to ask you to write it out, but I don't trust them not to be listening to, and maybe recording, everything we're saying in here."

  I write everything down quick as I can. I sure don't want to spend any more time in here than I absolutely have to. I deliberately leave out the parts about Vlad spying and the couple trying to extort money. I don't think they’re pertinent to the case. And the nosy teenagers. But I do admit I shouted about killing Alex.

  Lynette reads my notes, squinting from time to time as if she’s having a bit of trouble reading my handwriting, but don't say a word until she's finished it all.

  "Hmm. It's not good that you were shouting about killing him.” She whispers, leaning close to my ear. “Makes me wonder if they've found somebody who heard you. But if they did, they haven't revealed it to me. There's that bad temper I remember coming out and getting you in trouble."

  She tears the pages off the pad, folds them and puts them in her tote. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. When Officer Wilder comes in here to question you, you're going to tell them exactly what you told them when the body was found and nothing else. Understand?"

  I nod.

  "After that, you will refuse to answer any questions. Nicely refuse." She gives me a pointed look.

  I nod again.

  "Then they will let you go because they don't have anything to arrest you on at this point."

  When Officer Wilder comes in to question me, I do exactly what Lynette had said.

  Then I’m free to go—as long as I don't leave the state.

  I find Ben and Dixie in the lobby waiting for me. I introduce Lynette to them, although Ben should have remembered her from our shared days at Ole Miss.

  We all walk out the door of the police station together.

  I don't think the sky has every looked bluer to me. Or a breeze felt quite so good. I start walking toward Dixie’s car, but Lynette puts her hand on my arm.

  “Why don’t you ride back with me, Lily Gayle?”

  I assume she wants to talk to me more about the case in private. I look at the others to get their opinion. Ben must think so too because he nods.

  “Go ahead.” Ben says. “We’ll meet you back at the condo.

  I watch Ben and Dixie walk to her car, get in and drive away. It feels odd. Like I’m being left behind by my parents or something. I must be in worse shape mentally than I realized.

  “This way.” Lynette says, using the key fob to unlock the doors. I hear the chirp and see tail lights flash a few cars away. The black BMW was just as nice inside as it was on the outsid
e. Lynette must be doing well.

  “Looks like you’re in tall cotton these days, Lynette.”

  She smiles over at me.

  “Can’t complain.”

  She reverses out of the parking space and drives to the entrance to the highway. She glances past me, checking for traffic, then turns her head left to check for traffic in that direction.

  Her blonde hair is pulled up into a smooth French twist. Nice. I can never get my hair to do that. It always wants to fall and curl. Some people have all the nice hair.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “I guess you figured out I want to talk to you some more about the case.” Lynette says as she pulls into traffic. “And, since Dixie will most likely be called as a witness if it goes to trial, I don’t want her to hear what we’re discussing. And you shouldn’t discuss it with her any more than you already have.”

  Wait. What?

  “Did you just say go to trial?” I ask, choking back my instant fear.

  “I was able to get them to let you go on your own recognizance. Mostly because you’re cousin Ben is in law enforcement, by the way. But that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear yet.” She glances over at me with a patient look. “Surely you know that.”

  I sigh. She’s right. I do know that. What with Ben being in law enforcement ever since we’d graduated from college I’m familiar with the basics of the law. And all of the cases I’ve work with him in the last few years have sharpened that knowledge. But, darn it, I’m innocent and I should be off the hook.

  I slump back against my seat, arms crossed.

  “Oh no,” Lynette says. “I remember that pose, and that look, very well from the old days at Ole Miss. You just get out of that mood right now. You won’t do yourself a bit of good trying to get your own way on this.”

  With a shock I realize I’ve reverted to some of my spoiled only child ways in the last few minutes. Could it be because I’m with Lynette? I’d surely been a spoiled only child when I arrived on campus at Ole Miss. And girls like Lynette had shown me the error of my ways pretty quickly. Once I’d joined the sorority I’d become part of a whole world of ‘sisters’ and no longer an only child. It had done me a world of good.

  I manage a laugh.

  “It must be your company causing me to regress to bad behavior. I haven’t seen you since graduation. Obviously you’re a lawyer these days, but what else is going on in your life.” I let my eyes slide to her left hand where I note there’s no ring on the significant finger. Interesting.

  Of course there’s no ring on my left hand either. So the lack of one could mean any number of things for Lynette.

  “No you don’t.” She says to me, turning into the condo parking lot. “No changing the subject. We need to discuss what happened in detail and figure out our plan of action.”

  She pulls into a parking spot and motions me to get out of the car. “Come on. We’re going to my condo to discuss.”

  I slide out of the car and move reluctantly toward the building following Lynette like a lost puppy. But the last thing I want to do is sit down and have a detailed discussion of recent events. I’m thrilled that she showed up literally in the nick of time and got me cut lose from the poky. But really. Wasn’t that enough for one body to deal with in one day? All I want to do at this point is go to my own condo, slip off my shoes and relax.

  Unfortunately. I know Ben will be waiting there to have the same conversation Lynette is trying to have. At least the cool air in the lobby eases the tension a bit. Maybe I just need to sit in an air conditioned room and think things over. I glance at the bar wondering if there might be a dark corner where I can hide by myself just for a bit. Just till I get my feet back under me.

  But Lynette is holding the elevator door and giving me hard look. And, like a lamb to slaughter, I follow her. She pushes the button for the fifteenth floor and then positions herself between me and the panel like she thinks I might jump over there and start pushing buttons myself. I mean seriously? What would be the point?

  We get settled in some comfortable chairs in her condo. I can’t help but notice her view wasn’t as good as mine three floors higher up in the building.

  “So.” Lynette says. “I need you to give me all the details of your relationship with Alex Landers.”

  My eyebrows rise. “I wouldn’t say we had a relationship. We just met a couple of days ago. We spent part of a day together sightseeing. Then he dropped a bomb on me on the beach and I left is a severely angry mood. He was standing on the beach last time I saw the low down dirty rat.”

  Lynette makes some notes on a legal pad. “How did you happen to meet him?”

  I explain about Dixie and I running out of gas on the way here and Alex coming along right then.

  “Talk about some really weird coincidences. They always say life is stranger than fiction.”

  “Dixie didn’t like him from the get-go.” I tell Lynette. “Guess I should have listened to her instincts.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Lynette inquires. “If I remember correctly from back in the day, she was your best friend growing up. Right?”

  I felt a blush creeping up my neck. “Just between us girls, I’ve been feeling a bit lonesome lately. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a guy back home where something might’ve been starting up but he pulled a fast one on everybody in town and kind of put the kibosh on that.”

  Lynette’s eyes go wide. “You sure have a talent for falling for guys who are less than honest.”

  I give her the stink eye and she shuts up. I can still detect a smug look about her face though. And I don’t like it one little bit. Why who does she think she is? But I squash that thought. She’s going to get me out of a murder rap and I need her to.

  “What about you?” I retaliate. “Are you in a relationship? I don’t see a ring.”

  Oops. That wasn’t what I meant to say. It can’t be a good idea to annoy your lawyer.

  “As a matter of fact, I was in one until recently and we made a mutual decision to go our separate ways.” Lynette responds.

  Hmmmm. Interesting.

  “But that’s enough about my personal life.” Lynette says, pulling me from my conjectures on the subject before they can even get started.

  “Let’s focus some more on any details you can come up with. Anything that you might think isn’t important can turn out to be the one thing that breaks the case.”

  We go back and forth for a bit while she jots more notes and I get more and more antsy. I can tell from the look on her face that it’s probably not going well for me.

  “And how did your hatpin end up where it was found?” Lynette asks, delicately referring to the gruesome scene Dixie and I discovered on the beach. Was it only this morning?

  “I haven’t got a single clue. As I told you, my hat came loose as I was stompin’ up the beach as fast as I could go to get away from that jerk.”

  She looks back over her notes. “But you told me it was a favorite of yours. And an antique. Do you expect the police to believe that the wind pulled it loose from your head and you just kept on walking and let it go?”

  “Well they certainly should.” I huff, in a seriously bad mood now. “Because that’s exactly what happened. And, as my lawyer, I would have expected you to believe me.”

  She holds up a restraining hand. “Woah there. I didn’t say I don’t believe you. I’m just pointing out that the police may find that a little too convenient since there are no other suspects I’m aware of at the moment.”

  I slump in my chair. I know she’s right. But I’m innocent. The only thing to do now is to prove it. And I have plenty of crime solving experience. Just not with myself as the main suspect.

  Thanks to Lynette I’m free to roam. And to gather clues. I need to get back to my own condo and my closest friend to start the process.

  With that thought I stand up.

  Lynette looks at me in surprise. “We’re not quite done here, hon.”

  “Yes we are. I need a
break from all this talking. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow. Okay?”

  Her look changes to concern. “Oh, hon. Of course you’re exhausted. I’ve got enough here to get started on preparing a defense for you. You go on for now.”

  I move toward the door.

  “And tell old Ben I think he’s looking really good.” She says from behind me.

  Oh boy. That doesn’t seem very professional. I remember the ringless finger on her left hand and wonder if she’d noticed Ben’s was equally ringless and thought she might come out of this situation with a new relationship for herself.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Back at my own condo with Dixie and Ben, we go in some more circles trying to figure out where Vlad might be and why he still isn't responding to any of our messages.

  "I contacted Todd while you were in downstairs getting questioned." Ben says.

  Todd is Ben's right hand man back home in Mercy. "What good is Todd going to be able to do from all the way back home?" I ask.

  "He's going to run background on Alex Landers from Boston. The local police probably have already done it, but they're not sharing that info with me, so I'm having Todd get the info for us." His eyes meet mine. "It may end up being a waste of time, but I wanted to try it anyway."

  “I’m about ready haul old Vlad over the coals. He’s the reason I’m in this mess. If he hadn’t been running his mouth, Alex would never have bothered with me.” I admit that hurts my pride a bit though. What woman wants to think a man came after her for any reason other than he thought she was attractive and he wanted to get to know her better?

  “Why would he follow us here and be hiding out?” Dixie wonders out loud. “That doesn’t seem like him at all.”

  But, I think it might. Vlad isn’t the same person he’d been when we were children. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He’s certainly done well for himself. Coming back to Mercy with a state grant for a sleep study in hand had certainly raised him in the eyes of a lot of town folks.