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at the Dumonts’ residence. We found no calls from your phone to hers. Can you explain?”

“Are you talking about the phone conversation between me and Angelique?”

Both detectives nodded.

“That’s easy. I was at the office, waiting for a call or something. Don’t remember, but I called the phone number Silvia De Aguilar had written on the back of my business card. Sort of checking, you know, if it was a real number? Got her voicemail. Didn’t leave any message.”

More nodding.

“Then I dialed Brenda’s cell. She was down at the ranch, and I chatted a little. I mentioned something, can’t remember the exact words, but it had to do with Angelique. Brenda said, ‘She’s right here.’ And handed her the phone. So I told her about the strange woman coming by the Dumonts’ house while I was getting the mail and the phone number she had left for Tristan.

“Angelique must have written the phone number while insisting she had never heard of Silvia. She said the woman was probably an old friend of Tristan. That was it.” I noticed that Detective Ross, AKA Adam, was taking notes. “You know, I think that was the last time I spoke to Angelique. Yeah, because when I called Brenda back, after I saw the Escalade parked by the house, I asked her where Angelique was, and she said something like... she’s here somewhere or having lunch with the Avondo dude, except Brenda didn’t mention his name.” I turned to Brenda. “Do you remember?”

She nodded. “I told the detectives the same thing.”

“Avondo said he drove to the Dumonts’ house with Lois Thomas,” Detective Ross said. “According to the Escalade navigation record, they arrived at the house close to one p.m. The car left twenty minutes later and drove back to the Tucson ranch without a single stop.”

I nodded, chasing away the memory of Tristan’s lips on mine. Must focus. “Yes, it was shortly after one when I drove by and noticed the car, but not the passenger. Are you saying Lois drove back to the ranch alone? Why?”

“Avondo insists the instructions came from Angelique. Remember, Lois was employed by Mrs. Dumont. Avondo remained in the house waiting for Silvia De Aguilar to show up.”

“Oh. But who called Silvia? I mean, according to her letter she didn’t trust her half-brother. It seems like everything happened so fast... how?” I asked.

The two detectives looked at each other, Bob yawned, and Brenda sipped from her glass. And all I could think about was Tristan and the scent of his skin against mine.

“The poor idiot sits in jail waiting for Angelique Dumont to come and bail him out.” Detective Adam shook his head. “That woman has him bamboozled. He said she paid a large sum of money to get him released from the Mexican prison two weeks ago, so he could come to Arizona. I can’t help but think she had a plan in place and needed Avondo to help her carry it out.”

I watched everyone around nodding, but all I wanted was to go home, take care of Greg Coste’s inspection, and cuddle in bed to replay the kiss over and over... until I could talk to Tristan again. I could call him on his cell. That’s when it hit me.

“The phone,” I said out loud.

“You forgot your phone?” Brenda asked.

“No, no. That’s why Angelique sent Avondo to the house. If he called Silvia De Aguilar from the house phone the caller I.D. on her mobile phone would show Tristan Dumont’s I.D. The landline is under his name. The woman never spoke to Tristan, she didn’t know what he would sound like, how hard could it be for Avondo to pretend to be Tristan and ask her to come over to see him? Oh, you probably already checked all that, right?” I got up from the sofa and walked over to pet Dior’s head.

The two detectives were leafing through papers and checking their phones. “Are you sure there is...was a landline in the house?”

I nodded. “It was one of those old wall phones from... gee, like the 70s. It came with the house, and the Dumonts had decided to keep it as a memento or something. And I know it was connected. Ok, it was months ago when I was delivering something... before Christmas, and it rang, pretty loud. I thought it was the doorbell.”

The silence that followed put me on edge. “Did anyone check calls to and from the landline?” Officer Bob asked.

“No.” The two detectives looked at each other. “Any idea if Cox services their house?”

Now it was our turn to say a unanimous, “No.”

“Why don’t you ask Tristan? His cell phone should work. I assume you have his number, correct?” I don’t know why, but it gave me great satisfaction to say that.

Five minutes later the two detectives had left the house, and Brenda asked Bob if he would like to join us for dinner. To my surprise he said yes. I went to get a third stem glass and poured some pinot grigio for the three of us. Brenda headed for the kitchen, and Dior was finally free to join us in the living room.

“Want me to set the table?” I asked.

“Sure, it’s a bit early for dinner, but I figured we all have commitments, and to be honest I missed our suppers together.”

“All I have to do is go over the inspection with Greg Coste,” I said a little louder than I should have, keeping my eyes on Brenda to see if there was a reaction.

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me setting placemats on the table. “Nice man. I’m going to help him redesign the kitchen.”

Maybe I was reading too much into it. Maybe I was still under the influence of the kiss, but something told me that Brenda’s voice had a little unusual sweetness in it when she said, “Nice man.” I could have pushed the subject if not for Bob’s presence. Better to wait for a

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