Murder in the Marigolds by Dale Mayer (best young adult book series .txt) 📕

“But?”

“He didn’t show up. I was supposed to meet him on the road back there. You were still out cold at that point, and I stopped where we agreed, but he didn’t show up.”

“Unless he did show up and then followed you,” she said quietly.

He looked at her in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

But Mack understood perfectly. “You think that’s who it was?”

She nodded slowly. “Who was it that you were supposed to meet, Rex?”

“James, Robin’s first husband.”

“And you never met him or never saw any pictures of him?”

“No,” he said. “Why?”

“I think it’s the guy who stopped you on the road,” she said. “He was just checking to see who and what you were.”

Rex stared at her. “Why didn’t he talk to me then? Why didn’t he say something?”

“Maybe he was just checking you out and realized you had trouble enough of your own and decided to call the cops on you instead. To see what madness he could farm up out of this. Why did you want him?”

“I think James killed her,” he said softly. “Robin told me that she’d worked with her ex-husband for many years, and they’d been doing this con for a long time.”

“Why do you think that Robin’s own partner in this con would kill her?” Mack asked.

“Because she told James that she wouldn’t do this anymore, that she was done. That she’d had a change of heart and that she wanted to marry me and to go away together and to stop all this.”

“Wow, maybe she did have a change of heart,” she said, turning to look up at Mack. But he wasn’t looking at her. His arms were across his chest.

“I still don’t get it. Why kidnap Doreen?” Mack asked.

“Because I told James that I had somebody who had talked to Robin. Who she’d seen on her last day, and my boss thought Robin had handed something over to this woman. James didn’t believe me, said I had to kidnap you, so he could talk to you himself.”

“Maybe he figured it was just too messy,” Mack said. “It’s one thing if you hand over an unconscious person. It’s another thing completely if you get involved in something that’s a public spectacle.”

At that, Rex nodded. “I was thinking that myself,” he said, “but I never thought that it would be that guy. He should have just said something.”

“Describe him,” Mack said.

“Mid-thirties, maybe forty years old. Tall, like me. Blond hair.”

“Well, Robin’s ex is in town,” Mack said. “We ran the airline records, making sure Mathew had left, and James’s name popped up too.”

At that, Rex’s gaze widened. “So, he is here. Damn. I wonder if that was him on the road after all.”

Chapter 27

Tuesday, Late Afternoon …

“What are you getting out of it though?” Doreen asked Rex. “What if James is here? What if that guy you were talking to was James?”

Rex shrugged. “I wanted to meet him. Honestly I wanted to take him out because I figured he is the one who killed her.”

“So this is all about revenge?” Doreen asked Rex.

“Maybe,” he said, and she could see the sadness in his face.

“You really loved her, didn’t you?”

“I did,” he said quietly. “I can’t believe that I found someone like her after all these years alone, and now she’s gone before we got a real chance.”

“Maybe so,” she said, “but, using me as bait to get to James, that doesn’t make much sense.”

“Well, it does,” Mack said. “Maybe her ex knew and wanted to take care of any loose threads. And to make sure that you didn’t have anything Robin might have given you.”

“Why does everybody think she was giving me stuff?” Doreen asked, raising both hands. “The woman cheated me.”

“And she was sorry about that too,” Rex said quietly. “Honestly she really did have a change of heart.”

Doreen didn’t know what to believe and stared at the man who kidnapped her. “Didn’t you threaten to shoot that guy?”

Rex shrugged. “Yeah, but I don’t even have a gun. I just made it look like I did.”

“Wow,” Doreen said. “Well, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he isn’t somewhere close by, watching the circus and laughing.”

“He might be,” Mack said, “but we’ve also got guys out looking for him.”

“Good,” she said, “there are a couple more murders we want to ask James about.”

At that, Rex said, “She killed them, you know? The two of them together.”

“What are you talking about?” Mack asked.

“His parents. James and Robin, the two of them, planned it all out and made it look like a burglary. Together they killed his parents because they didn’t have any money and because the parents wouldn’t share.”

“Wow,” she said, with a glance at Mack. “I was actually right about that.”

Rex looked at her and said, “That’s another reason this James guy didn’t like you.”

“He doesn’t know anything about me.”

“Robin told James that she felt bad and that she wanted to get some money to you. Because you could hardly survive on your own without it. She said she had looked into how you were living. It was bad, and it was her fault, so she wanted to fix it. James got mad, and that’s when she told him that she wanted out, but she wanted her share of the money, so she could give something to you.”

“Well,” Doreen said, “this is just unbelievable.”

Rex shrugged. “Like I said, she had a change of heart.”

She looked at Mack. “Maybe she really did then?”

“I think she did,” he said, “but we still have to find her ex.”

“I have a phone number,” Rex said. With a nod from Mack, Rex pulled out his phone and held it up for Mack to see.

“Okay,” Mack said, “but you’re still not walking away from this. You kidnapped Doreen, knocked her out, and crammed her in the trunk, drove like a maniac. You’re lucky she’d not hurt more than she is. You risked public safety, terrified her, and all the animals have been