Last But Not Leashed, page 29
All the noise was getting to me, too, so I guided the pack through the connecting door into the hospital hallway. “Stay,” I said as I made sure all the other office doors were closed. “Quiet.” I still had a few chew treats in my pocket, so I handed them out. Desi let his treat drop to the floor.
“Be right back, guys,” I told them. “Be good.” Then I closed the door.
Rainbow stood over by my front door, her back to me. She looked over her shoulder as I began walking toward her. Then she backed away.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” I asked.
The wheels on the bus had nothing on her as I watched her brain shift into high gear trying to spin a story I would swallow. In a way it was comical. I assumed she was about to ask for money to get back to California.
Instead of answering, she moved to my front door and opened it wide. In strolled Colin.
“Dogs put away?” he asked Rainbow, before nodding in my direction.
“Yes. They’re in the hospital.” She made a movement with her shoulder to indicate the direction of the connecting door.
“Hello, Colin.” I could see shadows of dog feet moving back and forth in the gap between the door and the floor. Why is Colin here? I hoped it wasn’t about the iguana again.
“Hi, Kate,” he said in a perfectly normal voice. “I know you planned on giving Rainbow those notebooks tomorrow, but I need to take them tonight. There are some terribly damaging words in those things. Before she died, Posey swore to me she’d destroyed them.”
Colin and Posey.
Colin and Rainbow.
I had missed something. Posey’s notebooks said it all, but I hadn’t looked hard enough. She’d written her part as the poor servant, while the sexy teacher/vampire was Colin. The fictional vampire Count Grazanski was based on Colin, not Glenn. She used the C in Count to identify her real lover.
“Okay. I got you inside,” said Rainbow. “Give me my money, Colin.”
Colin ignored her.
“Posey told you she’d destroyed her notebooks before she committed suicide?” I asked him.
He rearranged his face to look concerned. “Yes, she did. You see, she was fantasizing about me, and writing it down. All lies. A terrible invasion of privacy.”
An image of Posey standing behind the counter at Circle K crept into my consciousness. Knowledge is power. Power is money.
I said to Colin, “So these stories were all fantasy on her part? Is that what you want everyone to believe?” I moved slightly toward the door between the hospital and my apartment. “I don’t buy it. You’re single. She was single. What did it matter if it was real or not?”
His response sounded one hundred percent sincere. “It matters to me. Posey was sweet but very disturbed. Surely you realized that when you read her notebooks?”
Was that what was bothering him? He didn’t want his arty friends to know about his relationship with the Circle K clerk.
“If that’s the case, then why are you resorting to this…ambush?” I looked at both of them. Rainbow couldn’t meet my eyes, and Colin—well, Colin could lie to Saint Peter, while trying to slip through the pearly gates.
Predictably, it was Colin who answered. “Maybe this was a little dramatic, Kate. But I don’t want any copies of Posey’s notebooks in circulation. Rainbow agreed to get you to open your door, so I could reason with you. I’ll read through them, delete what is offensive, and then give them to Rainbow’s mom.”
“He paid me,” Rainbow stated.
“You could have asked.” I backed up again. My internal alarms were going off. There was something wrong here.
“He didn’t think you’d do it,” Rainbow blurted out.
Colin meanwhile was looking around the apartment. “I see them,” he said and walked over to my kitchen table. There were the four notebooks, stacked neatly for the taking. Colin picked Posey’s notebooks up and shoved them and my notes into his leather bag.
My Gramps had been right. Follow the money. I couldn’t let it rest. “When did you figure out Posey took the ledger with Bitcoin numbers from Chloe’s house?”
Rainbow looked like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Colin’s expression didn’t change.
“Very clever of you, Kate. You see, Posey and I had an arrangement of sorts. She ran errands for me, did my laundry, and I provided her with my services twice a week.”
“Paint costs money,” Rainbow chimed in.
“When Posey confided her theft of the Bitcoin ledger to me, I immediately told her to give herself up to the police.”
His statement sounded reasonable, but I didn’t believe a word of it.
It was right there in her unfinished book. Posey had fallen madly in love with Colin, the romantic hero of her story. To keep him close, she turned over the only valuable item she had, the only thing he truly wanted. Money, crypto currency in the form of Arthur’s Bitcoins. But then she changed her mind.
“Don’t you believe me, Kate?” Colin said.
“It wasn’t stealing,” blurted Rainbow. “Posey’s ex-husband owed her that much and more. His family cheated her out of a lot of money that she loaned him a long time ago. That rich guy, Arthur Gambino, is Posey’s nephew. The family is worth almost a billion dollars.”
“Honey, you don’t have to explain.” Colin watched me process her words.
“And, Colin, you get the Bitcoin because…?”
Rainbow interrupted. “Posey wanted to support Colin’s work. She was going to split it with him. Now he’s her heir.”
It was obvious that Rainbow believed what she’d been told. For a smart girl, she’d made a dumb decision. Or she chose to believe his lies.
Behind the closed door one of the dogs began to whine.
“If all this is true,” I said, “why did Posey commit suicide?”
“She regretted killing Sookie,” Colin smoothly answered in his charming voice. “I believe her decision to jump that night was an impulsive desire to make things right.”
“Make things right?” I wondered how that worked.
“Yes.” His face took on a sad cast. “With her death, she made things right again in the Universe.”
I couldn’t stop laughing at this pretentious answer. “She made things right, but you keep the money.”
Colin’s eyes darkened. He didn’t like being laughed at.
“You could return the money and keep the finder’s reward,” I told him.
“I suppose I could,” he replied. “But why would I do that?”
“I’m done,” Rainbow said, sliding her purse over her shoulder. “You guys figure it out.”
I glanced over at Colin. He raised his eyebrows and smiled. Not a nice smile.
“I’m afraid it’s gone a little too far for that, sweetie,” he said, making his voice soft and compelling. I watched as Colin slipped off his soft leather gloves, revealing a pair of exam-style gloves underneath.
I froze in place.
“Wait a minute,” the girl said. “You can’t do this.”
He removed a gun from his pocket. “You’re correct, Rainbow. You have to shoot her.”
My survival instincts went on high alert. As they argued I stared at the hand holding the gun.
“What? Are you crazy?” Rainbows eyes widened. She looked at me and then Colin with a panicked expression. “You said we were just going to get the notebooks back from her.”
His hand languidly caressed her shoulder. “She’s figured it all out. Now she’s standing in our way.”
It sounded like an excerpt from Posey’s book.
“He’s lying,” I told her. “There are a lot more people standing in your way than me. Chloe Ramboulle told me her husband has an IT team working on finding his money. They’ve already traced it to the Bahamas. Believe me, they won’t stop until they recover it. They’re already focused on Posey and the people she knew.”
Rainbow looked like she had short-circuited. Her eyes glazed, withdrew, not seeing anything.
Taking a step back, I appealed to the handsome artist who’d danced so beautifully with me. “You can stop it here, Colin. Don’t derail this young girl’s life.”
His eyes held no pity. No remorse.
My words meant nothing to this version of Colin. The money, millions and millions of dollars, eclipsed everything.
I tried again. “Why did you have to choose Rainbow out of everyone you know to help you tonight?”
“Because I could.”
His handsome face hid his true nature. The evil vampire who was Colin emerged from his lovely disguise.
Arguing with him was futile. I appealed to the quirky young girl I knew. “Rainbow, I think Colin killed Posey. Don’t throw your life away on someone who doesn’t love you. Someone selfish and…”
“Shut up!” Colin roared. He slapped me in the face and shoved me against the wall.
I tasted metal in the corner of my mouth. “Classy move, Colin,” I told him.
“You look beautiful when you’re bleeding.”
“Don’t get any of it on that expensive cashmere coat.” I added “sadistic” to the artist’s resume. “See what he did?” I said to Rainbow, turning my face to show her the angry mark on my cheek, my cut and swollen lip. “Take a good look because you’re next.”
Colin started to pace, the gun still in his hand. Meanwhile, the dogs began barking at full force. One of them, Desi probably, started slamming his body against the connecting door.
“Enough of this,” Colin shouted. He strode over to Rainbow and shook her. “If you love me, you’ll shoot her, now. Our future is in your hands, sweetheart.” His gloved hands caressed her throat, her face.
I understood Colin’s plan. There would be no evidence linking him to my murder. The blame would fall on “crazy” Rainbow, who committed this senseless murder-suicide.
With eyes wide, all bravura gone, Rainbow answered robotically, “Colin didn’t kill either of them, Kate. Posey killed Sookie.”
“Then why is he handing you a gun?”
I thought for an instant Colin was going to slap me again, but instead he put his arm around Rainbow, pressing her closely to his chest. I used that moment to sprint toward the connecting door to the hospital.
“Stop right there,” he yelled at me, the gun pointed at my heart.
The gray exam gloves over his hands resembled old, wrinkled skin. Did he come here with any sort of plan in place? He must have known he couldn’t depend on someone like Rainbow to keep a secret.
Then it all made terrible sense. “Rainbow, don’t touch that gun. He wants the evidence on your hands. After you shoot me, he’s going to kill you.”
“No. We love each other,” she said. “Right, Colin?”
“That’s right.” He guided her hand up and around the gun, taking care to place her finger on the trigger. “We’ll drive to the airport tonight. Take a late flight and disappear. We’ll get married. That luscious money will smooth our way.”
“Don’t listen…”
Colin pivoted Rainbow toward me. The frightened girl held the gun loosely, her hand shaking. All the self-defense lessons my Gramps made me take kicked in. I’d dive and drop-kick Rainbow and in the confusion grab the gun. Maybe Colin would back down if I was armed. Maybe.
Rainbow started to whimper. With a look of disgust, Colin covered her fingers with his. He meant to force her to pull the trigger. Trace evidence would show she fired the gun.
My mind felt icy sharp. Concentrated. No time left.
A piercing scream changed everything.
“Damn it.” Colin howled in pain, shaking his leg, trying to get something off.
Rainbow turned, distracted, the gun dangling from her hand.
I shoved my palm up under Rainbow’s jaw. She collapsed like a soufflé. The gun clattered to the floor. With my adrenaline pumping it only took a second to pick it up. Colin was still screaming and hopping around, batting at something with his hands. I had no idea why until I stared at his leg. With all four feet off the ground, clinging on for dear life, Little Man had come to my rescue. The Chihuahua had bitten deep down into Colin’s flesh just above his boot. Truly, a lion’s heart beat in the body of a mouse.
Behind me, a hundred-pound rottweiler rammed his body into the connecting door. Keeping Colin in my sight, I flung open the door and called out Desi’s attack command. Three dogs streamed in, Desi in the lead. He leaped at Colin’s arm in a classic Shutzhund attack move, his jaws biting through the cashmere coat. Mr. Pitt tried to help his Chihuahua friend by clamping down on Colin’s other leg.
Colin pounded his fist on Desi’s head and yelled, “Get him off me,” as the rottweiler pulled him down toward the ground. “Kill her!” he yelled at Rainbow. “Kill her!” Crumpled on the floor, the girl rocked back and forth, eyes closed. I gave Desi the stand-down command. The big dog immediately let go, his deep brown eyes anxiously searching the room. Short black hairs along his spine stood straight up.
Despite his arm bleeding, Colin stared at me with wild eyes—a desperate man, willing to do anything to keep all that money.
“Get up,” he ordered Rainbow. “Get up. There’s two of us, and only one of her. We can rush her. She’s a veterinarian. There’s no way she’s going to shoot us.”
His accomplice opened her eyes but didn’t move. The rocking became faster.
He tried a different tack. “I love you, sweetheart. We can still be together. The gun was a bad idea, I admit it. Let’s just tie her up.”
It was pathetic to see her young face light up.
Time to put an end to this.
With both individuals in clear sight, I adopted a two-handed shooter stance. “My Gramps taught me how to shoot nice and straight,” I advised them. “Rainbow, stay where you are.”
Colin shifted his weight slightly.
“As for you, Picasso,” I said, “this rottweiler is attack trained. One more move, and I’ll command him to go for your lying throat.”
Desi growled deep in his chest and fixed his eyes on Colin. Mr. Pitt bared his teeth and stood in front of Little Man, guarding his tiny buddy.
The rumbling of a truck engine in the parking lot made all eyes turn. Bright headlights swung by, lighting up the living room. A sudden knock on the door elicited another round of barking. Desi stood his ground, his eyes never leaving Colin.
A familiar voice called out. “Dr. Kate, are you all right?”
“Come in, Pinky,” I yelled to my neighbor.
Pinky stood in the doorframe blocking the exit. In his hands was a shotgun. “Was checking your parking lot and heard the dogs barking like crazy,” he said. “Thought there might be something wrong.”
At the sound of his voice, all the dogs wagged their tails. Everyone knew Pinky.
His eyes rested on my bloody swollen lip. “Did this guy hurt you?” He racked in a shell and glowered at Colin.
“Only temporarily.”
A sob came from Rainbow now sitting quietly on the floor, my dog Buddy cradled in her lap.
“Seems like you’ve got things under control,” he said. “Hey, this guy looks like he wants to bolt. How about we discourage that.” His shotgun pointed to Colin.
“I was thinking the exact same thing. I’ve got duct tape in my pantry.”
“Always got some in my truck. Want me to call 911?”
“Give me ten minutes,” I told him.
With Pinky watching, I checked Colin’s bite wounds. None of them were life-threatening, so I secured his hands behind his back, then for good measure taped his ankles together. He tried to wriggle away from me so I double-wrapped him.
Rainbow stopped sobbing and tried to explain. “Colin said he’d pay me five hundred bucks and take me to Helsinki if I could get the notebooks from you. That was all…”
“Shut up,” Colin threatened. “Don’t say another word.”
I ripped off a good-sized piece of duct tape and stretched it across his mouth. “It’s not polite to say shut up.”
Pinky stood guard as I approached Rainbow, huddled on the floor still cuddling my dog, Buddy. “Now”—I bent down to her level—“what were you saying?”
With my phone videotaping everything Rainbow said, and Pinky witnessing it, we both heard the details of Colin’s scheme. It began when Sookie and Posey worked on the expensive organizing job for Chloe. The security cameras were being repositioned as part of the job, so Posey started nosing around. She found the green Bitcoin ledger in Chloe’s husband’s nightstand. At first Posey had no idea what she’d stolen until they were questioned a few days later by the bodyguards at the house.
Luck was temporarily on her side because Chloe’s husband didn’t remember where he’d left it—at their apartment in the city, their house in Malibu, in one of the limos, his office, or their country home near Oak Falls.
But Sookie figured it out right away. She demanded half of the proceeds or she’d go to the police. Desperate for some guidance, Posey confided it all to her good-looking lover, Colin.
“Posey wanted all the money for her and Colin, so she killed Sookie,” Rainbow added.
“Are you sure Colin didn’t kill Sookie?” I asked the girl.
A blank look was her only answer.
The rest was easy to figure out from Posey’s notebooks. She’d fallen madly in love with the handsome artist. They hatched a scheme, led by Colin, to remove the Bitcoins from their electronic storage “wallets” then send them to an offshore crypto-currency exchange, to be tumbled. Tumbling would take their stolen Bitcoins and mix them with similar coins from many different sources, making them harder to identify—sort of virtual money laundering.
Posey made the mistake of giving Colin the ledger. Did he return the favor by throwing her off the catwalk of the Hay Barn Gallery to her death? I suspect she was unconscious before he dropped her. I wondered how the police would prove it.
