AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shook my head. “Should I?”
“It sounds like he was a member of the ballroom-dance community in Phoenix,” Calvin replied. “Which would explain why that blackmail letter Archie got had a Phoenix postmark.”
I set down my fork so I could reach for the glass of water that sat on my right. “How did you hear about this?”
A corner of his mouth quirked. “Oh, I’ve got my sources in Henry’s department. Let’s just say that some of them seem to think you have a better chance of solving this crime than their boss does, so I’m getting fed some of the pertinent details.”
“How…clandestine,” I remarked.
The lift at the corner of my husband’s mouth turned into an outright grin. “Well, I’ll admit that it’s helpful. Anyway, the interesting thing to me is that Jeffrey Sellers was a private investigator when he wasn’t dancing the tango.”
That piece of information made me sit up a little straighter. “So…you think this Jeffrey Sellers person found out something about Archie, and that’s why he decided to dabble in a little blackmail to line his pockets?”
“It seems that way on the surface,” Calvin replied. “Of course, there isn’t much to go on right now, other than the guy’s name. But even that small piece seems to line up with what all of us already suspected.”
“Do Archie and Victoria know about this?” I asked next.
“Yes, I called Archie to let him know what I’d found out so far. He thanked me for the information, but he didn’t seem too happy about it.”
Probably not. After all, Archie was a very smart man and had probably made the same mental calculations I just had, namely, that the cover story and fake documents he’d been using to start his new life here hadn’t been quite as convincing as he’d hoped they would be.
I tried to reassure myself that the dead man was a private investigator, the sort of person who’d been trained to look for discrepancies in people’s stories, and that until now, no one seemed to have harbored any suspicions that Archie was anything more than he claimed to be. In fact, Archie had even been arrested for murder only a few months earlier, and those same documents had passed muster with the Scottsdale P.D.
“It’s okay,” Calvin said quietly, as though guessing at my thoughts. “Archie’s been living this new life for more than a year now, and no one’s raised any red flags. I’m pretty sure he’s still safe.”
“For now,” I responded. I hated to be such a Negative Nellie, but I also knew we had to face the worst-case scenarios head-on so we’d be ready in case things went even more south than they already had. “What if the blackmailer had an accomplice, someone who also knows all about Archie?”
My husband’s mouth tightened, and he was silent for a moment as he reached for his own glass of water and took a sip. Right then, he had the look of a man who wished it was something stronger, and I couldn’t say I blamed him. I wanted the child I carried more than anything else…but I also would have killed for a nice glass of merlot right about then.
“If that were the case,” Calvin said, “then you’d think Sellers’ accomplice would have come looking for him. Have you noticed any strangers hanging around your shop or Archie’s dance studio, anyone who looked as if they shouldn’t be there?”
“No,” I answered at once. “It was kind of quiet for a Friday, so that made it easy to keep track of who was coming and going. I honestly didn’t see anyone go near the studio at all, which I suppose makes sense. Archie would have called anyone who had a class and told them it was canceled.”
Although Calvin had been his usual calm, reassuring self during this conversation, I could still see the way he relaxed slightly at my reply, how it was obvious to me that he was very, very glad I’d had such an ordinary afternoon. While I was also happy to realize that no suspicious characters had been hanging around the vicinity of my store, I also had to believe that anyone allied with the blackmailer probably would have gone out of their way to escape notice.
Or it could simply be that the blackmailer had been working alone. That made a lot more sense, simply because it meant he wouldn’t have had to share his ill-gotten gains with anyone.
“That’s good,” Calvin said. “And when I go to the station tomorrow, I’ll see what else I can find out about Jeffrey Sellers. Archie said the name seemed familiar but that he didn’t remember having any direct contact with the guy, which doesn’t surprise me too much. A lot of people enter those tournaments, and if Sellers was in a different division from Archie and Victoria, then there isn’t any reason for them to have known each other.”
My husband’s comment made a lot of sense. I’d competed in one tournament while trying to track down Brad Masters’ killer, but even that brief exposure had told me the novices had little contact with the open amateurs and pros, just like the people who took part in the country-western portions of the competition didn’t have any reason to hang with those who specialized in Latin or ballroom dance.
Exactly why Jeffrey Sellers had decided to go after Archie, I didn’t know. Had he smelled a rat for some time, had thought it seemed fishy for someone to appear out of nowhere and attain pro status in only a year?
That seemed the most likely explanation. However, it still didn’t tell us exactly what Jeffrey Sellers had known, and when he’d discovered that information.
And whether or not anyone else was involved with his schemes.
But because I knew we wouldn’t be able to solve those mysteries tonight, I only told Calvin, “I’m interested to hear what you find out.”
He nodded, but his expression turned grim again as he said, “You still need to be careful. No one seems to have any idea how the murderer could have slipped something toxic into that creamer, which means we don’t know how they gained access to Victoria’s studio. I’d advise bringing in bottled water to drink and keeping a strict eye on it until we get this figured out.”
Oh, hell. I hadn’t even thought of that, but I usually brought in a container from home with water in it, and casually left it out sitting out on the counter. If I turned my back, anything might happen.
And I really didn’t want to mention how I wasn’t always as careful about turning on the alarm as I should have been. Victoria and I had agreed that the last one out was the person in charge of making sure the alarm was activated, but there had been several times when she’d left early, and it had completely slipped my mind. No one had ever tried to break in, so at the time I’d figured it was no harm, no foul. Now, though, I wondered if I’d inadvertently given the murderer the opportunity to slip into the building and do their dirty work.
Of course, everything would have been locked up, and there didn’t seem to have been any signs of forced entry, but maybe a skilled lock-picker wouldn’t have left any traces behind.
I hesitated, wondered if I should mention any of this to Calvin, then decided it wouldn’t change anything. If I’d forgotten to lock up, that would have been one thing, but I was always very careful about making sure the building was secured before I got into my car and left for the evening. No, better to let it go for now. I resolved to be much more careful about the alarm system in the future, then guided our conversation toward other, safer topics.
