Janet Evanovich - Full Bloom

Theenie patted Annie's hand. "It'll all be over with shortly. Why don't we discuss the rehearsal dinner for tomorrow night? There's an awful lot to do between now and then."

"I'm not in the mood, Theenie."

Lamar returned a few minutes later wearing rubber gloves and carrying several plastic bags. He held one up so Annie could get a close look. It was filled with cash. "You recognize this?" he asked.

"No. Where on earth did you get it?"

"There was a little hidey-hole in the master bedroom closet. Someone had cut out a piece of Sheetrock, stuffed the money inside, and put the Sheetrock back in place. There's almost thirty grand here."

Annie gasped. "Thirty thousand dollars!"

"Holy mackerel," Theenie said. She turned to Annie. "I thought you were broke."

"I am broke!"

"You're saying you know nothing about the money?" Lamar asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Annie told him.

"As I recall, that's the amount of money your husband took from your joint savings. Now, why would he pack his bags and not grab the money?"

"Wait a minute," Annie said. "Before you just assume that's the money Charles took from our account, you might want to make sure it doesn't belong to my tenant Wes Bridges. How do we know that he didn't put it there for safekeeping? He paid two weeks' rent with cash." She knew it sounded dumb, nobody carried that amount of money around, but Lamar's suspicions didn't make much sense, either.

Lamar held up the second plastic bag. "Charles's passport," he said. "We found it hidden with the money. And this bag." He paused and held it up. "There's a one-way plane ticket to Jamaica."

Annie suddenly felt light-headed. "I didn't know Charles had a passport. The few times we discussed traveling he said there were several places he wanted to see in this country before he traveled abroad."

Lamar took the chair beside her. "You know what I think, Annie? I think Charles was in the process of packing his bags when he ran into his killer."

Annie felt the room spin. She placed both hands flat on the table as she tried to clear her head. "I don't know what to think. And how come there was only one plane ticket? I can't imagine him going to Jamaica alone."

Lamar shrugged as though he didn't think it pertinent. "Annie, I'm going to have to take you in."

She just looked at him.

The younger officer stepped forward. "Mrs. Fortenberry, I'm going to have to ask you to stand."

"What?" Annie looked up. She blinked several times before pushing herself up from the chair. Destiny and Theenie stood as well. Lovelle sat there, looking from one to the other, eyes wide and disbelieving.

The officer pulled a set of handcuffs from his back pocket.

"Hold it right there!" Destiny said. "You so much as try to cuff her, and I'll claw your eyes out, and put a hex on you. Your wife will leave you, and your house will become infested with termites."

The man winced and looked at Lamar. "You know I can't afford to have my place treated for termites."

"Put those damn handcuffs away," Lamar said. He looked at Annie. "I don't know any other way to say this, Annie, but you're under arrest for the murder of Charles Fortenberry." He turned to the officer. "Read her her rights."

* * * * *

It was late afternoon when Wes Bridges stormed into Lamar's office. He found Jamie Swift and Max Holt sitting across the desk from the man. "I just heard the news. What the hell is going on here?" he demanded of Lamar.

Lamar leaned back in his chair. "Excuse me, but we're having a private conversation here."

"Let him stay," Max said.

Wes kicked the door closed and folded his arms across his chest "What the hell business do you have arresting Annie?" he demanded.

Lamar opened his mouth to answer, but Max cut him off. "She's being arraigned late this afternoon. I'll see that she doesn't spend a night in jail."

Lamar shook his head. "Ain't no way a judge is going to agree to bail on a murder charge."

"Maybe I'll get lucky and find a good criminal attorney," Max replied.

"Not in this town you won't. The best criminal attorney in the entire Southeast is Cal Nunamaker from Hilton Head, but he only takes high-profile cases, and he charges a bundle. Anyway, he's semi-retired. Spends most of his time on a private island off the coast of Florida."

Max didn't respond.

Wes pointed a finger in Lamar's face. "I'm sick of this bullshit, Tevis. You know damned well Annie didn't kill her husband."

Lamar blinked several times as though trying to regain his composure. "Just so happens I have evidence that puts her in a bad light."

Wes scoffed. "What evidence?"

"It's no secret," Lamar said, "but Annie's husband, I mean her deceased husband, withdrew all the money from their savings account the day before he disappeared. We found the money this morning after searching her house. There was almost thirty thousand dollars stashed in his closet. Annie suggested it might belong to you."

Wes shook his head. "I don't travel with that much cash, and it doesn't prove anything with regard to Annie. She obviously didn't know the money was there; she assumed her husband took it and ran."

"It boils down to this," Lamar said. "Charles Fortenberry was murdered before he had a chance to get to the money, and that same person had to dispose of his body and his luggage before driving his car to the Savannah airport."

"Once again, that doesn't prove shit where Annie is concerned."

"There's more," Lamar said. "Annie went to the bank the same day her husband cleaned out the account. She'd obviously hoped to beat him to it, but she was too late."

"That's impossible," Wes said. "She was out of town. Visiting her sick mother," he added.

Lamar shook his head. "I drove over to the bank yesterday and spoke with the teller who assisted Mrs. Fortenberry, um, Annie, with her transactions the day she claimed she left town. The woman clearly remembered the incident because Annie became real upset when she learned all the money was gone. In fact, Annie was still inside the bank when they locked the door and put up the Closed sign. She insisted on getting all of her important papers from the safe-deposit box."

Wes shook his head. "There's been a mistake."

Lamar handed Wes a slip of paper. "Annie had to sign this when she closed the safe-deposit box. I had the bank manager check the signature. It's Annie's all right. It's dated the same day her husband withdrew the money." He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk. "Not only that; she admitted she drove to the house to confront him. She claims he wasn't there, but she can't prove it, and we don't know what really happened.

"Bottom line: she lied. People don't lie unless they've got something to hide, and if she lied once, what's to say she hasn't been lying all along?" He paused. "Anything else you want to know?"

Wes tossed the slip of paper onto Lamar's desk. "I think that covers it," he said. "I'll get out of your way and let you do your job."

"No, Vera!" Jamie said, standing in the lobby of the police department. "I will absolutely not allow you to take pictures of Annie being led to the courthouse in handcuffs. Isn't it bad enough that every newspaper and TV station within a hundred-mile radius is out there?"

"How in Hades are we supposed to get a story without a picture?" Vera insisted while Mike shuffled his feet nervously. Vera placed her hands on her hips. "I know Annie is your friend, but we need this story, Jamie. This is hot, especially since they lost her husband's body. Folks are tired of hearing about Tim Haskin's bull busting through the fence every other day and how the hair dryer at Susie Q's Cut and Curl malfunctioned and burned Lorraine Brown's hair right off her head."