Warrior, Fatal & Flawed Read online

  My eyes were sad as I raised them to her. “I’m wondering if I was married for fifteen years to someone who could kill his girlfriend, someone he had been intimate with. Could I have misjudged Lee that much? What does that say about me?”

  CeCe put her face into the pillow as she considered my words. Finally, she spoke.

  “My husband, whom I had been married to for twelve years and owned the coffee business with, cheated on me with women I thought were my friends. That’s right, women. More than one. Someone called me and told me he was at a motel with one of them. You know, that dingy green motel on the way to the river?”

  I nodded, not sure that was an important detail in her story.

  “When I showed up there, he opened the door shirtless and she was in the bed.” CeCe’s eyes met mine. “I was pregnant. I miscarried that night.”

  All the air rushed out of my lungs. “CeCe, I’m so sorry. You never told me that part before.”

  CeCe shook her head. “I hadn’t told many people because I wasn’t very far along yet. Then I just got angry.”

  I had heard that part before, how CeCe had thrown him out, then put up signs all over town, including in the window of her coffee shop, describing his character defects and poor judgment. Cindy finally made her take them down so that her husband wouldn’t sue her for harassment and defamation, but the damage had been done. He stayed around long enough for CeCe to buy out his share of the coffee shop, then left town as soon as the divorce was final.

  “I guess I’m trying to say that I have experience with people who betray my trust. I hope Lee is not the killer.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Then who?”

  I jumped up from the couch and paced toward the stairwell, then turned and paced back, veering off toward the kitchen to pick up some snacks from the pantry. I wasn’t hungry, just nervous.

  I tossed some pretzels and chocolate chips on the ottoman. “Sorry. I’m a little low on snacks.”

  CeCe grinned and reached for the chocolate chips. “It will do, since we just ate,” she said as she gently pulled open the bag. I admired her ability to open a bag of chocolate chips without spilling them everywhere.

  “Okay, what about that hotel clerk I told you about? The one who followed Serena outside the hotel?”

  CeCe chewed the chocolate thoughtfully, nodding. “Bryant, right? It’s possible, but I have trouble believing he killed someone he just met that night. Still, I have heard he’s a bit of a player. Maybe he doesn’t take rejection well. Put him on the list.”

  I added “Bryant Hotel Clerk” to the list, feeling a touch better that someone besides men I cared about were suspects.

  Tapping the pen against my chin, I mulled the list, then glanced at CeCe. “What if, just follow me here, what if it wasn’t a man that killed Serena?”

  CeCe frowned but gestured with her hand to continue.

  “Serena was young and beautiful,” I said. “What if it wasn’t a man? What if there was some woman in Jasper who was jealous of her? Who would it be?”

  CeCe sat up and stared at me for one very long moment. “That would be you, Mariah. You are the ex-wife of one suspect and new girlfriend of the other. They’d be looking at you.”

  My mouth fell open, then my head lolled back on the sofa and I let it stay there, resting comfortably. “That’s fair. Good thing I have a rock-solid alibi. I was with the county sheriff watching chick flicks.”

  “Thank goodness.” CeCe slid back into the couch. “About the alibi, not the chick flicks.”

  A new thought formed, and I snapped my fingers. “The mayor.”

  “The mayor?”

  I told CeCe what the hotel employees had told us, that Mayor Sue and Lee had flirted while Lee and Serena waited for their room. CeCe buried her face in the pillow.

  “Not the mayor, Mariah. She will run you out of town. Besides, she just flirted with Lee. It’s not like her marriage is picture-perfect.”

  “Yes, but what if she wanted to have an affair with Lee and she needed to get Serena out of the way?”

  CeCe leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Did you know you have dust bunnies in the left-hand corner?”

  “Focus, Ce.”

  “Okay, we can put Mayor Sue on the suspect list, but I still have a hard time believing someone would kill a rival they had only met that night, literally mere hours before. It’s hard enough to kill someone you know, much less a stranger. Unless they’re a psychopath, of course.”

  “And you would know this exactly how?”

  CeCe grinned. “I watch the same crime shows you do, so don’t act like you don’t.”

  We laughed together, then my attention turned back to the list.

  “What about previous boyfriends? Lee said Serena kept texting someone on the drive here. He thought it was an ex in Sacramento.”

  CeCe nodded vigorously. “If her ex knew she was here, he could have come down here and killed her.”

  That seemed like a stretch to me, and CeCe could tell by the look on my face. “Hey, if it’s not someone else, it’s Lee or Neil, so stop making faces and come up with someone else.”

  “All right, all right.” I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Lee. He responded right away. I looked up at CeCe.

  “The ex in Sacramento is named Buddy Johns. He owns the Sky High Gym.”

  My phone buzzed. It was Lee again. Want to meet me for a night cap and talk about the case?

  I sighed. Stupid me opened that door. A terse “no” would do the trick, but since he had just given me information, I didn’t want to be mean.

  No, thanks. Have a good night.

  Make up with your boyfriend yet?

  Good night, Lee.

  But I need you.

  Good night.

  My phone rang. User ID showed it was Lee again, trying a different tactic. I declined the call and threw my phone back on the couch.

  We sat in silence for a few moments. “Do you think Josie is having this much trouble?” I asked.

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Chapter 11

  My first class the next morning wasn’t until noon. Usually, I scheduled a private session or two, but once in a while, I gave myself the opportunity to sleep in. I relished rolling out of bed whenever I felt like it to sit at my kitchen table and sip a cup of coffee.

  Taking deep breaths and doing mindfulness exercises set me on the right path for the day and, I hoped, cleared my head enough to figure out who besides my ex-husband and my boyfriend might have wanted to kill Serena Jacobus.

  I said a quiet prayer for the young woman who had died so suddenly and regretted that during my only interaction with her, I had subtly mocked her. I wasn’t proud of that. As a yoga practitioner, I try to follow the yogic principle of ahimsa, nonviolence to myself and others, including through my words.

  I sighed and took another sip of coffee, glancing around my kitchen for breakfast-like items. Finding nothing appetizing, I hauled myself upright, swigged down the last swallow of coffee from my mug and grabbed my purse, checking my phone to see if Neil had responded to my calls and texts from the night before. I sighed again when I saw there were no missed calls. Perhaps breakfast at the diner would solve more than just my hunger issue.

  The diner’s breakfast crowd had thinned out by the time I wandered in, which was fine by me.

  “You just missed your ex-husband,” Bev told me as she called me over to a seat at the counter.

  That was also fine with me, and Bev was exactly the person I wanted to talk to. I was three for three, on a roll. I hitched up my hip and slid onto the plastic-covered seat at the counter, opening the menu, although I was pretty sure what I wanted already.

  “What will it be today, Mariah? Tofu scramble? Vanilla milkshake?”

  Bev knew my food selections pretty well. “Both,” I said, decisively as she set a glass of water before me.

  “Bev, can I ask you something?” I wanted to question her be
fore I chickened out. I liked Bev and didn’t want to be mad at her for snitching on Neil.

  “What did you see the other night that made you think Neil might have killed Serena Jacobus?”

  Bev’s eyes widened and she turned as white as the paper napkins in her hand. “Oh, Mariah, I don’t think Neil killed that girl. There’s no way he killed that girl.”

  “But the Sheriff’s Department took Neil off the case because you said they left together.”

  Confusion flew across Bev’s face as she considered what she had told law enforcement. Her hands clutched at her heart. “They did what? They asked me if she had been in here, and I told them that Neil and that girl left at the same time, not together. They didn’t leave together, Mariah. She followed him out the door.”

  I sagged into my seat as relief flew through my body. I hadn’t really suspected Neil, had I?

  Bev began wringing the napkins in her hands. “Oh, Mariah. Did Neil get in trouble for what I told the deputies? Surely they know Neil well enough to know he wouldn’t do anything to hurt someone.”

  I smiled ruefully. “You’d think so, right? Did you hear what Neil and Serena talked about?” I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted to know, but I had to make the effort, right?

  Bev fixed an eye on me. “Of course, he tried to be nice to her, Mariah. That’s the kind of man Neil is, but you know that. Then she asked him if he wanted to join her for a drink, and he looked her right in the eyes and said, no thank you, that he had a girlfriend and he wasn’t interested in hanging out with anyone else.”

  Bev paused a beat, kindness oozing out of her eyes. I smiled gratefully. “Then he told her he had to head home. He got up and left, and she followed him out the door.”

  “Order up!”

  Bev shuffled toward the grill window, returning with my dinner in a bag. She handed me the tofu scramble and, with a raised eyebrow, the vanilla shake.

  I blushed. “I know a vanilla milkshake isn’t exactly standard breakfast fare.”

  She waved off my words and laughed. “This is a judgment-free zone, Mariah.”

  I stood up and gave Bev a hug, appreciating that what she said about Neil had squared with my own experience with him. Then I pushed through the front glass door and took a breath, glancing at my phone again to see that Neil had not returned my calls.

  I was more convinced than ever that Neil hadn’t committed this crime, less convinced about Lee, and seriously confused about who could have done this.

  I walked past the hotel and hesitated. Impulsively, I marched up the stairs and through the double doors. Casey was at the front desk, but Bryant wasn’t in sight. Casey’s face went blank when she saw me approach.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Maybe. Can we talk?”

  Casey looked around and quickly turned back to me. A man who had that supervisor air about him watched her for a moment from the other end of the counter before turning back to his work.

  I leaned over the counter and lowered my voice. “Why didn’t you want me to ask questions about Bryant the other night?”

  Casey shrugged her shoulders and focused her attention on the computer screen in front of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Really? I bet your supervisor would also like to know.”

  Casey’s eyes flicked to him again and she leaned toward me. “Look, I busted Bryant that night for getting high on the job, but I don’t want him to get fired. He really was here the whole night when that girl was killed. Please don’t say anything.”

  The pleading look was back in her eyes. I suspected the hotel clerk harbored a crush on her wayward coworker. Finally, I nodded. “I’ll keep it between us as long as I can.”

  Relief washed across Casey’s face. Another quick glance at her supervisor. She lifted her chin. “Thank you, ma’am, for coming in.”

  I smiled for the supervisor’s benefit and turned back toward the front doors. Once outside, the smile fled as I considered that one more suspect had been crossed off my list.

  Chapter 12

  I strode down to The Yoga Mat and wearily dumped my breakfast on the table. Picking up the folder from the week, I scanned through the list of students.

  I liked to match up names with passes, checking that I hadn’t missed anyone who had attended class that week and making sure I remembered which students were regulars at which classes and which ones went to a variety of classes. Customer service is important, even in a yoga studio.

  Cindy picked up a couple of the evening classes for me, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss any new students that she and Stormy had signed in. Cindy always circled new students’ names with a purple felt tip pen, so they were easy for me to spot. She had had several new students this week, but one name jumped out at me: Buddy Johns.

  I picked up my phone and punched in Cindy’s number. She picked up immediately. “I’m heading out the door, sis. What’s up?”

  “Why is Buddy Johns’ name on our sign-in list?”

  There was a brief silence. “Because he took a class? That was last night, right? Yeah, he came in just before class started and used one of our mats. I think you ran into him on your way out. He’s in great shape.” She cleared her throat. “Not that I noticed. Why the interest? Do you know him?”

  Should I tell her or not? Josie’s conversation came back to me and I decided quickly.

  “No, I was just following up that he paid the drop-in fee.”

  Cindy seemed to get a little impatient. “He did, Mariah. I wrote it down in the ‘paid’ column. I gotta go. Love you, bye!”

  Cindy ended the call, no doubt off to do important sheriff’s work, I thought sarcastically.

  I stared at the name. Buddy Johns had been in my studio the very day after his ex-girlfriend had been killed by the river. That had to be more than a coincidence.

  After my class, I quickly locked up and jogged down the street to CeCe’s. Once inside, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the back of the shop to tell her about Buddy Johns.

  Her mouth fell open. “He was here and we have proof. He killed her. He must have come here and killed her. This is great news.”

  My eyebrows lifted all by themselves. CeCe blushed.

  “Well, not for Serena, but for Lee and Neil.”

  I patted her arm. “We don’t know that for sure, Ce. We need to go to Sacramento and talk to him.”

  CeCe’s shoulders drooped. “Today?”

  I nodded solemnly. She looked like she was about to protest, but she changed her mind. We agreed to run up to Sacramento, not quite an hour and a half away, right after my two o’clock class.

  “You’ll bring snacks, right?” I threw over my shoulder as I snagged my mocha from the counter and scooted back out the door so I wouldn’t be late for my private session.

  As soon as the two o’clock class was over, I waved to Stormy, then slipped out the back door to my car. Before starting it, I glanced at my phone. Still no word from Neil. My heart sank a little further, but I threw back my shoulders and started the car. There would be time to set things right with Neil later. Wouldn’t there? A whisper of doubt crept up, but I shoved it back down. No time for feeling sorry for myself right now. We had a killer to catch.

  As I pulled in front of the coffee shop, CeCe hopped into the passenger’s seat with her hands full. I took the tray of coffees and bagel sandwiches from her so she could buckle herself in, then handed them back. We set the coffees in the holders.

  “Is Paul on shift today?”

  CeCe nodded, glumly. “It’s the only way I could take off the whole afternoon. I’d much rather be running my shop with my boyfriend.”

  I grinned. She noticed.

  “What?”

  “It’s just nice that you’re finally calling him that. You two kept it under wraps for a long time.”

  She handed me a bagel sandwich with a few slices of fake turkey on it, making a face as she did. “You know that’s heavily processed, right?”


  She unwrapped her own sandwich and held it up, real turkey and mayo hanging out the side.

  “Then why do you serve it? Doesn’t that make you part of the problem?” I shot CeCe an amused glance. “Actually, that’s why I don’t eat it very often, but once in a while won’t kill me. At least I hope not.”

  I glanced into the rearview mirror, then grinned at CeCe.

  I ate as I drove, one hand on the wheel, using the bagel hand mostly for balance. I knew that eating in the car was not the healthiest option, and I always tell my students to sit down, focus on their meal and enjoy their food.

  Easier said than done, particularly when you own a small business and are responsible for everything that goes on there. Also, when you have a tendency to stick your nose into the sheriff’s business.

  We drove in silence most of the way, following the Google map toward Buddy Johns’ gym just south of Sacramento. As we got closer, CeCe started shooting me anxious looks. Then she’d sigh and gaze out the window. Then shoot me another look.

  “What? What already? I can’t concentrate on the road with you hemming and hawing over there.” My shoulders hunched up with irritation.

  “I don’t hem and haw.”

  “Uh, yeah, okay.”

  CeCe turned in her seat to better face me. “I’m just wondering exactly what are you going to say when you waltz into Buddy Johns’ gym? ‘Hi, did you kill your ex-girlfriend?’”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I didn’t think I would open with that, no.”

  “Then what? Because I’m getting really nervous here.”

  It was my turn to give CeCe the stink eye. “What do you suppose I’ve been thinking about since we left Jasper? Do you really think I don’t have a plan?”

  CeCe stared at me, biting her lip. She shifted back in her seat and resumed looking out her window. We drove in silence for a few minutes.

  “To be fair, no, you don’t always have a plan.” Her voice was quiet.

  “This time, I do, okay?”

  “I hope it’s a good one, because this is our exit.”

  We turned off the freeway and followed a winding road into Sacramento. A few turns later and I pulled the car into the parking lot of Buddy Johns’ gym, the Sky High Gym. The parking lot was crowded – not that I was jealous – so I pulled the car around the corner.