The Betrayal of Lies (3 page)

There was a serious expression in his eyes and his voice. “I’ll head over there right now.”

He shoved the phone back in his pocket. “That was Ernie. I’ve got to go.”

“What’s happening?”

“There’s a woman missing. I need to go check it out and talk to the husband. He’s the one who reported it.”

“Can’t Ernie take the missing persons report?” Emily began snaking her hands around his waist.

“It’s not that simple this time,” he said, looking into her eyes.

Emily’s chest tightened. She thought about how somberly Colin looked at her when he was listening to the other side of the conversation and she put the pieces together. “Someone I know?”

“I’m afraid so.” He put his arms around her. “It’s Elise Murphy.”

“Elise?” She stepped back from him. “I’m coming with you. Let me get my shoes.”

“No, Emily. It’s late. Stay here and I’ll fill you in when I know something.”

“I have to go with you.” She went to the door. “You know I’d go crazy if I stayed here.”

“You’re personally involved, Emily. Please, let me handle this.”

“I’m not that personally involved.” She waved a dismissive hand in his direction as she slipped into her shoes. “It’s not like it’s Maggie or Camille we’re talking about. But I do know Elise, and that could be helpful to you. Don’t you see?”

“I see all right—I see that you’re not going to give up until I say yes.” Colin shook his head. “Okay, you can come, but if I see you’re taking this too personally, I’m sending you home. Agreed?”

~*~

By the time Colin and Emily reached the Murphy’s home, a sprawling single-level estate nestled on several acres, there was a police car already parked in the circular driveway.

Colin rang the doorbell and Officer Ernie Kaufmann opened the door.

“Hello, Ernie,” Emily greeted, following close on Colin’s heels as he stepped inside.

“Hey, Emily. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Ernie looked to Colin with a puzzled expression.

Colin shrugged and gave Emily a look as if to say
I told you not to come.
“What do we have, Ernie?”

Standing in the foyer, Ernie explained the circumstances to Colin and Emily. “The husband, Patrick Murphy, is sitting in the formal living room with Officer Sanchez. He said he came home a little while ago from a three-day business trip to find his house in a mess and his wife missing.”

“The whole house?” Colin asked.

“No.” Ernie looked down at his notes. “The family room, the kitchen, and the master bedroom.”

“Get a CSI unit out here,” Colin directed.

“Already done. They should be here soon.” Ernie tucked his notepad into his pocket. “You working this case too, Emily?”

“Maybe. We’ll see.” Emily glanced toward the living room, getting a glimpse of the husband seated on a plush overstuffed chair.

“I’ll go question the husband,” Colin said. “You and Sanchez get this place taped off.”

“We’re on it, Boss.” Ernie moved to the living room. “Sanchez, Detective Andrews is here.”

The female officer stood. “You’re in good hands, Mr. Murphy.” She nodded and followed Ernie out as Colin and Emily took their seats on a white silk brocade sofa opposite the husband.

Colin briefly introduced himself and Emily before diving into the questions. “Mr. Murphy, can you take us through what happened?”

Patrick Murphy was a powerful man in Paradise Valley. He was the head of a large corporation that specialized in training executives around the country in sales and management. He was wearing an expensive-looking navy suit, which, judging by the fine tailoring and superb fit, Emily determined could only be a Brioni. Even sitting there as he was, with his gold tie loosened and the top button of his crisp white shirt undone, he still exuded a commanding presence. His thick, neatly trimmed hair was considerably gray and his blue-gray eyes were rimmed with red.

Shaking his head, he dropped it into his hands. “I’ve been out of town for a few days on business. I spoke to Elise on the phone this morning and everything seemed fine.” He looked up now and ran a hand over his face. “Obviously it wasn’t.”

“Exactly what time did you return home?” Colin asked.

“The town car dropped me off at the house around ten thirty. I thought it was odd that there were no lights on in the house. It wasn’t that late. Elise often is up until eleven.”

Colin scribbled a note and then continued. “But the outside lights were on?”

“Yes, but the exterior lights come on automatically. Elise hadn’t said anything about having any of her charity events tonight. I thought maybe she wasn’t feeling well and went to bed early.”

“So then what did you do?” Colin asked.

“Well, I went through the house.”

Colin stood and gestured toward the foyer. “Show us.”

He and Emily followed Patrick Murphy into the foyer and down the hall.

“I flipped on a few lights on the way to our bedroom.” Patrick indicated the wall switches as he led them down the hallway. “The door was open and I could see from the hall light that the bed was empty.”

They all stepped into the master bedroom.

“Odd, though,” Mr. Murphy said. “The bed wasn’t made. That’s so unlike Elise. She would never leave the bed unmade.”

From what Emily knew of her, Elise did seem like a person who liked everything in its place. She poked her head into the master bathroom. “Anything else in the bedroom disturbed? Any jewelry missing?”

“Not that I know of.” He shook his head slightly, his voice had a ring of sadness. “But then I don’t know all that she has. We have a list for insurance purposes somewhere in our files. I’ll have to find it for you.” Patrick waved his arm in the air in a sharp cutting motion, his voice rising toward agitation. “But right now I don’t care about the jewelry. I care about my wife!”

“We understand that, Mr. Murphy,” Colin said. “We’re just trying to figure out if this was a robbery gone bad or what. We have to ask these questions.”

Emily noticed a framed photo of Elise with a young girl lying on the hardwood floor. They seemed happy. The girl must be her daughter. She looked around for any wedding pictures on the dresser or hanging on the walls, but there were none, only exquisite artwork.

“How were things between you and Elise?” she asked.

“Fine, they were just fine,” he ground out between clenched teeth. He pulled in a deep breath and his demeanor softened. “We had spats like any married couple. Who doesn’t have an argument now and then?”

“Was there anyone you can think of that had a problem with your wife?” Colin asked. “Any enemies?”

“Enemies? Elise? God, no. You don’t know Elise. She’s kind and thoughtful. Always helping out on charities.” He huffed a laugh. “No, Detective, she had no enemies.”

Emily thought about her encounter with Elise that morning. Her husband was right, she was kind and thoughtful. Strong too. The kind of woman that didn’t back down easily. The way she stood up to Camille and Maggie with their extravagant wedding ideas—while it made Emily like her all the more, she knew that strong women sometimes stood up to the wrong people.

She filed that thought away for later and pursued another track. “What about you?” Emily asked. “Anyone you can think of who might do this to get back at you for something?”

“Me?” The man looked indignant that Emily would dare ask such a thing.

“You are a wealthy and powerful man,” Colin added. “It’s not likely you got to that position without stepping on a few toes along the way.”

“Or necks,” Emily mumbled.

He furrowed his brows and spoke with a frown. “No one comes to mind, but let me think on it. Maybe there’s a disgruntled former employee or something.” Then, his lips grew taut and his voice demanding. He began to pace in front of the fireplace. “Time is wasting, people. Besides standing around here using up precious time questioning me, what is being done to find my wife? God only knows what some madman is doing to her.”

“Please calm down, sir,” Colin said. “It’s important we ask these questions and gather the facts. A seemingly unrelated piece of information can often trigger a break in a case. We just never know.”

Patrick turned away, and hung his head, as he leaned a hand on the elaborate fireplace mantle. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to snap at you.” He turned back to face them, his eyes filled with worry. “But time is ticking away while we stand here talking.”

The man’s temperament flew from one extreme to the other. One moment he was sad and calm and the next he was raging against them for not moving fast enough. Emily wondered if Colin noticed it too. She made a note to ask him about it later, when they were alone.

“We need all the information, sir, so we can figure out our next move,” Colin said. “Let’s keep going. My officer said the family room was out of place too?”

“Yeah. When I didn’t find Elise in here, I went to the kitchen. It overlooks the family room and it was a mess.”

“Why don’t you show us?” Colin asked.

“It’s right this way.”

When they got to the family room, the creamy white leather sofa was knocked over—a scuffle perhaps—a deep blue ceramic lamp lay broken on the floor, and colorful throw pillows were strewn about. A few drops of what looked like dried blood speckled the beige area rug. The CSI crew would surely test it when they arrived.

Emily glanced around the kitchen, taking note of the rich walnut cabinets and light granite countertops. A single wine glass sat on the large center island, a trace of red wine at the bottom and a smudge of rose-colored lipstick around the rim.

Before she’d stepped into the kitchen, Emily had noticed broken glass on the hardwood floor and a small amount of spilled wine—another wine glass, no doubt. Seemed as if Elise had had a visitor.

Unfortunately, the other wine glass had shattered into small pieces, but the narrow stem was fairly intact. Emily guessed the chances of lifting any prints or DNA from the broken glass were little to none, but Nelly, the county’s forensic scientist, was a genius of sorts, and if anyone could work miracles, she could.

“Is there anyone you’d like us to call for you?” Emily asked. “Your daughter, maybe? Elise mentioned she was away at college.”

“Elise’s daughter,” Patrick corrected, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his face. “Kaitlyn is my stepdaughter.”

“Would you like me to call her?” Emily offered again.

He nodded, worry lines forming around his moist eyes. “Her cell number’s on the fridge.”

Colin gestured around the house. “It’s apparent you have money, Mr. Murphy. This might be a kidnapping for ransom.”

Patrick nodded and lowered his gaze. “Yes, I had wondered about that.”

“We don’t know yet if that’s the case, but we do have to consider it.”

“There’s been no note or phone call.” Mr. Murphy shook his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Nothing.”

“That doesn’t mean there won’t be. If someone knew you were out of town, maybe they were waiting for you to get back,” Colin said.

“Can we set up a phone tap or a trace, or whatever you call it? Just in case? I’ll pay anything. Anything!” His voice broke into sobs. “I just want my wife back.”

Emily’s gaze met Colin’s. Patrick Murphy seemed genuinely dejected over his wife’s disappearance.

Colin rested a hand on the man’s shoulder. “I’ll see what I can do. The county crime scene investigators should be here soon, and—”

“Speak of the devil.” Emily tilted her head toward the foyer as voices drifted to the back of the house.

The team of three walked in and Colin filled them in on what they were dealing with.

“After you’re done here and get everything back to the lab, let me know. I want to stay in the loop on this.” Colin turned back to the husband. “Since this house is now a crime scene, do you have somewhere else you can stay tonight?”

“My bags are still packed. My company keeps a luxury apartment for our best clients. I don’t think anyone’s staying there right now.”

“We’ll need to meet with you early in the morning, around seven o’clock?”

Patrick nodded his agreement.

“I’d like to get that list of possible enemies in the morning, Mr. Murphy, anyone who might want revenge. As well as the list of jewelry.”

“I’ll do my best, Detective Andrews.”

Colin checked his watch. “Your neighbors probably won’t appreciate our knocking on their doors when it’s after midnight, but I’ll send my officers out to canvass the area anyway. You only have a few nearby and you never know—someone might have seen or heard something.”

The neighborhood where the Murphys lived had large, expensive homes spread out on several-acre lots, so there were not many who were close enough to have seen or heard anything from inside their homes, but someone may have been out walking or driving by. It was worth looking into.

“I’ll try to get a phone tap set up,” Colin said, “just in case you do receive a ransom call. They’ll be able to trace any incoming calls.”

“I appreciate that, Detective.”

“We’ll need the home number here as well as your cell phone and the number and the address of that apartment, I’ll send the electronics technician over first thing in the morning. Is the apartment large enough to set up a command center if we need to?”

“The dining area is large enough for a conference table,” Patrick replied.

“There’s no guarantee the city will pay for this. It is still only speculation,” Colin said.

“I told you, I’ll pay anything. Whatever you need, Detective, I’ll make available to you. Just bring Elise back to me—alive.”

Chapter 3

Early the next morning, the Murphy apartment was buzzing with local police and electronics technicians setting up their equipment on the long, massive, carved mahogany dining table, preparing to trace any calls that might come in. It wasn’t much to go on, and it was far from a sure thing, but it was all they had. Colin had managed to convince them to go ahead with set-up after explaining that Patrick Murphy had agreed to pay if it didn’t turn out to be necessary.

While Colin was orchestrating the set-up, Emily was on the phone with Elise’s family members, alerting them to her disappearance and questioning them about anything they might know that could help them find her.