Beyond the Garden (Magnolia Series Book 2) Read online

  “You’re in charge, honey. But don’t get your hopes up. You heard the hotel manager. The woman staying at the Buena Vista with Ricky was not Lia.”

  Ellie increased her pace. “That doesn’t mean she’s not in Key West. I have this odd feeling she’s nearby. Maybe it’s wishful thinking. Maybe it’s that weird thing twins share that enables them to sense each other’s presence.”

  “Have you ever experienced this extrasensory perception before where Lia is concerned?”

  “Not hardly. I barely know her.”

  Julian chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”

  “I don’t even know why I said that. I can’t think straight on an empty stomach.” Her mouth watered at the thought of food. “Maybe Lia was stalking her husband and this mystery woman.”

  “That’s pretty far-fetched, babe.” He took her by the arm and increased his pace. “Come on. We need to get you some food to straighten out your thinking.”

  The sidewalks grew more crowded after they crossed Truman Avenue. Hand in hand, they meandered through the throng of tourists as they made their way up Duval Street to DJ’s Clam Shack. They were awarded their choice of seating—a table for two at the front of the small patio alongside the sidewalk—having arrived ahead of the lunch crowd. Julian asked for a Sam Adams and Ellie sweet tea. They then ordered conch fritters, clam strips, and a lobster roll to share. As soon as the order was served, Ellie cut the lobster roll in half and took a big bite.

  “This is so good, I might have to order another one—all for myself.” She took a second bite and wiped her lips. “You have no idea how happy I am to have my appetite back after three months of feeling nauseous. I literally want to eat everything in sight.” She reached for the basket of clam strips and stuffed two in her mouth.

  Julian smiled. “Go for it! You’re eating for two, after all.”

  Ellie wadded up a napkin and tossed it at him. “Some help you are. With your attitude, I’ll gain two hundred pounds by the time the baby comes. It’s your job to help me control my diet.”

  “For once in your life, you don’t have to worry about your diet. You’ve barely eaten a thing in three months. You can splurge a little now. Listen to your body. If you’re hungry, eat.” He popped a conch fritter into her mouth.

  “But I should be eating healthy, not all this fried seafood,” she said, waving her hand at the food baskets.

  “It won’t hurt the baby if you indulge every now and then. But if it makes you feel better, we’ll eat grilled seafood for dinner tonight.”

  “Dinner is a long time off. We have a lot of work ahead of us this afternoon.”

  While they finished eating, she googled bed-and-breakfasts in Key West and set her iPhone on the table in front of them. They studied the TripAdvisor listings and decided which area to search first.

  Ellie was gathering up their trash when a woman window-shopping in the gift store on the other side of the street caught her eye. She wore her dark hair piled on top of her head, and large-framed sunglasses covered much of her face. The hotel manager had mentioned that the female staying with Ricky wore skimpy clothes. You couldn’t get much skimpier than the woman’s white sundress, cut low enough to reveal a tattoo at the small of her back.

  “Don’t look now, Julian, but I think that’s Ricky’s mystery woman on the other side of the street.”

  Julian drained the rest of his beer as he studied the woman. “It looks like her. Then again, I’m sure there are hundreds of women in Key West who match her description.”

  “What’d we do? We can’t just let her get away.”

  He set his empty beer bottle on the table. “You stay here while I see what I can find out.”

  “Be careful.” As her husband cut through the line of patrons waiting for a table and moseyed across the street, she watched his every step. He casually approached the woman and spoke to her. Shaking her head, she backed away from him, turned, and took off running in the opposite direction.

  Bingo! Ellie thought. She wouldn’t be running unless she had something to hide.

  Ellie dumped their trash in a nearby garbage can, gathered their belongings, and hurried out of the restaurant. On the sidewalk out front, she stood on her tiptoes and shielded her eyes from the sun as she searched over the sea of bobbing heads. She caught a glimpse of Julian’s brown hair at the end of the block, just before he disappeared into the crowd. With her hand gripping her cell phone, Ellie paced back and forth in front of DJ’s Clam Shack until he returned a few minutes later. Sweat dripped from his face, and the armpits of his navy golf shirt were soaked through.

  “I’m sorry, honey. She got away.” He removed her cardigan from her straw tote bag and wiped the sweat from his face.

  “What did you say to her?” Ellie asked.

  “I asked her if she by any chance knew Lia Bertram.”

  Ellie grabbed a handful of her husband’s sweaty shirt and dragged him down the sidewalk, back toward their hotel. “Forget the bed-and-breakfasts for now. We need to talk to Detective Hamlin.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Lia

  Lia was strolling down Duval Street, minding her own business, when she spotted her sister seated at a table on the patio at DJ’s Clam Shack across the street. She darted into a nearby gift shop and lost herself among the aisles of cheap souvenirs, beach towels, and sunscreen. She pulled her sun hat low enough to hide her face and adjusted the floral scarf around her neck. When she deemed it safe, she made her way back to the front of the store so she could observe her sister from behind the mannequin in the window.

  “Ellie Darling” took a bite of her lobster roll and dabbed her lips with her napkin.

  Such a lady, my sister.

  The sun cast a golden glow on Ellie’s auburn hair, creating a halo effect, like an angel.

  How can a woman I’ve known for such a short time get under my skin so easily? If only Ellie weren’t so perfect.

  Twin sisters: one the ideal daughter, wife, and mother; the other flawed to the bone.

  Would our personalities have differed so greatly if we’d been identical twins instead of fraternal?

  Lia had been relieved, at first, when her long-lost sister and father showed up at her door in the midst of the biggest crisis of her life.

  Convenient for me. Not so much for them.

  They’d insinuated themselves into her life, insisting Lia let them take care of her and the twins. But once Ellie had gotten to know Lia, once she’d realized that Lia lacked any moral fortitude, Ellie had reneged on her offer to share half of her inheritance from their grandmother.

  It was with a heavy heart that Lia had left her daughters in her sister’s care. She loved Bella and Mya enough to want the best for them, even if the best wasn’t her. She’d made a mess of her marriage and had an affair with another man. Ellie had practically begged Lia to leave the girls with her while she sorted out her life. And, eager to be in the arms of her lover, Lia had taken the money her sister had offered and gone off to find herself. And she’d made a monumental discovery—the revelation that she no longer wanted to be a mother.

  What was Ellie Darling doing in Key West, anyway? Unless the police had contacted her about Ricky’s death and warned her to be on the lookout for her dangerous twin sister, the murderer. She imagined Eleanor jumping on the next plane to Key West, eager to be a character witness for the defense and provide testimony regarding her twin’s questionable morals. Sending her to prison for life would grant Ellie permanent custody of the twins. She and Julian and the twins could live out their perfect little lives in their big mansion on the most prestigious street in Charleston.

  Not so fast, Ellie Darling! Part of that mansion rightfully belongs to me.

  She slipped out of the gift shop and stepped in line with a group of tourists heading west on Duval Street, away from her sister. She knew she needed to leave Key West as soon as possible—before the police or her sister found her. If only she knew where to go.

  She’d h
opped on the first bus to Key West six days ago when she received the first text from Ricky. She’d been suspicious of his sudden interest in discussing their future. Ricky was cautious to a fault, always nagging her about keeping their doors locked and never taking her eyes off the children while out shopping. With his unpaid balance to the loan sharks, Ricky would’ve understood the danger in summoning his estranged wife to Key West. Out of curiosity, she’d come to town anyway. And spent the days leading up to his murder spying on him from behind the potted plants in the hotel lobby. Someone had framed her for Ricky’s murder. Maybe the goons were still following her. Maybe her presence in town had gotten Ricky killed. But Lia suspected the trashy woman he was currently sleeping with had something to do with his murder. Whichever of them was the guilty party, Lia had no intention of taking the fall.

  Ricky and Lia’s marriage had been on the rocks long before the twins were born—they would turn four on the twenty-fourth of this month. She was all too aware of her husband’s extramarital activities.

  Three months before Ricky split town, she had been at a bar in downtown Atlanta, looking for a man to show her some attention. That was the night she met Justin Palmer. They hooked up a couple of times during his brief stay in Atlanta, and continued to text and talk daily after he left. He offered comfort and support when her husband abandoned her and a shoulder to cry on while she sorted out her life. Their attraction was intense. Before they met, Justin’s drinking problem had led to the loss of his wife, his job, and his house—in that order. He’d been in Atlanta for a job interview, but didn’t get that job. Or any of the other dozen he’d applied for while they were together. Despite his professional shortcomings, Justin was a blast to hang out with, and he helped her forget her troubles. They went on a nine-month bender, bouncing around the country from one exciting city to the next. They made love on the sandy beaches of Malibu, skied the Rocky Mountains, and tasted wine in half the wineries in Sonoma County and Napa Valley. They went to Mardi Gras, the Super Bowl, and watched the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Then, on a rainy morning in late April, Lia woke up in a seedy motel in Las Vegas with the worst hangover of her life. She’d lost a small fortune at the casinos, and she knew it was time to cut back on the boozing. It took her less than twenty-four hours to realize that Justin wasn’t nearly as much fun sober. Their chemistry had fizzled along with her money.

  Lia peeled off from the group and ducked into her bed-and-breakfast. She climbed the stairs to her corner room on the front of the old Victorian house. Opening her suitcase on the bed, she dumped her clothes inside. In the bathroom, she raked her toiletries into her cosmetic bag. A plastic pill bottle missed the bag and bounced off the floor. She picked up the bottle and shook it. Only one pill left. The doctors had prescribed lithium when they diagnosed her with bipolar disorder two years ago. She rubbed the scars on her wrists. It had taken a suicide attempt for them to figure out what Lia had suspected for years.

  She hated taking the medicine. She no longer wanted to feel like a zombie. Justin had taught her how to live again. She loved feeling the sun on her face and the wind in her hair and her heart beating in her chest as she jogged down the beach. She dumped the pill in the toilet. To avoid leaving behind evidence of her identity, she dropped the empty bottle into her bag.

  Placing her cosmetic bag in her suitcase, she zipped it up, then wheeled it down the stairs and out the side door of the bed-and-breakfast. She hailed a taxi to the bus station and bought a ticket on the next bus heading out of Key West. From Orlando, she would venture east to the ocean and find a small beach town where she could lay low until things with Ricky’s murder investigation settled down. If she ate little and stayed in a modest hotel, she would have enough money to last two weeks. From there, when the timing was right, she’d return to Charleston and work a deal with her sister. She had no room in her life for snotty noses and bedtime stories. She would give up her twins in exchange for her freedom. She believed with her whole rotten heart that Bella and Mya would be better off without her for a mother. But the price tag would be high. And her sister had the money to afford them.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Ellie

  Ellie presented her business card to the desk sergeant. “I’d like to speak to Detective Hamlin about the Ricky Bertram case.”

  The sergeant peered at her over his reading glasses. “And what, exactly, is your relationship to the case?”

  “I’m Ricky’s sister-in-law. I’m here from Charleston, looking for my sister.”

  The sergeant summoned his coworker from the other end of the desk. “Drake, take these people to the back. And let Detective Hamlin know they’re here.”

  They followed Officer Drake down a long, narrow hallway and into an interview room. The room was bare—aside from the one-way mirror, a wooden table, and four chairs that were positioned in the center of the tiny room.

  Ellie waited for Officer Drake to leave before going to stand in front of the one-way mirror. “Do you think they’re watching us right now?” she said, smoothing her frizzy hair into a ponytail.

  “Probably. Why don’t we get naked and give them a show?” Julian said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

  “Ha ha. That would be funny . . . if the situation wasn’t so serious,” she said as she sat down in the empty chair beside him.

  Detective Hamlin entered the room and shook hands with Ellie and then Julian. With his deep tan and mop of golden curls, he looked the part of a Floridian homicide detective. He took a seat across from them and rifled through a stack of papers. “Here it is.” He slipped on a pair of wire reading glasses. “I received a report from the Charleston PD. I appreciate your cooperation in answering their questions.” His blue eyes skimmed the report. “It says here that you and your sister aren’t close. If that’s the case, what motivated you to fly all the way down here from Charleston?”

  It irritated her that he hadn’t bothered to read the report. “That’s correct, Detective. Lia and I were separated when we were very young. If you’d done your homework, you’d know this,” she said in an accusatory tone. “Like I told the officers yesterday, our past history is not pertinent to your case. My sister was having some problems in her marriage. I assume you know about Ricky’s gambling debts.”

  The detective nodded. “We’re aware of his financial difficulties.”

  “I gave Lia some money from the inheritance I’d received from our grandmother to start a new life for herself and the girls. But she disappeared instead, leaving the girls in my care. I haven’t heard from her in seven months. When the officers in Charleston told me a woman matching Lia’s description was wanted for questioning in the murder of her husband, I came down here hoping to find my sister. I need to make some decisions regarding the girls’ future. But I can’t do that without help from their biological mother.”

  Hamlin’s face softened and his lips curled into a smile that revealed pearly white teeth. “I can understand that. I’m sorry she’s making things difficult for you.”

  Ellie retrieved the folded photograph of the mystery woman from her tote and placed it on the table in front of him. “I understand from the manager at the hotel that this woman is your prime suspect. But this is not my sister.”

  Hamlin squinted at the picture. “Are you sure? The photograph is grainy. If you and your sister aren’t close, do you even know her well enough to make the identity?”

  Ellie was grateful for Julian’s quiet presence beside her. “Lia has a medium-size, oval-shaped burn scar on her neck. She usually wears turtlenecks to cover up the scar. At least she did during our brief time together last fall. I can’t imagine she’d be wearing them in this climate. Regardless, I’ve spoken with the hotel manager. This woman wears revealing clothing and has no such scar.”

  Julian tapped his finger on the photograph. “We just spotted this woman on Duval Street while eating lunch at DJ’s Clam Shack. I approached her casually. When I asked if she knew the Bertrams, she took off. I
tried to catch her, but I lost her in the crowd.”

  Hamlin’s body went still. “When did you say this happened?”

  Julian glanced at his watch. “About thirty minutes ago. We came straight here.”

  “Let me see if I can get some men on it. Excuse me a minute.” Detective Hamlin left the room. By the time he returned—forty-five minutes later—Ellie was livid at him for keeping them waiting.

  “I’m sorry, folks. I was in with Joey Bertram, Ricky’s brother. He’s just come from identifying his brother’s body at the morgue.”

  “May I speak with him?” Ellie asked. “He may know something about Lia’s whereabouts.”

  “Technically, I can’t arrange a meeting for you. But he’s in the hallway now. I can’t stop you from speaking to him on your way out.”

  “Thank you, Detective.” Ellie returned the mystery woman’s photograph to her bag and stood up.

  The detective held the door open for them while they exited the room. There was only one other person in the hallway—a man with a shaved head. Joey Bertram, his face pinched in anger, was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his muscular chest. When Ellie introduced herself, he ignored her offer of a handshake.

  “Since when did Lia have a sister?” he snarled.

  Ellie retracted her hand and held her shoulders high, refusing to be bullied. “Since seven months ago. It’s a long story. We were separated when we were young. I’m looking for Lia. Do you have any idea where she might be? She left Bella and Mya in my care.”

  He stared at her with a blank expression.

  “You don’t know who Bella and Mya are, do you?” She didn’t wait for him to respond. “They’re your nieces, Ricky’s three-year-old twin daughters. When’s the last time you spoke with your brother, Mr. Bertram?”

  He shrugged. “Five years ago, when he told me he was leaving Wendy, a perfectly wonderful woman and wife, to marry your sister. Your sister’s a money whore. She was always pressuring him to buy things they couldn’t afford. No wonder he ended up in financial trouble.”