Trial By Fire

“No,” Ali told her. “She told her husband.”

“Tell me about your mother’s involvement with Tom McGregor,” Maria Salazar urged.

“He was lonely,” Do

Ali did. He was referring to all those handwritten notebooks-and to his suicide by cop.

The escrow officer, who had been listening to this whole exchange in slack-jawed amazement, rose to her feet.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she said. “I need to go.”

“But what about the papers?” Do

“No one is getting any money today,” the woman said. “Under the circumstances, the closing can’t proceed. I’m sorry.”

She stood up to walk away. Before she made it out the door, Maria Salazar stopped her. “I understand Ms. Carson was leaving town today. Where were you expected to send the proceeds from the sale?”

Louise looked as though she was ready to object. “I can get a warrant,” Detective Salazar told her, “but it would be easier all around if you’d just tell me.”

Biting back a comment, the escrow officer opened the file and shuffled through the papers. Finally she settled on one.

“Here it is,” she said. “Once we received the funds, we were to make a wire transfer to an account in Caracas, Venezuela. It’s a joint account, registered to Ms. Carson and a Mr. Vladimir Yarnov.”

“Vladimir wanted the painting and I wanted him,” Do

“Too bad for him, Ms. Carson, because I don’t believe there’s going to be a wedding,” Detective Salazar said. “We’re done here. You’re under arrest. Hands behind your back.”

The whole process left Ali stu

Tom McGregor, the arsonist who had personally started the fatal blaze, was dead as well, gu

Without a further word of objection, Do

And that’s how it all ends, Ali thought. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

CHAPTER 21

To Ali’s surprise, Do

Do

Listening to Do

Do

Ali looked on as Do

Mimi’s missing rings, Ali thought, making a mental note to pass that information along to Detective Salazar.

The purse also contained a whole series of documents-Do

“I’m guessing that’s an original and that it’s stolen goods,” Detective Salazar said.

While she went off in search of a warrant that would allow the package to be intercepted and returned, Ali was left alone in the interview room with Do

As the silence deepened around them Ali asked one final question.

“What would have happened if you had come to Mimi and Serenity and Win and told them what you had learned?”

“You mean would they have made some provision for me?” Do

“In other words, since whatever was left of Winston’s estate belonged to Mimi, you went after that.”

“Why wouldn’t I? She wasn’t going to give me any of it. After all, she’s no relation to me-no blood relation.”

“Not enough of a relation to talk to, but enough of a relation to murder,” Ali said.

“I guess,” Do

That was when Ali realized that Do

For the remainder of the fifteen minutes Detective Salazar was gone, Ali and Do

Earlier, no one had been paying attention to what had happened to Sister Anselm and Mimi Cooper. Now everyone was.

Ali spent most of the rest of the day being debriefed by a series of agencies about what had happened. The Fountain Hills marshals wanted access to the information that would allow them to sort out what had happened to Mimi Cooper. Phoenix PD wanted to know details about what had happened to Sister Anselm, an incident that had started in their jurisdiction and ended in someone else’s. But over all this, Agent in Charge Do

Do