Deceived (Unlikely Heroes Book 3) Page 8

  Vicky cackled. “Nothing so exciting as that.” She glanced around as if she were in a grocery store or other public place and didn’t want to be overheard. But the only other things out there besides them were the local wildlife. She turned back to him and announced, “She’s the Widow Ambrose.”

  Zach drew a blank. “The Widow who?”

  Vicky clucked her tongue. “You know, the Widow Ambrose, the lady whose husband supposedly drowned last month in Lake Coeur d’Alene? Well, that’s all speculation, of course, since he hasn’t shown up anywhere and his body hasn’t been found. The talk of the town is that she murdered him and tossed his body overboard. But since the cops don’t have a body, and no evidence of foul play, they can’t prove anything.”

  Zach remembered that case now. Holy hell! His neighbor was the same woman? No wonder she hadn’t wanted him to know her real name. He fought the urge to charge over to her house that moment and question her more about the body of the law enforcement officer on her porch. What had the cop been doing there?

  “How do you know it’s her?”

  Vicky shrugged. “I don’t, honestly, but she looks like her, though she changed her hair. She’s a natural blonde, you know.”

  Zach had already come to that conclusion when he’d seen the blonde roots at the top of her scalp.

  “So you’re just guessing that she’s this Ambrose woman?” Zach reminded himself that Vicky was a gossip, so he couldn’t believe everything she said. It was highly possible she was confusing his neighbor with someone else.

  But what if she wasn’t? What if “Kim” was this Ambrose widow?

  Vicky nodded. “I had a hunch, too. She acted nervous when she came to see me about the cabin and when she signed the paperwork for the house, she scribbled out her signature and asked for a new sheet to sign on. I thought that was a little strange. She paid cash for it, you know, so she didn’t have to do a credit check or wait to close. Handed over a wad of crisp, thousand dollar bills, signed the papers, and just like that…” Vicky snapped her fingers “…it was hers. I’ve never held so much cash all at one time before.”

  Which made sense. If his neighbor was using a false alias, then a credit check would have revealed she wasn’t legit. But if she paid cash, a credit check wouldn’t have been necessary.

  The Widow Ambrose. Zach tried to recall more about the case, but he came up with a blank. He had heard about the case, but he hadn’t paid too much attention to it. It was out of his jurisdiction and he’d been house hunting at the time.

  He ran a hand roughly over his face. Ambrose. He’d have to check Kim out with the new information Vicky had supplied. He wondered what he’d find.

  “I didn’t let on that I knew who she was,” Vicky continued. “I figured she wanted to keep her true identity a secret, what with all the hubbub about her husband’s “drowning” and all. But I recognized her and I felt sympathetic toward her. Poor thing. It makes me wonder if she killed her husband for the money. He was rich, you know. Greed makes people do crazy things.”

  No doubt. Zach thought about that for a moment. He wasn’t sure what to think about Kim Johnson Ambrose or whoever the hell she was. She’d definitely been afraid whenever he’d been around her. But had she committed murder?

  Clouds rolled overhead. Zach glanced up. It looked like rain was on the way.

  How appropriate.

  “She lied to me,” he murmured, glancing back to Vicky. About everything. Why? “She told me her husband ran off and left her. I assumed he was just some sleeze-bag who ran out on her.”

  Vicky cocked a purple brow that was dyed to match her hair. “Who’s to say he didn’t run off and leave her? Maybe they had a fight. Maybe she caught him with another woman. But if she was lying, you can’t blame her, not really. A little anonymity is probably nice for a change. Why do you think she moved out here away from everyone and changed her appearance and her name?”

  Why indeed? Zach sighed. “You really think she’s the Ambrose widow?”

  Vicky nodded. “I do.”

  “So why didn’t you tell the authorities about her?”

  Vicky stared over at Kim’s cabin through the trees, then glanced back at him. “I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong about her.” She smiled and patted his arm. “I know you’ll look into it and do the right thing.”

  Zach acknowledged that with a nod. He certainly would. He’d never suspected his new neighbor was Evan Ambrose’s widow. It was time to find out if “Kim Johnson” was this Ambrose woman. Zach had a lot more questions to ask her now.

  He glanced at Kim’s cabin, then returned his attention to the realtor. “Well, thanks for the information. I’ll look into it. Kristen will be up soon and I need to get started on breakfast.”

  The first rain drop splattered on Zach’s nose. He glanced up as two more drops landed on his face. Vicky bowed her head and she raced down the steps toward her car as the rain fell harder. “It’s best I be getting back to town. Enjoy your new home.”

  “Thank you. I plan to.” Zach watched as she drove away in her pink Cadillac, then went back inside and closed the door. He was still shocked by what Vicky had revealed. Now Kim’s nervousness and her inability to look him in the eye when he’d mentioned her husband made sense. But why would she lie? Unless she had something to hide. What had she done? What was she so afraid of? What had happened to her husband? And had she really killed the man on her back porch?

  Zach was glad he had set up his home computer last night, so he wouldn’t have to go clear into town to access the law enforcement database. He logged in with his password and did a search for information on Evan Ambrose. Then he searched the internet for more information. It appeared Vicky Anderson hadn’t been merely gossiping. Evan Ambrose was mentioned in numerous articles, but his wife was a bit of a mystery. Zach found no mention of her anywhere, not a first name, no photos of her anywhere online…until he pulled up Ambrose’s Facebook page. Zach had been scrolling through Ambrose’s page and had finally found one photo of her. Just one. Ambrose had titled the photo “Me and My Bestie.” That was it. No names. Though the woman in the photo with Evan Ambrose didn’t really look like Zach’s neighbor, her eyes gave her away. A brilliant turquoise, they were the same eyes he hadn’t been able to get out of his head since he’d looked into them the other night. She had the same cute sprinkling of freckles across her nose as well. And it was definitely her face.

  Her hair was different, of course. Long and blonde and wet, it draped over her shoulder in the photo, partially covering one plump, round breast. She stood on a house boat with her husband, smiling at the camera. They had their arms around each other. She wore nothing but a pink string bikini, her beautiful curves slick with water that dripped down her shapely limbs. She had obviously just gone for a swim. He probably wouldn’t have even recognized her if it hadn’t been for her eyes.

  Zach’s breath snagged in his throat as he stared at the picture. Damn. She had a smoking hot body. Perfect breasts. Curvy hips. A tiny tummy and slender waist. Sleek, sexy thighs. Toned, shapely calves. He never would have guessed that the woman he’d met the other night had such a great body. She’d not only concealed her generous curves with the baggy clothes, but she hadn’t bothered with her appearance, not even wearing the minimum of makeup. The woman in the photo wasn’t hiding much, for the tiny pieces of bikini fabric didn’t leave much to the imagination. But the woman he’d met the other night was full of secrets and lies.

  Damn. He wanted to know all her secrets. Every last one.

  The photo appeared to be fairly recent, he’d guess less than a year old. Why were there no other photos of her anywhere? Why was she so secretive? Why hadn’t Ambrose even mentioned what his wife’s name was? Who the hell was she?

  The husband, Evan Ambrose, was of average height and was quite slender. Zach guessed he was around five foot ten. Ambrose possessed “pretty boy” good looks, the type that many women fawned over. As Zach read on, he learned that E
van Ambrose was Spokane’s chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, who’d been making quite a name for himself before he “disappeared.” Ambrose had been written about often in the local paper and interviewed on the local news. The guy was famous for getting convictions and putting criminals behind bars. He was a bit of a celebrity. His striking blond good looks and his charming personality made him a highly sought after interviewee. Zach watched a few interviews of the guy, noting the man’s charismatic personality. He imagined Ambrose charmed the jury and swayed them in their verdicts.

  What Zach found more interesting was that Ambrose was a millionaire. His father had been a wealthy businessman who’d passed away when Evan was only twenty-one. An only child, Evan had inherited his father’s entire fortune.

  Evan Ambrose had disappeared a little over a month ago. Technically, Ambrose was only a missing person, since his body hadn’t shown up anywhere. Ambrose’s secretary had called in his disappearance when he didn’t show up for work for two days in a row, which she claimed was very unlike him. Why hadn’t the wife reported his disappearance? In Zach’s opinion, that made her look guilty. The police had questioned Ambrose’s co-workers and neighbors, but no one noticed anything suspicious. When they’d gone to question Mrs. Ambrose, she was gone as well. There was nothing in Zach’s research that indicated Evan Ambrose had been murdered.

  Zach wondered how much of Vicky’s story had just been an elaborate speculation. Nowhere was Ambrose’s wife mentioned as a suspect.

  It was possible he and his wife had just taken a vacation and not told anyone about it.

  Not likely.

  Kim had motive to commit murder. All those millions were probably hers now.

  But that didn’t make sense to Zach. If she had access to millions, then why would she buy a tiny cabin in the woods? Why not live on one of Ambrose’s many properties? Or why not just stay on Ambrose’s fancy houseboat?

  The woman was full of mystery.

  Assuming his neighbor was the same woman, then only Zach and Vicky Anderson knew where she was now. She’d changed her name and her appearance. Or was Kim her real name? She’d moved back into the woods where no one would find her. Why? Did she have something to hide? Had she committed murder? Or had she just wanted to get away from the reporters and the scandal surrounding her missing husband? What did she know about her husband’s disappearance?

  Zach leaned back in his chair, thinking about what he’d discovered. Why had that cop been on her porch early yesterday morning? Did he have some kind of evidence that linked her to her husband’s disappearance?

  Zach’s thoughts turned to Deputy Bailey. Had the deputy known who she was? If so, why had he taken her? Had she offered to pay him to let her go? Did she know what had happened to her husband? Had she killed him?

  Zach leaned forward again and did another search. This one for anything on Kim Ambrose.

  But the search revealed nothing helpful. There were several Kim Ambroses in the system, but none that could be his neighbor. He also discovered that there was no record of a marriage between Evan Ambrose and anyone. Had they kept the marriage secret? If so, why? Had they just had a common law marriage and not made it legal?

  And why hadn’t the media discovered any of that while researching Ambrose’s background? Wouldn’t someone else have discovered what Zach just had? Or hadn’t anyone bothered to investigate Mrs. Ambrose, just her husband? What was she hiding?

  Who the hell was she?

  Had Vicky been wrong about her? Was she not this Ambrose woman after all?

  No, he’d seen those eyes of hers in the photo. It was her. It had to be.

  Frustrated, Zach shut down the computer and rose from the chair.

  His gut told him Kim had fled Spokane for a reason.

  It was time to pay his neighbor another visit.

  CHAPTER TEN

  No matter how much Meg had tried to prepare herself for seeing the sheriff again, something—no, everything—about the man still made her pulse quicken and her breath catch when she opened her front door early Saturday and spied him standing on her porch.

  Her heart careened out of control. She drew in a sharp breath, trying to calm her riotous nerves. She stared up at him, frozen to the spot. Had he come to arrest her?

  The sheriff wasn’t handsome in the “pretty boy” sense that Evan was. His features were a little too rugged, his jaw too square, his eyes too knowing and intense. “Masculine” was a word she’d use to describe him. Very masculine. If she had to guess, she’d bet he had a Type A personality, a man in control, a man in charge of everything and everyone around him. An alpha male. Despite all that, she found him way too attractive and she hated that she did. This attraction…it scared her. He scared her.

  She wondered if he’d found out who she was yet. He was an intuitive man. She imagined he’d figure it out soon, if he hadn’t already. And that worried her.

  He gazed down at her for a long moment without speaking. Was he contemplating her black hair? What did he think about it? It made her skin look too pale and emphasized her turquoise eyes, making them stand out more than she liked. Not for the first time she wondered if perhaps she should have purchased some colored contacts to disguise her true eye color. Her eyes were uncommon and memorable. Changing her hair was one thing. But changing her eyes? Meg hadn’t been able to do it. Her eyes were one of the things that made her unique and she hadn’t wanted to lose all of herself. She was still Meg.

  The sheriff’s gaze settled on hers. He must have read her thoughts, for he said, “I see you haven’t changed your eyes, though you’ve done a complete one eighty on the hair. Too vain to give up something so unique and beautiful?”

  The breath snagged in her throat. What did he mean by that? One eighty? Did he know she was a natural blonde? Was he complimenting her? Or insulting her?

  “I…beg your pardon?” she whispered.

  “It would be a shame to hide such pretty eyes,” he said, his gaze narrowing on her, “but you already knew that, didn’t you, or you’d be wearing colored contacts?”

  Meg’s heart slammed into her ribs. Had he found out who she was? She tried to close the door, but he stuck his foot in the way, stopping her.

  “Mind telling me where you went with Deputy Bailey?” He eyed her through the opening his foot created in the doorway. “What did you do with him?”

  Meg lowered her gaze. “I didn’t do anything to him. He was the one who took me out of the jail, which you would know if you’d only bothered to watch the security videos.”

  “I did,” he said. “And I saw that. But that doesn’t explain why you’re back home and Deputy Bailey still can’t be found.”

  Meg lowered her gaze. She had no idea what had happened to the young deputy. He could have gone into hiding somewhere, or Larry could have killed him. She glanced back up at the sheriff through the narrow opening in the door. She could try to run, but she knew he’d catch her. The thought of the man’s big hands on her, anywhere, scared her to death. And filled her with breathless anticipation. Heat swept into her cheeks. What was the matter with her? It wasn’t as if the man was attracted to her. Wasn’t as if he wanted to touch her the way she’d dreamed about last night.

  Good God! What was wrong with her? She’d never wanted anyone to touch her before, especially a domineering man like the sheriff.

  Taken aback by her traitorous thoughts, she stepped back, her hand falling away from the door. The sheriff pushed his way forward. Meg stumbled backwards as he stepped over the threshold.

  “What are you doing?” She gasped, her heart racing out of control. “You can’t come in my house without probable cause.”

  “Are you using that phrase again?” he almost sneered. “You’re lucky I haven’t arrested you yet. I have more than enough cause to enter your house. There was a body on your back porch yesterday morning, or have you forgotten that? And my deputy is missing. Because of you.”

  Meg stared up into his too-serious face. Her g
aze traveled over his harsh features, settling on his firm mouth. Damn, he had nice lips. Heat flushed her cheeks. She jerked her gaze back to his. What was the matter with her?

  Though his expression remained impassive, his eyes filled with wariness. His neck suffused with color that slowly crept up into his cheeks. Oh God, had she just stared at him like she thought she had?

  He cleared his throat, his gaze sliding down to her mouth. Then darting back to hers.

  Mortified, Meg pulled her gaze away. She was a fool. She didn’t have much experience with men, and Evan didn’t count. She’d never been attracted to a man the way she was to the sheriff. The feelings he aroused in her were unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

  She felt a tic coming on and tried to force it back. But it persisted. And won.

  “He’s hot, hot, hot. Scorching hot.” Her arm twitched. Once. Twice.

  Her cheeks flamed when the sound of her own voice repeated in her ears. Hot, hot, hot. What the hell had she just blurted? She stumbled backwards until she rammed into the couch. The sheriff followed her. His face was almost as red as she imagined hers was, but his expression remained unreadable. She’d probably embarrassed the hell out of him. She cringed. Poor guy. She didn’t blame him. She sounded like a crazy woman.

  I’m not crazy. I can’t help it.

  With her back up against the couch, she had nowhere to go. Her heart pounded wildly.

  “What’s wrong with you, lady? Are you high or what?” He glared at her, stepping close. He didn’t touch her, standing just off to her right side, but his stance was intimidating, his wide chest threatening as he angled his body in a manner that told her if she tried to flee, she wouldn’t get far.

  She sucked in a breath. “You’re in my personal space. Back off, buddy.”

  He didn’t move. “Tell me something,” he said softly, looking down at her. “Were you ever married to Evan Ambrose, or was that another lie?”

  All the blood drained from her face. So he’d found out about Evan. What else did he know?