Obscure Deception: The Det. Lonnie Mae Moberly Mysteries, #2

By Adeara Allyne

Obscure Deception - The Det. Lonnie Mae Moberly Mysteries - Book 2

In quiet Maybe, forty year old mysteries can be murder...
 
A man is found dead beside his car. Around the corner, his jewelry store has been robbed and trashed.

Of course, there's there a connection. Right? Just maybe not the obvious one...

Also by Adeara 

The Det. Lonnie Mae Moberly Mysteries
In quiet Maybe, bad things happen...

Close Deception - Book 1
Obscure Deception - Book 2
Cryptic Deception - Book 3
Grim Deception - Book 4
Maybe Alone - Book 5
Maybe Forgotten - Book6
Maybe Betrayal - Book 7

A Slice of Life in Maybe, Kentucky

Driving Miss Reba

The Warfield's Landing Series

Silent Caller - Book 1
Hidden Peril - Book 2
Double Secrets - Book 3
Covert Reprisal - Book 4

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adeara Allyne
• Release date: Apr 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386997818

Book preview

1

It was dusk on Sunday. Rob stepped on the brake, twisted in his seat, and stuck his head out the pickup window. Lonnie, your phone is ringing.

She stood on the low deck of the carriage house. What's the ring tone? She'd been guiding as he backed in the truck and was bathed in red from his brake lights.

He grinned. It's the theme from Cops, so I'm going to guess it's work.

She sprinted around the truck and opened the passenger door. Pulling her purse from the foot well, she said, Yes, it's Walt. I might have to leave.

The phone had quit ringing by the time she retrieved it. She stepped away as she returned the call. Walt.

Rob sat and admired the graceful line of her back. With his law enforcement background it was easy to see what was happening. The odds were high she'd be leaving immediately. He did some quick calculations. While the tabletop Lonnie had bought at the salvage yard in Louisville was heavy, they'd taken the legs off it when they packed the truck. If she left him the keys to the carriage house, he could easily get it inside for her. When she put the legs back on, whenever that happened, she'd still need help getting it flipped it on its feet, but he was right across their shared backyard.

Lonnie appeared at the truck's open passenger door. She dropped her phone in the front pocket of her expansive leather messenger bag. I need to get going.

He raised an eyebrow in inquiry. He knew better than to ask outright.

She answered, her voice grim. We've got a burglary at Langston Jewelers. We may or may not have a body. An ambulance just left with Bruce Fulton. He's in bad shape.

She looked at the back of the truck. Let's get the table inside before I go. I'll put the legs on later...

The antique legs were elaborate and bulbous, emblematic of the design excesses of the Victorian age. It was easier to carry one at a time. Working quickly they soon had the four legs and tabletop inside, leaning in a corner of the great room.

Do you need to change before you leave?

She glanced down... pink hightop sneakers, black jeans, pink T-shirt, with a pink and black flannel shirt tied around her waist. No, I should be fine. If I have to make a notification, I've got black flats and a gray jacket in my SUV. There was a brief awkward pause, then she said, I'm sorry about this.

He shrugged philosophically. It's your job. And it's not like I never had to leave a date unexpectedly when I was in the FBI.

That caught her attention. A date?

I think so. How about you?

She gave a quick nod. Yeah. A date. She added cautiously, A casual one.

He smiled. Casual works for me.

He watched her pull away, then climbed into his truck. At least they'd gotten his huge bookcases unloaded first. And they'd had a pleasant time on the road trip to Louisville. Mentally he practiced the local pronunciation. Lou-A-Vul... He'd hoped to end with dinner together, but all in all, it'd been a great day...

The first of many, he hoped...

A 911 call had come through the switchboard alerting them to the burglary but the caller had hung up before identifying himself.

Now Lonnie stood in the middle of the small, crowded back office of Langston Jewelers and surveyed the damage.

A freestanding safe about her height stood adjacent to the desk, its door ajar. With a gloved hand, she gently swung the safe door and looked at the dial, which appeared to be undamaged. Its interior consisted of a stack of flat shelves. From what Lonnie could ascertain, standard black jewelry store trays had been stored on the shelves. Now, the empty trays were scattered around the room. Several miscellaneous pieces of jewelry abandoned in the mess attested to the haste of the theft.

Back in the shop itself, the glass display cases, arranged in a U-shape, had been brutally smashed. On the walls, glass shelves in alcoves had also been destroyed. The damage was fixable, but it would take time and cost money... a lot of money, she thought. Why spend the time on the vicious destruction in the shop, when they also hit the safe? Was it personal?

She spun slowly, taking in the details. Several monitors lay shattered. A computer tower lay nearby, its case open and a pool of liquid around it. Walt had mentioned the surveillance system was compromised, but they didn't know how badly. Peter Jenkins, the department's computer geek was crouched over it, muttering.

The old desk was disordered, but it didn't seem like it had been searched or disturbed -- more like the result of doing business. While there were loose stacks of paper, there was a visible logic to the piles which were mostly receipts and catalogs with sticky notes.

A small drafting table was crowded into a corner. Lonnie looked at it thoughtfully. What was it doing in a jewelry store office?

There were two chairs, one for the person using the desk and the other placed beside the desk and stacked with more jewelry catalogs, along with a few high end consumer magazines -- fashion and interior design.

She turned again... There was a niggle, a pattern here... but nothing she could articulate...

Walt joined her and brought her up to date. So far Bruce Fulton is still alive and the ambulance got to the hospital. I sent a patrol officer to get the daughter. He's bringing her here first so we can get a sense of what's missing, then he'll take her to the hospital. We don't know if his condition is related to this theft. He was found around the corner in the city lot, on the ground behind his parked car. He added, Apparently, the daughter thought he was in Myrtle Beach with his girlfriend...

Do we know how he was injured? Lonnie asked.

"The EMTs weren't sure. There was head trauma but they also suspected cardiac involvement. They found his cell phone on the