Dolly Departed

woman had been stalking her since the moment Gretchen had met Matt. She'd been relatively harmless, until now. This was getting much more serious.

'Can you tell if my tire has been tampered with?' she asked.

He shrugged. 'Hard to say. Maybe an auto mechanic would know.'

'Now what?'

'Now you wait for the service truck, which I'm going to call for you.'

'Can't you change it for me?'

'Puh-leeze,' he said. 'What you citizens expect.'

Gretchen stared at the tire, then out at the street. She saw Matt Albright trot across Scottsdale Road midblock and step onto the curb, his dark hair wind-tossed, his face handsome and tanned but taut. Edgy.

Then he spotted her and smiled. 'What's going on?' he said, approaching.

'Do you know how to change a tire?' Gretchen asked, pointing at the flat.

'Hey, Kline,' Matt called out to the Scottsdale detective, who was digging in the squad's trunk. 'I'll handle it from here.'

'You don't know what you're getting yourself into.'

'She's that bad, huh?'

'You know it.' The Scottsdale detective hopped into the police vehicle and drove off.

Matt leaned up against her car and crossed his arms. The tension she had seen on his face when he crossed the street was gone. He smiled at her.

'I hate to spoil your day,' Gretchen said. 'But your wife punctured my tire.'

His smile slid sideways. 'Are you sure?'

'Not exactly. I mean, I didn't see her do it, but who else would do something so vicious?'

'You're awfully suspicious, considering she hasn't done anything to you up until now.'

'Stalking me doesn't count?'

'She followed you a few times, I threatened to lock her up, she said she wouldn't bother you again.'

'I can see the warning was effective,' Gretchen said, pointing again at the tire.

'You probably drove over a nail.' He bent over the tire to examine it. 'I tell you what. I'll change it for you. Do you have a spare?'

Gretchen nodded, opening the trunk.

'And I'll buy a new one to replace the flat. How's that?'

'You're agreeable tonight.'

'I hate to admit it, but it looks like someone did slash your tire. See here.' He ran his fingers along the tire. Gretchen bent down. Sure enough, there was a long slit in the rubber.

'We can't be sure Kayla did it.' A sparkly smile as he stood up, his dark eyes locking onto hers. He was only a few inches taller than Gretchen's five eight. Just the way she liked a man. 'But I'll buy you dinner, too,' he said, 'as compensation.' He reached to give Nimrod a pat on the head. 'We'll drop Nimrod at your house first.'

'He still knows his 'hide' command.' The detective was standing way too close.

'Is that a yes?' Matt moved to the trunk and pulled out the spare tire.

'It's a maybe. I'm worried about the rest of my property. I wouldn't want my house to burn down while we were dining unaware.'

'I thought you had nerves of steel. What happened?

Don't you like a little excitement in your life?'

'You'll have to assume responsibility for her actions.'

'I always have. Is that a yes?'

'Um. .' Gretchen grinned. 'Entice me some more.'

She watched him jack up the back of the car, muscles rippling, not an ounce of fat anywhere.

'I have information about Charlie. I'd like your take on it.'

He knew just how to reel her in. She pretended to waver.

'Okay,' she said, ignoring the sensible, barely audible little voice that was trying to remind her that he was still married, and his wife was certifiably nuts.

'What are you looking for?' Matt said, after watching her dig through her purse.

'My sunglasses. I don't remember where I left them.'

'They're on your head.'

Gretchen lifted a hand to the top of her head. Sure enough, there they were. She pulled the glasses down over her eyes, then realized the sun had almost set. Matt Albright could really rattle her cage.

'Okay,' Gretchen said, over after-dinner coffee beside her swimming pool. 'I've waited long enough.'

Caroline walked past the patio door and peeked out, giving Gretchen a thumbs-up. Gretchen pretended not to notice.

'I didn't want to spoil dinner by talking shop,' Matt said.

'Understandable. I've already promised to keep anything you say confidential, so tell me.'

'I'm telling you for a specific reason. You absolutely must keep it to yourself. No one needs to know how she was murdered until after we've had time to investigate. I won't go into gory autopsy details. The results were clear, though. Charlie Maize was poisoned.'

Gretchen blinked. 'Poisoned?'

'We almost missed it.'

'A poison showed up during the autopsy?'

'Almost didn't. Nicotine leaves the body quickly. The report might have been inconclusive, except for the suspicions of the doctor at the scene. According to the ME, we got lucky.'

'I don't understand.'

'Like I said, giving you graphic details isn't necessary.'

Matt leaned back in the patio chair, crossed his ankle over his knee, and gazed out at Camelback Mountain.

'I'm tougher than you think,' Gretchen said. Yeah, right. This from the woman who faints at the sight of an insect. Matt's gaze shifted from the mountain to her. 'The poison was in her coffee. We analyzed the dregs from a cup in her shop. Charlie's fingerprints were all over it, and the coffee was loaded with nicotine.'

'Nicotine? In her coffee?' Gretchen stared at her own cup of coffee. 'Nicotine is poisonous?'

Matt nodded. 'She had a lethal dose, well over the sixty milligrams necessary to kill somebody.'

'But how? I've never heard of anything like this before.'

'A few drops of pure nicotine can easily kill a human being. It's more deadly than arsenic or strychnine.'

He took a sip of coffee. Gretchen pushed hers away.

'According to the medical examiner, it's tasteless. Once Charlie drank it, she would have had difficulty breathing. Then she would have begun to have convulsions. Her diaphragm would have been paralyzed. Then death. All in pretty rapid secession. The whole process could have taken less than five minutes.'

Gretchen made a gurgling sound.

'Sorry,' he said. 'But you wanted to know.'

'Who would do something like that?'

Matt shrugged. 'She could have poisoned herself, according to the medical examiner.'

'You think it was suicide?'

'No. There are much more pleasant ways to kill yourself.'

'Then you think she was murdered.'

'Looks that way to me.'

Nimrod flew through his doggy door, ran past them, and dove into the swimming pool. Matt jumped up and followed him to the edge of the pool. He looked back quizzically at Gretchen and kicked off his sandals. 'Do I have to jump in to rescue him?' he said.

Gretchen laughed. 'Poodles are water dogs. My biggest challenge is keeping him out of the pool.'

Nimrod paddled in circles before swimming to the pool stairs and climbing out. He trotted over to Matt and shook water on his legs.