Too Sweet to Die by T. Doyle (the false prince .TXT) 📗

Ray cocked his head to the side and narrowed one eye. “But she can get half the value of his practice and if she can prove he hid money, she can sue him for more.”

“Maybe.” I hesitated, still not able to wrap my head around the idea that Tyler, someone I knew, might’ve committed murder. “Do you think Tyler would kill Oscar over a few dollars?”

Joe picked up the plates. “It’s probably more than a few dollars. Not that I’m suggesting you commit a felony to find evidence of Tyler’s guilt.”

“I’ve seen people kill for a pair of sneakers.” Ray carried the empty beer bottles to the recycling. “Only way to know if Tyler is guilty of something is to see his financials. We’re going to have to break in and clone Polly’s computer.”

Sounded logical and foolish. I brought over the platter and pushed the leftovers into a plastic container.

Ray cleared the table.

Joe put the dishes in the dishwasher.

Ray clapped his hands. “Okay, then, Joe’s lookout, you come with me and we search Tyler’s office.”

“Now?” I asked. A little zing of excitement shivered through me.

“What? You worried you’ll miss The Bachelor?” Ray crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter.

“NCIS.” Joe dried his hands and folded the towel. “How about I’m the lookout and Charlie stays here?”

“What? No.” I did not stomp my foot, but the urge was there.

Ray looked at his watch. “I want you as lookout, and Charlie to take pictures of all the kids on the wall while I search. We’ll be in and out fast.” His skeptical smirk didn’t ease my concerns. “We’ll take my car.”

“Your car is too loud. We’ll take mine,” Joe said, surprising me. He waggled his brows at me. “What? You think I’m going to let you have all the fun?”

Which is how, ten minutes later, I ended up wearing latex gloves, focusing my phone light on Tyler’s back door while Ray used a lock-pick set.

Joe had parked on the corner giving him a view of the alley and the front of Tyler’s office.

The doorknob turned in Ray’s hand.

“That’s very handy. Any chance you’ll teach me how to pick a lock?” I whispered.

Ray closed the door behind us. “Yeah. That’ll go over well at the next PTA meeting.”

I punched his shoulder. “Hey, I’m an empty nester. PTA is in the past. All I have to look forward to is the gardening club and…” I swallowed. “Quilting.”

“Quilting? You? I’m not sure I’d arm you with anything as sharp as a needle and scissors.”

“Stuff it. At least I’m not flirting with people half my age.”

Ray nudged me toward the photo wall.

I took photos with my phone, attempting to get four pictures frames in each shot.

“You’d make a lousy cougar. Your standards are too high,” Ray said.

“What does that make you? A manther?” My phone buzzed with a text from Joe. “Joe says the light turned on across the street.”

“Probably coincidence. Keep taking pictures. Joe will tell us if they come outside.” Ray sat at Polly’s desk and opened her laptop. He stuck a USB drive in the side and held down a few keys while the computer started. He harrumphed. “I’ll have you know, I haven’t entertained any women in a couple of weeks.”

I whipped my head around and slammed my mouth shut preventing an indelicate question from slipping out. “I wish you happiness,” I said.

He looked at me with his lips drawn back in mock horror. “Take that back.”

I ignored him and continued taking photos. “What are you doing over there?”

“I’ve got a program that allows me to use her laptop without her noticing. I can access her hard drive and copy files over,” he said.

“Would it work on Oscar’s cloud drive?”

“Nope. But I know a guy I can ask how to access Oscar’s cloud.”

I finished with the photos. “I’ll check out the file room, maybe he keeps his accounting and tax records in there.” Tyler’s file room contained several oak filing cabinets. They were heavy and locked. I peeked my head back into the reception area. “Hey, the filing cabinets are locked. Wanna teach me how to use the lock-pick now?”

“Don’t worry about it. His files likely contain paper copies of things he filed at the court, and we can get those online. I wonder if Tyler has a safe?”

My phone buzzed with a text from Joe. I read it aloud. “Cops driving this way.”

“Got it.” Ray pulled the USB drive out and closed the laptop lid. We slid out the back door, and Ray checked to make sure the door locked behind us.

“Weird that Tyler doesn’t have an alarm, right?” I stuffed my used latex gloves in my pocket.

“He does,” Ray said. “I noticed the keypad in his office. I disarmed it this afternoon. I hoped he hadn’t noticed.”

Outside, I pumped my legs to keep up with Ray’s long stride. “Are you kidding me?” I wanted to smack him but he was moving too fast. “What if he had noticed?”

“Well, then the alarm would have gone off and we’d have run really fast to Joe’s car. No big deal.” Ray opened the passenger door.

I gave him the stink eye. I slid into the car and closed my door.

Ray settled in the back seat.

Joe turned on the headlights and drove toward our house. “How’d it go?”

“Good,” Ray said. “I’ll go through the files I copied tonight and make a list. Charlie, if you get time, upload the photos and send me a link. I’ll cross check photos with the missing persons database.”

I turned to face Ray. “Okay. Can I help? That seems like a lot of work.”

“Yeah.” Ray sucked air between his teeth. “See if you can’t keep my mom from extracting retribution on Evie.”

“Maybe she’ll forget about Evie.” Hope tinged my tone.

Ray chuffed. “You’re one heck of an optimist, Charlie.”

Chapter Eighteen

It took more than an hour to upload the pictures from Tyler’s office. I emailed