Bitter Sweet by Connie Shelton Page A

in
thirty minutes.
    When she walked in, he’d already
gotten a table and she detected an air of excitement as he greeted her.
    “What’s up?”
    “Got some background results on
that Ted O’Malley. His youth record was sealed, of course, but at eighteen he
was brought in a few times for minor things in Albuquerque—graffiti, starting
fires in dumpsters, drunk and disorderly. By twenty-five he’d either
straightened out his act or moved out of state. Recently he’s not been visible
in the state of New Mexico but it turns out the Nevada police have him on their
radar.”
    Their waiter came around and they
decided to split a roast beef sandwich. When he went away Beau continued.
    “O’Malley’s wanted for several
things ranging from traffic tickets to an intent-to-distribute charge involving
some cocaine that was found in his vehicle. Las Vegas PD suspected him of leaving
the state because of that, plus some unpaid gambling debts to a few unsavory
types.” He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket, opening it to reveal
a photocopy of a driver’s license. “Age 45, height 69 inches, weight 162, home
address in Las Vegas.”
    Sam looked at the picture. It was
Ted O’Malley, all right. His hair was quite a bit darker, even though the issue
date of the license was only a year ago. Had he added some gray, to make
himself appear closer in age to Lila?
    “Those are the hard facts, but
the juicy stuff came from the LVPD lieutenant I spoke with.” He paused to get
her attention. “O’Malley is already married.”

Chapter
9
    “What?” Sam startled the waiter,
who had brought their sandwich.
    Beau waited until the young man
set the plate down and left. “Ted O’Malley has a wife, Debbie, in Las Vegas.
She works as a waitress, they got married right out of high school, have three
kids. Looks like we can add bigamy to the misdeeds of our friend.”
    “Wow. I never saw that coming.”
    “Apparently, neither did Lila
Coffey. I got names from the guest book at the funeral home and called a couple
of the women who attended her service. They said she’d fallen for Ted hard and
fast. He showed up in town about three months ago and met Lila at Chez Luis.”
    One of the most upscale
restaurants in town, and a place where many of the more successful artists hung
out. Sam knew because she’d delivered pastries there a few times for special
events.
    “Two of the ladies I spoke with
mentioned how well-traveled Ted was, how he talked about Paris and London as if
he’d lived in those places. Lila loved the fact that he’d also been to more
exotic spots like Bali and Peru. That, plus his slightly European accent and
charming ways. One of them said he reminded her of Sean Connery when he wore
his tuxedo.”
    Sam didn’t recall Ted O’Malley
speaking with an accent and she told Beau so. “How does a guy who borrows from
loan sharks get into that lifestyle? And where are the wife and kids
while he’s off doing all this?”
    He shrugged. “According to both
of these friends, Lila was all set to book the two of them on a world cruise,
just as soon as she finished her current pottery commission and got paid for
it.”
    “I don’t think I’ll tell Zoë
about all this. She’ll feel like she should have been there for Lila. She would
have probably seen through this guy.”
    “Well, if it’s any consolation,
scam artists like this are usually very good at reading their targets. They’ll
get the women talking about their friends and family, then they’ll isolate them
from anyone who seems a threat to the plan. Friends who are sharp enough to be
skeptical will rarely meet the guy until it’s too late.”
    “So you think he set Lila up,
right from the moment he met her?”
    “He may have even stalked her, in
a way, observing from a distance. Maybe watching women collect their mail to
find out who received statements from banks and brokerage houses. These guys
can be pretty cunning.”
    Sam suddenly lost her