Ultimate Concealer, A Toni Diamond Mystery: A Toni Diamond Mystery (Toni Diamond Mysteries) by Nancy Warren Read Free Book Online

Lady Bianca convention that maybe you could help save Dad.”
    Linda made a strange sound as though she were shouting without opening her zipped lips.
    “Then I will need you to be a lot more specific. Who was he talking to? What were his exact words?” Tiffany had an excellent memory and she’d inherited Toni’s powers of observation.
    “Don’t get mad. Remember, you two haven’t been married for a long time.”
    “So, he was talking to a woman?”
    Tiff nodded. “He said, ‘Aw, now come on honey. You know I’m good for it. Our ship’s going to come in, and I’m going to take you to Paris and treat you like a princess.’” Tiff had always been a good mimic and as she repeated Dwayne’s words, she’d even fallen into his way of drawling his words. That she was getting a word-for-word account of the conversation, Toni had no doubt.
    “Then he paused for a bit, like the other person was talking, and then he said, ‘Because somebody’s trying to kill me, that’s why.’ And then I think he hung up. I didn’t hear anymore.”
    Tiffany and Linda exchanged a quick glance. Toni tried to come up with a diplomatic way to tell Tiffany that her father was not only a liar, but a huge drama queen. Finally, she said, “You know, Tiff, sometimes people get carried away and say things for effect that they don’t really believe. Why would anyone want to kill your father?”
    “Mom, you didn’t see those guys who crashed into his car. It was like out of a gangster movie. There were two big guys, like the muscle, and then the third guy who was obviously in charge. Dad knew him. He called him Grant.”
    “You think this Grant is trying to kill your dad? Seems pretty stupid to rough him up and threaten him in front of a witness. He’d be the obvious suspect if anything happened to your father.”
    Tiffany pushed her long hair behind her ears. “The guy, Grant, he said, ‘You got something of mine and I want it back. Next time I won’t play around.’ Then Dad said, “I don’t know what your crazy wife’s been saying,’ and then they hit him.”
    “I wouldn’t call that a death threat,” Linda said. “He never said anything about killing your dad.”
    “Dad says he lent Mom money to get her business started back when I was a baby and she promised to pay it back. He says he needs that money back now.”
    “Oh, I am gonna kill that lyin’, cheatin’ sonovabitch!” Linda shouted, jumping right up out of the chaise.
    “Now that’s a death threat,” Toni said.

Chapter Five
    “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
    — Eleanor Roosevelt
    Toni explained to Tiffany that her father had never lent her money for her business. She stopped short of telling her daughter that he’d sneaked out in the middle of the night, taking the truck, which was the only thing they had that was worth anything. He’d left her and her baby girl without a backward glance.
    Looking back, Toni knew now that he’d done her the biggest favor of her life. From the heartbreak and shock of discovering that her young husband was a no-good, cheating snake who had no intention of providing for his only child, she’d learned to survive. And then she’d learned to thrive.
    But at the time, she’d believed her world had ended.
    The afternoon was getting on and Linda had declared her intention of taking the three of them out to dinner somewhere nice when the front door opened.
    Expecting to see Dwayne, whom she had not set eyes on since he’d left them, Toni felt her muscles contract. But the man who walked through the door wasn’t Dwayne. He was a tall, slim man, with short, wavy brown hair, glasses and the nondescript clothing of a civil servant. He wore a plain gray suit, with a white shirt and a blue striped tie. He carried a simple black briefcase.
    “Hi, Brent,” Tiff said. “This is my mom, Toni. And my grandmother, Linda.”
    This had to be Brent Hodgkin, the CPA who owned the house, but surely this dull-looking