Dead Men Do Tell LiesFrequently
Becoming a doctors wife was Rose Marie Castles way of obtaining the beautiful life she wasnt born into. But after being jilted at the altar by Mr Prominent Plastic Surgeon, this ageing beauty stumbles braless and pantyless out of her fortieth birthday party and into a murder investigation.
Dr Pierce Carver is Austins very own smoothtalking, fast-living, upwardly mobile, womanisingmurder victim. And with his three ex-wives, widow, stepdaughters and estranged sons crawling out of the woodwork, it can finally be revealed just how many lives one man can lead.
Rosies sexy teen crush Michael Nash still remembers the time they spent together under the palm trees in Mexico. As the acting homicide detective on Rosies case, he just cant agree with her on who derailed whose life. But with so much blame to pass, why not share it?
Now this nurse turned premature (yet never matured) grandmother has a coming-of-middle-age journey to take and a whodunit to unravel. With a rough-cut Texan police officer on her trail, Rosie snoops to find her fairy-tale ending behind the lies where the beautiful life loses its lustre.
Once, all she desired was Dr Pierce Carvers head on a silver platter, and everyone knows it. Too bad her dreams do come true.
Also available fromAnn Major
THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN SPURS
THE HOT LADIES MURDER CLUB
THE
SECRET
LIVES
OF
DOCTORS
WIVES
ANN
MAJOR
www.mirabooks.co.uk
This book is dedicated to Tara Gavin.
She contributed the title and
much more, as always.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I need to thank Kimberly Huett for her help.
Prologue
Austin, Texas
He remembered the flash of the blade, the slender hand in the dark. His screams had been followed by eerie silence. Too late he recalled that this house had a history of tragedy.
The dying man could barely hear Rose Marie Castles flying bare feet on the sculpted stone staircase. Besides her shoes, she was missing several intimate garments that, doubtless, the police would find later.
Run, run as fast as you can
His hands were bound together with Rosies silky black bra. Her paring knife was lodged firmly in his Adams apple. The security cameras would capture incriminating images of her escape, but he would be dead long before she was brought to justice, which could be slow, even in Texas.
The deathblow had been savage. Delicate vertebrae had been smashed, his spinal cord nicked or severed. Hed had no sensation of falling as hed crumpled to the white carpet, his blood staining it a vivid crimson.
Hed been a fool, ensnared like a stupid fly in a web. Because of herthe bitch.
He was cold to the marrow of his bones.
Downstairs, Rosie let out a panicked little cry. She began to pound on the door with her fists. When it finally opened, and she stumbled outside, the prisms of the chandelier above the grand staircase tinkled.
He thought of his mother and father. Of the old life and its false promises; of all the bitter years when hed longed for vengeance, which would have been hisexcept for her.
Down the hill, the big engine of her Beamer purred to life. When she sped away, his useless body convulsed. As his eyeballs rolled upward, he heard the wind in the branches of the pecan trees outside. She must have left the door open in her haste to escape.
The harsh music of the cicadas joined the sweeter chime of the chandelier that shed imported from Paris.
Paris, France; not Paris, Texas. What grand ambitions shed had before the wedding.
Run, run; you cant catch me
Like hell.
Shed pay. She deserved to pay.
His body convulsed one final time.
He thought about her dreams of being a grand lady in Austin society, married to the eminent plastic surgeon Pierce Carver. Shed wanted to live down the poverty and shame of her childhood.
Was there enough money or fame to heal such wounds?
The dying man almost felt pity for Rose Marie Castle as he died.
But not quite.
One
Austin, Texas
Oh my God! More blood? Shed thought it was only a nick.
Rosie couldnt believe what had just happened. Pierce had gotten angry so quickly. Hed seemed weird, strung out, not himself at all.
Her every breath was a harsh, tortured rasp as she grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her cut finger and the steering wheel. She didnt want to think about her former fiancé, or their quarrel, or how quickly the violence had escalated.
Perspiration drenched her, not just because it was a hot, sultry August night or because of the champagne shed drunk with Pierce before the evening had gone wrong. Or because today was her fortieth birthday and maybe she was simply having an early hot flash.
She rubbed her head. Her scalp hurt where Pierces watch had caught her hair. He hadnt cared that hed hurt her. In fact, hed smiled.
She wrapped the tissue around her finger and applied pressure. When the Beamers tires squealed, rounding a sharp curve, she gripped the wheel. It wasnt like her to mistreat her car by driving too fast. She was that anxious to get away.
Well, at least she was finally over him. No more wisecracks to the other nurses about wanting revenge, to salve her wounded ego because they knew hed dumped her for Anita.
For what it was worth, tonight Mr. Prominent Plastic Surgeon hadnt paid her a dime of the money he owed her, either. Big surprise. She still didnt know why shed snapped. But for sure, she had bigger problems now than the money hed owed her.
What had she ever seen in Pierce? He was a gifted doctor, and being a nurse, shed admired that. Shed been having a hard time accepting her grown daughters lifestyle, so maybe hed come along when shed needed to feel successful in other areas of her life. Being seen on the arm of a handsome plastic surgeon had made her feel good.
But even before hed dumped her, the romance had taken a dark turn. Like a lot of Rosies boyfriendsand thered been a lot, way too many in some peoples opinions, such as her mothersPierce had developed the knack for punching the wrong buttons. He brought out the Bad Rosie, just like her mom, Hazel, did sometimes, which was why Rosie should have been delighted when hed jilted her for a younger woman right before their wedding day nearly a year ago.
Okay, so Rosie hadnt been delighted or acted mature, despite her mature age. Okay, so maybe that was partly because shed been feeling romantic about being a bride again, and partly because shed seen Dr. Pierce Carver as the ticket to the sparkling train car.
Rosies least favorite movie scene of all time, and of course it had to be the one that haunted her, was the opening sequence in Woody Allens Stardust Memories. In the scene, poor Woody sat in a dark, dirty train car with a bunch of other pathetic losers. Unfortunately, he had looked out the window just in time to see a sparkling train car filled with happy, glamorous people drinking champagne streak by him, and he had despaired.
Thered been a lot of times when Rosie would have sold her soul to be in that sparkling car.
Pierce had come into her life just when shed been feeling superguilty about Carmen dancing at The Cellar and neglecting her five-year-old daughter, Alexis, to the point that Rosie had had to take Alexis under her wing. Pierce had seemed glamorous and caring and sure of himself, when shed been feeling vulnerable because she was getting older and didnt have enough to show for it.
When he had jilted her and shed had to face reality again, shed had to see a shrink for a while to reclaim her sanityon a weekly basis, as a matter of fact.
Sookay. Okay. Okay.
Rosie really had thought she was over Pierce, until hed called tonight. Hed flattered her and said he was tying up loose ends. Hed promised to pay her the money he owed her, and shed agreed to give him a new key to the warehouse where he stored some medical records.
Now she was racing down the curving, narrow road in Westlake Hills that led through sweetsmelling juniper-covered, limestone hills, away from his mansion.
Rosie lifted her gaze to the rearview mirror. She caught a glimpse of one blue eye and her coppery-red curls. She adjusted the mirror and saw her shoes on the back seat.
As for her bra and pantiesHer heart began to beat fast. She did not want to dwell on missing underwear.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
She couldnt believe hed made her feel so vulnerable and lonely. Why else had she started stripping for him and
Hed said she was beautiful, and maybe she wasfor her age. She was slim. Her legs were long. Okay, so maybe she was a little worried about her neck at times. Just as she lifted her chin to check it in her rearview mirror, her cell phone vibrated on her lap.
Damn. No way could she talk to anybody.
But when she picked up the phone, she saw Yolies name highlighted in brilliant blue. Yolie had let her and Alexis move in when Rosies house had burned not long after Pierce had jilted her. Alexis was home with Jennifer, who was just a teenager. A responsible one, but still a teenager. Yolie was supposed to go to her ranch tonight.
What if there was a problem? Rosie had to answer.
Whereve you been? Celebrating your big birthday with a lot of sex and sin and alcohol, I hope, Yolie said in that crisp, in-your-face voice she usually reserved for the managers of her various fast-food Taco Bonito restaurants.
No way was Rosie admitting the truth. That shed gone to Pierces. That shed almostNot to Yolie, of all people! Yolie, who, among her many identities, happened to be one of Pierces ex-wives.
Yolie had totally agreed with Nan, Rosies shrink, when shed advised Rosie not to date for a while, so that she could confront the psychic wounds of her childhood. Whatever.
They both said shed obsessed about Pierce for too long. Theyd been the first to quit laughing when shed joked about having vengeful fantasies, although Yolie had enjoyed her saying shed have Pierces head on a silver platter if he kept refusing to pay her what he owed her.
Alarmed that Yolie, who hadnt gotten rich in the fast-food business by being the dimmest bulb in the kitchen, might somehow hear the quiver in her voice and suspect something, Rosie tensed.
OhI was at my houseyou know, painting with Harryso that somedaysooner rather than lateryoull have your mansion back to yourself. Not exactly a lie.
Harrys main job was to run her rental properties, which included houses in her old East Austin neighborhood, as well as the warehouse where Pierce stored some of his stuff. Of late, Harry had been the contractor on her house.
Really? Until midnight? I just got back from your place. Harry was smoking grass in that portable potty your nosy, next-door neighbor, Mirabella, is always in such a snit about. Would you believe Mirabella was actually up and that she and her dog watched me from her kitchen window? Does she ever mind her own business?
She makes a career of running me down to the entire neighborhood.
When I knocked on the door of the portable potty, I almost got high myself on fumes when he kicked it open. Harry was pretty fuzzy headed, but he did say he thought Jennifer called you around 11:00 p.m., maybe about Alexis, because you sure peeled rubber when you left.
Busted. Rosie swallowed. Shed been only too happy to let him think it was Jennifer, her favorite babysitter.
But had she actually said she was going home to check on Alexis? No. Did she have to account for her actions to Harry, of all people? Definitelyno!
I With Yolie, who was way smarter than Harry, sometimes the less said, the better. Sowhats up?
I was on my way out the door, late as usual, to go to the ranch, when Beth called. In fact, I just left Jennifer and Alexis, who are fine, by the way. Beth sounds frantic. Says shes been calling you for over an hour
Beth was an R.N. in the I.C.U. at Brackenridge Hospital, where Rosie worked. Beth had been sick earlier in the week, and Rosie had had to pull double shifts. Not fun, since she needed every spare minute to clean and paint her burned-out mess of a house because Harrys progress on the job had been so slow and her neighbors, stirred up by Mirabella, were bugging her about the unmowed brown grass and the awful orange portable potty in her front yard.
Beth?
She said to call her at the unit ASAP. Yolie paused. Oh, and before I forget, I left you a teeny piece of double-fudge, Italian-cream chocolate cake in the fridge for your birthday.
You swore you wouldnt Rosie stopped herself.
There was no point in arguing with Yolie, who was a larger woman, who loved to cook, and who ate whatever she wanted. She wasnt neurotic about her butt size or her jean size or even the fact that her next big birthday would be fifty. She had a thing for younger men, too. Her current hottie was Xavier, her gardener, of all people. He was ambitious. Yolie was always helping him with his English. He was going to school, and he worked for Taco Bonito, too. The one condition shed made when Rosie had moved in was to leave Xavier strictly aloneor shed teasingly threatened to turn her into taco meat for her restaurant chain.
Of course, Rosie had promised to leave the yardman to his clipping, but that was before shed seen Xavier, who had a head of thick black hair, a body of sleek dark muscles and a lopsided smile that reminded her too much of the first man shed ever given her heart to, under a palm tree in Mexico, no less.
I swore I wouldnt make brownies, but didnt say anything about Italian-cream cake, Yolie said. Life is far too short and much too cruel to live without chocolate. Youre only forty once, sweetie. Enjoythat is, if you ever get home tonight.
Before Yolie, who no doubt had time to talk, went on to press her for details about where shed been, exactly, Rosie hung up and dialed Beth.
Im sorry to bother youbut I really really need you to come in, Beth began. Just for an hourits an emergency.
Its after midnight. Cant a supervisor pull a nurse off another floor? I cant just
Please.
Im out. Im a mess. She couldnt very well say, You think you have problems? This has been the most terrible night of my life! Im braless and pantyless and so totally mental after losing it with Pierce and Pierce losing it with me that there is no way I could take care of patients.