I could do the grown-up thing by going inside and making a nice lunch for everyone.
I could buy breathing apparatuses for Dudley and me and go hang out at Etta’s place until they left.
Or I could try to squeeze Dudley in my Corvette and disappear into the horizon. Never mind that snails were outpacing the traffic since the earlier downpour.
The last option was seriously tempting until I remembered I’d have to carry Dudley down the stairs first. But he might’ve gained confidence from our curb-hopping adventure. I walked him across the landing and started down the steps, pretending it was no big deal as I knew dogs took cues from body language.
Dudley wasn’t fooled.
“C’mon, Dudley. Stairs are nothing compared to the horrors of that apartment.” I leaned down to appeal to him. “You remember Meow don’t you? That fiery spitball that had you trembling behind Etta’s legs?”
Dudley licked me on the chin and stared at me with his gentle brown eyes, trusting me to look after him. Whether that meant protecting him from the demon cat or carrying him down the unconquerable stairs was immaterial.
Crap.
“Should we hang out here on Etta’s outdoor sofa?”
It began to drizzle.
“Ugh. Fine. Why are grown-up decisions always the least appealing options?” I towed Dudley back across the landing, pasted a smile on my face, and opened the front door. “Hi, everyone. I was about to make some lunch. Would you like some?”
Oliver’s face brightened, Henrietta’s darkened, and Aunt Alice’s turned to Dudley with the kind of look she normally reserved for me. I’d forgotten how much she disliked animals.
“Lunch would be great,” Oliver said. “We’re watching a documentary about LA, but I’ve seen it before, so I’ll give you a hand.”
I was shocked he would voluntarily leave her worshipfulness, the oh-so-poised Henrietta, to help me cook. Then again, his ability to make the most of his couch time with her was severely hampered by Aunt Alice chaperoning them. She was the ultimate wet blanket.
Given Meow tended to be Oliver’s second shadow whenever he was home, I crouched in front of Dudley and petted him in preparation for their arrival. Except she didn’t appear. “Where’s Meow? Is she okay?”
“Yeah. She’s hanging out in my bedroom.” Oliver squatted beside me to greet Dudley and lowered his voice. “Mrs. Sloan doesn’t like her much, and it seems the feeling is mutual.”
“I thought cats are usually attracted to people that don’t like them.”
“Well, Meow is smarter than most cats.”
“Because she can say her own name, you mean?”
“Exactly.”
I looked over to Aunt Alice sitting primly on the couch. “Are you sure you want her as your mother-in-law?”
“Why not? As long as she lives overseas.”
I grinned and cuffed his shoulder. “So disrespectful.”
“And wise,” he added.
Well, except for the choice of girlfriend. “Sure. Whatever you say.”
I changed out of my soggy boots and set up Dudley’s bed next to me in the kitchen. It meant we had to keep stepping around him, but at least he was safe from both Meow and Aunt Alice. He settled onto it following a few cursory sniffs, and I wondered if he could possibly be tired after all his sleeping in the car. He did seem to like lying down more than any other dog I’d ever met. Or maybe he’d scented Meow and concluded it was safer not to explore.
We decided on mushroom and bacon risotto for lunch. Normally I’d throw all the ingredients in the rice cooker and walk away, but today I put it in a saucepan on the stove where I would have to stir it constantly. Anything for an excuse not to join Aunt Alice and Henrietta on the couch.
The documentary and risotto finished around the same time, and we gathered at the table. “How are you enjoying LA?” I asked as I dished out the food.
My question was aimed at keeping this conversation on topics other than my failings.
“It’s very nice,” said Aunt Alice.
Henrietta and Oliver shared a secret smile while she was distracted.
“But I was sorry to hear about your boyfriend’s death.” I felt the weight of her gaze. “You know, the one you didn’t tell us about.”
The spoon I was dishing with froze in midair. “I didn’t want to ruin your visit. With such heavy news, I mean.”
“Nonsense, Isobel. We’re here to support you, aren’t we, Henrietta?”
“Of course,” Henrietta parroted, but she made sure to meet my eyes and shake her head ever so slightly. Which I took to mean: drop dead.
“And you need all the support you can get when it comes to men,” Aunt Alice continued, oblivious to her perfect daughter’s rebellion. “First you pick a man who could charm the pants off anyone and probably did, then you win over the strong, steady type and leave him for no apparent reason, and finally you wind up with a seemingly safe option, a smart agoraphobic who’d never have a chance to cheat on you or run off, only he gets murdered. When is his funeral being held?”
I studied her face but could see no sign of mockery. There was plenty in Henrietta’s though. “The funeral’s Wednesday. But it’s not necessary for you to come. You’re supposed be enjoying your hard-earned holiday. And you never had the chance to meet him.”
She treated me to one of her disapproving sighs. “Now whose fault is that?”
As Earnest passed away before she touched down in LA, I thought that was harsh.
“We’ll be there.” Her tone said the issue was closed.
“Okay. Um. Thanks.” Aunt Alice was the last person I’d want at the funeral. She’d no doubt find fault with my outfit, my not-waterproof-enough mascara, and the entire service if she learned from Mrs. Dunst that I’d helped plan it. And if it weren’t for Henrietta’s complete disinterest in me, she’d be just as bad. But how could I argue?
It was an event I was already dreading. On top of the heartache, I felt like a fraud pretending to be Earnest’s grieving girlfriend to so many people. It was weird that I’d have to play the role more convincingly at his funeral than any day I’d spent with him.
“Etta and I discussed it earlier, and we’re coming too,” Oliver said.
Fantastic. I contemplated smothering myself in the pot of risotto. Now everyone would witness my deceit.
14
I was up to my elbows in suds washing dishes when Etta called me. I’d had six more calls from reporters that I’d ignored and had been wondering how Connor was coming along in his search for Earnest’s flash drive. I used my nose to answer the phone and put it on loudspeaker.
“Whereabouts are you and Dudley?” Etta asked. “I’ve had the windows open and the fan going all day, so I think he might be able to come home now.”
I eyed the stack of dishes and the happy trio at the dining table conversing about Aunt Alice’s extraordinary marksmanship. “We’ll be right over.”
Etta opened the door to my knock and lunged straight for Dudley. “Hello, my favorite boy! I’ve missed you, oh yes I have. Have you been a good boy?”
Dudley was equally exuberant. His whole body wiggled with glee, from his pointy nose all the way down to the tip of his tail, which whipped me like an expertly wielded tea towel.
I rubbed my leg and smiled, waiting for one of them to remember I was there.
Etta finally looked up. “Oh, Izzy, nice to see you too. Come in and have a hot drink with me.” She was bundled up for the weather in a red fur-lined coat and knee-high tan leather boots. The cold and Dudley’s kisses brought a becoming glow to her cheeks.
“How’d it go today?” I asked, following her inside. Despite the open windows, the paint fumes were potent, like when I’d visited Jay a couple of days ago.
“Oh good. They only got the first coat done of course, but I’m happy with their work. I trust they’ll finish it off just as neatly, so I think Dudley and I will go on a half-day trip tomorrow.”
I was kind of disap
pointed I wouldn’t need to babysit Dudley again, but I didn’t admit it. Best she thought I’d done her a favor. After the secret boyfriend fiasco, I needed all the brownie points I could get.
“Can I see what you’re having done?” I asked.
“Sure. It’s the bedrooms and bathroom. I had them painted when I first moved in but always wished I’d chosen a lighter shade.”
“So if Dudley was your Christmas present to yourself, what does the repainting come under?” I teased.
“My other Christmas present to myself.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Curiosity plucked at me as we made our way toward her bedroom. It saw so much more action than mine, and I couldn’t even begin to guess at her decorating choices.
Everything had been shifted away from the walls, but the design was easy to make out. A timber floating bed with a low headboard took pride of place, with a simple white duvet and two charcoal pillows. None of those fussy throw cushions. Plain matching timber bedside tables held a few books, and reading lights were suspended by black cords from the ceiling. A huge peace lily plant grew in a white marble pot to the left of the bed. The effect was elegant, modern, and gender-neutral, with the barest touch of femininity lent by a faux fur throw at the foot of the mattress.
She should have been an interior designer.
There was no sign of complex sexual equipment, but if she owned any, it could have been hidden behind the built-in wardrobe. While Etta wasn’t the type to hide such things, she may have done it out of courtesy to avoid intimidating the workmen.
“The paint is dry to the touch now, so I took the throw sheets off,” Etta said, “but it does smell stronger in here doesn’t it? Maybe Dudley and I should sleep in the living room tonight.”
I finally turned my attention to the walls. The pale gray paint, with streaks of the darker shade showing through, niggled something in the back of my mind.
All of a sudden I knew who’d erased Earnest’s hard drives.
I just didn’t know why.
I drained my cup of tea as quickly as possible, agreed they should sleep in the living room, and excused myself. Then I called Connor. “I think it was Jay Massey.”
“What was Jay Massey?”
“Who erased Earnest’s hard drives.”
“Start from the beginning.”
“Well, after our conversation about the possibility of the computers being wiped by a second person, I still thought the timing was weird. If Coleman had organized both the hitman and the computer guy, why send the computer guy during waking hours when someone could walk in on him? So then I thought, what if he only organized the computer guy? Maybe the computer guy was monitoring the house, waiting for an opportunity, and the murderer happened to give him one. But who, aside from the killer, knew the apartment was empty? The only people I could come up with was me, Mrs. Dunst, and Jay since I called them when I was trying to figure out where Earnest was.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“I knew Mrs. Dunst didn’t do it because she was looking for Earnest at the same time I was, but Jay was busy. Mrs. Dunst told me yesterday that he was in the middle of painting something for the landlord, which is why he didn’t help us search. But when I went over to Etta’s, I remembered that Jay was applying the first coat of paint the day I talked to him. It’s possible he had to paint something else for the landlord, but it’s not a normal end-of-lease requirement, so it isn’t likely. Which means it is likely he lied about what he was doing the morning of Earnest’s disappearance.”
“Okay, but—”
“It makes sense. Why else would he lie? He told us himself that he used to work for Aptech. If he and Coleman knew each other, Coleman could have convinced him to wipe Earnest’s computers somehow. He had a key, the technical knowledge to do it, and could’ve simply waited for one of the rare occasions Earnest left the house. He was the perfect choice.”
Connor was silent for a moment. “So the murder was unrelated to the data loss?”
“That’s the part I can’t figure out. No way was Jay involved in Earnest’s death. You should’ve seen them together. Plus he was a mess after he heard Earnest was gone and furious when Mrs. Dunst told him Earnest was murdered. But that morning before Earnest was found, both Mrs. Dunst and Jay thought he’d fallen off the wagon again. So Jay might’ve seen it as a good opportunity to access his hard drives, having no idea he’d been killed.”
“It’s plausible. Would Mr. Massey be susceptible to bribes?”
“I don’t know. He loved Earnest, I’m sure of it, but Earnest lived in that budget apartment because it was easier for him to stay where it was familiar and he didn’t care about material things anyway. Whereas Jay wanted a nicer place. Which is why he’s moving, and keeping up with the latest technology isn’t cheap. Plus he’s come into some money lately. He claimed it was because his YouTube marketing course has been selling well, but he could’ve lied.”
“Right. Then let’s go see if we can convince Mr. Massey that we know more than we do.”
Dusk had fallen over LA by the time we arrived back in University Park. We stopped a block away again, on a different street, and I stayed inside with my transmitter and headphones while Connor headed to Jay’s. His search for the flash drive had come up empty, so this was our sole lead. And it was admittedly a stretch. Lucky Connor was good at the bluffing thing.
“You again?” Jay sounded peeved. “I hope you’re here because you’ve found the bastard behind this.”
“I suggest you invite me in to have this conversation inside.”
I listened to the creak of floorboards as they walked down the passageway again and then the sound of chairs being pulled out for sitting on.
“We know it was you,” Connor said.
“What? What are you talking about?” Jay still sounded peeved, but his voice was an octave higher than before.
“You erased Earnest’s files. You lied to Mrs. Dunst about having to paint and then let yourself in with your spare key and deleted everything while you knew his apartment was empty.”
“That’s—”
“Before you finish that sentence, think about this. Even if you had nothing to do with the murder, lying right now is an obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation.” Connor paused for a beat. “You don’t look like you’d fare well in prison. Of course, if you were involved with the murder, then you should probably keep silent about the hard drives.”
Thirty seconds ticked by.
“How did you know? Did Earnest have cameras installed or something?”
“What did Coleman offer you?”
I held my breath, hoping Connor’s stab in the dark wouldn’t puncture the hot air balloon we were flying this interrogation on.
“A hundred grand in cash. But it wasn’t why I did it, I swear. I wouldn’t betray Earnest even for a hundred grand.”
A hundred grand cash would pay off my debt to the loan shark in full. I could go home to Australia, away from all this subterfuge, machinations, and death, and be with my loved ones. Though I’d dearly miss Etta, Oliver, Meow, and Dudley. Okay, and maybe Connor.
“Then why did you betray him?”
“To save him! That’s what I thought I was doing anyway, but maybe I was too late, or maybe whoever was behind this never intended to leave him alive.”
“Explain,” Connor ordered.
“After I told Coleman where to stick his bribe, I got a package in the mail. It was a burner phone. And it had a text on it, saying if I wanted Earnest to live, I would wipe his files, reply to the text to let them know it was done, then destroy the phone.”
“When was this?”
“About a week and a half ago.”
“How much time had passed from when you’d declined Coleman’s offer?”
“Two or three days, I guess.”
“Did you think the phone was from Coleman too?”
“No. It didn’t seem like his style. He’s the kind of guy wh
o’s all smiles and sunshine while he’s secretly sizing you up, learning what makes you tick so he has power over you. That’s how he became CEO, I suppose. But he likes to offer the carrot rather than the stick, you know? So you think giving him what he wants was your idea or at least feel like it was a win-win. He might blackmail someone, but threaten to kill them?”
“What convinced you the threat was real?”
I heard a long, indrawn breath.
“They sent me a”—his voice cracked—“finger. A human finger.”
“Did you think it was Earnest’s?”
“No. I mean, I rang him to check, and he was fine. But it convinced me they were serious.”
“Why didn’t you tell Earnest?”
“I did. He didn’t care. It only made him more determined to keep doing what he was doing. But I couldn’t let him do it. Die for the sake of exposing one more secret. It wasn’t worth his life!” Jay started to sob. Great big messy choking sobs. “But they… killed him… anyway.”
I felt like a monster listening to his grief. And guilty for thinking he might’ve betrayed Earnest for cash. I also felt bad for having such a short temper with him. He must have been tormenting himself over this, wondering what he should’ve done differently, and he’d have to shoulder this burden for the rest of his life.
Connor’s voice held none of my sympathy. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this earlier?”
Jay reined in his sobs. “Because I’d already wiped the files and I knew that’d make me look guilty. I’d gotten rid of the phone and everything before I found out Earnest was gone, so I had no proof at all. I didn’t know what to do. I’ve been agonizing over it. Then when you came over here this morning, I saw a chance to put you onto Coleman in case I’m wrong about him being behind it. But what else could I do?”
I’m sure Connor would’ve had a few ideas, but he just said, “Tell me exactly what you did with the phone, the finger, and anything else you received with the threats.”
“I followed their instructions with the phone before I heard he was dead. I smashed it to bits and chucked the pieces down a few different drainpipes.”
Eat, Pray, Die Mystery Box Set Page 37
