“It’s just a lot of faces,” Ivy said, rubbing her forehead.
“A lot of faces who say stupid stuff, huh?” Valerie grabbed a bottle of water from the stack at the end of the table and passed it to Ivy. “I get it, by the way. This is not your idea of a good time. I’m guessing Donahue offered something good to get you to agree.”
“Oh, um ... .”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Valerie smirked. “It’s none of my business. I saw your face last night, though. You weren’t just surprised to be selected. You were ticked off, too. I thought there was a chance you would take out Roy and send him off to spend time with his beloved Éclair, but alas … .”
“Yeah, well, I considered it,” Ivy admitted ruefully. “You’re right about this not being my scene. The thing is, he offered money and Jack and I are getting married in a few months. The wedding itself isn’t going to be that big, but we want a fun honeymoon ... and we just finished expensive renovations on the house we share.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Valerie said. “I get it. This isn’t your choice, but you can’t pass it up. I don’t blame you. It’s not my scene either, but I understand about needing money.”
“Which is why you’re suddenly my assistant even though we don’t know each other.”
“Pretty much,” Valerie confirmed. “You don’t seem horrible, though. After working with Éclair for several weeks, I’m sure you’re going to be a dream come true.”
“Oh. For some reason I thought you were her personal assistant and had worked with her for a long time.”
“No. Definitely not. I worked for her father for a time, but he shuffled me over and suggested I work with her instead. He said it was a good fit. I didn’t feel that way, but Archibald gets what he wants ... which is exactly why I’m here.”
Something niggled the back of Ivy’s brain. “You worked for Éclair’s father?” She racked her memory. Had Jack mentioned that? She didn’t think so. She was almost positive he would’ve brought it up if he’d known. “What can you tell me about her father? Jack interviewed him the other day but ... well ... it didn’t go well.”
“Archibald?” Valerie shrugged. She seemed above the conversation, which Ivy found interesting. “I don’t know. I was first assigned to the house through a temp agency. I was an assistant to his main assistant, but he fired her at a certain point and promoted me.”
“That must have been exciting.”
“The money was exciting. He was a bit of a pill. I mean ... nothing I ever did was right. He complained constantly.”
“Is that why he shifted you to Éclair at a certain point? I’ve known a few perfectionists in my life. They’re not easy to deal with.”
“He’s worse than a perfectionist, though,” she complained. “He seems to think he’s the only person in the world who actually does work, even though that’s ridiculous. He doesn’t do any work. He barks orders and the rest of us do the work.”
“Uh-huh.” Ivy licked her lips. The woman’s bitterness was palpable, which meant she was probably a good source of information. The problem was, Ivy wasn’t certain what sort of information she should be digging for. “How long did you work for him?”
“A full year,” Valerie replied, taking on a far-off expression. “I thought I was doing well. I mean ... Archie told me I’d made it longer than any other assistant. I thought that meant I was safe and wouldn’t have to shift my expectations. Boy was I wrong.”
“And Archie is Sheridan’s son, right?”
“His heir.” Valerie smiled but it was utterly humorless. “There’s a specific pecking order in Archibald’s house. The sons are revered over the daughters, and the birth order comes into play.”
“That means Archie gets the bulk of his father’s estate.”
Valerie bobbed her head. “Exactly. The others get trusts, but they have to achieve certain things to tap into those trusts.”
“Like what?”
“College for starters. Each child has to not only attend college but graduate with a degree that Archibald doesn’t consider useless to even be considered for access to a trust.”
Ivy made a face. “I’m almost afraid to ask. What degrees does Archibald like?”
“Business. Law. Hotel management.” She laughed, although the sound was cold and devoid of mirth. “He prefers practical degrees. Éclair didn’t want to go to school for any of those things — she wasn’t smart enough to get a law or business degree, I can tell you that — and she pleaded with him to stipulate that she could get an interior design degree ... or something called a party planner degree, which I’m not sure is a real thing.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Ivy said, her mind busy. “Éclair wanted to play to her strengths.”
“Not that she had a lot of them.”
“But?”
“But she wanted to do something she enjoyed,” Valerie acknowledged. “Unfortunately for her, Archibald didn’t believe work should be enjoyed. He thought it was something that should be suffered, though. That’s why he was particularly fond of Archie, even on top of him being the first-born male and everything. Archie didn’t complain when he went to school and got a business degree. He just did it.”
“You didn’t tell me why you got shifted from Archibald’s staff to Éclair’s. The last thing you said was that things were going well ... and then they took a turn.”
“Yeah. A turn.” Valerie grimaced. “I still don’t know why I was busted down. He cut my pay by a third and simply announced that I was now working for Éclair. He didn’t apologize ... or offer any sort of explanation. There was already another new assistant in the house by the time he told me.”
“And that was a few weeks ago?”
“Months, actually.”
“Well ... it sounds like you dodged a bullet to me.” Ivy decided to be upbeat because Valerie was clearly mired in depression. “He was a jerk. You’re better off without him.”
“I need the money.”
“Yeah, well, I’m guessing that Sheridan didn’t understand things like that. In his world, six figures a year is chump change. In our world, it’s living large.”
“See. You get it.” Valerie smiled. “Archibald never got it. He didn’t understand why I refused to buy an expensive car. To him, automobiles are status symbols. To me, I simply needed a reliable way to get from place to place. He yelled at me when I refused to get a new car even though my car is only two years old.”
“He’s definitely a jerk.”
This time when Valerie smiled, it made it all the way to her eyes. “I definitely like you more than Éclair.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
JACK AND BRIAN LED ARCHIE to a spot that was far away from prying ears. From his vantage point, however, Jack could still see Ivy at the table in the center of the town square. She was out in the open and someone would have to be desperate to move on her, but above all else, he wanted to make sure she was safe.
“You said there was something we should talk about,” Brian noted once he was certain no one was within hearing distance. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure my father is actually in Florida.”
“You already said that.”
“Yes, well ... .” Archie broke off and shifted from one foot to the other, his discomfort obvious. “He said he was going to Florida.”
Jack folded his arms across his chest and surveyed the young man in front of him. He was beaten down. Sure, it wasn’t physically, but mentally it was obvious that living under Sheridan’s unhappy roof had taken a toll.
“Son, we can’t help you if you don’t help us,” Brian prodded gently. “I know it’s difficult, but your sister is dead. We’re at a loss why someone would want to kill her.”
“I thought you met her,” Archie muttered, shaking his head when Jack shot him a quizzical look. “I’m sorry. That was an awful thing to say. It’s just ... my sister was difficult.”
“Perhaps sh
e inherited that delightful trait from your father,” Brian suggested.
“Oh, you’re making a joke, but that’s been suggested more than once.” Archie was rueful. “The thing is ... Éclair was difficult. She was entitled and rude. She was basically a horrible human being.”
“You still felt sorry for her,” Jack deduced. “It’s written all over your face whenever her name comes up. You weren’t close and she was horrible when she wanted to be, but you still felt sorry for her.”
“I did,” Archie agreed. “I felt terrible for her because I think she would’ve been a different person had she been loved. She wasn’t, though. I mean ... did you meet her mother?”
Brian nodded. “She’s a broken woman.”
“Yeah, but my father didn’t break her. He’s a jerk and has no consideration for people’s feelings, but Sherry was already broken when he married her. That’s why she went after him in the first place.”
Jack could read between the lines and understood what Archie was saying. “Your father’s money made him a target for a certain type of woman. Sherry chased him because she wanted to live the high life. Sheridan recognized her for what she was and didn’t care.”
“That’s basically it in a nutshell,” Archie agreed. “I don’t feel sorry for my father. I’m not trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s just ... everything he believes about his money has been reinforced a hundred times over.
“He’s not a handsome man and yet sexy and vivacious women constantly throw themselves at him,” he continued. “Some of them are hoping to become his sixth wife, although that’s a losing proposition. Others are ready and willing for a one-night stand because they hope to trap him with a pregnancy.
“What they don’t realize is that my father wised up to those tactics years ago and had a vasectomy. Three women have come forward to file paternity suits against him since then and he treats it like a game. He tells them the truth and then dares them to try and pin a child on him.”
“Did anyone try?” Brian asked, curious despite himself.
“One woman. Once the paternity claim was denied, my father actually sued her. She didn’t own anything, not even a house, and yet he sued her anyway just so he could send a message to anyone else who would dare try coming after his money.”
“It must have worked,” Brian noted. “I haven’t heard a paternity claim against him in some time.”
“Yeah, well ... he likes to win.” Archie rolled his neck until it cracked. “That’s his favorite thing in the world to do, and he’s good at it.”
Jack dragged a hand through his hair and checked on Ivy, who was in the middle of another mini-interview with one of the men. It looked as if she had reinforcements in the form of Valerie, which he found interesting.
“Éclair’s assistant is with Ivy,” he supplied. “I wonder why.”
Brian followed his partner’s gaze. “Maybe Donahue thought she needed help.”
“Yeah, but ... whatever.” Jack shook his head and when he turned back to Archie, he realized the man was watching Valerie with curious eyes. “Is something wrong?”
“What? No.” Archie shook his head, dislodging whatever thought had taken him over. “Nothing is wrong. I forgot Valerie was still around. She used to work for my father.”
“She did? She didn’t mention that.”
“Probably not. I would guess she’s embarrassed.”
“Why would she be embarrassed?”
“Because they were sleeping together.”
All the air whooshed out of Jack’s lungs. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m serious.” Archie was unmoved. “She started out as an assistant to my father’s assistant. One day my father’s assistant got ill and Valerie was forced to fly with him to Minnesota to sign off on a deal. I’m not sure what happened on that flight — although I can guess — and by the time they got back, the assistant was gone and Valerie had a shiny new job with better pay.”
Jack felt sick to his stomach. “You think they had sex on that trip.”
“I think they had a lot of sex. Oh, don’t be so surprised. My father was virile ... and he liked to brag about it. The older he got, the younger his conquests. Valerie lasted a full year, though, so she must have offered him something special.”
“Or she was trying to get pregnant,” Jack suggested, stroking his chin. “Maybe she thought she would be set if she had a child with your father. She might’ve hung on as long as she did because she never thought to question why she wasn’t getting pregnant.”
“I guess that’s a possibility. I never really thought about it. That would’ve amused my father, though. It would’ve been a different sort of game … and there’s nothing he likes more than toying with people.”
“How did she end up working for your sister?”
“You know, I don’t exactly know. Now that you mention it, though, that whole thing was weird. I wonder ... .” He trailed off.
“You wonder what?” Brian pressed.
“It’s probably not important to what we’re dealing with now.”
“Let us be the judge of that.”
“Well, I was simply wondering if my father played her for a fool for a year because he knew exactly what she was trying to do,” Archie responded. “He would’ve gotten off on that.”
“I’m guessing he wouldn’t have told her about his vasectomy,” Jack noted.
“Oh, no. That would’ve ruined the game. She was probably fawning all over him, seducing him at every turn. Somehow ‘tricking’ him to climb into bed without a condom. He would’ve liked that. Then, when he grew tired of her, he also would’ve enjoyed transferring her without a moment’s notice. I’m pretty sure that’s what happened because there was some kind of blow-up.”
Brian leaned forward, intrigued. “Blow-up?”
“She was simply upset. Working for Éclair would’ve been hard for her because she hated my sister. She said she found her annoying. That was probably why my father found amusement in the reassignment. He paid Valerie less money because it was a shift in position and made her work for a woman she hated.”
“And maybe that’s the motive,” Jack mused, turning his attention back to the dour assistant who sat directly next to the woman he loved. “Maybe she went after Éclair because she was upset. How long ago did this demotion happen?”
“Um ... not all that long. Several months. I would have to check my father’s records to give you a firm date, though.”
“We might need you to do that.” Jack slowly got to his feet. “She could’ve been fuming for a long time about what happened. When we talked to her, she made a compelling case for why she couldn’t be the killer because she said it put her out of a job. In truth, though, she might not have cared.”
“Or she could’ve reacted in the moment,” Brian said. “Maybe she was upset for another reason. We still don’t know why Éclair left the hotel that night. No one could keep track of anyone else’s movements because they were all drunk. Any one of the individuals in that bar could’ve left for thirty minutes and no one would’ve noticed.”
“So, what’s the theory?” Jack queried. “Éclair left and Valerie followed? They got in a fight and Valerie’s rage took over to the point where she beat her to death? That’s a lot of anger for a small woman. I mean ... it would’ve had to build up to the point of no return.”
“The medical examiner said it could be a woman,” Brian reminded his partner. “It definitely could be her.”
“I guess.” Jack was conflicted. “You were going to tell us something about your father, Archie. What?”
“Oh, just that I haven’t heard from him and I’m concerned because I have no idea where he landed,” Archie replied, smoothly returning to the business at hand. “You’re police officers. If you file a request with the FAA, they have to tell you where my father landed. Right now it’s a privacy issue. You can get around that, though.”
“I’ll place a call,” Brian said. “We need t
o talk to him anyway about the life insurance policy he took out on your sister.”
“Yes, that’s very odd.” Archie shook his head. “Anyway, I just stopped by to let you know what was going on with him. I’m a little worried.”
“Well, now we’re a little worried, too. Why don’t you stick around, at least for a little bit, and let us question Valerie again? We might need more information from you if things go the way I think they’re going to go.”
“I’d be happy to stick around, although ... I’m not sure what’s happening here. Who is the woman sitting next to Valerie?”
“Oh, that?” Brian’s eyes twinkled. “That’s Ivy Morgan. She’s now the star of the show. She’s a local celebrity.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a pain.”
“She’s very pretty,” Archie noted. “She looks interesting. Maybe I’ll watch this show after all.”
“Don’t mention that to her,” Jack warned. “She won’t take it well.”
Archie was out of the loop so he only nodded. “Absolutely. I won’t mention it.”
Eighteen
Ivy was down to her final three interviews. So far she’d witnessed a handful of flashes, but none of them had anything to do with Éclair’s death ... and one was so sexually charged her cheeks were still burning.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” Valerie admitted as she crossed another name off the list. “It seems ... weird.”
“I just want to be sure that I’m comfortable with each man who will be participating in the show,” Ivy replied evasively. “Éclair was killed, after all. I just ... the whole thing makes me nervous.”
“I guess that makes sense. I ... .” She trailed off when she saw Jack and Brian crossing the town square. “You know, you’re really lucky. That fiancé of yours is ridiculously good looking.”
Ivy turned so she could watch the two men approach, her lips curving. “I’m definitely lucky.”
“Hello, ladies,” Brian drawled as he closed the distance. “How are you doing?”
“We’re doing fine,” Valerie replied perfunctorily. “How are you doing?”
Ivy Morgan Mystery Box Set 5 Page 17
