“Can I ask you a really rude question?” Lizzie said.
The girl shrugged.
“How old are you?”
The girl laughed. “I’m twenty-one. I know with the pigtails I look like I’m twelve. I’m finally old enough to learn the craft, so I’m studying with my dad. Even though I feel like I’ve been doing it all my life.”
I thought maybe she was sixteen.
“I’m glad this was our first stop,” I said. “I will definitely look into that class. I was wondering if we could look at some of the shop’s work. I can’t decide if I want lettering, or to maybe get my Great Dane on my shoulder.”
“Oh. I love Great Danes. We have a punt and kick poodle right now. That’s what my dad says. But don’t worry. He treats that dog better than me most days. I love big dogs. Let me show you some examples.”
We stood there looking at all the books. I found one that was a dog paw, but had the dog’s face in the paw. It was a work of art and had been done by her dad. If I ever did decide to do one, I’d definitely come to him.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything that looked like the tip of the tattoo, I’d seen.
*
Two hours later, we’d visited all the shops on my list. None of them were as cool as the first one, and the people who worked in the other shops didn’t seem to care. I was going to email Juan and tell him how amazing his daughter was.
“I’m so hungry,” Shannon said. “Let’s eat before we hit the last one.”
Lizzie asked Jere to meet us at the restaurant and he agreed.
We did a giant fajita platter with every kind of meat and fish, and had several pitchers of margaritas. Well, they did. Shannon and I were working.
“Y’all are so sweet to invite me to girls’ night,” Jere said. “I brought you a little gift, Ainsley.”
He handed me a big Sephora bag.
“You didn’t have to do this. I’m just glad you could join us.”
“Girl, anytime I get to stop at Sephora, I do. I love me some product. I’m very bad at the one for you, one for me sort of thing.”
“Me too,” I said. “I’m worse when I’m holiday shopping. My friends will be like, I love those earrings. And I’m thinking, ‘Good, because you’re getting the same thing in a different color.’”
Everyone laughed.
“She’s not lying,” Shannon said. “But she’s got great taste when it comes to gifts.”
“I had kind of a day, so I appreciate the invite.”
“Oh, no.” Lizzie touched his arm. “Tell us about it.”
He waved his hand. “I don’t want to ruin the fun with mean work stuff.”
“If it’s business, maybe I can help,” Jasmine said.
“She’s a big-time consultant and owns half of Houston,” Shannon blurted out.
Jasmine snorted, and Lizzie and Jere’s eyes went wide.
“Sorry,” Shannon said. “She hates it when people find out—I need to just shut up now. And I can’t even blame the margaritas. Jasmine, forgive me, please.”
“Eh. We’re all friends here,” she said. “So tell us what happened.”
“Well, the day after the funeral, Levi tried to come in and fire everyone who had been loyal to his brother. It wasn’t him though, his mom was behind it all. Levi, well, he can be a stuffed shirt, but he’s a nice guy.
“I called the lawyer during the drama, and she called some of the board members, who put a stop to it.” He glanced at Lizzie. “Do they know what happened yet?” He waved toward the rest of the table.
“They don’t have a lot of secrets between the three of them,” she said.
Jasmine and Shannon had been at the dinner when I talked to my brother about everything.
“The gist is, Lizzie and I inherited fifty-one percent of the company where I work,” Jere whispered. “But we can’t say anything until the reading of the will, which is on Friday. All heck is going to break loose when the family finds out about me and Lizzie. Meanwhile, Mom-Devil tried to come in and go through papers in Mort’s office. I had a feeling after the other day, that she’d try something like that. So, I put all the important stuff in the safe, and conveniently forgot the code. At least, until Friday.”
“That does sound like a mess,” Jasmine says. “Let me know, if you need help. In my former life, before taking over my family’s company, I was a management consultant.”
“We might just do that,” Lizzie said. “I really wanted no part of this, but I want to keep Mort’s legacy alive.”
Jere sighed dramatically. “Once the poo hits the fan on Friday, I’d love to know how to navigate the craziness that will be our office. I might call in sick on Friday, just to avoid the initial explosion of hate.”
I loaded a fajita.
“I wouldn’t blame you,” Lizzie said. “One thing about getting divorced was that I never had to see his family again. They never approved of me, and his mom—to this day—swears I’m the reason he came out.”
We all laughed.
“Like we have a choice with that sort of thing,” Jere said. “I was lucky with my mom. I was dating girls in high school. I came home one night depressed. And my mom said, ‘Hon, you’re gay. You might not be able to admit it yet, but you are. If you date boys, I think you’ll be happier.’”
“Awwww, that’s so sweet,” Shannon said.
“And unusual,” Jere said. “She was a teacher and she just knew. It took me another six months to admit she was right. I was lucky but most kids aren’t.”
“That reminds me,” Lizzie said. “Do you know if Mort was dating anyone? I was thinking about that on the way here. They might not even know he’s gone. That would be such a terrible feeling.”
Jere stared down at his fajita for a moment and our table grew quiet.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He shook his shoulders and then smiled. “Sorry, sometimes I forget he’s gone. I’m pretty sure he was between commitments. I don’t remember him going out that much the last couple of months.” His voice had gone somber, as if he were remembering something terribly sad.
“Did you guys date?” I asked. Everyone around me gasped. His reaction at the funeral and the look on his face made me wonder.
He shook his head. “We were friends who went out a lot together.”
That was a very non-answer.
“I say we do some shots of tequila and go see a man about tattoos,” he joked.
“Hear. Hear.” Lizzie lifted her margarita glass. She gave me a look though that showed she was just as curious about Jere’s relationship with Mort.
I couldn’t imagine him killing anyone. But maybe he had an idea who might have done it. He was definitely upset about something.
And I was determined to find out that something before the end of the night.
Chapter Sixteen
At the tattoo shop, which was much swankier than the other places we’d been, we sat in the lobby going through the books. None of us was going to get a tattoo, well maybe Jere. He’d told us on the way over that most of his legs were covered and parts of his back.
He was pretty drunk, actually, most of our party was. And we were loud. The receptionist kept laughing at Jere and his antics. They seemed to know one another fairly well.
“Do you want Tina tonight?” she asked Jere. “Or are you doing black and white?”
He turned to face us. “Tina does the best color work in Texas,” he said, and maybe slurred the state we live in a little.
“Since you’ve been drinking, you will have to sign a waiver that says you can’t sue if you have regrets in the morning.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” I said. “Do you have a lot of parties like ours?”
She shrugged. “We do. Some folks need a bit of courage from their friends. They also come in sometimes to do group tattoos. But drinking isn’t actually good when you get tattoos because alcohol thins the blood.”
“Oh. My. Gosh. We should totally get a group one,�
�� Shannon said.
I laughed. I’d promised to drive Mike’s truck because she wanted to do shots with the rest of them. But after one shot, she was pretty much done. Probably had something to do with the fact she got up at three every morning to get her coffee shop open.
“Maybe, next time,” I said. “I’m still trying to figure out what I want.”
“How many artists do you have here?” Lizzie asked.
“All seven are working tonight. Did you have something in mind?”
Lizzie handed over a napkin with the cutest three-layer cake and a unicorn topper. “I’m a baker,” Lizzie said. “This was one of the cakes that helped me launch my business.”
“I had no idea you could draw like that,” I said. The cake could have been something in a picture book.
Lizzie shrugged. “I make most of my own templates so they are original to my bakery. It’s just something I picked up along the way.”
“Tina would be great with this one,” the woman at the counter said. “Do you mind if I take it back to get a quote for you?”
“Go ahead.” Lizzie grinned and then did the silent squeal.
Jasmine and Shannon were looking through the books with Jere, so I pulled Lizzie aside.
“I just want to make sure—you’re a grown woman—it’s just tequila can sometimes make people do things they regret.”
She laughed and then hugged me. “Thank you for looking out for me but I’m fine. I’m not drunk. I have a rule about that. And I’ve wanted to get this tattoo since I opened the bakery, but I’ve been busy. After everything that happened, it just feels like the right time. Mort loved this sort of thing. Something crazy on the spur of the moment. He was right—time does go by way too fast.”
I smiled. “Okay.”
She glanced back. “I think there might have been something between them,” she said. “I can’t tell if they were dating, but there’s something more personal there. He cared about Mort, maybe it was like a brother, or a lover. Shannon told me you have a way of getting people to tell their darkest secrets.”
Why did everyone think empathy was so hard? That was my big secret way of interviewing people—and being kind.
“Oh. Yeah?”
She nodded. “There were things he said a few days ago, and tonight, that were the same sort of thoughts Mort had. And that look on his face at dinner. If that wasn’t a broken heart, I don’t know what was.”
That meant I hadn’t been imagining the feelings Jere had for his boss. If Lizzie saw it as well, then there was definitely something going on, but why would he lie about it? I thought it was odd that Mort would leave so much money to his assistant.
Then again, why had he left so much to Lizzie? I hadn’t had a chance to read the letters he gave them.
“I need to ask you something personal,” I said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
She smiled at me. “You can ask me anything.”
“I’m curious what Mort’s letter said.”
She shrugged. “Pretty much what I told you. He said that he had trouble trusting anyone, especially his family. He’d worked hard to turn the company into a respectable organization. That his dad had done some bad things in the past, but he had cleared the decks.”
“Do you know what his father had done? Maybe someone took out the debt on Mort.”
She shook her head. “That would have been years ago. His dad passed away about two years after our divorce. I remember Jere saying that things were uglier than ever with his family. Right after that, he took over the company. He’d been working as VP of something. Gosh, it was all so long ago. I wish I could get it straight for you.”
I put my hands on her shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. I mean it. But if you remember something about the family, let me know. Right now, they seem like the most likely suspects.”
She chewed on her lip. “As bad as things got, I can’t see his mom doing anything to hurt him. I keep saying that but she had him on a pedestal.”
“What about his brother?”
“Mort was always worried his dad was a bad influence on Levi, especially when it came to taking out his anger. He was a cruel man.
“Mort fought back and eviscerated the old man with words, but Levi would take it. That said, Levi and I have always gotten along—even after the divorce. He’s a great guy, even though he’s been through a lot. I feel sorry for him. Jere didn’t think he was strong enough to go against his mom, but I think he might have if he’d been given the chance.”
“One more question; do you know if Levi had any tattoos?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
I started to text Greg, and then thought better of it. If I started asking questions about the family, he’d get suspicious. I was supposed to be out on a spectacular birthday bash.
“Lizzie?” the receptionist called.
I went up to the desk with her.
The receptionist said, “Here’s the quote, and she had a cancellation. So, if you want to do it tonight she’s ready for you.”
“Do you take credit cards?” Lizzie asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good luck,” I said.
Lizzie tugged on my arm. “Can my friend come back with me?”
“Sure,” the woman said.
I’d watched tattoo shows on television, but I’d never been up close.
As we went back to the studio, we passed a guy with a man bun, who called out Jere’s name.
“I guess he’s getting one, too,” I said.
“Yeah, he decided to get one to honor Mort,” Lizzie said.
“That’s sweet,” I said. Maybe, Jere wasn’t as picky as I was about a tattoo. But it seemed to me he and Mort were much closer than I’d been led to believe.
She motioned for me to sit on a stool beside a leather lounge chair that moved up and down.
“I’m Tina,” she said. She had bubble gum-pink hair and a tattoo necklace of stars and moons.
“I’m Lizzie, and this is the birthday girl, Ainsley.” Lizzie lay back on the lounger.
“You aren’t getting a tattoo?” the artist asked.
“I still can’t decide what I want.”
“Makes sense. There’s a guy, he’s one of the best artists in the world, who teaches a class about that. I’ll write down his name for you.”
“Thank you.” I wondered if she was talking about the same guy from earlier.
“Now, Lizzie, where did you want to put this adorable cake?”
“I was thinking my upper arm.”
“Is this your first tattoo?”
Lizzie nodded.
“That’s a good spot then, because there are fewer nerves.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Not if I do it right,” Tina joked. “You’ll feel some pressure. And your arm may get a little sore. There’s a lot of color in this, which takes a little longer. Are you ready?”
“I am,” she said.
Across the studio, Jere took off his shirt. For someone who appeared so slim, he was incredibly fit. His muscles were well defined, and he had an eight-pack.
I did not see that coming.
And then he turned around and it was all I could do not to gasp.
Chapter Seventeen
I fumbled for my phone in my purse, and then quickly took a picture. I prayed no one saw me. Shannon and Jasmine were still out in the lobby of the tattoo parlor. I texted them, and not long after, their names were called, as well.
Shannon was following one of the tattoo artists, and Jasmine another.
“Are you both getting tattoos?” I asked.
“Yes,” they said together and at the same time stared over at the lounger where Jere was lying on his stomach. Shannon’s eyes went wide as she glanced back at me.
Were we in the room with a killer? Jere fit the body size of the man I’d seen in the park. He was well over six feet. But it had been dark under the trees, and I’d been on a slight incline.
My stomach chu
rned. So many things were adding up. The tattoo with the serif, the fact that he was getting another to represent his former boss and friend.
Did he have an alibi? I tried to think back to our previous conversations but I hadn’t asked him where he’d been that night. I racked my brain trying to figure out a way I could do that without making him suspicious.
“Excuse me a minute,” I said to Lizzie. “I want to check on Jere.”
I sat down on a stool next to his lounger. “You doing okay, buddy?”
He had his head turned toward me and smiled. “Yep. Are you the only one who isn’t getting one tonight?”
“I feel like a nerd,” I said. “But I just can’t decide what I want. I was curious about what you were doing?”
“I’m getting ‘4-ever’ under ‘Bros,’” he said, as if that explained everything.
“Cool. Did you get the Bros one here?”
“Nope. I was in Mexico with Mort and Levi, and there was a hurricane. We’d all been there for a convention, and the tension between the both of them was really uncomfortable. But the storm sort of made us all grateful we’d survived the night. The next day, we got the tattoos. They made me an honorary brother.”
Ugh. This case was more confusing than ever.
“That’s so sweet,” I said. “I figured with all of the stuff you’d said, about the fight for control, that they weren’t very close.”
He sighed.
“Dude,” the artist said. “No big breaths.” He glared at me.
“Sorry,” Jere said.
“You know how family is. They loved one another, but the Mom-Devil influence was strong. I have a feeling, before all of this happened, that they were going to try another power play—or she was. Levi and Mort were getting along pretty good, until recently.
“I’m not looking forward to Friday. I guess, now, it will be mine and Lizzie’s problem.”
If the brother had the same tattoo, maybe he’d been the one there that night. He and Jere’s builds were similar.
“You weren’t by chance around when the family found out about Mort’s death?”
A Case for the Cookie Baker Page 10
