by Dianne Emley
Iris clutched both the railing and Toni with all her might. The cement staircase rattled and swayed as if it was going to be pulled down. She clung harder. Then it stopped. She opened her eyes and saw a crater where the house once stood.
“Don’t move! Show me your hands.” Detective Stubbs was poised on the steps above her. She was armed.
“It’s me,” Iris said in a weak voice. “It’s Iris.”
Stubbs ran down to her. “You’re covered in mud. I didn’t know it was you.”
They both struggled to pull Toni onto the steps.
Iris sat up and looked at the woman’s seemingly lifeless body with horror. “She tried to kill me. I hit her. I hit her hard. I…”
Stubbs took Toni’s pulse. “She’s alive.”
Iris imploringly raised her hands. “She tried to kill me.”
“You saved her life. You both could have been buried in that slide.”
Iris crouched against the stairs and surveyed the scene of devastation with a sense of dark relief.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Unseen by Iris, a hand slipped around the doorframe of her office and turned off the lights. She looked up from her work, momentarily thinking the rain had knocked out the electricity again, but remembered that the storm had passed through. The sky was clear.
“Happy anniversary to you!”
Louise came in carrying a whipped-cream-topped pie with a single lit candle on top. Liz Martini, Kyle Tucker, Amber Ambrose, Warren Gray, Sean Bliss, and all the rest were singing as they crammed into Iris’s office.
“Happy anniversary to you…”
Sam Eastman came in last, still wearing bruises and bandages but walking under his own power.
“Happy six-month anniversary as branch manager, dear Iris. Happy anniversary to you.”
Everyone clapped and cheered.
Iris smiled at the group. “Wow, thanks. I guess it has been six months. Went by in the blink of an eye.” She looked at the pie. “Mmm…this looks good. What kind is it?”
Louise handed her a pie cutter. She was holding a stack of paper plates and a box of plastic forks.
“It’s a special recipe, just for you, Iris,” Liz said, smirking.
Iris stood and cut into the pie. “Does it have an Oreo crust or something?”
“Something,” Liz said.
When Iris saw Liz and a few of the others exchange glances, she knew something was up. She finished cutting a piece, lifted it out, and frowned at the heavy, dark brown filling. The group started snickering.
“What is this?”
“We figured you hadn’t eaten any for a week and were probably having withdrawals,” Kyle said.
Iris poked at the filling. “It’s mud!”
The snickers turned into belly laughs.
“Not funny,” Iris said, trying to look stern and hurt, but losing to laughter. “Very unfunny. I’m still washing mud out of my hair.”
Liz came around Iris’s desk and hugged her. “I confess. It was my idea.”
“You!” Iris shoved the pie toward Liz’s face, getting whipped cream on her chin. “Some friend you turned out to be,” she said without meaning it. They struggled with the pie, which ended up face-down on top of the reports Iris had been reviewing, reducing everyone to tears of laughter.
Louise came to the rescue and scooped up the mess from Iris’s desk. “The real cake is in the lunchroom.” She handed the plates and forks to Liz. “Why don’t you take these in there while I take care of this?”
Iris walked to the lunchroom next to Sam. “Looks like you’re feeling a lot better.”
“I am, thanks. There’s still no sign of Evan Finn. The police have a warrant out for him, but I think he’s long gone.”
“He’ll probably turn up somewhere with a new name. Start up Canterbury Investments again.”
Sam and Iris lingered outside the lunchroom, out of earshot of the group. Sam said, “The police searched that office in the business park, looking for records, but he’d already cleaned it out. They wanted to warn the people he’d conned not to do business with him anymore. I guess those poor folks will just continue getting ripped off.” He looked at Iris sheepishly. “This whole thing has been a wake-up call for me, Iris.”
Iris leaned close to him and said in a low voice, “Other than me, no one here knows Evan’s true story except Louise and Liz. You could put bamboo splinters under their fingernails and they still wouldn’t tell. Everyone thinks Evan was mad about being fired and he beat you up.” She shook her head. “It’s really a shame. Smart, good-looking guy, screwed up like that.”
“Guess he’s just a bad seed,” Sam added.
“Let’s get some cake.”
Liz handed Iris a big corner piece of chocolate cake with lots of frosting and a rose, which she dug into with relish.
“Look who’s here.”
Iris heard Louise’s voice above the crowd, which parted to let Kip Cross, his arm in a sling, and Brianna pass. Brianna was leading Stetson by a leash. The dog stayed close by Brianna’s side. He wore a red kerchief tied around his neck.
Liz winced at the German shepherd. “Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?”
Brianna bent over and hugged the dog around his middle. The dog turned to lick Brianna’s face and she giggled. “His name is Stetson. He’s living with Daddy and me again.”
Everyone in the room had to pet the dog and he relished the attention.
“You look good, Kip,” Iris said.
“Feel good. Brianna and I leave tomorrow to go to Hawaii for three weeks.”
“That’s wonderful,” Iris said. “You deserve a long vacation.”
Rick, the computer-games enthusiast, edged close to Kip. “I downloaded the working copy of Pandora’s new game last night.”
“You already threw it up there?” Iris asked Kip.
“Just the first level. It’s only a prototype, but we wanted to start some buzz.”
“Man, it’s awesome!” Rick enthused. “It blows everything else I’ve seen out of the water. Who would have thought you’d outdo Suckers?” He raised his fist. “Banzai!”
Kip grinned. “Banzai.”
“Banzai?” Iris repeated.
“That’s what we decided to name the new game,” Kip explained. “It’s the least I could do for the kid. And we’re donating part of the sales to a college scholarship fund named for him.”
Iris licked frosting from her fingers and studied Kip, wondering if this was an admission that he’d stolen Banzai’s algorithm. Deciding to ask him about it in private, she changed the subject. “T. Duke’s set up a meeting with McKinney Alitzer’s investment banking division and some attorneys today at his office. The additional cash he’s pledged to invest will keep the company going.”
“I was just over at Pandora,” Kip said. “T. Duke’s got bean counters taking inventory of the rubber bands, for crying out loud. I met the guy that you and T. Duke brought in to run the place.” He shrugged. “He seems okay.”
“You like him? You think he’s good?” Iris asked hopefully. She didn’t need Kip’s approval on her decisions regarding Pandora, but preferred to have his support. They were going to be in business together for a long time, and she prayed it wouldn’t be an endless battle.
Kip gave her a wry look, as if guessing what was on her mind. “Face it, Iris. I’m not going to like anybody who tries to tell me what to do.”
Iris dismally pressed her cake frosting into mush with her fork.
“Don’t worry,” Kip continued. “I’ve accepted that the best route for Pandora is to go public. But I still can’t bring myself to trust T. Duke.”
“To be frank, Kip, I don’t trust him, either. His transformation from trying to destroy Pandora to working to position it for an IPO has been remarkable.” Iris watched Liz and Brianna playing with the dog. “But, like he’s claimed all along, he’s in this to make money. Pandora’s in the news again, but this time the press is good. T. Duke c
laims he’s riding the wave into a big payout.”
“Pandora has shown it’s still on the cutting edge of game technology,” Kip added sadly, “thanks in part to my friend, Banzai.”
Iris threw away the decimated remains of her cake. “Let’s talk in my office. Liz, would you mind keeping Brianna occupied for a few minutes?”
Liz looked up at Iris from where she was crouched on the ground. “Occupied? I’m taking her and Stetson home with me.”
Once Kip and Iris were sitting side by side on the couch in her office, she asked the question that had been nagging her. “I’m going to be blunt. Did you steal Banzai’s algorithm?”
“I had a feeling you were going to ask me that.” Kip crossed his arms and began stroking his eyebrow. “Guess it depends on how you define steal. Did I copy it, byte by byte? No. Did I use his approach? Yes. Would I have stumbled on his solution on my own? Maybe. Perhaps the most honest thing to say is that he inspired me to look in a new direction. I’m grateful to him. He bought Pandora time, let us build a new game much faster than we would have otherwise. I sorry I treated him so poorly. All he wanted was a job, but I had my head too far up my ass to give him the time of day. If I had, he wouldn’t have come into the office like he did, giving Toni more ammunition to use against me.” He dropped his hands in his lap and stared at his upturned palms.
“Kip,” Iris said quietly, “you can’t blame yourself for Banzai’s death.”
“I know, but I didn’t need to be such a prick, either. There are many people I should have treated better, Iris.” He shot a glance at her. “Including you.”
It was sort of an apology. Iris didn’t expect anything more contrite from Kip. She was surprised when he went on.
“I feel especially bad about breaking into your house that night and taking Brianna.” He exhaled heavily. “I’ve got a lot of apologizing to do to my daughter. I wonder if she’ll ever forgive me for the way I’ve behaved this past year.”
Iris touched his hand. “She will in time, and if, going forward, you’re steady and true and…behave yourself. I think it’s a great idea, you taking Brianna to Hawaii for three weeks.”
“She and I both need some time away. There’ve been so many things happening so quickly. It hasn’t sunk in yet.” Kip grew somber. “What it means to…” His voice trailed off and he pressed his fingers against his eyes. “What it means to live without Bridget.” A sob broke free. “How am I going to go on, Iris?”
His expression of grief brought tears to Iris’s eyes. In all the years she’d known Kip, this was the first time she’d seen him cry. She snagged a box of tissues from her desk. “I know, Kip. I’ve been wondering that myself. What will all of us do without her? There have been so many times I’ve wanted to call her, ask her…”
Kip quickly pulled out a few tissues, wiped his face, then shoved them between the cushions as if to hide them. “But I have to go on. I have to raise our daughter the way Bridget would have. I have to…” He paused and laughed ruefully. “I have to stop being such an asshole.”
Iris chuckled also at the bald truth. She clasped his hand between both of hers. “I guess we could all learn from our mistakes. It was a nutty time. We were all acting crazy.” She thought of how close she’d come to seriously injuring Toni. “You were right about one thing: you were doing battle with the boss monster.”
Kip’s demeanor grew stern. “And Toni’s still playing a game. I hear she’s trying to cop an insanity plea.” He shook his head. “Insane, my ass. She knew exactly what she was doing. She had each step planned. When I ended the affair because Bridget found out, Toni shrugged it off. Very flip. ‘Fun while it lasted,’ and all that. ‘Just a fling.’ It was a fling, for me, but it was much more than that for her. Much more than she let on.”
“This trail of nightmares was about nothing more than a scorned woman seeking revenge,” Iris said. “I knew that conspiracy theory about the Trust Makers and USA Assets was harebrained when I pitched it. But when Toni latched onto it and made such a convincing case, I began to think it was crazy enough to be true. She twisted the facts to suit her. Like her conversation with Jim Platt. He did call Pandora trying to contact me and did talk to her, but he told her he had found no connection between the financing of his films and USA Assets or the Trust Makers.”
“When I was released from jail, Toni had to come up with another scenario that diverted suspicion away from her.” Kip stared at the carpet. “It conveniently explained both Bridget’s and Alexa Platt’s murders.”
“Bridget, Alexa, Banzai, and Summer. Four murders committed by a woman desperate to be taken seriously.”
“And Toni won’t confess to a single one,” Kip added.
“Fortunately, in Toni’s apartment, the police found black sweats that match the fibers found on the bushes near the steps. No bloody flip-flops, but they found a drop of dried blood on her living room carpet. The police are testing the DNA now. It’s bound to be Bridget’s blood. The police have verified that Toni was at the movies the night of Bridget’s murder, like she claimed, but the alibi’s flimsy. That old movie theater has a back exit.”
Outside her office door, Iris saw Brianna, Liz, and the dog playing with a ball of paper. She continued the grisly inventory of crimes. “The police will be able to prove that the bullets the masked person shot at me at Summer’s bungalow match the gun that Toni had on the hillside—assuming they find it underneath the mud.”
“Poor Summer. She was a bit dimwitted but she didn’t deserve that,” Kip said. “A witness has come forward who saw Banzai and Toni near the staircase around the time of Banzai’s death.”
“That was a stroke of luck. There’s evidence tying Toni to all the murders—”
Kip finished the sentence. “Except Alexa Platt’s.”
“That’s the piece I don’t understand. I guess Toni could have followed Bridget to the park. Maybe Toni lured Alexa back into the woods after Bridget left. Maybe Toni made threatening comments about Bridget. Maybe something Alexa said made Toni mad. Alexa wasn’t one for subtlety.” Iris sighed. “But it’s goosey. You’d think with the deck stacked against Toni the way it is, she’d just confess to everything.”
“She’s still playing the game, Iris. She will never confess.” Kip looked at his watch and stood. “We’d better go.”
Iris stood as well. “You have a house sitter while you’re in Hawaii?”
Kip couldn’t help but laugh at Iris’s piercing expression. “Yes, I do. A retired couple, you’ll be pleased to know. I’d appreciate it if you’d check in on them.”
Baines unlocked San Somis’s glass front door and stepped back to let Iris in. “Miss Thorne.”
“Baines.”
They wordlessly walked across the ground floor between the antique automobiles and entered the elevator. At the top, Baines let Iris exit first. He opened the door to the outer office, then the door to T. Duke’s office, and finally the conference room door. Inside that oval room, a group of men were gathered at one end of the large table. They were laughing jovially and did not notice when Iris came in.
“Here’s another one for you,” T. Duke said. “What do women and condoms have in common?” He crookedly smiled before delivering the punch line. “They both spend more time in your wallet than on your dick.”
The room erupted with laughter. T. Duke slapped his thigh, turned on his heel, and spotted Iris. “I had no idea a lady was in the room.” He walked toward her with his hand outstretched. “Please forgive the ribald humor.”
He grabbed her hand and led her into the room with his other hand on her back. “Gentlemen, for those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure, I’m pleased to introduce you to Iris Thorne. I’ll bet you never saw more grit in a prettier package.”
He turned to Iris. “That incident in the mud with the house…” He guffawed and slapped his thigh again. “Just slays me every time I think of it. Let me introduce you. You already know Pandora’s Today Rhea and Mick Ha.”
T. Duke introduced everyone else. There were handshakes and pleasantries.
“Today’s been showing us Pandora’s next release, Banzai, and we’re all impressed. Word in the marketplace is good. We anticipate Banzai breaking all records, continuing Pandora’s winning streak. These men here are convinced that an IPO will make Pandora’s stockholders very wealthy.”
“That’s music to my ears.”
“Guys, make room for the lady.” T. Duke maneuvered Iris through the group. Someone got up to give her the chair next to Today, closest to the computer. Normally, the chivalry would have irked her, but today, she was enjoying it.
As T. Duke pulled out the chair for her, he whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry, Iris. Getting into business with me is like lying down with an old dog, but I’ll make sure you don’t wake up with fleas.”
“Okay, this is the deal,” Today said. “With this engine, we get crystal-clear graphics without taking a speed hit.” His fingers ran across the keyboard. “Ignore this. It’s that loop. Crap! I thought I’d fixed that.”
“Lather, rinse, repeat,” Mick said, citing the instructions for an infinite loop found on any bottle of shampoo.
As Today demonstrated the new game, Iris let her eyes drift to the trompe l’oeil painting on the ceiling. A cloud still remained over Evan’s face.
CHAPTER FORTY
Iris parked the Triumph in the sand-and-packed-dirt parking lot of Coldwater Canyon Park next to a Jaguar convertible. She got out of the car, turned her face toward the sun, and deeply breathed the rain-washed air. She fingered the gash Evan had cut in the Triumph’s rag top and made a promise to her car that had been with her through so much.
“Tomorrow, you’re going for a complete check-up at the mechanic’s then I’ll have you detailed inside and out.”