by Kathi Daley
“So what do you think did happen?”
I pulled my legs up to my chest and rested my forehead on my knees. “I have no idea.” I took a minute to let it all sink in. “I guess I’ve suspected for a while that the story my dad told me was a lie he’d fabricated for one reason or another. The inconsistencies in his story have been piling up from the moment I began digging around in his attic. I had a long conversation with Gil this week, as I may have mentioned, and he is convinced that the story dad told me was a lie too. The thing is that neither of us can even begin to explain why he told the lie he did.”
“I remember we discussed that earlier,” Jemma said.
“I don’t know what really happened. I have very few memories of my life before going to live with my dad and none during the time between leaving Piney Point and being all settled with my dad. What I do know is that he loved me. If he lied, he had a good reason to. Marilee seemed to think I was in some sort of danger due to the land and money I inherited. I have no idea if my dad ever came into contact with Marilee, but it’s beginning to look like he did.”
“It does seem that Marilee is one of the few people in this drama who would know your actual birthday and be in a position to pass you off to the cop she passed you off to. But how did you get to Georgia, and why, if this theory is true, would she pass you off and then just disappear?”
I slowly shook my head. “I have no idea. Marilee lived on the east coast, so maybe she knew my dad. Maybe they met at an event, or perhaps they went to the same college. Maybe she needed to hide me and realized that I’d be safer if I was with someone other than her, so she thought about the people she trusted and decided on my dad. I really don’t know how all of this is going to turn out, but what I do know is that if Marilee placed me with my dad, then maybe she placed Avery with someone she trusted as well. Maybe Avery is out there somewhere living the life she was handed. Maybe there really is a chance that I might find her one day.”
Chapter 8
By the next morning, I felt like an old rag that had been wrung out and left to dry under a hot and merciless sun. I considered just staying home today after the late night Jemma and I’d had talking and doing research, but I knew that sitting home would make me crazy, so I decided to go to the office even if I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get much done.
After parking behind the block of businesses I shared a bathroom and hallway with, I headed down the street to the coffee shop, ordered an extra-large with double shots and a cinnamon roll. After walking to my office, I sat down at my desk to eat it while I checked emails and decided what I most wanted to do with the day. I supposed I’d continue with the research Jemma and I had started yesterday unless a client walked in needing PI services. To be honest, as much as I really did want to get that first real client, other than Lizzy, of course, I was pretty wiped out today and probably not at my best.
As I nibbled on the cinnamon roll and sipped my coffee, I thought about the information that Jemma and I had found on Warren Cornwall. The idea that he might have killed my parents in order to access a fortune made me want to hate him, but on the surface, he seemed like a good guy. He was a tall man with dark hair and dark eyes. His complexion was olive, and his cheekbones defined. He was married to a blond-haired pixie named Giovanna, who my research provided was an heiress in her own right as the eldest daughter of a family owning a rival vineyard.
Between them, Warren and Giovanna seemed to own half of the acreage in the area. It was clear they were ridiculously wealthy, yet if the news stories I’d found relating to their charitable foundations were to be trusted, it appeared as if they were both generous and hardworking as well.
I was anxious to know what Adam thought of Warren after he’d had a chance to talk to him. The more I thought of the details contained within the story that Olivia told Adam, the more certain I became that the story Olivia told wasn’t the whole story.
Adam had said that Warren really wouldn’t have been motivated to kill Avery and me even if he had been after the money, which was still an unproven assumption at this point. I was only three years old. He controlled the money and the property on my behalf. Adam had made a good point when he said that Warren had time to do something smarter. Based on the information I’d dug up, Warren seemed to be an intelligent individual. There had to be more to the story. I supposed it was even possible that Marilee was simply wrong about whatever it was she thought she knew. Maybe she ran when she didn’t have to. Perhaps she created a conspiracy in her mind that caused her to act in the manner she had.
Adam hadn’t said exactly when he’d be home, but I hoped it was soon. Now that I had part of the story, I was dying to know the rest.
I’d already been at work for over an hour when Kim wandered in wearing her Gooseberry Yogurt uniform.
“Did you hear?” she asked, sliding into the chair that fronted the desk.
“Hear? Hear what?” I asked.
“The man you found in the house a couple blocks from here, the guy who was stabbed in the back, was Kevin’s friend, Kyle.”
I raised a brow. “Kyle? Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Kevin has been pulled into Deputy Todd’s office twice for an interview. So have the other guys who were partying with them.”
I remembered that Kevin had said that Kyle had taken off without even saying goodbye. Apparently, he hadn’t taken off on his own accord. “Do they know who did it?”
She shook her head. “Kev doesn’t know. He said the other guys don’t know. If Deputy Todd knows, he isn’t saying.” She huffed out a breath. “The whole thing is a huge mess.”
“I bet.” I leaned forward slightly. “Is Kevin coming in today?”
“No. Kev said he needed to take a few days off. Today is payday, so he’ll probably come in and pick up his check this afternoon. If you want to talk to him, I can tell him to poke his head into your office while he’s here.”
“Thank you. I would appreciate that. Better yet, if you’d be willing to give me Kevin’s cell phone number, I’ll call him and ask him to stop in to chat with me when he comes by.”
She shrugged as she picked up a pen and jotted down a number. “I’m sure Kev will be fine with me giving you his number.”
“I’m hoping that maybe I can help in some way.”
“That would be nice. This whole thing is just so disturbing.” She leaned back into the chair, letting her body go limp in a dramatic fashion. “I’ve never known anyone who was murdered before.”
“Did you know Kyle?” I wondered.
She sat up just a bit. “Well, no. But I know Kevin, and he knew Kyle, so it’s sort of like I now knew someone who was murdered.”
“I guess it is,” I said even though I wasn’t sure that was exactly true. “Is there anything you know of that I can do?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Kev is pretty messed up about the whole thing. I hope he’ll agree to come in and talk to you.”
After Kim left to head into work, I called Kevin, who told me that he planned to come in and pick up his check within the hour. I asked if he had a few minutes to talk, and he said he was okay with telling me what he knew. After we hung up, I returned my attention to the article I was reading about the donation Warren and Giovanna had made to the hospital for a new children’s wing. I was having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the fact that this seemingly caring and giving man could be responsible for my parents’ deaths and Marilee’s need to run with Avery and me. As I’d pretty much already decided, there really did have to be more to the story. Much, much more.
“I see the newest PI in town is hard at work,” Parker said after coming in from the back.
I looked up. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I stopped in at the yogurt shop to see if Kevin was working. When he wasn’t there, I decided to pop in and say hi to you. I parked on the street in front of the yogurt shop and traveled between Gooseberry Yogurt and here using the back hallway. It looks like I inter
rupted something.”
“No. Not at all.” I closed the top cover on my computer. “Have a seat. I was going to call you today anyway. I just heard that the victim Lizzy found turned out to be Kevin’s friend, Kyle.”
Parker slid into one of the chairs on the far side of my desk. “I have to admit I was as surprised as anyone when I heard the news. I know you chat with the other tenants in this block of shopfronts sometimes. Did Kevin say anything that would help explain what might have happened to his friend?”
I thought about the game Kevin had told me about. I thought about the fact that not all women were going to be flattered to find out that the interaction they’d just experienced with the man who approached them had been reduced to a score once they’d left. “Actually, I might know something,” I said. “Do you have a few minutes?”
“If you have news about the murder, I have as many minutes as you need.”
I spent the next twenty minutes filling Parker in on everything Kevin had told me about the Casanova Challenge. I explained the rules and the scoring process, and I shared that while part of the gang seemed to really be into it, Kyle was shy, and Kevin felt that he was uncomfortable with the whole thing. Kevin had also indicated that Lance and Jimmy had been hassling Kyle about his inability to get any points on the board. And when Kyle ended up missing, Kevin and the others just figured he’d gotten fed up with the ribbing and left. I was just getting to the end of my well of knowledge when Kevin wandered in. Once he arrived, Parker jumped in by asking Kevin everything I’d just told her. At first, he seemed reluctant to share his experience, in part, I suspected because he was embarrassed, but in the end, Kevin told Parker everything he’d told me.
“So tell me about the last time you saw Kyle,” Parker said once the basics were out of the way.
Kevin hesitated and then answered. “We were at a bar having a nice time until Lance made a comment about rounding out his score that night so he could take the lead before the end of the week. Up to that point, Lance and Jimmy had gone neck to neck, trading the lead several times. Personally, I really wasn’t into it and had already decided to bow out and use work as an excuse not to participate, but the beer was flowing freely that night, and Lance was even pushier than usual. The next thing I know, Lance is challenging Cory, Kyle, and me to come up with some points or be subjected to an embarrassing prank in the near future.”
“So what did the three of you do at that point?” Parker asked.
“Cory acted first. He went up to the bar and sat down next to a woman around our age. Cory offered to buy her a drink, and she accepted. They chatted for a while, and he asked for her number. She gave it to him, and then as he got up to leave, he gave her a quick peck on the lips. Then he returned to the table, having earned points for buying a woman previously unknown to him a drink, getting her number, and kissing her, even though the kiss was pretty chaste. It wasn’t exactly the sort of encounter Lance was trying to egg the three of us into engaging in, but I guess it was enough since, at that point, Lance left Cory alone and turned his attention to Kyle and me. I lucked out because I noticed a woman I know from work walk in with two friends. I pretended I didn’t know anyone in the group and approached the woman I knew. I quietly explained what was going on and asked her to play along. In exchange for drinks for her and her friends, I was awarded cell phone numbers for all three women and a pretty awesome and not at all platonic kiss from each woman.”
“So you cheated but ended up with triple points,” Parker said.
“That’s exactly what happened. I’d already planned to come to work the following day. I figured once I was free of the group, I’d make up an excuse to bail on the evening festivities as well.”
“And Kyle?” I asked.
“Jimmy had been adding shots to Kyle’s rum and coke all night, so each drink was actually a double. He got wasted pretty fast. Once Cory and I had met Lance’s challenge, he started picking on Kyle to the point that I almost grabbed Kyle and left with him. Then Kyle noticed a girl sitting at the bar who’d I’d noticed him looking at earlier in the week. I don’t know if it was the booze or what, but the next thing I know, he’s crossing the room and heading toward the empty barstool next to her.”
“And then?” Parker asked.
“He bought her a drink, they chatted for a while, and then they both got up and left. When Kyle didn’t come home that night, we all assumed he’d scored.”
Parker shot Kevin a look that made it clear that she didn’t appreciate the reference to scoring, but she didn’t interrupt, and he continued his story.
“It wasn’t until the following day when I realized that Kyle’s stuff was gone. We all decided that Kyle had probably left. Even if he did end up with the girl he’d been noticing, Kyle was the sensitive sort who probably would have regretted what happened. None of us were overly worried that he’d left. Heck, I applauded his action after the ribbing Lance and Jimmy had been doling out all week.”
“So maybe whoever Kyle left with was the person who killed him,” I said.
“Maybe,” Parker agreed. She looked at Kevin. “Can you describe this woman?”
He nodded. “Dark, almost black, hair. It was long and straight. The woman was petite, but she had a large presence. She had dark eyes and dark skin that made me think she might have been at least part Hawaiian.”
“How old was she?” Parker asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe twenty-five.”
“Was she at the bar alone?” Parker asked.
Kevin paused, I assumed to think about it. Eventually, he answered. “Yes, I think she was. I didn’t notice her come in, but she was sitting at the bar alone. She sat at the very end on the left side, and the seat next to her was empty until Kyle joined her.” He frowned. “It’s sort of odd that a beautiful woman like that would be at a bar alone.”
“It is unless she was there to snare someone, and Kyle just happened to wander into her trap,” Parker commented.
“So, do you think this woman went to the bar with the idea of leaving with someone who she planned to kill?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Parker answered. “Or maybe she just planned to rob him, and killing him wasn’t the plan, but something went wrong.”
“Poor Kyle,” Kevin said, bowing his head. “I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
I leaned forward slightly, resting my forearms on my desk. “I wonder how the house where Kyle’s body was found fits into this. The house should have been empty since the rental agency confirmed that it hadn’t been rented this week. I suppose the woman who Kyle picked up might have broken in, but if she did decide to take Kyle there, she must have already known it would be vacant.”
“Maybe she scouted it out ahead of time,” Parker said. “Or maybe she’d been staying there this week. If she knew the house was unoccupied this week and had a way to break in, she might have done so at any point.”
“I suppose that’s true,” I acknowledged. “But if the woman had been staying there, she was careful. If you remember, none of the neighbors we spoke to remembered seeing or hearing anything.”
“The cat was in the house,” Parker reminded me. “The cat got in at some point, although I suppose she might have gotten in when the woman arrived with Kyle and not before.”
“Yeah, I guess it might have happened that way,” I agreed.
Parker looked at Kevin. “Do you happen to remember who the bartender was that night?”
“Terry. I don’t know his last name, but I do stop in for a beer sometimes, and I remember folks calling him Terry.”
Parker looked at me. “Are you in the mood for a drink?”
“It’s a little early.”
“That may be, but I figure it wouldn’t hurt to head over to the bar and talk to whoever is there this afternoon. If Terry isn’t there, we can find out when he’s scheduled to work.”
I shrugged. “Okay. I’m game.” I looked at Kevin. “Is there anything else you can remember that might h
elp us? Anything at all?”
“Not really. Kyle was a good guy. He didn’t deserve this. None of us did, but especially not Kyle. I really do hope you can find out who did this.”
“Are the other three men who came for a visit still in town?” Parker asked.
Kevin nodded. “They are for now. Once Deputy Todd found out about the game we’d been playing, I think he put all of us on the suspect list. Each of us has been interviewed twice, and while he didn’t hold us, the deputy did tell us all to stay in town until he was sure he had everything he needed.”
“I’m not sure he can make the others stay in town if he isn’t going to charge them, but it is a good idea to cooperate,” Parker said. “The more you help Todd, the less likely it is that he’ll decide that one of you is the killer.”
“Unless one of the others is the killer,” I said. “You don’t think maybe Lance or Jimmy…”
“No,” Kevin answered. “Both men can be jerks, and they were definitely riding Kyle that night, but despite the fact that I’ve pretty much decided that I’ve outgrown them as friends, I don’t think either would become violent.” He took in a deep breath. “It was just a game. A stupid, insensitive game. None of us planned for anyone to get hurt.”
“What about the girls who were tricked into sleeping with you?” Parker asked. “Did it occur to you that one or more of them might have ended up hurt?”
“I didn’t sleep with anyone, but in answer to your question, no, it didn’t occur to me that the women Lance and Jimmy hooked up with might get hurt.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I guess that makes me a jerk.”
“I guess it does,” Parker responded, not giving the poor guy a bit of slack.
It was my natural instinct to offer Kevin comfort, but Parker wasn’t wrong to take the approach she had. The game the guys decided to play was a cruel game that demeaned women. I didn’t think anyone deserved to die for participating in such a crude game, but if Kyle had been murdered trying to get additional points on the board, I had to admit I’d have less sympathy for him than I would otherwise.