by Vakey, Jenn
“Hello?” a soft voice sounded out across the line.
“Hey, Mom,” Rilynne replied.
“How are you doing, sweetheart?” she asked, the warm recognition showing in her voice. “What number are you calling from?”
“I’m undercover so I had to hide the call,” she explained. “I’m walking around the mall on my day off, though, so I thought I would call and see how things are going. Also to let you know not to head this way until I call you. I don’t know how long my assignment will be, and I wouldn’t want you to make the trip if I’ll be tied up the entire time.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind. I heard Lori moved down. I would love to spend a little time with her and that beautiful little girl of hers,” she said in a pointed way. Rilynne pretended not to notice. “Besides, Ben is supposed to show me his salt-water tank. I would hate to miss it.”
Rilynne stopped walking and rolled her eyes. “You’re going to come down just to spend time with my boyfriend?”
“So it’s boyfriend now, is it?” Rilynne could hear the excitement in her voice.
“Oh, hush. How are things with your man?” she asked, detouring the conversation.
“Pretty good. He’s taking me to dinner at my favorite restaurant tonight,” Amber stated. “So, tell me about this case you’re working.”
Rilynne walked back out into the alley and started making her way down to the other end of the block. “Well, I’m working undercover as a maid in a gigantic manor. The owner is beyond nuts, and everyone in the house seemed to have some issue with the girl who was killed. I did finally find out where in the manor she was killed, but I still have no idea how she was removed from the property undetected or who actually killed her. They’re serving a warrant tonight, so hopefully they’ll find something that’ll help to close the case.”
“I don’t imagine you’re entirely thrilled about having to clean up after others,” Amber laughed. “Have you seen anything that could help you on the case?”
“The only thing that I’ve seen relevant to the investigation is the victim falling down the stairs. There was a drop of blood missed on one of the steps, which is the only way we were able to talk the judge into issuing the search warrant. Apparently the family who owns the manor has enough pull in the city to be able to push it off until now,” she stated with an annoyed tone. “I’ve run into wealthy people who thought they were above the law, but this family actually seems to be.”
“It’s just arrogance. If anyone within the family is actually your killer, I’m sure they’ll receive the full force of the law. No one’s going to risk burning bridges in the mean time,” Amber stated.
“Well, all I can say is the case would probably have been closed by now if we were able to actually do a proper investigation,” said Rilynne. “Not to mention, I wouldn’t have to spend my days in a short little maid’s uniform. When’s the last time you saw me willingly wear a skirt?”
Amber laughed. “You might have been seven. I bet the guys at the station are loving this.”
“You have no idea. Ben even showed up at an event the Lewis’ had a few nights ago. You should have seen the grin on his face.”
“What was he doing there?” Amber sounded as curious as Rilynne still felt.
Rilynne let out a sigh and shook her head as she walked into the next store. “He didn’t give me a straight answer. He just made some comment about everyone having secrets, and I should know better than anyone else. He didn’t elaborate on it, though.”
Amber paused, as if contemplating the statement. “Do you think he knows,” she asked a few moments later. “You’ve said he’s made several pointed comments after your altercation with Christopher. Is there a chance he actually heard the conversation and knows?”
“I don’t know,” Rilynne groaned. “Part of me actually hopes he does. Nothing has changed with us since then, so if we assume he did hear the conversation and believed what he heard, he seems to not be completely freaked out by it. It’s not like I can just outright ask him about it, though. While it would make things easier if he does knows, it would just open a can of worms if he doesn’t. It’s tearing me apart. I just don’t know what to do about it. As bad an example as it is, it wasn’t this hard to tell Christopher.”
“I imagine that actually has more to do with your nerves than anything else, though,” Amber said in her all too familiar motherly tone. “You just have to remember that telling him your secret didn’t have anything to do with how he turned out. He was a damaged young man long before you met him. If anything, knowing your secret might have prevented him from killing anyone else out of fear you’d catch him.”
Rilynne hadn’t considered the idea, but the thought of it was mildly comforting. She had done nothing but blame herself for the steps Christopher took out of fear she would see him. She never thought about what he chose not to do for the same reason.
“Eventually it’ll all come out,” she said. “Until then, I’ll just have to hope for the best and try not to talk to him about anything relating to one of my glimpses.”
“It’ll all work out for you in the end. Just have faith. I’ve got to be going, though. Bryan will be here in about an hour to pick me up and I haven’t even started to get ready yet.”
She glanced down at her watch to find her own pickup time to be only ten minutes away. “Well, have fun tonight. If my assignment isn’t finished before your trip, just call Ben. He has a key to my place and will let you in.”
After hanging up, Rilynne walked the rest of the way to the end of the block, and stepped out onto the street just as Nancy was pulling up.
“Like my nails?” Nancy said, almost bouncing in her seat. Rilynne looked down at the bright red shade and nodded in approval as she climbed in. In addition to the nails-which Rilynne didn’t imagine would last long with her job-it also appeared that Nancy had gotten a full makeover. Her normally curly hair, which had been pulled up when they left the manor, was now smooth as it lay over her shoulders. She was also now wearing a subtle, but noticeable layer of makeup.
After driving in silence back to the manor, they dropped off the car in the garage and made their way to the kitchen.
Everyone aside from Sydney was relaxing around the table, deep in conversation.
“Settle this for us,” Danny said when he saw them walk in. He was leaning forward in his seat, spinning a coin on the table. “Cole thinks it’s acceptable to take a girl to a car wash on a date.”
“First date?” Rilynne asked as she sat between them. Cole nodded. “It isn’t the worst idea I’ve heard, but not exactly romantic. Are you at least taking her somewhere else before?”
“Of course,” Cole said as he leaned back in his chair. “I thought we could go out to dinner, then hit the drive thru carwash before I drop her off. Well, if dinner goes well. It’ll give us some extra time to talk.”
Nancy rolled her eyes, but Rilynne didn’t think it was a bad idea.
“It’s lame,” Danny said, tossing the coin to Cole. “If you want to spend extra time with her, go somewhere after dinner. Somewhere other than a car wash.”
“Where would you take a girl?” Nancy asked, flipping her hair in what Rilynne assumed was an attempt to get him to notice the change. It didn’t work.
Danny just shrugged without looking up at her. “Depends on the girl, really. Naomi, for instance, seems like the kind of girl who would like a nice dinner before a long moonlit walk.”
Rilynne tried to hide her grin as she glanced over at the fury on Nancy’s face. “Always a good place to start,” she said casually. “I’m more of the recreational type, though. I’ve always enjoyed doing things like going bowling or for a hike. A ballgame is a fun first date, also.”
Nancy-eyes trained intently on Danny-opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, footsteps came from the door behind them. She wouldn’t have thought anything of them, but the footsteps themselves came with the sound of rage.
Sure enough, Cyndi Lewis couldn’t have looked more f
urious when she walked into the kitchen. “The police are here to look around for anything connected to Miss Price’s death. I don’t need a scandal in my house, so if you would like to keep your job, you don’t speak a word to them. Is that understood?”
Everyone nodded in agreement, sitting in silence until she stormed back out of the room.
“The police?” Rilynne tried to sound shocked. “What would they be doing here? They don’t think she was actually killed in the manor, do they?”
She could see the suspicion flashing through their eyes as they all turned toward one another. She was sure they were all wondering if any among them could have killed Brittney. What she didn’t see was guilt. That wasn’t completely surprising, though. Whoever killed the victim had ample time to prepare themselves for the questions that would inevitably follow.
“I’m sure they have to look into it since she was living here,” Lisa said. “I had assumed she left on her own and something happened to her afterwards. You know, because all of her belongings were gone. I hadn’t considered the possibility that it had actually happened here. Wouldn’t someone had noticed something, or seen someone leaving with her?”
“It couldn’t have happened here,” Nancy said. “There’s no way off of the property unless you go through the front entrance, and that’s always manned. It would have been impossible to get a body through the woods and over the wall, even more so at night.”
There was a quick look of disgust on Danny’s face at the sound of Nancy referring to Brittney as a body. It only lasted for a brief moment, though, before he turned his attention back to the coin he had taken back from Cole.
“Well, Mr. Lewis told me she left the banisters on the east stairs only half cleaned,” Rilynne stated. “Would she have really taken off halfway through a room?”
“Maybe she was on the run and was tipped off someone would come looking for her,” Cole said. She couldn’t quite tell if he was joking, but assumed he was. “Maybe she was in the witness protection program. She could have been in the middle of cleaning when her phone rang, telling her that her cover had been blown and she needed to get out quickly. She could have packed her stuff up and been on her way out of town when she ran into whoever she was hiding from.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure if she’d been involved in the witness protection program, Mrs. Lewis wouldn’t have been able to refuse police involvement before now.”
Rilynne turned toward her with a puzzled look. “Wait, it was Mrs. Lewis who refused the police?” she asked. “I would have thought it was Mr. Lewis. I always heard he was paranoid and wouldn’t let anyone on the property.”
“That’s an understatement, actually,” Cole chortled. “He required a complete background check on the cable installation guy before he would let him come out to get the house set up.”
“The grocery store offers deliveries for us, but he refuses to accept them. That’s why I have to go into town myself to pick everything up,” Lisa said. “I don’t mind because it gives me time out of the manor every week, but it would be much more convenient if we could just order what we needed and have it dropped off.”
“He’s definitely the paranoid one, but she’s been the one refusing to cooperate,” Danny said. “You heard her yourself; she’s threatened our jobs if we talk to the police. Honestly, I think she’s more concerned with her reputation being damaged than anything else. That includes finding out what really happened to Brittney.”
“You think that’s her real motive behind it?” she asked. “What if she was actually responsible for her death? She could be refusing to let the police investigate because she doesn’t want anyone to find out what she did.”
They all seemed to consider the possibility, but no one appeared convinced.
“She’s pretty high strung, but if she wanted to get rid of Brittney, all she would have needed to do was fire her,” Lisa said. “If she really had a problem with her, which I don’t think she did, she would have just black-listed her. Mrs. Lewis wouldn’t do anything that could possibly risk her reputation.”
“Rich people are strange,” Rilynne said as she shook her head. “You’d think she would be helpful just to get the investigation closed as soon as possible. Doesn’t an open investigation draw more attention than a closed one?”
“Who knows what she’s thinking,” Cole said. “She probably believes, with enough time, it’ll just go away.”
Instead of following the others out to get a peek at the investigation going on, Rilynne headed to her room. Although she was sure Wilcome would have informed every officer reporting to the manor that she was undercover, it didn’t reassure her that someone wouldn’t react to her in a way that could risk her cover.
She had barely lowered into her corner chair, though, when there was a knock at the door. When she pulled it open, she was greeted by the grinning face of Jeremy Steele.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said as he glanced cautiously down the hall. “I have a warrant to search this room for anything connected to the murder of Brittney Price.”
“Of course,” she said, taking a step back. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t know anything about that, though. I’ve only been employed here for a few days.” She spoke just loud enough that anyone in the hall would be able to hear her.
Steele had taken a few steps into the room when he pulled his hand up to his right ear. Rilynne glanced around and saw that he was wearing an earwig.
“Playing secret service agent?” she whispered with an impish grin.
“It’s all right,” he said as he glanced around the room. “We have eyes on everyone in the family and staff. We can speak freely. You know, if they mentioned the accommodations would be so nice, I would have done the assignment myself.”
Rilynne chuckled and dropped back into her chair. “I don’t think you could pull off the uniform.”
“You’re probably right there. Speaking of-” he looked at her curiously “-aren’t you supposed to be in one of those now? I’m pretty sure it’s in the job description. I have to say, I’m disappointed, Evans.”
“Oh, shut up,” she said, throwing her hairbrush at him. He caught it just before it connected with his chest. “It’s my day off. Speaking of job, shouldn’t you be doing yours instead of hassling me?”
He chuckled and sat down on the end of her bed, bouncing on it for a moment with an impressed nod. “Have you searched this room thoroughly?” She nodded. “Other than the blood on the stairs, which Tylers and Ben are looking at now, have you seen anything else that we should check out while we’re here? Matthews mentioned something about an encounter you had in the woods.”
“I saw the head of security out there, but I don’t know what he was up to. Make sure he isn’t anywhere close before you have someone look into it. I’m sure if you started snooping around, he would quickly put it together that I told you about it. No one else was around to see him out there,” Rilynne instructed.
“I’ll send some officers out to have a look around,” he said as he pushed up off of the bed. “We’ll let you know what we find.”
Rilynne sank down into her chair as he walked out and closed her eyes. She concentrated hard on the manor and its inhabitants, but after five minutes of not seeing anything, she gave up.
She was just considering venturing out of her room when Nancy stuck her head through the open door. “You’ll never guess who’s here,” she said with an excited note. “Looks like I didn’t have to track him down after all.”
When she disappeared back through the door, Rilynne couldn’t help but follow her. She wasn’t concerned with Nancy actually attracting the attention of Ben. Instead, she was looking forward to watching the show she was bound to put on in the attempt to capture it.
She had to almost run to catch up to Nancy as she neared the foyer. Nancy crossed through it without paying attention to Jared Lewis or the officers occupying it. Rilynne looked up at them hesitantly as she followed, but was relieved when they show
ed no hint of knowing her in front of Mr. Lewis.
Nancy didn’t slow until she reached the east wing staircase. After adjusting her top, she stepped toward the center of the room.
Ben was crouched down with his back to them. Judging by his placement on the center of the stairs, he was collecting the sample of blood Rilynne had found. She stood back against the wall, arms folded in front of her, as she watched Nancy ease toward the stairs. Despite her hesitant posture, she moved with an air of confidence. She had reached the bottom step before her presence was noticed.
“Can I help you with something, ma’am?” Tylers asked from the top of the stairs. He looked from Nancy to Rilynne, pausing just long enough to take in the amused look sitting on her face, before turning back to Nancy.
She shook her head playfully. “I was actually going to ask you fine gentlemen the same thing,” she said. “I’m not really supposed to be speaking with you, but I think what happened to Brittney was just awful, and I wanted to offer any assistance I could.”
Ben glanced toward her, seemingly uninterested in the events going on around him. As they made their way around the room, his eyes paused briefly on Rilynne before returning to the task at hand. As he turned away from her, she could just make out his ears pinkening as his body tensed up. She hid the grin that swelled on her face as she turned her gaze back to Nancy.
“And you, ma’am?” Tylers said as he turned from Nancy to Rilynne.
“Oh, I don’t know anything. I’ve only been working here a few days. I’m just nosey,” she flashed him a cocky grin as he struggled to keep a blank expression. She glanced from Tylers to Ben just in time to see his body tense yet again. She had a feeling he was trying hard not to laugh.
“Well, just make sure you stay out of the way,” he stated before returning his attention to Nancy. “Is there anything you can tell us about the night Ms. Price was killed?”
“I, uh…” she hesitated, her eyes fixed on Ben instead of Tylers. “I was cleaning Mrs. Lewis’ bedroom on the north wing at the time. I went back to my room around ten, but never heard her head to bed. He can fingerprint me if that would help at all.”