“So you had to come up and bring the Morettis with you?”
“Nobody followed me. I followed that Regina chick. I was careful. Cross my heart and hope to die.” She quickly makes an X over her chest.
“Yeah, well. That’s one wish that just might come true.”
“How long have you been here? Did you send this bracelet?” I hold it up for her to see and it glitters in the moonlight just like those tears streaking across her face.
“That’s right.” She scowls over at it. “Eddie Ferrari gave it to me as an I’m sorry for sleeping with Lorretta Vitali.”
I suck in a quick breath. “Eddie knew you hated Lorretta.”
“Everybody knew I hated Lorretta,” she snips back. “Anyway, that’s when I went to see Dad.”
“And that’s also when you started doing a few drive-bys with the notes. Have you been in Vermont this entire time?”
“I went home twice, but I’m here to stay. I’m not going back to Hastings ever again. I’ve had it with Eddie. He’s flaunting Lorretta around like a new Lamborghini, and to make matters worse, his family has welcomed her with open arms. I hate him. I hate her. And right now, I hate half of Hastings.”
“So you need a vacation,” I say in hopes of steering her toward a cruise in the South Pacific.
“I need a new residence. I’ll be staying with you until I can figure things out. I need to be as far away from Hastings as possible. I need family right now, too, Stella. And face it, you check off two boxes.”
“You can’t—” I glance over my shoulder before pulling her behind the hedge with me. “Steph, you can’t call me Stella. My name is Bowie Binx. And don’t you dare breathe that name outside of my presence—as in when you go back home. You got it?”
She gives a solemn nod before craning her neck past me. “This looks like some fancy party. I bet that cute boyfriend of yours is here. I caught an eyeful when he was going out to get the mail. Leave it to you, Stella—I mean, Bowie, to move in with the most handsome stud muffin in all of Vermont.”
“Yeah, well, that hottie and I don’t live together. He’s my landlord.” Speaking of that handsome stud muffin, he said he’d be here in just a bit once he finished up at the sheriff’s station.
I glance back at the crowd to see if he’s already arrived, but there’s no sign of him. Instead, I spot a redhead laughing with a group of friends.
That’s Sophia Hathaway.
If I can just ask her a few more questions, I’m sure she’ll be able to help me pin Kiera Hillerman to a murderous wall.
I glance back to my sister. “And thank you for giving me an idea, Steph.” I pull my house key out and land it in her palm. “You go straight to my place. I’ll buy every banana pie from here to Starry Falls before I get back and we’ll watch rom-coms until we’re seeing double.”
“Oh, that sounds deliciously perfect.” She clutches the key to her chest. “Thank you Ste—Bowie.” She gives a little shrug. “You’re not really mad at me, are you?”
“For missing your big sis? Never.” For leading who knows who right to my doorstep? Well, that’s another issue entirely. “I’ll be home soon. Make sure nobody sees you—and don’t make any pit stops! And for God’s sake—don’t go to the manor.”
“Got it.” She pulls me in for another tight embrace before taking off into the night.
My phone buzzes in my purse, and I fish it out to find a text from Shep.
Running late. Wanted to let you know I spoke to my sister. She said BD stands for backdated. I bet whoever moved those funds had no idea the software had an internal measure set in place to trace the date. See you in a bit. Stay out of trouble.
Backdated?
The date of that half a million dollar transaction was backdated to a week before Madeline died. Interesting. Someone moved that money after Madeline died in an effort to make it look as if she did it.
But who?
And could they also be the killer?
I glance back to Sophia just as her band of friends disperses.
Now to get to the bottom of Madeline Swanson’s murder once and for all.
I make a beeline for the redhead in question just as she accepts a glass of wine from a roving waitress.
“Bowie.” Her voice hikes with what sounds like a genuine pleasure to see me. “You want one?” She points to her glass, and I quickly shake my head.
“Things didn’t end so well for me the last time I imbibed.”
A laugh bubbles from her. “Yes, the llama races. If it makes you feel better, your llama won. Just about every woman there ordered a hat from that designer.”
“It’s nice to know my time as a llama jockey didn’t go to waste.” I give a quick look around at the crowd. “This is some shindig.” I nod toward the bodies floating around the periphery of the pond. “Madeline sure was loved by many.”
“That she was.” She shrugs. “But we already knew that.”
“I saw Kiera here.” I brighten with the lie, but I have no doubt she’s roaming the grounds. “She really misses Madeline, too. And after that donation from your father to her company, I bet she’ll do something to honor both Madeline and him.”
Her shoulders bounce with a dry laugh. “Maybe a—smells like Madeline Swanson’s dead body candle? Or a smells like stolen Hathaway money candle? Kiera is swine as far as I’m concerned. That ridiculous company of hers was tottering on financial oblivion a few weeks back. She owes my father plenty—like a repayment.”
“Goober was having financial trouble?”
She nods. “It’s never been in the black. I heard she was about to close up shop a few weeks back. Must be nice to get a miracle when you need it. Even if you have to take it yourself.”
“Hey, I spoke to the detective working on her case and he said that half a million dollar donation your father supposedly made to Kiera’s company might have been backdated.”
Her brows pinch a moment. “What does that mean?”
“It means whoever transferred that money to Goober did so after Madeline died. How do you think Kiera pulled that off?”
She blinks back. “I don’t know.” Her features harden. “But I’m sure as heck about to find out.” She stalks off before I could properly interrogate her.
Great.
That got me exactly nowhere.
A man in a red suit walks by, and I wince at the garishness of his accouterments before I remember I’ve seen them before.
“Lucas?” I call out and catch up to him near a grove of oaks lit up like Christmas trees.
Lucas has his hair slicked back and a friendly smile to greet me.
“Bowie Binx.” He lifts his drink my way as if he was toasting me. “Did you ever find someplace to park your money?”
“Not yet.” I shrug. “I’m keeping all of my options open at the moment.” I nod down at the suit. “I remember you wearing this the night Madeline died.”
A thump of a laugh ejects from him. “It was an inside joke between the two of us. She said I looked like the devil in it. A handsome devil.” He gives a wistful look around. “I can’t believe she’s gone. I won’t lie. I thought she was hamming it up the night she collapsed. I had just arrived and saw her twirling around, clutching at her throat. I thought it was a cry for attention.” His chest bucks a moment. “But it wasn’t.” He sniffs my way.
That must be why he was observing her with so little emotion on his face.
“Sophia mentioned that you and Madeline were in a rough patch recently.”
He bows his head a moment. “We were. I was tired of it all. Madeline was more interested in how to lure more followers to her social media feeds than she was in us. The horrible part is, I was about to tell her that I couldn’t do it anymore. I was ready to throw in the towel that night with her. But once I realized she was gone,” he shakes his head, “it made me regret almost all of my choices over the past few months. And, ironically, some of my friends are feeling the same way.” He squints out at the crowd, a
nd I follow his gaze right up until I spot Kiera. “Excuse me, Bowie. I see someone I need to talk to.” He takes off in haste before I can stop him.
So that’s why he was watching Madeline from across the room that night. He was already over her and her social media hungry antics. But Madeline wasn’t faking anything that night—and she received the attention I’m sure she didn’t want.
Parker ducks into the dessert tent, and I’m more than happy to follow him.
Not only am I having a serious hankering for more of those oven fresh chocolate chip cookies, but I have a sudden hankering to speak with Parker Goldman himself.
Parker’s summer tan is still in full effect and he glows in a white dress shirt and stone-colored chinos. He snaps up a few of those coveted chocolate chip cookies, and I’m right there next to him doing the same.
“My favorite,” I say as I look to him.
“Bowie.” He frowns a moment. “How are Opal and Tilly doing? I haven’t heard from them. That usually means they’re happy with their treatments.”
They haven’t smiled in a week, but I keep that little tidbit to myself.
“They’re thrilled with their new wrinkle-free faces.” Not that they can convey as much now that facial expressions are a thing of the past for the two of them—at least temporarily.
I glance back in the direction Lucas took off with Kiera, but they’re out of sight.
“Parker, that day I was in your office we talked about the security breech that resulted in your life’s work ending up in your competitor’s hands. Any word on who could have done that?” It’s already pretty clear Madeline did the dirty deed, but I need to hear him say it as well.
He takes a full breath. “No. But the thing is, there was no security breech. It was an inside job. I kept the exact formulation on a printout, locked in a safe that only I had the key to.”
“What do you mean a printout? Don’t you have it stored on the computer systems at the lab? I mean, the people who were working on it needed that formula to develop it and run the proper tests. Right?”
“Right and wrong. I developed the batches myself and distributed them to the team. Sure they could see what the serum was composed of, but only I knew the exact formula to make the magic happen. My hardware was being hacked a little too often for me to feel safe, so I removed it. I printed it out and hid it in the heart of my office. Nobody had the key but me.”
“Oh, I don’t know what to say.” I shake my head, trying to process it all. “Parker, who else knew the combination to your safe?”
“It was under lock and key. And I had that damn key on me at all times.”
“No spare?”
He shrugs. “I had a spare at my place.”
“Do you think that’s where Madeline got it?”
He inches back. “Madeline? Why would Madeline steal the formula? I was giving her all the treatments she wanted. Besides, I’ve never taken her to my place.” His cheek flinches.
“You preferred hotels?” I don’t mind calling him out on his philandering ways.
He looks my way with a hostile air about him.
“Fine, we were having a fling. Everyone knows it. Who the hell cares? But I didn’t bring her to my place. She didn’t take the key.”
“I heard she was upset about being denied treatments until the serum was approved by the FDA. That was motive right there to get the key.”
He inches back. “That’s not true. In fact, Maddie was the only one I was offering treatments to until the serum’s approval came through.” He glowers at me a moment. “If you’ll excuse me, I need a drink.”
He stalks off, and I’m left with my mouth open, another question on my tongue, but it’s too late.
“She didn’t take the key?” Or at least Parker seems convinced of it.
I snatch up a few more chocolate chip cookies before darting out of the tent in hopes to find Shep, but instead, I see a couple traipsing over to a row of trees and I follow suit.
It’s Lucas and Kiera joined at the hand, as he hastily draws her close underneath the low-lying branches of a bushy maple.
My feet hustle me in that direction just about as quick as I can muster without dropping a single cookie. Their voices escalate into the night, but it’s so secluded over here I doubt they need to keep it down. I come upon the two of them just as Lucas grabs her by the shoulders.
“Nobody needs to know,” he riots as he gives her a slight rattle.
“Nobody tells me what to do,” she snips back. “I should have done this the very first night and saved myself the trouble.”
My vision! I do an odd little hop and accidently trip over a root and stumble right into their midst.
“Oh!” I cry as Lucas helps straighten me. “Sorry.” I wince at the two of them. “Cookie, anyone?” I hold out a few crumbled and melted, less than desirable looking sweet treats but neither of them moves an inch.
“I’m sorry, Bowie,” Kiera pants. “But I’ll have to ask you to leave. Lucas and I were having a private conversation.”
“Don’t bother.” Lucas grunts as he shoots Kiera with what amounts to a death ray. “I’m done for tonight.” He takes off in a fury, and the two of us watch as he heads for the exit.
I bow my head a notch in an effort to hook Kiera’s gaze. “Is everything okay?”
“No, everything is not okay.” She sinks her forehead into her hand a moment. “Nothing is ever okay.”
A thought comes to me. “This is about Goober, isn’t it? You were on the verge of financial collapse up until very recently, weren’t you?”
Her eyes round out and her blonde ringlets glow under the supervision of the pale moon.
“How did you know?”
“I do know,” I say. “And I also know that you came into half a million dollars via the Hathaway Foundation. Did that plug the hole? Or are you still bleeding financially?”
“What?” she squawks as if I just sprouted another head. “The Hathaway Foundation never gave me a dime. Let’s just say I found my own way to curb the financial bleeding.” Her eyes flit in the direction Lucas just took off in. “One I very much regret.”
“You mean you don’t have the money? The half a million from Wallace?”
“What are you talking about? How would I get the money?”
“Where did you get the money?” I suck in a quick breath. “Did you steal the serum?” My fingers ride to my lips as I glance in the direction Lucas took off in. “You and Lucas stole the serum? How did you get the key?”
Kiera clams up. Her lips invert a moment, an admittance of guilt if ever there was one.
“Oh my God, I’m right. Did Madeline give you the key?”
She takes a full step back. “Madeline didn’t have the key. She didn’t need the key. She was Parker’s pet project and that wasn’t about to change.”
“Parker said he kept the spare at his place,” I say mostly to myself. “You must have gone to his place and found the spare. You or Lucas.”
She rolls her eyes. “Why would we go to his place?”
“Where did you get the key?”
“Look, we didn’t steal the key.” Her shoulders sag a moment. “I found it. Sophia and I went to Biogen for one of our last treatments and it was sitting there on his desk. I didn’t even know what it was until Sophia pointed it out.”
“So you took it? Right in front of Sophia?” A silent laugh bucks through me. “That took some serious cookies.”
She shakes her head. “We left. I went back for it.” She takes a step my way, her eyes narrowed over mine, seething with hate. “And before you go tattling it to that boyfriend of yours, I’m telling Parker myself. I never should have gone through with it. And not only do I regret it, I plan on paying him back.”
“With what? Your company is on the financial cusp of ruin.”
“Says who?”
“Says Sophia—and Parker.”
Her chest bounces with a laugh. “Why would I share my financial statements with
Sophia? It’s just like her to start rumors. If Sophia is good at anything, she’s good at stirring the pot. She couldn’t stand the fact Parker was cheating on her, so she set the world on fire.”
“Why would she care if Parker was cheating on her? She said something about the two of them having an open relationship.”
“She wishes. Sophia would say and do anything to save face. The only one without money around here was Sophia. The rest of us are getting on our feet. She’s the one drowning in debt. And it’s just like her to try to pull the rest of us down with her.”
She takes off in the same direction Lucas took off in.
Kiera and Lucas stole the serum.
The key was right there on Parker’s desk waiting for her—tempting her.
Oh my God, it was a setup.
I look back at the crowd fluttering around the grounds.
And I think I know who set Kiera and Lucas up.
And I just might know who killed Madeline Swanson, too.
Chapter 16
There is something satisfying when a picture you’ve been trying to make out slowly comes into focus, the puzzle you’ve been trying to finish is just about complete. But I’m still missing the final piece, and I have a feeling I know exactly who can sharpen that picture—who might just hold the final piece to this puzzle.
The crescent moon hangs so low it almost looks as if you can sling a rope over the crook and swing on it.
The rose garden at the Hathaway estate is a bit farther from the pond, isolated from the throngs of people here for Madeline Swanson’s farewell party, but you could still hear their revelry, their laughter echoing from a distance. And this is exactly where I find Sophia Hathaway sitting on the back of a stone lion with her red hair glowing like a flame.
“Sophia?” I call out as she stands and turns my way.
Her pale dress looks illuminated from the inside as the thin gold strap of her purse sits across her chest.
A Claw-some Affair (MEOW FOR MURDER Book 3) Page 13