by M. Z. Kelly
I shook my head. “Not good enough. Tell us what was going on.”
“Tell her,” Maddie said, her voice breaking again.
Kiera sighed. “The night before Annie went missing, we all...we partied with Brad.”
“The four of you?”
She nodded.
Olivia’s eyes bore into them. “When you say ‘party’, are you talking about sex and drugs?”
Kiera shook her head. “Just sex...and some alcohol.”
“Go on,” I said.
“After the party was over, Brad was upset. He told Annie he was broke and that Garfield Boyer was stealing his money.” After Brad fell asleep, Annie told us she was going to confront Garfield about what was going on. That’s the last time we ever saw her.”
“Do you think Garfield killed her?”
Jewel finally spoke up, her voice full of disdain. “That would be my guess, but we have no way of knowing for sure.”
“What about Brad? Did he ask what happened to Annie after she went missing?”
“Of course, but...he was Brad Novak. He had other distractions.”
“What else?” I said.
Jewel sat in silence for a long moment, looking at her friends. She finally looked back at me and said, “Brad thought someone was working with Garfield to steal his money.”
“Who was that?”
“Judy Welch.”
FIFTY-SIX
Leo drove us to Garfield Boyer’s mansion in Malibu. We had just turned onto Pacific Coast Highway when Lieutenant Byrd called. I put him on speaker, so the others could hear.
“Brad Novak’s last will and testament was just filed, and the media got wind of it. There was a recent codicil to the estate that left everything he owned to Garfield Boyer.”
I told the lieutenant what we’d learned from Kiera Berg and her friends, adding, “I’m not sure what this means for Welch, especially if she was working with Boyer to steal Novak’s fortune.”
“It leaves Boyer with having set up Welch for Novak’s murder and then cutting her out of everything.”
“Maybe. It’s just that...”
“What?” Byrd said impatiently when I didn’t go on.
“It’s a little too neat. Something tells me we don’t have all the pieces.”
“Put it together. The media reports about the will are stirring everything up again. Lean on Boyer hard and let me know what he says when you’re finished.”
After ending the call, we decided we needed to go over what we knew about our case. We stopped for coffee at a café on the beach, where I gave Olivia and Leo a summary of what we thought we knew.
“Garfield Boyer was cheating Brad Novak for years, siphoning off his earnings, probably with Judy Welch’s acquiescence. We know that Novak was starting to suspect Boyer was cheating him, so Boyer kills him and sets up Welch for the murder. With Novak dead and Welch going down for his murder, Boyer stands to inherit everything.”
“It might have gone that way,” Leo said after sipping his drink. “But why would Novak leave everything to Boyer, knowing that he was stealing from him?”
“Maybe Boyer secretly worked up the codicil and Novak signed it along with some other papers, not realizing what it was. We know that the actor had an alcohol problem, so maybe he was too drunk to realize what he was signing.”
“All I know is that, if it went that way, Welch would be livid and wanting to pay Boyer back big time,” Olivia said. “Especially now that she’s out on bail.”
“Maybe...” My gaze drifted off, taking in the ocean.
“What is it?” Olivia asked.
I looked at her, running a hand through Bernie’s fur. “Something doesn’t feel right to me.” My phone rang again, interrupting my thoughts. I saw the call was from Joe Dawson. I told the others to give me a minute and stepped away to answer.
“Time to get in the bullpen and start warming up, Buttercup,” Joe said, after we exchanged greetings. “The Angel’s about to go into extra innings, and I’m not talking about the baseball team.”
“What’s going on?”
“Eva put some pressure on Anne Parker’s brother’s attorney. Carson Parker’s still refusing to talk, but the attorney actually has a conscience. He told us that Carson’s got a daughter who lives in your neck of the woods. He said she and her father are estranged, and she might be willing to talk to us. Eva and I are flying out there late tonight. We should be there in the morning, and I thought the four of us could take a crack at her.”
“Olivia and I are working a case that’s starting to break. Give us a call in the morning, and we’ll let you know about our schedule.”
When the call ended, I took a seat again and filled in Olivia and Leo on what Joe said. “It sounds like we might finally catch a break on our federal case. That’s not to say Carson Parker’s daughter knows anything about where Alexander and Anne are.”
Olivia pushed a hand through her long hair. “At this point, I’ll take anything we can get.”
“You two solve both the Novak murder and the Angel case and you might be up for promotion,” Leo said, after finishing his coffee.
“Spare us,” Olivia said. “I’ve already gone down that road, and it’s a dead end.”
“And it’s a road I never intend to travel,” I added, standing. “Let’s go see Mr. Boyer.”
Garfield Boyer’s home was on a bluff off Malibu Canyon Road, in an enclave of expensive homes, some owned by celebrities. I knew, from taking a look at the real estate site, Zillow, that the homes started at five million and went north from there. Leo parked down the street from his sprawling estate. I had just gotten Bernie out of the back seat of the car when we saw the smoke.
Garfield Boyer’s house was on fire!
FIFTY-SEVEN
“You go ahead,” Leo told Olivia and me. “I’ll call it in.”
Bernie and I followed Olivia down the driveway that led to the sprawling three story mansion. There was smoke everywhere now, but the property was surrounded by a high security wall, with no way inside.
“We’re locked out,” I said, after trying the gate.
Olivia had her service weapon out. “Stand back.”
She fired off two rounds before the electronic lock on the gate popped open, letting us inside. Leo had joined us by the time we got up to the front door of the burning residence.
I tried the door, my dog on alert beside me. “It’s locked.”
“The fire department’s on the way,” Leo said.
Olivia was already moving off the porch “Let’s try around back.”
We scrambled around to the side of the house, where there was a stairway to a second story deck. We found an unlocked patio door and went inside, finding the residence nearly engulfed in flames.
“Is anybody home?” I yelled.
Olivia and Leo followed me, also calling out but getting no response.
Leo and I tried searching the bedrooms, but the flames were too intense to get down the hallway.
“There’s a third story,” Olivia said when we got back to the living room. She motioned to a stairway. “We’d better check.”
The smoke was thick when we got to what, we realized, was an outdoor observation deck with a spa that overlooked the ocean. Then we saw the first body. Judy Welch was lying in a pool of blood, shot through the head.
After Leo checked for a pulse and found none, he joined Olivia and me at the spa, where we found Garfield Boyer and another body floating face down. There was blood and brain matter everywhere, making it apparent that Brad Novak’s business manager had suffered the same fate as Welch.
I held Bernie back and reached into the water, pulling the other body to the side of the spa. I then made the announcement. “It’s Derek Reese, Marvin Lohman’s executive assistant.”
The flames were spreading quickly now, the smoke becoming heavier. “We need to find a way down,” I said, going over to the railing with Bernie.
As the ocean breeze pushed the smoke
away, I caught a glimpse of a woman running down the beach. She was young, blonde, a bit on the heavy side. Then she glanced up at the burning residence, and, all at once, the pieces fell into place, her words coming back to me. I spent seven years married to that crazy bastard... I deserve to inherit everything he had.
“It’s Allison Hart, Brad Novak’s ex-wife,” I said, telling the others what I’d seen. “She’s running down the beach.”
“There’s another stairway,” Olivia said, calling over to us.
We followed her, making our way down a circular stairway until we were on the lower deck, which led down to the ocean. The house was a blazing inferno now. I looked down the beach, seeing that Hart was a couple hundred yards away.
“Let’s follow her,” I said, tugging on Bernie’s leash. “But let’s be careful. She’s already killed three people.”
“Maybe four,” Leo said, “if she also killed her ex-husband.”
We covered the distance between the house and Hart in a couple minutes, with Bernie leading the way. Novak’s ex stopped where the beach turned to cliffs and the water gave way to rocks. She turned and faced us, with a gun in her hand. She raised it to her temple, as we held her at gunpoint.
“It’s over, Ali,” I said, as Bernie growled, and we all trained our weapons on her. “Give it up.”
She moved the gun up, her finger tensing on the trigger. “It’s over when I say it’s over.”
As she held the weapon in her trembling hand, I knew there was no choice, other than to keep her talking, hoping she’d eventually change her mind about taking her life. “Tell us about it. Why did you shoot Garfield and Judy?”
She laughed. “You have no idea what’s really been going on. Maybe you never will.”
“Then talk to us. Tell us about it.”
“You already know Brad was behind on his alimony payments. He was a worthless bastard, making a fortune and being used by everyone, while I was barely scraping by.”
I saw her emotions surfacing and began to play that card. “On some level, you still loved him, didn’t you?”
There were heavy tears, as her hand continued to shake. “Of course. We would have still been together if that bitch Welch hadn’t come between us.”
The gun was still at her temple, as I said, “What about Garfield?”
Her laughter was full of bitterness. “I wanted what I had coming to me, or, at least, what was left of it. That asshole Garfield bled him dry. Brad was either too drunk or too stupid to realize what was going on. His entire life was a waste.”
“And when your anger took over, you killed him and Welch, didn’t you?”
She laughed. “I think this has gone on long enough.”
I knew I had to keep her talking. “Tell us about Derek Reese. What was his role in what happened?”
She laughed. “He was Garfield’s boy toy, someone he was seeing behind Brad’s back while the bastard stole his fortune.” Heavy tears were on her face as she let loose with a string of profanities, then screamed, “I can’t believe they cheated me out of everything!”
As her emotions took over, Hart began sobbing and used the sleeve of her blouse to wipe her tears, slightly moving the gun away from her temple.
“I can’t go on!” she cried, her hand again tensing on the trigger.
I knew she was determined to take her life and seized the only opening we had. I gave Bernie the attack command, praying that he could get to Welch and knock the gun from her hand.
“FASS!” I yelled, snapping off my dog’s leash.
Bernie moved like lightning, closing on our suspect in seconds. Unfortunately, Ali Hart had already made a fatal decision. She pulled the hammer back on her weapon and fired a single shot into her brain, ending her life before she hit the ground.
After getting Bernie back under control and checking the body, Leo stepped away to call the coroner’s office.
I told Olivia, “I thought it was the only option we had to try to stop her.”
“It was. You did the right thing. Unfortunately, she’d already made up her mind.”
After Leo made his call, and we walked back up the beach, we saw the fire department arriving at Garfield Boyer’s house. I knew there would be little left of the mega-mansion after the fire was out, except for the charred remains of three wasted lives.
I said to Olivia, “Do you know what’s worse than the anger of an ex-wife?”
She brushed a streamer of hair out of her eyes and glanced at me. “What’s that?”
“An ex-wife without alimony.”
FIFTY-EIGHT
An hour later, the street in front of Garfield Boyer’s Malibu mansion was clogged with emergency equipment, press vans, onlookers, crime scene technicians, and medical examiner staff. Since the homicides had occurred in the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction, their investigators had already taken control of the scene by the time Lieutenant Byrd arrived.
After reviewing the scene and giving our preliminary statements to the investigators, the three of us met with the lieutenant on the outdoor patio of a small restaurant a couple miles up the road, where we discussed what we knew.
“We’ll be executing a search warrant later today at Garfield Boyer’s offices and Beverly Hills estate,” Leo said. “We expect to find that he’d been keeping a second set of books and falsifying Brad Novak’s financial records for years, skimming money for his own purposes.”
“And Judy Welch?” Byrd asked. “How does she fit into everything?”
I answered. “We think her relationship with Boyer was up and down, just like with Novak. At some point, it seems likely that she became aware of Boyer stealing from her client and wanted in on the action. She was living way beyond her means, and it’s likely she also expected part of what was left of Novak’s estate to keep quiet.”
“Why do you suppose she told you about Boyer being involved with Novak, given her interest in keeping things quiet?”
“She probably figured we’d eventually find out anyway, and didn’t want to come off like she was withholding information.”
“So much for her being in love with the actor,” Olivia said. “I think her reputation about being a controlling bully was pretty accurate. In the end, it cost Welch her life.”
“She and Allison Hart were at odds, even when she was still married to Novak,” I said. “Hart accused her of breaking up their marriage and helping Boyer steal from Novak’s accounts. When her alimony dried up, and she saw Novak’s fortune slipping away, she came up with a plan to salvage what she could.”
“She overdosed Novak with fentanyl and set up Welch for the crime by leaving prints and the leftover drugs in a nearby trailer,” Leo said. “She needed to make the crime look premeditated so that Welch would spend the rest of her life in prison.”
“But what was in it for her after Welch went down for the crime?” the lieutenant asked. “Boyer still had control of the actor’s assets.”
“We can only speculate that she went to Boyer and demanded Welch’s piece of the action. Boyer may have agreed, at first, but when Welch made bail and it looked like she might beat the charges and talk, he cut Hart out again, and even set up Novak’s estate to take what was left of the fortune.”
“Hearing the news about the estate, and the codicil Boyer put in place, probably caused Hart to snap and lose all control,” Leo agreed.
The lieutenant swirled the last of the coffee in his cup. “What about Marvin Lohman’s assistant, Derek Reese?”
“Hart called him Boyer’s boy toy, just before she died,” I said. “Boyer had a reputation for being a player and cheating on Novak. For Reese, it was probably a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Byrd tossed his cup in a nearby receptacle. “I guess being rich and famous isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ll let Van Ness know what happened, so he can tell Bronson, who can take all the credit.”
Byrd was about to leave, when I mentioned Joe’s earlier phone call and expl
ained about Olivia and me needing to work the federal case in the morning.
“I’ll pass word along about that, as well. Call in when you get a chance and let me know what’s going on.” He smiled at the three of us, a rare sight. “Good work.”
As Olivia, Leo, and I walked with Bernie to our car, I mentioned the lieutenant’s demeanor, adding, “Do you think there’s hope for him, after all?”
Olivia gave us her thoughts. “Probably the same odds that Big Bird can flap his wings and fly over Sesame Street.”
***
After giving another, formal statement to the sheriff’s department investigators working the Malibu murder scene, Bernie and I spent the rest of the day at the station. I wrote reports on the day’s activities for my department, while Bernie snoozed by my desk.
The only element of our case that was still unknown was what had happened to Annie Watts. We speculated that she’d run afoul of Boyer, and maybe Welch, and they’d killed her, but that was just speculation. I made a mental note to follow up when time permitted.
I got home just after six and found Otto in the kitchen, the house otherwise deserted. “Where is everybody?” I asked, after saying hello.
“Something about a formal rehearsal for a...” He scratched his head. “...an upcoming charitable event.”
“Damn. The lip sync war. I forgot all about the rehearsal.” I checked my phone and saw that I had a half-dozen texts from Natalie, asking where I was. I decided I was too exhausted to care and ignored the texts.
“Sorry, Madam, but perhaps the rehearsal wouldn’t make that much difference anyway,” Otto said, with a smile. “May I prepare an evening meal for you?”
I accepted his offer to warm up some lasagna and took a seat at the kitchen island as he worked. After he’d put the food in the microwave, I asked him about Clark, adding, “How did your conversation go?”
He released a heavy sigh. “I’m not really sure. Clark said she’s...he’s making an adjustment to his new life.” His eyes brightened. “On a positive note, he mentioned that Michael’s in college now and doing well.” He must have seen my bewilderment. “That’s his son, the one I tutored when...” Another sigh. “...in my other life.” His gaze moved off. “We were very close.”