by Cassie Page
Charles shook his head. “She knows how to cook, that’s for sure.” Though he often praised Maria’s virtues, he didn’t elaborate as usual. He just quietly tapped his coffee spoon on the tablemat.
Tobey grinned. “So how much will it cost me to steal her away from you?” He winked at Olivia. She had to change the subject.
“So what’s this business deal? I haven’t heard Charles mention your name.” She’d never met a billionaire who wouldn’t rather talk about his deals than the household help.
“Us?” Tobey pointed to Charles. “It’s called Cocoon Your Life. It’s this high tech system that puts your whole life on a chip.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of it.” She turned to Charles. “Matt bought a few shares of stock.”
“He won’t regret it. Matt’s her boyfriend, Tobey.”
Charles explained that he and Tobey were two of the angels on the startup, the small investors who put up seed money before the developer approached venture capitalists for the big bucks. Then he elaborated on the system.
“Everybody I know is installing it in their houses. It’s fantastic. Like, last week? I went out without my keys. Dumb, right? Who forgets their house keys? So I punch this number on my phone, and like that, the door pops opens.”
Olivia frowned. “Is that so unusual? Can’t you do that with your car keys?”
Tobey explained. “You can have keyless entry, but this is different. Using it to open your front door is simple stuff. It’s how it controls everything else for you. The interface is like nothing else out there. Crazy beautiful animation and they’ve done something with skeuomorphism that the industry will start copying.”
From her own background Olivia knew he was talking about design concepts, but had no idea how they worked in the cyber world.
“Yeah,” Charles agreed. “That tech team Payne put together? They’re geniuses.”
“Oh, he doesn’t have a team,” Tobey said, refusing coffee when the server came around with a menu. “He’s a major geek. To say nothing of a business genius.”
Charles reared his head back in surprise. “You mean he invented Cocoon Your Life? I thought he was just the CEO. I didn’t know it was his baby.”
By now, Olivia felt left out of the conversation, which was fine. At least Tobey stopped bringing up names that would remind Charles of his heartache.
Tobey would not get off the Cocoon Your Life train. “Yeah, it’s pretty much his thing. His son is a big brain, too. You heard about his snakebite cure? He had some input on Cocoon, too. You know, father and son geeks.”
Tobey mentioned some investing gossip that he had read on his favorite blog. Olivia sat back and noted how congenial Tobey was, then sank into her thoughts while the two men caught up on their news. An idea started to swirl around in her head, but she was having a hard time nailing it down. She asked tentatively, knowing this could be a touchy subject for Carverman, “Do you think Mr. Payne’s wife would have known about the technology?”
Tobey nodded. “Of course. Everyone knows about Cocoon Your Life now.”
She waved her hands, erasing her first question. “No, I’m sure she knew about it. Do you think she might have had a part in developing it or knew how it worked?”
Tobey shook his head. “I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but I met her once or twice. I’m not sure she could have figured out how to use it, much less understood how it worked. If you get my drift.”
Olivia pursued her thought. “Well tell me this. If that system could open your door from your phone, could it open someone else’s door, I mean, could you unlock a neighbor’s door with it?”
Charles and Tobey said no in unison. Tobey explained. “No way. Chuck and I went over those tech specs in the proposal with a computer engineer friend of mine. It’s a failsafe security system among other things. But it’s coded to only recognize the owner’s devices and property. Can you imagine what would happen to the stock price if thieves could use it to break and enter?”
The answer squelched Olivia’s idea. She shook the cobwebs out of her head and dug into her oatmeal before it got cold. In a few seconds, Tobey’s friends arrived and found their own table. He said goodbye and joined them.
It was a good thought, that Art Payne could have entered Xavier’s with his device and brought Jocelyn with him to murder her there. But like all the other theories she, Tuesday and Matt had brainstormed about this case, it came to naught.
Charles looked at his watch. “I got to get going, Olivia, and see this car. Granite Bay is a long drive from here. Thanks for letting me unload.”
The server came over and he took the check from him. “I got this,” he said and shrugged into his jacket. “Ready?”
“You go on. I’m going to finish my breakfast and make a few calls. Let’s talk later.”
She watched Charles head for the cashier, shoulders slumped, head hanging down. “I could throttle that Franny,” she said to herself as he walked out the front door.
Finally, she pulled out her phone and when the server came to clear Charles’s cup away, she asked for coffee. A shiver went down her spine when she thought about Tobey’s reference to young Payne’s work. She hated snakes. How could he work with them? She remembered her reading with Tuesday, the image of the creepy crawly in the cup. She brushed it away as coincidence.
Her first call was to Xavier, but once again, it went into voice mail. “Again? What’s up with that,” she said to the server when he returned with her coffee. He gave her an automatic smile, as though she had paid him a compliment.
So Tobey Carverman had met Jocelyn once or twice? Olivia had given him the perfect opening. Why hadn’t he mentioned they had been much closer than that? Like husband and wife for a while. What was he hiding?
Chapter Thirty-Two: Open Sesame
Back home, Olivia walked in on Cody and Tuesday still playing computer games on their phones. She filled them in on the latest news about Charles and Tobey, and the three of them speculated about why Tobey Carverman was keeping mum about his marriage to Jocelyn Payne.
“Creepy,” Tuesday said just as she pulled some sneaky move that gave her a gajillion points over Cody. “He moves to the top of the suspect list.”
Laughingly, Olivia offered to referee their game, then left them to settle down at her desk. Sun streamed into the bay windows in her office and she could see her failed bougainvillea clinging to the fence. It was time she pulled the plug on that one, she decided. In fact, it was time she paid a little more attention to her garden. Before she could get too involved in planning a summer herb plot, her laptop whirred to life, despite the crack down the length of the cover. She always breathed a sigh of relief when her homepage lit up. She had all of her data backed up of course, but she hadn’t been kind to her computer over the past months, slamming it shut if she read an unflattering blog post about one of her clients. She didn’t want to have to factor a new laptop into her already tight budget.
She did a quick check of her email, then Googled Arthur Payne again. When his name popped up, something tweaked in her gut, something she should be paying attention to, something she had overlooked.
The first time she went digging for his name, sitting outside Matt’s office before her interrogation, she remembered confusing the father and son. As she scrolled through a few pages of search results, she again wondered which one was the son? Arthur Payne, II? The Arthur M. Payne at a drug firm in Switzerland? Or the oncologist at a cancer clinic in Texas? Who knew, she thought as she scanned the hits.
The first page of links related to the father’s companies, keynote speeches at various conferences and interviews. On the second page she found a casual reference to JR Payne, the son of the internationally known venture capitalist. “Eureka,” she said.
She knew enough about JR’s scientific and academic credentials by now, so she focused on the complicated scientific paper that had previously sent her off to sleep. She reread it. This time two things jumped out at her. On
e described his treatment breakthrough and the other had nothing to do with scientific formulas. So, young Payne, she thought. You’re not exactly the golden boy you want us to think you are. A colleague had accused him of falsifying research results. She reached for her phone to call Matt.
Before she could find him on speed dial, Marguerite Fredericks called. Olivia’s stomach lurched. She knew what this would be about.
“Olivia!” Marguerite made her name sound like the crack of a rifle. This meant she was not happy. At all. “Do you think I have time and money to burn?”
From the silence on the line, apparently Marguerite expected an answer to her question.
“No, of course you don’t, Marguerite. I think I know why you’re calling. You’ve spoken to Charles.”
“I have. How long were you going to make me wait to find out that the engagement was off and that I should cancel the party? Now I look foolish in front of all of my friends. You could have at least warned me.”
Olivia felt as though she were riding in bumper cars. As soon as she’d head in one direction, this time to tell Matt that JR Payne was a cheat, Marguerite would ram her from the side.
“Marguerite, I was as shocked as you are. I didn’t see the breakup coming. And this all happened what? Last night? Early this morning? How could I have let you know? It was up to Charles to officially notify you. I’m hoping this is merely wedding jitters on Franny’s part. It’s too soon to jump to conclusions . . .”
Marguerite stopped her. “Too soon? I have the caterer’s deposit, the musician’s deposit, the beverage deposit to think about. This will cost me plenty if I don’t cancel them by tomorrow morning. And Charles didn’t even have the courtesy to let me know. I emailed him last night to find out if he’d gone over the wine list. And this morning he tells me it’s all off. Does he think I own a crystal ball?”
Olivia tried to calm her down. “I know you’re in a difficult position, Marguerite, but since you have the rest of the day to cancel the vendors, just wait and see what happens. If Charles doesn’t get back to you by close of business to tell you all is good, then you should call off the party. I guess that’s what I’d do.”
“That’s you, Olivia. That’s why you are where you are in life and why I am where I am.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“You wouldn’t. You sit around and wait for life to happen to you. I make it happen. You’ll be hearing from me.” Without another word, she hung up.
Now what, Olivia wondered, staring at her phone. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. But she had to let the problem of Marguerite’s party and Charles’s love life go for now. She had more important things on her mind.
Rather than talk to Matt, Olivia decided to meet with him. She drove to The Salted Caramel. Carrie was behind the counter, her cheery innocence always a balm to Olivia. Yet she was surprised to see her.
“Carrie, what are you doing here? I thought you were on the high seas.”
“Didn’t you read about that cruise ship getting stuck in the Gulf of Mexico without power for two days?”
“That was you?” Olivia wondered why she had more sun streaks than usual in her honey blond hair as well as a light tan.
“Yep. We had to come home early. Didn’t break my heart. I was either seasick from the rocking and rolling of the ship or sick from the smells coming from the trash and overflowing toilets. Gross to the tenth power.”
From her bloodshot eyes Olivia thought she might still have a touch of the queasies, though the sun had helped her stubborn case of acne, the only flaw in her sweet face. “But I thought you were headed north to see the icebergs and polar bears.”
“Granny couldn’t get her favorite cabin, so we headed for the sun. What we saw of the islands was pretty, but you can keep cruise ships. At least, keep them far away from me.”
Olivia considered telling Carrie that Cody needed TLC, but she would want to know why. Olivia didn’t want to open that can of worms. Instead, she dug into her purse for her wallet. “Well, I’m glad to see you, but sorry you had to go through that. Have you heard about the disaster happening around here?”
“Carla told me.”
Carla was her boss, the owner of The Salted Caramel. She made it her business to not only serve the best coffee and sweets in the northern hemisphere, but also to keep tabs on every movement of every Darling Valley citizen.
Carrie was no slouch in the gossip department herself. “I never expected Jocelyn Payne to die, but I can’t say I’m surprised she got herself into trouble. What was she doing at Xavier’s? And you’re getting some interesting press by the way.”
“That’s one way of putting it. But did you know her, Carrie? Jocelyn?”
“Only as a customer. She, you know, like, stood out.”
“Yes, she did.”
“I heard customers talking trash about her. You know, the wives. I guess she got bored easily. Or Mr. Payne traveled a lot.”
Olivia’s ears perked up. “So you think she played around?”
Carrie held up a paper coffee cup with a questioning smile.
Olivia answered, “Two large lattes. Thanks.”
Carrie steamed the milk while she talked. “Alls I know is this. She was always coming in here with her hired help. The guys who worked on her house? The gardener, the carpenter, the painter. She had quite a crew judging from the trail of muscle men around her. And she was very happy with their work, if you get my drift.”
“PDA’s?” What Matt and Olivia never allowed themselves.
“Big time.”
No surprise there, Olivia thought, putting her credit card on the counter. A customer came in and browsed the pastry display, so she lowered her voice. “But in plain sight? Wasn’t she concerned about anybody seeing her? I mean, she’s or she was, I can’t get used to her being gone, she was such a public figure. You’d think she’d be discreet.”
Carrie shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe she thought she was above the law, so to speak. Or she had an arrangement with her husband. The son didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“You mean the doctor? The boy genius?”
“The very one.” Carrie pointed to the pastry counter. When Olivia shook her head, she finished up the coffees.
“He came in here one time for a cappuccino to go and saw her in the back, shall we say, improving her labor relations. He waved to her and she waved back. Like, no biggie. Crazy family if you ask me.”
But what was he really thinking, Olivia wondered? Hadn’t she heard him complaining to his sister about Jocelyn’s infidelities? Although, maybe her hunch about the son was all wrong. A cheater didn’t necessarily make him a murderer.
Olivia refused a carrier for the two cups of coffee. She secured her purse over her shoulder, taking one in each hand. “Thanks, Carrie. Got to go, but we have to catch up soon.”
“Right. And say hello to Detective Matt. I assume that’s who the second coffee is for.”
“Yeah. I’m going to surprise him.”
Carrie smiled. “Aw. I keep telling myself I’m gonna get me one of those some day.”
“A coffee? It’s at your fingertips.”
They both laughed. “I wish it was that easy to find another Detective Richards.”
Olivia almost made a crack about the grass not always being greener, but let it go. “Have you given up on Cody?”
Carrie rolled her eyes.
Olivia said, “Men. What can I say? Dumb and dumber if you ask me,” then nudged the door open with her hip and smiled a goodbye. Carla didn’t know as much as she thought she did if she hadn’t clued Carrie into Olivia and Matt’s spat.
Outside, she wondered what to do with the extra coffee? If JR Payne wasn’t the suspect she thought he might be, why waste Matt’s time? What difference did it make if JR was a cheat if someone else killed Jocelyn?
As she walked to her car, she wished she’d accepted Carrie’s offer of a coffee tray. She had to juggle the cups to reach her phone in
her pocket. She wanted to text Matt anyway to see if he had five minutes for her.
But suddenly she was falling sideways. The cups went flying and she was awash in hot coffee.
“Ow,” she yelped, struggling for balance as a briefcase bounced off her foot and landed amidst the coffee cups.
She looked up, eyes blazing. “Watch where you’re go . . .” stopping mid-sentence when she found herself staring at Brooks Baker.
Brooks did a double take as well, then bent down to retrieve the case and brush coffee off his slacks. Upright again, he said, “You were texting while walking, Olivia. I think I’d win in court.”
Olivia shook the coffee from her hands and reached into her bag for tissues. She wasn’t interested in his humor. “You had a clear field of vision,” she insisted, “you could have walked around me.”
Brooks whipped out a clean, folded handkerchief from his back pocket and began dabbing at Olivia’s front.
She snatched the handkerchief away from him. “I can take care of this. Why are you still in Darling Valley?”
“As I explained last night, I’m working with JR Payne on his new lab. I accidentally picked up his case at the end of our last meeting. We have the same model. I’m meeting him at Good Eats to return it. He never lets it out of his sight and he’s going ballistics until I get it to him.”
He held up the briefcase by the handle to prove his point. But the latch, loosened by its collision with the sidewalk, snapped open and some items fell out onto the pavement. A manila folder stuffed with papers, an atomizer, and a greeting card addressed to JR with a heart drawn around his name. Clearly, it wasn’t a condolence card. However, Brooks quickly gathered up the scattered contents and shoved them back in the case, covering up the item that interested Olivia the most. He snapped the case shut and checked the latch when he stood up.
She wracked her brain trying to think of a way to get Brooks to open the case again, but nothing came to her. She doubted he had noticed the object wedged at the bottom. And he wouldn’t have understood its significance, even if he had. From its location, she was sure that not even JR knew it was there.