by Robin Caroll
Take that, Grayson Thibodeaux.
Kicking off her shoes, Anna Belle grabbed her energy drink, twisted off the lid, and gulped it down in one swig. Dinner would be a fun one tonight. Gloating was always so entertaining. And every time she did something awesome, the look on Emmi’s face was priceless.
Anna Belle set the drink on the desk. Now, what should she wear to—
Her lips tingled and the roof of her mouth itched.
No! This couldn’t be.
She ran her tongue over the top of her mouth. Her tongue swelled, taking all available space in her mouth.
No, no, no, no!
Tightness wrapped around her throat. Constricted her chest. Her arms felt like a million little bitty wasps were stinging her in rapid succession.
Oh, but it couldn’t be. This was a full-fledged allergic reaction.
Anna Belle looked for her purse. It wasn’t hanging on the chair. Wasn’t on the desk.
Where was it? Not where she’d left it. Oh no. No. No. No.
She flung open the armoire, inhaling through her nose. Sweat beaded on her forehead, upper lip, center of her chest, and small of her back. Her eyes watered.
Couldn’t take a deep breath.
There it was. She fumbled as she unzipped the makeup bag. Her fingers and wrists vibrated. Heat shot up from her stomach and spread like a wildfire. So hot.
Where was her Epi? She dumped the contents of the makeup bag in her purse. Where was it? It wasn’t here.
Anna Belle’s hands trembled as her throat closed. She ran to the bathroom, slipping as her sense of balance shifted. Dizziness. Just moving made her feel like she was going to pass out. Her backup was there.
Where was her toiletry case? It wasn’t on the counter where she’d left it.
What was going on?
No, this couldn’t be happening.
Her eyes filled with moisture. She clawed at her throat.
Couldn’t get air.
She struggled to focus. Her purse. Her makeup bag. Her Epi—
Could. Not. Breathe.
Her knees hit the floor. She knew she would lose consciousness in seconds. Her racing heartbeat thudded in her head, pounding in her ears.
Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.
SIXTEEN
“Grayson, do you know what those things are?” Monique stared at Anna Belle’s open suitcase on his kitchen island.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
Monique reached for the mask, but Pam reached out and stopped her. “I’m sorry. Excuse me.” She looked at Grayson. “Since we don’t know who packed them up from the house, put them in Anna Belle’s suitcase, and sent them to her mother, there’s a chance the police might want to look at these items.”
She had a point. At least it would show the police that there was another suspect besides him. “I’ll call Brandon later and tell him. He’ll probably want to swing by and pick everything up.” Hopefully his friend would see it as an act of goodwill. He knew Danielle wouldn’t for sure.
But at the moment, he owed Anna Belle’s mother some explanation. “Monique, did Anna Belle ever tell you exactly what I do now?”
She nodded slowly. “You make those elaborate corporate team building games, right? Escape rooms and stuff like that?”
Pretty accurate. He didn’t want to be condescending to Monique but knew that the complexities of what Game’s On You did was lost on many people. Better to keep it as simple as possible. “That’s pretty much it. My company had been hired by Anna Belle’s to create a game for them as part of their process in determining an upcoming promotion. She was part of the game, and these are props that were used in that game.”
Monique pointed at the Mardi Gras mask. “Anna Belle hated those things, you know.”
“I do.” He nodded.
“Do you know why?”
He nodded. “I remember. She had a stalker on campus at college. He would wear a Mardi Gras mask like that. Left her doubloons everywhere, just so she’d know he’d been there … watching. It freaked her out until he was caught by campus police. We started dating soon after, so she was still really leery.”
Monique nodded but kept staring at the mask. “This was a prop in your game, you say?”
“Yes.” He knew what was coming and braced himself. She could say nothing that he hadn’t already said himself.
“You used what she went through against her?”
“We do the job our client hires us to do,” Pam interjected.
Grayson smiled at Pam. So like her to jump to his defense. “Why don’t we move to the table and have some pizza? I can explain it all to you, Monique, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.”
“I don’t want pizza. I realize I’m old, and probably simpleminded when compared to you all of today, but it seems like I asked a simple question. Did you use what Anna Belle went through in part of your little game?”
Pam’s eyes brightened.
Grayson held up a single finger to Pam but focused on Monique. “I don’t think you’re simpleminded, and I did not mean to insult you. To answer you, yes, ma’am, I did. Each participant filled out a questionnaire, and that information was used in creating a custom game.”
“She included about this?”
Grayson nodded. “I was surprised too because I had nearly forgotten about it. The incident happened so many years ago, and she’d never mentioned it after we were married. I was shocked to see it on her questionnaire.”
Monique pointed to the voodoo doll. “And that thing?”
Grayson looked at Pam, who jumped in. “It’s a voodoo doll.”
Monique’s eyes widened. “Anna Belle had something to do with voodoo?”
“Oh no, ma’am.” Pam shook her head. “This prop was used for someone else in the company.” She looked at Grayson. “Georgia had this when she found Anna Belle. She probably dropped it in the room.”
He shook his head. “The crime unit would have taken and bagged everything in Anna Belle’s room.”
“This obviously was removed before then.” Pam tapped her chin. “I don’t remember seeing it at all, Grayson, but we know Georgia took it into the room.”
“But it wasn’t there when the crime unit went, or they would have taken it.” None of this made sense.
“So the question is who took it and why?”
He didn’t have any answers, only more questions. “And why deliver it with Anna Belle’s things to Monique?”
“Was that a prop for someone else too?” Monique pointed at the Scheduled Maternity pamphlet lying by the doll. “That appointment card has Anna Belle’s name on it.”
Grayson’s gut tightened. Pam walked behind him and patted his back. “I think I’m going to go to the table.” She lifted the boxes from the stove top and carried them into the dining room, careful to swing the connecting door shut behind her.
“No, Monique. It’s Anna Belle’s.” His mouth was drier than dry.
“But that’s … that’s where they do abortions.”
He nodded slowly.
Monique’s eyes went wide. “Are you telling me that my daughter had an abortion?”
He nodded.
“No. How could you let her do such a thing?”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t even know she was pregnant.” His voice sounded foreign to his own ears.
“Oh, merciful heavens.” Monique clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry, Grayson.”
His own vision blurred. “Me too.”
Monique was off the barstool and around the island in a flash, hugging him. The warmth of her touch and depth of her emotion nearly broke him. He hugged her back. “She never told me. Ever.”
“Then how do you know for sure?” Monique dabbed at her eyes with the edge of her sleeve. “If she never told you…”
He handed her a napkin. “It was in her medical records. She authorized the release of them for the game.”
Monique
balled the napkin in her fist. “She was raised knowing that abortion is murder. A sin.” She shook her head. “I just can’t believe…” She met Grayson’s gaze. “Was it yours?”
He lifted his shoulders, letting them ease back down into place. “I don’t know. Like I said, she never told me she was pregnant. We were still married at the time, but that doesn’t mean the baby was mine.”
She grabbed his hand. “Oh Grayson. I’m so sorry.”
“Me too. Me too.” More than he could ever tell her. He was sorry that things had gotten so sideways between him and Anna Belle. Sorry that he had missed so many warning signs. Sorry he hadn’t fought harder for his marriage.
There was the root of his problem: guilt over his failed marriage.
He’d been raised by two parents who loved one another. They’d stuck together even through the hard times, and there were many. They’d raised their son in a loving family. Like Anna Belle, he’d been raised with the knowledge of God’s love and mercy and grace. He and Anna Belle might’ve grown up on opposite sides of the family financial tracks, but they were on common ground when it came to loving Christ. That was part of why he struggled so hard with what she’d done. Not just that she’d done it, but that she’d been willing and able to turn away from the spiritual truths she’d known. How? How could someone just go totally out of character?
“Wait a minute.” Monique took a step backward. “You still used this? In a game?” Her tear-filled eyes were wide.
“No. I didn’t. I wouldn’t.” He nearly choked. “I couldn’t.”
“But…” She pointed at the pamphlet.
No sense in dragging Monique into all the details. Especially when she was scheduled to meet Brandon tomorrow. “Someone else put it in her room.”
“Whoever put the cherry juice in her drink?”
“Maybe. We don’t know.”
“Well, there seems to be a lot we don’t know.” Monique smiled at him, tucking the wadded napkin into her pants pocket. “But I’m glad to know I wasn’t wrong about you, Grayson. That you wouldn’t use something so painfully personal against her, even though you were divorced.”
He hadn’t even been tempted. Maybe if he’d known sooner, the instinct to exact revenge would have kicked in, but all he’d felt when he found out was immeasurable grief.
“Now, maybe I would like a piece of pizza. If the offer still stands.”
“I apologize for showing up unannounced.” Brandon stood in front of Colton York’s desk in the offices of Game’s On You.
The setting sun peeked in through the window of the co-owner’s corner office.
“Not a problem at all. You’re lucky you caught me. We usually shut down around four thirty, but since Grayson’s out, my assistant and I had some things to finish up.” He waved Brandon and Danielle to the couch across from the ceiling-to-floor bookcases. “Have a seat.” He sat on the matching love seat diagonal from the couch, facing his desk.
Brandon sat down beside his partner and glanced around. “Nice office.” He stared at the books, photos, and knickknacks on the bookcase. Golf balls, tees, Vegas dice, and such littered the space. “You’re a golfer?”
“I’ve been called worse.” Colton laughed. “I play a little. Do you play?”
“Not me.” Brandon shook his head. “Too slow for me.”
Colton narrowed his eyes, studying him. “Baseball?”
Brandon grinned. “Basketball.”
“Ah. Who do you like?”
Danielle lifted her hands. “Why must men always resort to discussion of sports?”
Colton grinned. “My partner would say it’s in our genetic makeup, so we’re predisposed to discuss such things.”
“Speaking of Grayson…,” Brandon began.
“I wondered when you’d show up to ask these questions.”
“What questions?” Danielle asked.
Colton smiled and wagged his finger. “Oh, come on. We both know that an ex-husband is always a suspect when you suspect foul play in a death.”
“Make no mistake, Mr. York, we don’t just suspect foul play. Anna Belle Thibodeaux’s death wasn’t an accident. It was murder.” Danielle’s tone leveled Colton.
“I didn’t realize it was positive. I thought you were still investigating.” He sat back against the plush fabric of the love seat.
“We are, but that’s to get to what happened. We know it was murder.” Danielle pulled out her notebook and glanced at Brandon.
He already had his field notes out and open. “Tell us about Deets PR hiring your company.”
Colton nodded. “We get inquiries every day. Most are just curious and want to know what we do exactly. Out of every twenty calls, only one usually proves to be a legitimate lead.”
Brandon nodded.
“When our receptionist determines that a call is legitimate, they usually are sent to Pam Huron, Grayson’s assistant, or Keely Masterson, my assistant.”
“Keely was one of the people at the rental house on Esplanade Avenue, correct?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. Let me explain a little of how we’re set up here.” Colton crossed his ankle over his knee. “We have two teams here—Grayson’s and mine. Grayson has a degree in psychology and I have one in sociology, so we both work on every case to some extent. However, the bulk of game creation and implementation is usually handled by one team. Grayson and I, because of our fields and experience, are usually the only ones who work every game. Usually, once a game is given to a team, it’s their job from start to finish. Creation, implementation, conclusion.”
“Who are on each team?” Brandon held his pen at the ready.
“My team consists of me, Keely Masterson, Stratton Reeves, and Wynnona Juneau. Grayson’s team is Grayson, Pam Huron, Nora Savant, and Vic Abshire. Keely and Pam are like mine and Grayson’s right arms—they’re assistants, but they are very good at their jobs and could easily take over for either of us.” He lowered his voice and smiled. “But don’t let them know I admitted that.”
“So your team ran the game for Deets PR?” Danielle asked.
“Let me back up. When the call from Tim Dubois came in and Jackie, our receptionist, determined it was a real call, she transferred it to me. Tim and I talked, and we set up an initial consultation. Usually Grayson and I are both involved in those.”
“But not this time?” Danielle asked.
“Well, of course I recognized the company name as where Grayson’s ex worked. I didn’t know if maybe this was some sort of … I don’t know, but I thought it best to check it out without Grayson being brought in yet.”
Brandon could see that. “So you met with Mr. Dubois alone?”
Colton nodded. “I did. I was leery of course and very guarded, but once Tim began explaining what he needed, I knew we could provide that.”
“Did either of you discuss the fact that you had ex-spouses working for your respective companies?” Could neither of them see the potential this situation had to blow up in their faces? Brandon couldn’t believe these businesses were thriving.
“We both mentioned it, so we were both aware.”
“And you didn’t see this as a big red flag?” Danielle was as appalled as he was.
“No, because at first glance, I knew it could be done. The fee was agreed upon, and it was one of our higher brackets.” Colton smiled. “Grayson would have to do the game creation because of the complexities of what Tim wanted. His expertise would be required on every aspect of the game, but both Grayson and Anna Belle are professionals.” Colton cocked his head to the side. “Or so we believed.”
“But didn’t you say that you witnessed an altercation between Grayson and Anna Belle just a couple of months before the game? Right here in your offices?” Brandon asked. “An altercation that became physical when she slapped him?”
Colton nodded. “That’s true, but they were arguing over an aspect of the divorce settlement. Things like that are to be expected.”
“Even after that, you di
dn’t see a possible problem in working for her company when she was directly involved in the game?”
“Not really.”
Brandon shook his head as he silently made notes. And this guy had a degree in sociology? No wonder the world was such a scary place.
“So, after the initial consultation, you decided that Grayson would need to create the game?” Danielle asked.
Colton nodded. “So that would put the game to Grayson’s team. I knew he wouldn’t want to be around for the implementation of the game and conclusion, so I would step in for that part. Of course.”
“I can’t believe Grayson would agree.” Brandon said the words aloud, but they’d escaped before he’d considered his statement. Still, it was one of the truest statements about this investigation.
“He didn’t at first.” Colton grinned and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Oh, he fought accepting. Came up with every reason under the sun not to take the job. Real and far-fetched reasons.” He chuckled. “Some were downright ludicrous.”
“Yet he finally agreed?” Danielle wasn’t amused.
“It took some real work on my part, including bringing up our annual profit-and-loss statement and showing him how this one job could put us in the black for not only this year, but give us a huge head start for next.”
“He agreed?” Danielle asked again.
Colton nodded. “Yes. He finally agreed.”
“So what was the process after that?” Brandon asked.
“Because of the specifics of what Tim needed in this particular game, we had to have our lawyer draw up a type of ambiguous liability waiver.”
“I’m not following.” Danielle crossed her legs.
“Because Tim didn’t want the four game participants to know they were in a game, the waiver couldn’t name Game’s On You on the release of liability. The legalese ended up being changed a couple of times by our lawyer, then Deets PR’s lawyer until they agreed. Once that was settled, it was smooth sailing.” Colton rested his hands in his lap. “After we got the waivers back, we requested the information we’d need to complete a full dossier on each of the four participants. No aspect of their lives up until this point was discounted.”