“You’re such an expert on female psychology,” I said snidely.
Liam smiled in an annoying, smug way. “Yes, I am. That’s why I have no trouble with the ladies.”
I shook my head. “I was being sarcastic. You have no idea what Rita’s thinking. I’m not sure you should trust her.”
“Are you sure you’re not being jealous?” Liam said.
Anger flashed through my body, making me want to stand up, grab him by the shoulders, and give him a good shake. Instead, I gritted my teeth and said, “I’m trying to find out who killed Lana and stop you from being charged as the prime suspect. I’m also trying to find out who tried to kill you this morning. If you don’t care about going to jail for murder or maybe even getting killed by a crazy person, then fine, don’t tell us what’s going on between you and potential suspects. It’s your life.”
“I knew she didn’t have anything to do with Lana’s death, and she’s not the crazy person who tried to run me down this morning.”
Beth and I exchanged a glance. We weren’t convinced, but there was no point talking about this with Liam.
We’d need to talk to Rita herself.
Chapter 15
The next morning, we’d just finished having breakfast when there was a knock on the door.
We rarely had visitors so early, and Pixie got all excited and fluffed up. “Hello,” she said, “HelloPixie, hello.”
When I opened the door, my heart sank. “Neve.”
“Hello, Mindy.” Neve glared at me and flipped back her long blond hair. “Can I come inside?”
“Sure,” I said, resigning myself to whatever conversation Neve wanted to have now.
As soon as Neve stepped inside, Pixie got a glimpse of who our early-morning visitor was and let out a loud, excited screech.
“My God,” said Neve. “Does that bird ever shut up?”
“She’s excited to see you,” I said, annoyed at Neve’s unkindness. “Though I don’t know why.”
“Well, she sounds like a fire engine,” said Neve. “At least she’s in her cage today so she can’t swoop at me.”
“She just wants to hang out with you,” I said. “God knows why.”
“What’s up, Neve?” interjected Beth. “Kinda early for a social visit, isn’t it?”
Neve rolled her eyes and we all sat down around the kitchen table. “I’m here to thank you guys for looking into Liam’s case. I got you two a present.”
She reached into her handbag and pulled out a gift-wrapped box.
“Neve,” I said, surprised and touched, “you didn’t have to.”
“I know,” she said. “And you didn’t have to take on the case. I know you don’t like Liam.”
Beth unwrapped the gift, and it turned out to be a set of six mini-perfumes.
“I thought you could share them,” Neve said. “Dior is my favorite, and I know you don’t have good taste in perfume.”
I did have good taste—I just couldn’t afford what “good taste” dictated.
Beth and I stuttered out our stunned thank-yous, and Neve shrugged. “It was nothing. So, how’s the case coming along?”
I felt the heat rising up along my cheeks, and next to me, Beth murmured something about making coffee and got up to put the coffeepot on.
“Umm, not too bad,” I said. “You know we can’t really talk about it to anyone else.”
“But it’s me,” said Neve. “Liam’s girlfriend.”
“I hate to say this,” I said, “but I think Liam might not be too keen on you knowing all the details.”
Neve looked taken aback. “You mean he wants to spare me from all the stress?”
“Uh—sure. Maybe.”
“That’s so sweet of him.”
“No,” said Beth as she arrived back at the table with three mugs of steaming coffee. “What’s sweet is that you got us a gift when you didn’t have to. Liam isn’t sweet in the least.”
“I know he’s not everyone’s type—”
“No,” said Beth. “He’s not.”
“But he’s my boyfriend, and I’m going to stand by him.”
There was nothing to say to that, so Beth and I sipped our coffees silently.
“Can you tell me anything at all about the case?” said Neve. “Have you talked to everyone at the office? Have you talked to Lana’s friends? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Neve,” I said, “I think it’s best if you stay home and relax. Beth and I are on it.”
“Are you sure?” she said. “I could do research or surveillance, or really anything you guys need.”
“What we need,” said Beth, “is to set out in a few minutes to talk to a suspect. We can’t be late.”
Neve rolled her eyes. “I got you a present and everything.”
“It’s a present,” I reminded her, “not a bribe. We need you to stay out of this.”
Neve pouted and sulked for a while, but in the end, she got the hint and left, though not before reminding us that if we ever needed her help, we should call her.
After Neve left, Beth and I didn’t waste any time heading over to Rita’s office. Like the previous day, we found Rita sipping coffee from a large takeout cup and typing away on her computer. If she was surprised to see us, she didn’t show it.
“What can I do for you today?” she said. “Did you tell Liam about the photos?”
I looked Rita straight in the eye. “Actually, that’s why we’re here. It’s about Liam.”
“Oh?” Rita looked only mildly interested. “What about Liam?”
“How long have you been sleeping with him?”
Rita sighed. “Did he tell you about that?”
“No,” I said. “I mean, yes, he did, finally. What happened between you two?”
Rita shrugged. “About six months ago, we got together. Liam can be pretty charming when he wants to be.”
“Really? Were you with him because he was charming, or because you thought this was a way to get back at Lana?”
Rita had the grace to blush slightly. “You’re right,” she admitted, “I did think it would be a way to get back at Lana. But after a while, it didn’t feel right. I didn’t like Lana, but I didn’t like the person I had become—trying to hurt Lana in this sophomoric way. And after a while, it gets pretty tiresome to even talk to Liam. He’s narcissistic and self-centered.”
“You got that right.”
Rita shrugged. “Anyway, I ended things quickly. I felt bad about what I’d done, so I never told Lana, and Liam agreed that this should stay a secret.”
“Liam said you two almost got back together a few days ago.”
Rita laughed. “A few weeks ago he tried to hit on me again. I said no. I’m not sure how he sees that as almost getting together, but it must be his narcissistic tendencies. I’m never getting together with him again, and I really do feel bad about what I did. I wish I could go back in time and undo it, but I can’t. Liam kept telling me that things between him and Lana weren’t very good, and it turns out that at least that much was true.”
I nodded, and Beth and I exchanged a glance. Rita seemed to be telling the truth. If she felt so bad about being with Liam, I couldn’t imagine her actually going ahead and killing Lana.
Although, I would have appreciated it if Liam had told me the truth about Rita from the beginning.
“Anyway,” said Rita, “have you found out any more about who might have wanted to kill Lana?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “There might be a lead we need to follow up on.”
Beth and I thanked Rita for her help and headed out to go to the car rental place.
Chapter 16
Santa Verona Cheap Car Rentals seemed to be reasonably popular with some of the tourists. There were two people in line ahead of us wanting to rent cars, and when we finally got to the receptionist, it took a while for her to understand that we weren’t actually interested in renting a car, but were investigators trying to find out the details of a woma
n who had already rented a car from them.
Penelope, the fresh-faced receptionist, made a quick phone call to the manager, who came over and offered to help us out.
Oliver, the manager, was a balding man who looked to be in his early forties. He seemed amused by the prospect that somebody who was a criminal might have rented one of his cars. “We’ve never had anything particularly interesting happen in this rental place,” he said, “We’ve never had the cops come by or anything. But you ladies aren’t with the police.”
“No,” I said. “We’re private investigators. You must’ve read of us in the papers. Mindy and Beth?”
“Maybe I did,” he said. “I must’ve forgotten. Anyway, I’m happy to help you guys out. What did you say the license plate was?”
“Seven-three-five,” I said. “It was a black Honda.”
Oliver looked through the database while Penelope dealt with another potential customer. After a few minutes, Oliver said, “I think I found the car. It was rented three days ago by a woman named Monica Kirst.”
He ushered us over to his side of the desk, and we looked at the scanned image of Monica Kirst’s driver’s license.
It was an Alabama license, and the woman in the driver’s license photo had golden-blond hair, a square jaw, puffy cheeks, and green eyes. I copied down the details on the license, but she looked completely unfamiliar, and for some reason, the license set off my Spidey sense. Even Beth noticed that something seemed awry.
“Could that license be fake?” she asked.
“No way,” said Oliver. “We always check details with the DMV.”
“Monica didn’t pay with a card, did she?”
Oliver shook his head. “Prepaid with cash, but we’ve scanned a credit card of hers.”
We all stared at the scanned copy of the credit card that Oliver pulled up on the computer, but it just looked like a generic credit card and didn’t reveal any dangerous secrets.
Beth and I thanked Oliver and Penelope for their help and headed back home, where I fired up my laptop and entered Monica’s details into my private investigators’ database.
Pretty soon, the database came up with a phone number and address. Apparently, Monica Kirst was a real person, and she lived in Alabama.
Within a few seconds, I had dialed her number, and I waited breathlessly as the phone rang and I hoped she would pick up.
Monica answered after about five rings. “This is Monica.”
I exhaled in relief. “Monica, hi, I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Mindy, and I’m a private investigator in Santa Verona, California.”
“I really don’t have time to buy anything.”
“I’m not selling,” I said quickly. “I’ve just got a few questions about your driver’s license. You’re not in Santa Verona at the moment, are you?”
“No, I’ve never been to Santa Verona,” said Monica, sounding surprised. “What’s this about?”
“Someone recently rented a car here, using your driver’s license.”
“That can’t be possible,” said Monica. “My driver’s license is right here with me in Alabama. It’s sitting pretty in my purse.”
“Could you check your purse, please? Your license might’ve been stolen without you noticing.”
I stayed on the line for a few minutes while Monica rifled through her purse looking for the license. Finally she came back on the line sounding flustered and surprised. “Well, I’ll be darned! It’s not in my purse! I never even noticed it was gone.”
I sighed and shook my head. It was as I’d feared. Whoever was driving the Honda had managed to get her hands on a stolen driver’s license. “I guess you should report it to the police and the DMV,” I said. “And you might as well make sure there aren’t any strange charges on your credit cards.”
“But I’m not even sure how this happened,” said Monica. “I’ve been driving around, just assuming that my driver’s license is with me. I live on a farm, so nobody ever really needs to see ID or anything.”
Monica and I chatted for a bit longer. She finally said that perhaps her license had been stolen when she’d gone out to dinner a few weeks ago, and I reminded her that she needed to report this and make sure that none of her other cards had been stolen or duplicated.
After I hung up, I looked at Beth. “Everything keeps going around in circles. Whoever killed Lana, and tried to kill me and Liam, did their best to cover their tracks.”
“They must’ve slipped up somewhere,” said Beth. “There must be some angle that we haven’t looked into yet.”
Chapter 17
Beth and I headed back to Lana’s office.
By the time we got there, it was late enough for Lana’s assistant Alice to have come into work. She appeared to be playing a game on her smartphone, pressing the screen intently, when we walked in.
“Hey,” she said. “Do you guys need to look through Lana’s office again?”
“That might not be a bad idea,” I said. “Although, really, we came here to talk to you.”
Alice raised one eyebrow in surprise. “I’m not sure what I could help you with, but okay.”
“We were wondering if you had any records about the clients Lana dealt with on the day she was killed.”
Alice’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Do you think one of her clients might have something to do with this? But her clients all liked her. And besides, it’s not like Lana dealt with criminals. Her clients were all people dealing with wills and trusts and things like that.”
I shrugged. Beth and I were almost clutching at straws now, having been unable to find any other suspects. “Do you have a list of clients that Lana met on Friday?”
“Sure,” said Alice. “I can bring up the list for you guys.”
She tapped away on her keyboard, and then she invited us to come over and stand next to her, so that we could see the monitor. There was a list of names, and Beth and I read through them.
“They were all new clients that day,” said Alice.
None of the names on the list looked familiar. And then I saw the name Teresa Hutchinson.
“We met Teresa the other day,” I said. “She wasn’t a new client of Lana’s, was she?”
Alice shook her head. “No, but Teresa never met Lana on Friday. She had an appointment at eleven, but she called me and let me know that she wouldn’t be able to make it. That’s why she had to come in earlier this week and talk to Rita instead.”
“When did Teresa come in to see Lana before Friday? I thought her uncle had died just a few days ago.”
“I’ll look it up for you guys.” Alice tapped some more keys. “Okay. She first came to see Lana about a week ago. It says here she’s executor of her uncle’s will. When she first came to see Lana, her uncle was really sick and in a coma, so she wanted to talk about stuff she’d need to do.”
We went back to the list of clients who’d come to see Lana on Friday, and I took a quick photo of the list. It seemed kind of pointless to try to chase down all of the clients, but I wasn’t sure what else to do at this stage.
“We might as well have a look at Lana’s office, now that we’re here,” said Beth.
“Go ahead,” said Alice. “The cops have already been through, so I’m sure it’s fine for you guys to have a good look.”
Beth and I went into Lana’s office and closed the door behind us. The room was bright and well lit, and the plant in the corner seemed to have taken a few steps closer to its death. I wondered if the janitor ever watered it; perhaps it would need to be thrown out or given away to some plant-loving lawyer.
We spent some time looking through the books on Lana’s bookshelf and checking the drawers on her table to see if the police might have overlooked anything. I wasn’t too surprised when we found nothing of interest.
After a while, Beth and I stood in front of the window and looked out at the street.
“This is really a weird case,” said Beth. “There seem to be lots of people who dislike La
na mildly, but they don’t dislike her enough to actually want to see her dead.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Usually, if someone’s killed, the spouse is the first suspect. I can see why the police would think of Liam as being the most likely killer. The two of them didn’t have a good relationship, and they fought on the day of her death.”
“Liam’s annoying, and I’m sorry you have to deal with him again. But we know that he didn’t kill Lana. But there are other people who might’ve wanted to—what about Rita?”
“Rita hated Lana just enough to try to steal her boyfriend, but she felt terrible when she did that. So I can’t imagine her going so far as to try to kill Lana. You need a really good reason to want to kill someone. Murder is a big deal.”
“I guess, of all the people we’ve met so far who disliked Lana, Winona Flinders probably hated her the most. I think Winona was hiding just how much she was hurt by her husband’s affair. She probably really, really despised Lana.”
“But I don’t think she would hate Lana enough to kill her.”
“Do you think she might have something to do with the photos?” said Beth.
I looked at her in surprise. The thought had never occurred to me. “I feel like Winona is far too classy to want to take photos of something like that. Besides, she’s got lots of money. She wouldn’t need to blackmail Lana into paying fifty thousand dollars.”
“Perhaps she thought that it would hurt Lana financially if she had to pay the money.”
“Everyone knows that lawyers make lots of money. Needing to spend an extra fifty grand wouldn’t bankrupt Lana.”
“But it’s a lot of money to most other people. Although, you’re right. Winona wouldn’t risk having photos like that lying around. And she said it herself, she doesn’t trust anyone. She probably would’ve thought that the photographer would go ahead and sell them to the Santa Verona Sun anyway.”
“According to Judge O’Connor, he told his best friend Barry.”
“Barry’s a successful businessman. He wouldn’t blackmail someone for fifty thousand dollars.”
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