by Lauren Carr
“I don’t understand why your father did not fire her the Monday after she’d gotten into the fight at the country club,” Kathleen said. “With everything that happened, I didn’t think about it. I had assumed that since she was still employed on the day of his murder that something had happened to change his mind.”
“What could have changed his mind?” Julie asked.
“Begging for forgiveness. Play on his sympathies,” Harrison said. “I can’t tell you how many times employees screwed up really bad, and I’d be all set to fire them and they would play the sympathy card. They were the sole support for their family, or they had an elderly parent who needed medical care. It could have been anything.”
“Debra was Dad’s administrative assistant,” Nikki said. “She’d have to remember a lot about that week. Maybe she’ll remember specifically why Dad did not go through with firing Suzanne.”
“How do we know if that’s even relevant to Dad’s murder?” Julie asked.
“Because we don’t know,” Nikki said. “If you assume that something is not connected to the case, you could very well miss an important piece of information that could lead you straight to the truth.”
“I’ll stop by Debra’s house tomorrow morning and talk to her,” Kathleen said. “Debra and I have become pretty close over the years. She said she couldn’t imagine going into the station without me being there. That’s why we retired at the same time. Maybe I can rattle her memory about what happened to change Ross’s mind.”
“Do you want to know what bothers me about this case?” Ryan asked. “Ross’s body temperature.”
“What about it?” Kathleen asked.
“The average body temperature decreases one and a half degrees per hour after death,” Ryan said. “That’s how you calculate the time of death. You take the current liver temperature and count backwards from ninety-eight point six. At the time that the medical examiner took Ross’s liver temperature it was ninety-four-point-two.”
“And that’s important because?” Julie asked.
“The medical examiner took the temperature shortly after six o’clock,” Ryan said. “They based Ross’s time of death on Debra stating that she had talked to Ross at four-thirty-five and found him dead ten minutes later.”
“We now know that Debra was covering up for Sam,” Harrison said. “If she distorted the truth about Sam being there, then what else is she lying about?”
“The investigators had based Ross’s time of death on the statement of a witness who we now know was less than truthful,” Ryan said. “The science says Ross died around three o’clock.”
“Wyatt was with Ross at three o’clock,” Nikki said.
“Debra was sitting outside his office for over an hour and a half,” Kathleen said. “She stated that he was making phone calls and called her on the intercom.”
“But we now know that Debra was capable of lying,” Harrison said.
“Science says Ross was dead at three o’clock,” Ryan said, “and science doesn’t lie.”
“He likes you,” Julie sang into Nikki’s ear while they watched Elmo trot across the rear garden to Ryan’s apartment.
Since the dog had followed Ryan out the door, it was decided to allow him to have a “sleepover.”
Lucy and Ethel pressed their little faces against the door’s glass as if to ask how the filthy beast who had invaded their home rated a sleepover and not them. After all, they were much more beautiful than that big slobbering animal—even if he did have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. If they had social media accounts, they’d have friends and followers, too.
By the look on Nikki’s face, her sister could tell that it was she who really wanted the sleepover.
“Of course, he likes me,” Nikki said. “We’d have a dysfunctional family if he didn’t.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.” Julie picked up her purse from the counter. “You two need to grow up. You were a couple long before Mom and Harrison. You were each other’s first love, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that neither of you have had a serious relationship. It’s like you have been waiting for each other. Now that you’re both in the same state, get off the stick, get married, and have a few kids already before your clock runs out.” She blew her a kiss and breezed out into the hall.
“Don’t you think we should maybe go out on a date before we get married and have kids?” Nikki called to her sister.
“Love you,” was her response before going out the door.
In their constant state of a huff, Lucy and Ethel trotted upstairs to scratch at the door to join Kathleen and Harrison in the master suite.
Alone, Nikki found herself staring out the glass doors, across the garden, to the apartment door above the garage. Seriously? She chastised herself. You and Ryan have been friends your entire lives. Even when you ditched each other. After he dumped you for Ashleigh for the science fair—the only year he ever came in second place. Or when you ditched him for Conner—big mistake. Ryan’s a much better kisser than Conner could ever be. No one could make your toes curl like Ryan—and that was with braces on his teeth.
Why are you such a coward? You went up against a maniac coming at you with a butcher knife and survived. How can you be afraid of your best friend? Your brother, of all people.
Now I’m creeping myself out. I should have stopped at best friend.
Squaring her shoulders, she threw open the door and stomped across the garden. The sixty feet to the garage never seemed as far as it did that night. At the bottom of the stairs, she marched up to the top and banged on the door with her fist.
A look of anxiety on his face, Ryan threw open the door. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
He stood before her wearing only a pair of sweatpants. Shirtless, she saw what she had noticed before—only then it was hidden under a shirt. His body was covered with long lean muscles across his shoulders and down his chest to a flat stomach.
The scratch of Elmo’s paw on her leg tore her eyes from the hunk of male flesh standing before her.
“Nikki, what’s wrong? Did something happen to Dad?” Ryan was looking at her with concern filling his face.
She stammered, “I-I wanted to remind Elmo to say his prayers.”
He looked down at Elmo. “Did you remember to say your prayers?”
The boxer dog spun around and trotted into the living room. He planted his front paws on the top of the sofa’s seat and bowed his head between his paws.
Ryan turned back to her. “Do you need anything else, Nikki?”
“No.” Her face felt warm when she turned around and marched back down the stairs. She cursed under her breath as she trudged across the yard to the back door.
Folding his arms across his bare chest, Ryan leaned in the doorway and allowed a slim grin to cross his lips while he watched her storm away.
In the kitchen, Nikki was on her second glass of cold water when her phone dinged to signal a message.
It was NerdyGuy. Haven’t heard from you for a while? How are things with The One?
I think he likes Elmo more than he likes me?
Why do you say that?
She took another healthy gulp of cold water. He’s spending the night with Elmo while I’m going up to bed all by myself.
Elmo is pretty gosh-darn cute, but I’m sure The One would prefer holding you in his arms. You don’t have doggie breath.
She finished the glass of water and refilled it to down another. Her frustration boiling over, she tapped out. I don’t know how not to blow it. If I tell him how I feel and he doesn’t feel the same, then I’ll lose the relationship I do have with him, which is better than the zero relationship we’ve had since I walked out fifteen years ago and lost my best friend. Tears came to her eyes as she typed, I don’t want to lose my best friend again.
There was n
o immediate response. She clutched the phone in her hand and made her way up the stairs to her room. She closed the bedroom door before it vibrated with a reply.
You never lost your best friend.
Chapter Twelve
“What if Debra doesn’t want to talk to us?” Nikki asked as Kathleen cruised through the countryside in her silver Porsche. Noting her mother’s nervous glances at Elmo sniffing the genuine leather upholstery in the back seat, Nikki wished she had insisted on them taking her SUV. “I did get her arrested yesterday.”
“Knowing Debra, I suspect she was relieved that everything finally came out into the open.” Kathleen reached down to the floor next to Nikki’s feet and extracted a bakery box that Trudy had left on the kitchen counter after preparing one of the suites for upcoming guests to the bed and breakfast. “If I’m wrong, baked goods always make an excellent peace offering.”
“That sounds like a Trudy piece of advice.”
“There’s a recipe for every occasion and an occasion for every recipe,” Kathleen quoted the cook while turning into the driveway of the older ranch-style home that Debra shared with her husband, daughter, and granddaughter.
It took two rings of the doorbell and Kathleen calling through a window to coax Debra to answer the door. “No matter what happens, you’re still my friend whether you like it or not.”
Debra’s eyes were moist. “Oh, Kathleen, you are such a forgiving woman, but I can’t imagine—”
Kathleen lifted the lid off the pastry box. “Trudy’s lemon and orange glazed pound cake.”
“I’ll brew the coffee.” Debra spun around and hurried into the kitchen. “Make yourself at home on the deck.”
“Everyone has their food weakness,” Kathleen told Nikki while they made their way through the house to the deck overlooking Debra’s back yard. “Pound cake is Debra’s.”
It took great effort for Nikki to convince Elmo that Debra’s granddaughter’s toys, scattered across the deck and back yard, were not his to play with. Finally, he found an old ball that he was allowed to confiscate. Between bites of pound cake, Nikki tossed it into the yard for him to fetch.
After some small talk about their families and Debra’s garden, Kathleen said, “I think you know that we have a lot of questions about—”
“The reason I didn’t want to answer the door is because my lawyer ordered me not to talk to any of you. He said it would be very easy for you to take something out of context and spin it around to use against me.”
“We don’t think Sam killed Dad,” Nikki said.
Debra sat back in her chair. “I saw—”
“Did you actually see Sam stab him? Or did you see him standing over his dead body?”
“I found Sam standing over him. He was already dead when I came back to the office.” Debra cocked her head. “This has to be a trick.”
“We think Sam walked in after someone else killed him,” Nikki said.
“Who—”
“Ross was set on firing Suzanne Lipton,” Kathleen said. “She had gotten into a big fight with Meredith at Sam’s retirement party.”
“They knocked over the buffet table,” Debra said with a nod of her head. “It was at the country club. Everyone who was anyone was there. I remember Ross was fit to be tied.”
“But Ross didn’t fire Suzanne,” Kathleen said. “What changed his mind?”
“That was so long ago.” Debra chewed on her bottom lip. “I’ve been so focused on protecting Sam that I’d let all of the small details about the days leading up to Ross’s death fade away. I do remember that Ross had said he was definitely going to fire Suzanne.” She sliced a second small serving of pound cake and placed it on her plate. “He came in on Monday morning and told me to have Wyatt come to his office as soon as he got in.”
In silence, they cleared their plates of pound cake and refilled their coffee cups while waiting for Debra to recall the events of that week twenty-three years earlier. They were so focused on their host that none of them noticed Elmo picking up one toy after another and carrying them to the plastic tub in the corner of the deck.
“I remember!” Debra’s face broke into a broad grin. “He didn’t fire Suzanne because she and Wyatt didn’t come in that Monday morning!”
“Are you telling me that Ross changed his mind about firing Suzanne for embarrassing the station because they simply didn’t come into work?” Kathleen was doubtful.
“No, they didn’t come in because a pipe burst in their basement and it flooded,” Debra said. “When they came back to work on Tuesday, Wyatt threw himself on Ross’s mercy. He told him that the six o’clock anchor slot was the only thing that kept Suzanne from going totally off the deep end. Of course, Wyatt knew that waiting an extra day had given Ross time to cool off a little bit. I guess he’d cooled off just enough. I think it was because they had been childhood friends that Ross agreed to let Suzanne stay on one condition.” She held up her finger.
Nikki and Kathleen exchanged long glances. Both lifted an eyebrow.
“She had to go to AA,” Debra said. “Wyatt said she would.”
“Did she?” Nikki asked.
“Of course not,” Kathleen said with a scoff.
“Ross died before she went,” Debra said.
“Did you see Suzanne on the third floor that afternoon?” Nikki asked.
Debra started to shake her head only to stop abruptly. Her mouth dropped open. “As a matter of fact, I did see her on the third floor, but I can’t tell you what time. I know it was before Ross called to send me down to the mailroom.” She rubbed her chin. “I must have gone to the ladies’ room. Whatever it was, I came back to my desk and Suzanne was waiting for me. She was fit to be tied and demanded to see him. I thought, ‘Oh, man!’ Ross closed his door to work in peace. She said it was important that she talk him.”
“What about?” Kathleen asked.
“She didn’t say. I called Ross on the intercom and he said he needed to get the fall schedule done and to tell her to make an appointment for the next week. I told her what he’d said and asked her when she wanted to meet. She snorted and threw her nose up in the air and stormed out.”
“And she never made an appointment?” Nikki asked.
Debra shook her head. “Never.”
“Did you ever find out what she wanted to talk to him about?” After seeing Debra shake her head, Nikki turned to her mother. “Did Suzanne ever ask for a meeting with you after Dad had died?”
“Not that I recall,” Kathleen said. “Maybe she didn’t need a meeting after your father passed away.”
“You actually called Dad on the intercom and he answered?” Nikki asked.
“Yes.” Debra cocked her head at them. “What information are you looking for? If I knew—”
“Did you actually see Ross after Wyatt left his meeting with him that afternoon?” Kathleen asked.
Debra quickly nodded her head. “Of course, I did.”
Nikki sat forward. “By ‘see him,’ we mean did he open the door and come out of his office and you actually saw him live and in person?”
“You mean actually see him?” Debra frowned. “I saw him on the phone.”
“You saw him on the phone?” Nikki asked. “He was in the office behind the closed door.”
“Ross was on the phone most of the afternoon. I saw his line light up and then it would go out. I called him on the intercom when Suzanne came up. He wouldn’t have picked up on the intercom if he was dead.” Debra uttered a laugh. “And then he called me at four-thirty-five to go downstairs to check on the shipment. I know his voice. He couldn’t have called me if he wasn’t alive and in the office.”
“You saw the lights on the phone to indicate he was talking on the phone and you heard his voice through the intercom,” Nikki said. “But you did not actually see him alive after Wyatt had left his office
.”
“No, I did not actually see him.” Debra’s eyes were wide. “Wyatt was Ross’s best friend. Why would he kill him?”
There was a note of desperation in Kathleen’s tone when she asked, “Debra, what was Ross doing the last time you saw him alive?”
Debra hung her head. “It was after lunch. I had gone into his office to remind him to leave at five to go pick you up.” She jerked her chin at Nikki. “That was a complete break from his routine, and he was really afraid that he’d forget and leave you abandoned at the ball field. So, he told me to keep reminding him so that he wouldn’t forget. He was queuing up a news segment on the DVD player for his meeting with Wyatt.”
“Why?” Nikki asked.
“To critique it. Your father was a professional broadcast journalist. He knew his stuff. He was always calling in the directors and producers and journalists to go over clips.” Debra let out a sigh and shook her head. “When I walked in—” She stopped.
“What? What do you remember, Debra?” Kathleen asked.
“The segment he was queuing up was the on-the-scene report of Noah Harper’s hit and run. The look on your father’s face was so sad. I’d made some comment about how horrible it must be for Noah’s parents. Your dad said that Noah was the same age as Julie.”
“He was in Julie’s class,” Nikki said. “She knew him.”
“He said that only a gutless coward would run down a child and drive away to leave him to die in the street like roadkill. That was his worst nightmare as a parent. The look on his face.” Debra shuddered. “It really upset him.” She reached for Nikki’s hand. “He loved you and Julie more than I can say.”
“I know,” Nikki said. “Was that the only segment that he was going to critique with Wyatt?”
Debra hesitated before shaking her head. “Now that you mention it, there was something else. He had a hand-held camcorder there, too. It was plugged into the television monitor. I assume Ross wanted to show him a video that he had recorded.”