“I’m a bit tired,” she told them. “I hope you’ll understand the early end to the celebration. Please help yourself to some of those marvelous hors d’oeuvres. To go, of course.”
It took maybe twenty minutes to make the rounds of all the guests, and both Bosch and Chipperfield looked monstrously disappointed, but when I introduced her to them, she sharply suggested they set up a lunch date for them individually. “We’ll dine at the club,” she said. “Are you a member of the EHGC?”
The East Hampton Golf Club was a very exclusive club. It was rated one of the best golf courses in all the Northeast, and I wasn’t surprised that Julia was a member.
“No, ma’am,” Bosch replied. “But I’ve played there as a guest once or twice.”
“Wonderful,” she said.
“I’m a member,” Chipperfield said, then added a sneer at Bosch. “I’m there every weekend. Name the date and time and I’ll be there, Mrs. Entwistle.”
Julia smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Excellent. Have Catherine send me your contact information, and I’ll be in touch.”
Once I’d gotten Julia inside the house, I said, “That was very kind of you, Julia, but in light of what’s happened here tonight, I don’t think we need to continue to grill the men on their whereabouts the night of Yelena’s murder.”
“Of course we do!” she said. “Marcus should be able to use the same tactic for Sunny that he was prepared to use for Aaron.”
“I doubt that will work once the jury sees her bloody clothes.”
“I’m sure he’ll figure out a very good defense for her, my dear,” she said, patting my hand.
I walked Julia to her car—a Rolls Royce no less, and Gilley offered to drive her home as Marcus had driven her here. She was happy to have him play chauffeur, and the two were the first to leave, but everyone else quickly followed.
Once all the guests had left, I directed the servers and bartender who’d been hired for the event to help me organize the food and bring it inside. Within short order most of the area outside had been cleared of anything edible and drinkable.
I sent the servers home with most of the food. Relatively little of it had been eaten and I certainly didn’t want it to take up extra room in my fridge only to slowly spoil.
I paid everyone and saw them off then headed back inside intent on making some tea to calm my nerves.
Just as I got out my favorite porcelain teakettle, there was a loud knock at the front door.
Thinking one of the servers had left something behind, I hurried to the door and was surprised to see three uniformed police and one detective in a suit jacket and tie standing there.
“Ma’am,” the detective said. “We’re here to see Detective Shepherd.”
I wondered who’d called the cops, but stepped back and pointed to the stairs. “He’s up there,” I said. “I’m not sure which room he’s in, but just follow the sound of voices and you should find him easily enough.”
The three unis tipped their hats at me as they filed past, and the detective gave me a nod. I didn’t smile or nod back, because I had a sinking feeling about why they’d come here in force.
Busying myself in the kitchen again, I kept one eye toward the stairs, and sure enough, the four of them soon came marching down, carrying the paper bag with the bloody clothes, with Sunny in the midst of them, her hands handcuffed behind her back.
She kept her gaze firmly on the steps in front of her as she made her way down, and then she kept her gaze on the floor as the unis took her out the door and over to one of two waiting police cars.
I watched out the window as they put her carefully into the backseat, and I felt those same unbidden tears well up in my eyes and dribble down my cheeks.
The detective remained at the bottom of the stairs. He seemed to be waiting for someone. Sure enough, Shepherd came down the steps slowly, looking utterly defeated. He and the detective spoke in hushed tones for a few minutes, and then the detective tipped an imaginary hat at Shepherd and headed out to the waiting car with only one cop in it. The others had already left, taking Sunny with them.
I left the window and walked over to Shepherd. He was staring at the floor. “Hey,” I said, placing a hand on his back. “How’re you doing, Shep?”
“Bad,” he said, his voice hitching with emotion.
“What happened up there?” I asked next.
“Sunny confessed. She said that she remembered being angry with Yelena, because she was under the firm belief that Yelena was going to hurt Finley. She remembered struggling with Yelena, and then she remembered changing clothes, but nothing more.”
“She wasn’t in her right mind,” I said.
“I know that,” Shepherd said. “If it weren’t for her bloodstained clothes, I’d never believe it, but that’s evidence that’s hard to fake.”
“What happens now?”
“They book her, then try her for murder in the first.”
I bit my lip. That sounded so bad. “Is there anything we can do for her?”
“Sending Marcus up to represent her was a start. He made her stop talking the second he entered the room, but she’d already told me most of what she remembered. I interviewed Darius, and he said that Sunny found the clothes at the bottom of the laundry basket. She freaked out, and he tried to get her to burn the clothing and never confess it to me or anyone else, but my sister isn’t one to hide from her mistakes. She’s always owned up to any mischief she caused, and even though this is a thousand times more serious than any prank she’s ever pulled, she wasn’t about to let an innocent man go to jail for something she’d done.”
Marcus and Darius came down the stairs at that point. A sleeping Finley rested once again on Darius’s shoulder.
Darius glared at Shepherd, and the look was so harsh that I winced. “You should’ve protected her,” he said.
“Obstruction isn’t something I’m capable of, D.”
Darius turned away, clearly disgusted. Holding out his hand to Marcus, he said, “I’ll get you that check right away. In fact, if you want to follow me to the house, I can write it tonight.”
“You can’t go to the house, D,” Shepherd said.
Darius turned again to him. “Wanna bet?”
“I’m serious.”
“And I’m not?”
“They’ll be searching your home, Darius,” Marcus said.
Darius’s expression turned to shock. “What do you mean, they’ll be searching my home?”
“They’ll have gotten a search warrant before they came to collect Sunny. It’s what took them so long to arrive,” Marcus explained.
Darius glanced at Shepherd, and he nodded solemnly.
“What am I supposed to do with Finley?” Darius demanded.
“You both can stay here tonight,” I said. “There’s a guest bedroom at the end of the hall upstairs. It’s a queen bed, so there’ll be plenty of room for you and Finley. And it’s an en suite, too, Darius, so you’ll have total privacy.”
Darius looked at me, his thoughts unreadable. At last, he said, “Thank you, Catherine. We’ll be out of your way first thing in the morning. They should be done searching my place by then, right, Detective?”
Shepherd nodded. “They should.”
Without another word, Darius went back up the stairs, stomping as he went, clearly furious with Shepherd for upending his whole life.
Once he was safely out of earshot, Marcus said, “Are you going to charge him with obstruction?”
Shepherd shook his head. “No. Trying to talk Sunny out of confessing to me had no effect on her course of action. And I don’t want Finley to go one second without a parent nearby.”
Marcus nodded. “And will you be releasing my client, Mr. Nassau?”
“I’ll call the D.A. first thing in the morning, Counselor. He’ll be released by noon.”
Marcus nodded again, then turned to me. “Did Julia make it home?”
“Gilley drove her,” I said.
“My car is still at her estate. We took her Rolls here.”
“When Gilley gets back, he can take you over there, you can pick up your car, and he can leave Julia’s car in her driveway, and then you can drop him off back here.”
“Good,” he said.
As if on cue, my own drive lit up as Gilley pulled in. Marcus nodded to both of us and headed outside to inform Gilley of the plan.
Shepherd stepped to me and put his arms around me. “What a night,” he said.
“Indeed. Are you staying over?”
Shepherd loosened his hold and said, “No, sweetheart. I have to go to the station and fill out some paperwork. They’ll take me off Yelena’s case and probably assign it to Santana, while I take over his case.”
“Mark Purdy,” I said.
“Yep.”
“Did Santana put a few leads together?”
“He did not,” Shepherd said. “Not a single lead, in fact.”
“I might have a direction for you to follow,” I said.
Shepherd’s brow rose. “Yeah?”
I nodded. “You might want to see if there’s a connection to Gene Bosworth. Or his sister.”
“Who’s Gene Bosworth?”
“Lover Number Eight.”
Shepherd blinked in surprise. “Yelena’s Lover Number Eight?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know that?”
“Gilley and I were curious about the identities of the other lovers, so we did a little sleuthing.”
Shepherd closed his eyes and sighed. “I knew you were gonna stick your nose where it didn’t belong,” he said.
“Then it shouldn’t surprise you that we sussed out the identities of nearly all her lovers.”
“You got a list for me?” he asked.
“I can send you a photo of the whiteboard we used to keep track of them.”
“Do that,” he said, kissing me on the cheek. “I gotta get going.”
“I know,” I said, wrapping my arms around him for a final hug.
When he’d gone, I headed upstairs and took off the gorgeous gown I’d been wearing and slipped into my nicest silk pajamas. After grabbing a pillow and a blanket, I made my way back downstairs and over to Chez Kitty.
I didn’t want to sleep alone tonight. Even though Darius was down the hall, I craved the comfort of having Gilley close by.
Spooks looked up when I came through the door, then came bounding over to me to wriggle against my legs and make little whines of happiness that I’d come to visit him. After making my way over to the couch, I arranged the pillow and blanket before crawling under the covers. Spooks jumped up on the couch and stretched himself out so that he could lie next to me.
It was exactly the companionship I needed tonight.
I fell asleep quickly and barely woke when Gilley came through the door. He put an afghan over my blanket, covering Spooks and me, told the dog to stay, then headed off to bed.
I was left to dreams of a beautiful yellow- and orange-colored parrot locked in a birdcage, crying out her innocence.
The memory of that dream would stay with me for a long time to come.
Chapter 16
The next morning, while Gilley and I were finishing up a breakfast of fruit and yogurt, my phone rang with an incoming call from Willem.
I grimaced when I saw his name pop up on my screen. I felt terrible that the party he’d paid a ridiculous amount of money for had been shut down several hours early because of Sunny’s confession.
“Willem,” I said, answering the call.
“Hi, Catherine. I hope it’s not too early there?”
“No, you’re fine. Gilley and I were just polishing off breakfast. You’ve probably heard about the party, huh?”
“I did. Is there anything I can do for Mrs. D’Angelo?”
His question surprised me. I thought he’d be far more concerned with the fact that his grandmother didn’t get the celebration she deserved. “That’s lovely of you to ask,” I told him. “But I think she’s in the most capable of hands. We got her the best defense attorney in the Hamptons.”
“Marcus Brown,” Willem said. “Grams told me all about him. She was very impressed by him.”
“I’ve known Marcus for two years now, and I can agree with Julia. He’s definitely impressive.”
“And how are you?” Willem asked next.
I shook my head, awed by his compassion. “I’m fine, Willem, thank you so much for asking. I’m sorry Julia didn’t get the celebration she deserved.”
He chuckled. “She had a terrific time. She couldn’t stop talking about how perfect the setting was, and how much the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves until the incident. I’m so grateful to you and Gilley for going to so much trouble on her behalf.”
“We’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Speaking of which,” Willem said. “She was hoping to pick your brains for ideas for our reception. Would you and Gilley be up for lunch with her today?”
I blinked and caught Gilley’s eye. He wore a confused and curious expression. “I’m certainly free for lunch with her but let me check with Gilley.” After placing a hand over the microphone, I said, “Julia is inviting us to lunch to pick our brains for ideas for Willem and Chanel’s reception. Are you free?”
“Definitely.”
Upon uncovering the microphone, I said, “Gilley would also be delighted to attend.”
“Great,” Willem said. “If you can get to her estate by noon, she’d appreciate it.”
“We’ll be there. Oh, and, Willem, one more thing. Would you send me the receipt for the Vivace gown you got swindled by my partner to purchase on my behalf?”
“Um, no, Catherine. It’s my way of saying thank you for hosting the party and for now agreeing to help Grams plan the reception.”
“Willem, it’s too much,” I insisted.
“Not in my book,” he replied. “Besides, Chanel and I were blown away with how gorgeous you were in that gown.”
I smiled. He was such a sweet man. “Thank you,” I said. “Truly.”
“Of course,” he said. “It was the least I could do.”
After I hung up with him, I turned to Gilley. “He’s so lovely, you know?”
“I do know,” Gilley said. “And I told you he wasn’t going to let you pay for that gown.”
“I still feel guilty about it.”
Gilley shrugged. “Don’t. Or if you do, maybe donate what you think the gown cost to a charitable organization.”
I poked him with my finger. “That is exactly what I’ll do!”
“See? There’s a solution for every problem.”
“We can drop the check off on our way to Julia’s.”
“Perfect!”
“Just tell me what the gown cost and I’ll go fill that check out.”
Gilley laughed. “Nice try,” he said. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy, so no, I’m not going to tell you.”
I pouted for a moment and then asked, “If I name a range, would you at least tell me that I’m in the ballpark?”
Gilley thought that over and said, “I think that’d be okay.”
“Good. Was the gown in the range of between six and eight thousand?”
“You’re in the stadium, but not yet on the field.”
My jaw dropped. “Ten?” I said.
“You’re in the outfield.”
My eyes widened. The gift was far too generous. “Twelve?”
“You’re on home base, Cat. And that’s all I’ll say about it.”
Twelve thousand dollars was more than I’d ever paid for a gown. Even my couture wedding dress hadn’t cost that much. I felt immensely guilty, even though I hadn’t had a hand in the purchase.
And I also knew there was no taking it back. The only thing I could do was donate generously to my charity of choice.
After getting up from the table, I carried my dishes to the sink, gave them a quick rinse, and put them in the dishwasher. Then I moved
to the door.
“You headed back to Chez Cat?”
“Yes. I want to make out that check while I still have the courage.”
“You know, you don’t have to donate the full twelve Gs.”
I looked down at Spooks, who’d come over to lean against my legs and do his snorting routine in an effort to get me to stay. “I do, Gilley,” I said, stroking Spooks’s velvety head.
“I shouldn’t have let you guess the price,” he said.
I smiled at him. “I’m so glad you did.”
After opening the door, I peered out at the beautiful day. In the driveway was Sunny’s Range Rover, its rear window repaired. Darius’s car was missing, though.
“Huh,” I said.
“What?” Gilley said, getting up to come over to the door and peer out.
“Darius left already.”
“What do you mean, he left already?”
I realized I hadn’t told Gilley that I’d invited Darius and Finley to stay over. “The police obtained a search warrant for the D’Angelos’ house, and he couldn’t very well take Finley there while a team of strangers was turning the place upside down, so I offered to let him stay at Chez Cat for the night. He and Sunny drove separately to the party. His car was here when I came over last night, and now it’s gone.”
“Is that why you came here? You didn’t want to be in the same space with him?”
I gave Gilley a disapproving look. “Of course not. I was unsettled by Sunny’s confession and the early end to the party, and being here with you always makes me feel comforted.”
Gilley nodded. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to assume that Darius was a bad dude or anything.”
“I don’t think I would’ve minded the implication before Sunny tried to take her life, but after watching the way he cares for her and Finley, I’ve come to a different conclusion about him.”
Gilley nodded. “Do you think he’ll come back for Sunny’s car?”
“I’m sure he’ll want to, but he’s probably got his hands full trying to put the house back in order after the police cleared out. If the keys are in it, and it’s still here, then I think we should take it over to his house when we get back from Julia’s.”
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