Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
“I have no idea what to feel right now,” I said. “I was ready to bust into Reynard’s room and punch his teeth down his throat, but I didn’t want to trigger the man into killing himself!”
“You can’t know he did that because of you,” she argued.
“Lucky for me, I can. The coroner determined he swallowed the pills no more than an hour before we found him. During that hour, I was pounding on his door, screaming that I knew what he did and the police were going to haul his ass to prison.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “He obviously panicked and...”
Courtney hugged me tighter. “He made his own choices, babe. First, to steal from and abuse your mother, and then to swallow a handful of pills instead of facing the consequences. Do not spend a second of your time blaming yourself. Reynard Agassi was the lowest, most vile scum. He doesn’t get to become a saint in death.”
She was right. I knew she was right. But guilt didn’t always listen to truth.
“What are the police saying? Can they recover what he stole?”
I shook my head. “They’re being way more forthcoming about the investigation into Reynard than they are about Mrs. Prado’s, Layton’s, or Omma’s, but unfortunately, they still don’t have much to say.
“Reynard’s bank accounts were empty. He didn’t have more than three hundred dollars to his name, but Rhodes calculated that he stole over two hundred thousand.”
“Fucking hell!” Courtney gaped at me. “He got away with that much and no one knew? How?”
“He charged a whole mess of experimental, natural, or Eastern treatments that Omma never received. All the money that was supposed to pay for them just went right in his pocket.” I scoffed. “There wasn’t any sign either. He was careful not to suddenly roll up to the manor in his new Maserati, but whatever happened with the money, he spent it fast and hot.”
“Dick.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Courtney dropped her head back on the couch, sighing. “Not to keep you even more depressed by switching to another dismal topic, but have you considered that Reynard could’ve killed Omma?” she asked. “I know Rhodes was lying about seeing him in the garden, but when you threw that lie at Reynard, he was so fast with that alibi. Even then I thought it was a little too convenient that he had a photo with the clock in the background ready to go the second you asked.”
“I did consider it,” I confessed. “I mean, I was looking for an evil bastard that wanted to hurt my mother and that turned out to be Reynard the whole time. Of course I considered that he might’ve killed her too, but why?
“He couldn’t use her illness to steal from the estate if she was gone. If anything, he had more motive to keep her alive. It just doesn’t make sense that he’d kill her.”
“Good point. Only a fool kills the golden goose,” she said, echoing Rhodes. “Have you thought of anyone else it could’ve been? Last I heard, Mrs. Finley refused a plea deal. The case is going to trial just like you said, and she’s going to use this charade to give her and Colin’s trauma a platform while the real killer skips into the sunset.”
“There’s no one, Court.” My lips burned uttering those words. “Rhodes said he was in Omma’s office, and I believe him. Reynard didn’t have a motive. Mr. Layton was silenced before he could tell us what he knew—if he knew anything. The only question left is where your boytoy, Mr. Stevens, went when he left the party”—I gave her a knowing look—“but I guess you know something about that.”
She smirked unashamedly. “He went upstairs to get the condom we used when we fucked in the downstairs closet.”
“And there you go.”
She laughed, but quickly sobered. “There has to be something we missed. I don’t know, maybe Mrs. Finley did do it. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one.”
“Then what’s the simplest explanation for why Mrs. Prado was killed? What’s the explanation for who killed Mr. Layton when Mrs. Finley was safely locked in a holding cell?”
Courtney had no response for that.
“I’m sorry, Courtney, but I just don’t believe what the detectives are saying now. That Mrs. Finley killed Mrs. Prado and Omma, and an unknown assailant who hated Layton Lager went after the heir.” I slid her a look. “Before telling me to butt out of police investigations, Davis told me that there have been some serious disputes between Lager factory workers and management. The workers have been complaining about unsafe working conditions, terrible pay, and crappy benefits.
“One of the floor managers even socked Layton Senior, Charles’s dad, in the face when an argument between them got out of hand,” I said. “Davis didn’t confirm or deny, but it’s pretty clear they’re looking at the factory workers as the main suspects in Mr. C’s murder. That’s a lot easier than admitting the middle-aged attempted murderer in their holding cell is lying.”