Wonderful. Jane would use the time to text Beau and draft questions for Tony’s business partner, Devin Hagger. Before driving to the bank, she’d contacted his office to make an appointment. They were scheduled to meet tomorrow morning at 10:00.
Preparation had never been more important.
Jane eased into a seat. Getting as cozy as possible, she withdrew her phone from her clutch. Yep. The earlier call had indeed come from Ashley Katz.
Sighing, she typed the message to Beau:Where are my crime scene photos, Bo-Bo?????? (Okay, the nickname was supposed to be a punishment for your terrible breech of manners, but it’s so cute I think we should run with it.) Also, can you do morning rounds for me tomorrow, since you’ll be doing patrol anyway????? I’ll pay you in the form of a meal and great conversation since you won’t accept my money.
Beaudyguard:Two meals, and Bo-Bo says deal.
She snorted. Dang, she treasured this amazing man.
Jane:Done!Now get me those photos.
Beaudyguard:You’ll have them by tomorrow morning, promise.
Why the hold up? Was he afraid she’d see something disturbing?
Inquiries for later. Time to craft those hard-hitting questions for Hagger. Except, Lucy exited an office at the end of a narrow hallway. A beauty in her late twenties, with sleek black hair and rich brown eyes. She wore a dark gray pencil skirt and a black-and-white striped top—and no wedding ring.
Hmm. A potential match for one of Beau’s friends, perhaps? In Jane’s mind, Beau himself was already paired with Eunice Park…who continued to ignore her calls. But that was something else she needed to put on hold for now. If Jane remembered correctly, the slightly older Lucy had been kind to everyone in school, no matter their social status. Or lack thereof, in Jane’s case. In other words, perfect companion material.
“Jane Ladling?” The other woman flashed a practiced, almost brittle smile. “Why don’t you come on back?” With the precision of a military sergeant, she pivoted on her high heels and returned to the office, her spine ramrod straight.
Confused by the frosty greeting, Jane followed. Had coming here been a mistake? For all she knew, Lucy had hoped to trap her into making some kind of confession about Fiona and Beau.
Jane entered a small space filled with pictures of an adorable chonky, calico cat. Okay. Forget the greeting and the suspicion. This woman was definitely on the up and up, and a perfect potential match for one of Beau’s friends. Anyone who loved their feline to such a degree received a gold star seal of approval.
Wait. Her sudden lack of suspicion for the loan officer made her suspicions resurge with a vengeance.
“Please, shut the door and have a seat.” All professional politeness, Lucy sank into a swivel chair in front of a computer and stacked a set of already stacked papers and folders. “We’ll get started.”
Once the thick wooden door clicked into place, Jane sank into her own chair on the other side of the desk. She withdrew a pen and her trusty notebookTruth Be Told, ready to take notes. “Why am I here?”
Just like that, the other woman’s air of professionalism evaporated. She deflated, seeming to melt over her keyboard. “Thank you so much for coming. I’ve been at my wit’s end…haven’t known what to do or who to trust.”
Wow. What a change! “Why don’t you start by telling me how you think I can help?”
Lucy wrung her fingers. “I’m so afraid the authorities will try to pin Tony’s murder on me. Rumor is, you’re something of an expert sleuth. So, if anyone can clear my good name, it’s you. That’s why I’d like to hire you to prove my innocence.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. “Why do you believe this?”
“Well, you’ve solved two cases already.”
“I assure you, I’m very aware of my own talents. I meant, why do you think the agents will target you?”
The beauty picked up a pencil and tapped the end against the desk. “Last month, I hired Tony to force my ex-boyfriend to return Cartier—my cat. Oliver stole her from my house, just to hurt me. But Tony only sent the jerk a typo-ridden letter, then tried to charge me two thousand dollars for it.”
Oh yes. That sounded very much like a Tony Miller special. The man had attempted to charge Jane four hundred dollars for a ten second phone call. “Did you pay him anything?”
Her lips pressed together in disgust. “I refused to give him a dime.” The disgust morphed into uncertainty. “But maybe I should have done it. All night I read up on the three Cs of motive.”
Ugh. C. The worst of letters. Jane had dated three men in her twenty-six years. Clint, Christopher, and now Conrad, who was beyond lucky she hadn’t sworn off all C-named people after the first two jerks had shredded her heart. “Please. Do tell.”
“Well, they are coin, contempt and carnality,” Lucy said, “and I have two out of three. It’s only a matter of time before GBH wonders if I hired someone to kill Tony simply to get out of paying my bill.”
“You might be right.” Jane had to be honest. Even she was speculating about the possibility.HadLucy hired someone to kill Tony to get out of paying her bill. How better to get a little payback in the process? There were definitely elements of coin—the unpaid bill—and contempt for the sleazy lawyer who’d tried to coerce Lucy into giving him money. The banker was right; in the eyes of law enforcement, she lacked only carnality. Talk about a bona fide motive. “Do you have a criminal record?”
“No. I absolutely do not. But… I kind of, possibly, might have,maybe committed a teensy, tiny, hardly worth mentioning crime recently.” The other woman chewed on her bottom lip. “I broke into Oliver’s house and stole my cat back, okay? But that was a crusade for justice!”