Blood Defense

SIXTY-ONE

Alex had gone to clean up in the kitchen. When he came back to the living room, he had his cell phone to his ear. “Just thought I’d check in with the answering service.”

We hadn’t picked up our messages since the fire. “Anything exciting?”

“Just the usual bazillion messages from the press. Some nice personal condolences from Brittany and Edie about the fire. And of course, they wanted your reaction to Storm’s death.”

Edie. That was interesting. “Can you give me Edie’s number?” He read it off to me as I tapped it into my phone.

Michelle’s brow furrowed. “You’re not going to ask her if she was with Brent that night, are you? Because I don’t think-”

“Yeah, right. ‘Hey, Edie, what’s new? By any chance, are you banging your husband’s aide?’” I rolled my eyes. “But she might have some inside information on Storm’s death.”

Alex held up a hand. “Maybe it’s not so smart to make contact. What if she knows about the murders?”

I shook my head. “I can’t see Aubrey telling her anything.” He’d have to trust Edie not to turn him in-or at the very least, not go for a divorce that could get very nasty. I hit the last number and listened to the phone ring. Just when I thought it was going to go to voice mail, Edie answered. She sounded hurried and irritable. “Yes?”

“Hey, it’s Samantha…”

There was a long pause. When she spoke, her voice sounded brittle and a little high-pitched. “Samantha! Hey! I was just thinking about you. You okay?” I told her I was. “Such bad news about Storm.”

Sounds of traffic and loud voices filled the background. “Yeah. Are you covering the story?”

She spoke in a breathless rush. “I am now. They pulled me off a car chase in Pasadena. I had to slog through rush-hour traffic. Took me two hours to get here. Anyway, you want to give me a comment?”

“On what?”

“Anything. On your situation, on Storm. I could send a crew out if you want to get on camera?”

“No crew, but thanks. No comment on the fire. They have no leads. As for Storm, how about, ‘This is a terrible tragedy, and my sincere condolences go out to all his friends and family.’”

“What about the case? Doesn’t this put a big dent in your defense?”

“No comment on the case. Sorry.”

“Okay, off the record, then. What did he tell you? It sounded like he was going to be your ace in the hole.”

I couldn’t see any reason not to tell her. The video was what mattered, and I wouldn’t tell anyone about that until we called the cops. “Actually, he just said that he saw Paige and a young guy heading to Malibu on the night she died.”

“But wait… didn’t he say his testimony would prove Paige was the target? How does that prove anything? She might’ve just been giving him a ride.”

“Yeah. He got a little carried away. Wanted to make his fifteen minutes last.” I took a beat. This had to sound casual. “What are you hearing about the accident? Are they sure that’s what it was?”

Edie paused, and I heard police in the background shouting for people to get back. “Seems so. One of the first officers said they were looking for signs that he’d been pushed off the road, but so far no one’s saying they’ve found anything.”

“Okay, thanks. Well, if you hear any-”

She broke in, her voice rushed. “I’ll keep you posted. Studio’s calling. I’ve gotta go.”

“No worries. See you in court.”

I told Alex and Michelle what Edie had said.

Michelle got up and stretched. “So, now what?”

I thought about what we had and what the cops would do with it all. We’d grabbed the video after breaking and entering, but since we weren’t the police, it’d still be admissible in court. The phone records… we didn’t have to tell the cops we had them. They’d know to check phone calls on their own once they saw the tape.

But I didn’t know how fast they’d move, and it was clear that either Brent or Aubrey-or both-were panicking. They’d tried to destroy evidence-and me-and they’d probably killed Storm. The only reason I had the surveillance-camera footage was because they didn’t know it existed. And if I’d gotten it just one day sooner, it would’ve been destroyed in the fire. And then I’d have been left with nothing. The cops would never have taken my word for what I’d seen on that tape.

It was a chilling thought. And that thought raised the next one: Even with this footage, what would the cops do, and how fast would they do it? The video recording had some damning implications, but it didn’t necessarily clear Dale. I’d already figured out a way for Aubrey and Brent to talk their way around it. I had to find a way to nail them, and I had to do it now. “Alex, you said your uncle has muscle. What kind of muscle?”

“Four guys, two of them used to be boxers. They all carry. What’re you thinking?”

Primarily I was thinking that Aubrey had the motive to kill Paige, but he’d been stuck out in Malibu-about forty-five minutes away from Laurel Canyon. That’s why he’d needed Brent. Brent was close. But that didn’t necessarily mean Brent had killed Paige and Chloe. “If we tell Brent about the video footage and the phone calls, show him how bad it looks, maybe he’d dump Aubrey out.”

Alex leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. “If you’re going to brace anyone up, Brent’s definitely a better choice than Aubrey. And I can promise you we’ll have great backup. Tomas and his guys know what they’re doing.” He looked at Michelle, who was shaking her head. “Really, don’t worry, Michelle. This pasty little huero Brent won’t be a problem for Tomas. It’s not like we’re dealing with the Mafia here.”

Michelle pressed her lips together. “That ‘pasty little huero’ might’ve killed two women. And tried to burn us up. And killed Storm.”

“And broke into my place,” I said. “But-”

Michelle was angry. “But nothing. Let the cops take it from here. They can handle it.”

I put my hands on my hips and drilled her with a look. “Really? You trust that slug, Wayne Little, to see past their bullshit? Or move fast enough to put it all together before they do more damage? Or before they run?”

“But if they ran, wouldn’t that look bad?” Michelle asked. “Bad enough to get the case thrown out for Dale?”

I shook my head. “Not necessarily.”

Michelle sighed. “I don’t like it.”

I didn’t blame her, but I couldn’t trust anyone else to put the case together. “It’s not ideal. But Alex’s right: Brent’s no match for Tomas and his guys. We should be okay.”

Alex was keyed up and ready for action. “So how do you want to handle this?”

I told him.