Thirty-four

WHY wasn’t Robinson answering his phone? Nikki paced back and forth. He had the wrong men in his interrogation room. This was her third attempt to reach him in the last ten minutes, and she was getting desperate. Ollie stood and followed her, whining away. He knew she was troubled. Instead of letting the poor animal remain stressed out, she got him a doggie bone from the kitchen and then went out to the garage to call Robinson again. She didn’t need Ollie waking up Petie. And this way she could kill two birds with one stone and take the clothes out of the dryer as she called.

She sighed with relief when she heard Robinson’s voice. “Where have you been?”

“Nikki? You sound like my wife. If I had one. I was interviewing Gonzales again. I think he might crack. Why? What’s up?”

“Neither Gonzales nor Pearlman did this. But I know who did and why.”

“You do?”

“Yes. It’s Rich Higgins.”

“The publisher? Hayden Sansi’s fiancé?”

“Yes. It is and I have evidence here.” She went into her bedroom and took the note out of her nightstand drawer. She’d put it there after getting back from her run. It all made sense now. She reread it to herself while Robinson was on the other end of the phone. Keep the party for yourself this time. I’m done dealing with you.

“I’m walking to my car as we speak. Start filling me in.”

“Okay. Remember how I brought up this DVD thing with you a few times? How the first day of the program, I saw Alan and Iwao arguing and that Iwao was trying to get him to take the DVD, and he refused?”

“Yes. I remember. The only DVD we ever found in any of Iwao or Mizuki’s things was the soap opera she had.”

“Right. There was another one. I knew there had to be. I have it, and on it are meetings between Iwao and Rich Higgins. On the outside of the DVD there are three dates written-the dates of the meetings. The first is right after his mother died. It’s in Iwao Yamimoto’s office, I think. It must be Japan, and I’m sure from the way the footage is shot that Higgins had no idea he was on camera.”

“Keep it coming.”

Nikki could hear his keys jangling.

“In it they’re talking about Yamimoto buying out Inspiritus and making it a subsidiary of his publishing house, VisionScope, which is located in Canada.”

“What does this have to do with the murders, Sands?”

“Just listen. I’m getting there. The first meeting goes nice and everything is kosher between them, kind of setting the stage for things to come. Then about three months later, Higgins is back in Yamimoto’s office. In this one, Higgins is raising the bar on how much he wants Iwao to pay for the company, and Iwao is saying that he wants Higgins to convince Alan Sansi to do worldwide major events. And to promote VisionScope. Higgins tells him that Alan would never do that. He’s not into commercialism at all. Mind you that Hayden and Higgins have been engaged at this point for a few months. I asked Hayden on the hike the other day how long they’d been engaged. She said almost a year. All of this took place last year. Higgins then tells Iwao he wants out. He says he can’t sell because of pressure the family will put on him and the loyalty Alan felt toward his mother. He tells him that he’s had second thoughts. So, Iwao ups the ante and offers him another three million dollars on top of the twenty million he’d already offered him.”

Robinson let out a low whistle, his car engine running in the background.

“Right. It looked like the deal was back on. But then, in a third and final meeting only two weeks ago, Rich tells Iwao he can’t go through with it. His new wife alone will be worth that kind of money and more, so he’ll have no need to sell his publishing company. Iwao still tries to convince him and insists they go to his home for dinner. No hard feelings if he doesn’t want to change his mind. Iwao even says those exact words on the tape, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Because get this, there’s not just a meeting on there. Iwao takes him to his home and there’s a little party that goes on.”

“Let me guess. It’s Higgins and a private party with a girl.”

“Not just any girl. A party with Mizuki and several friends. But Rich Higgins told me the other night that he’d never met Iwao until this weekend.”

“I have to ask, how do you think Iwao got all of that on tape?” Robinson asked.

“He must have had cameras all over his offices and his home, and then transferred the footage onto DVD with hopes of showing Alan what a scumbag his future son-in-law is. He figured that once Alan knew the truth about Higgins, he would jump ship and go with VisionScope. Why would he continue to do business with a man who was going to sell the publishing house he’d help grow right under his feet? Not to mention marry his daughter when he wasn’t exactly showing how devoted and faithful he would be.”

“Why didn’t Iwao tell him what was on that DVD?”

“I asked myself the same thing and the only answer I can come up with is that Alan didn’t want to hear it. When I saw them arguing the other day, Alan was adamant about not wanting to get involved with any situation surrounding his daughter.”

“Where did you find the DVD?”

“It was in the safe this entire time. The hotel safe. You have to see it. I’m telling you that Higgins killed Iwao and Mizuki. He had to have known about the DVD somehow.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen.”

Nikki flipped shut the phone. Rich Higgins. How stupid. Here he was about to marry a beautiful, sweet woman from a decent family, and running a productive publishing house. His mother had to be turning over in her grave. The man must have wanted more, just as Iwao Yamimoto wanted more. Iwao’s desires dug him a grave, whereas Rich’s would see him behind bars. But what about yesterday’s alibi? Robinson told her that everyone but Ruben and Juan could prove their whereabouts during the attack. Did that mean Hayden had been covering for Rich? Why would she do that?

Higgins knew if he sold off Inspiritus to Iwao that his engagement to Hayden would be broken. The Sansi kids were loyal to their family, and Hayden would not marry someone deceitful like Higgins. And Rich Higgins had probably started thinking this thing through. The Sansi family was worth way more money as a family and a business than Inspiritus. In the long run, and after a kid or two, Higgins would be entrenched in a family that had all the perks of the good life and a guaranteed inheritance. Who knew what Higgins had planned for the future? Nikki got the feeling this guy would kill again if he needed to-if he thought he would gain something from it. By murdering Iwao, Rich gained his silence. The DVD proved his initial attempt to sell off Inspiritus behind the Sansis’ backs. He’d murdered Mizuki because he was afraid that if Iwao had told anyone about Rich Higgins, it would likely have been her.

But why had he attempted to kill Nikki? Because she had been asking questions. She’d tipped her hand by asking Hayden in front of him for those applications and saying that she occasionally helped out the police. How stupid she’d been!

Nikki couldn’t wait for Robinson to arrive. She busied herself with folding the clothes and placing them in the basket. She started to head back through the garage door when she heard the click and felt what she knew to be the barrel of a gun in her back.

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