Killer Ambition

21

I pulled Bailey aside and told her what I’d just learned.

“So Hayley and Brian were definitely in on it together,” she said.

“And most likely were killed by the same person-”

“Or persons-”

“-who had to have known about their plan in time to grab the money and kill them,” I said. “No way any of Hayley’s buddies would’ve done it.”

“No. We’ve got to dig into Brian’s life-find out who he was hanging with.”

But whoever it was had deliberately laid a false trail for us. I decided two could play this game. “Do you think we could keep Brian’s death under wraps for a while?”

“And hope our mystery man keeps dropping false clues?” Bailey asked. I nodded. “Brian’s aunt will keep for a little while. And I can warn these guys”-she tilted her head toward the officers on the scene-“but I can’t promise how long-”

In a case like this, no secret was going to keep for long. And we couldn’t let Janice find out about her nephew from the press. “But it’s worth a try, right? With a little more time, our mystery man might poke his head above the radar-at least once more.” And with a little luck, he’d poke it up nice and high, where I could snap it off.

Bailey gathered all the unis together and gave them the word not to file any reports or talk about what they’d seen until she gave the okay. They all nodded their agreement, though I noticed a couple of skeptical expressions.

I was exhausted in a way that was as much emotional as physical. Bailey too seemed a lot worse for wear, which was unusual for her. Through many all-nighters, she was always the one who looked disgustingly fresh when the rest of us seemed ridden hard and put back wet. But now her eyes, her mouth, her shoulders, all sagged, as if pulled down by fifty-pound weights. She wrapped up with the remaining officers and we trudged down the muddy, rocky trail to her car.

As we wound our way back down the mountain, I tried to dredge up names for any of Brian’s friends. No luck. I remembered that even his aunt hadn’t known of any. “The only places I can think to check are his jobs. He didn’t go to school here-”

“No,” Bailey said. “And I’ve been trying to figure out where he might’ve gotten the idea to stage the kidnapping-”

“You mean other than from himself-”

“Yeah, I don’t make him as the mastermind somehow. If you ask me, this was Hayley’s idea.”

It did have that teenagey melodramatic touch. But something about the whole kidnapping scheme bothered me. “If what Brian wanted was to avenge his father, then why only ask for a million dollars? Why not go for it and ask for half the profits on that film?”

“How would he know what that was? He was just a kid. He did what was easy. Hayley told him Russell kept a million in the house. He asked for that.”

I stared at Bailey. “Since when did you get to be such a softie?” Bailey was usually the one who landed on the most sinister motives for every move-whether that move was made by a child molester or a ninety-year-old who cheated at Bingo.

Bailey shrugged. After a few moments she said, “It’s just a feeling. Okay?”

“You’re entitled to ’em,” I said. “And I don’t disagree with you.”

Bailey dropped me off at the Biltmore with a warning that she’d be back to pick me up at eight o’clock tomorrow. I nodded wearily, got out and patted the roof, and Bailey sped off.

One hot shower later, I was in bed. Five minutes after that, I’d fallen asleep with all the lights on.