Jules had peppered her with questions—the most important being “How frequently did Milt Junior come around, looking toget into the house?”
Neverwas her answer. At least not in the nine months that she’d worked there.
Sam was now behind the steering wheel of the rental car, heading down Devonshire Place’s long driveway because Jules was on the phone with Harper’s office, pushing Greg for an appointment to talk to the lawyer again.
Everything they’d learned from Rene had put even morewhatin the what-the-fuck.
“Yes, I’ll hold.” Jules put his phone on speaker, no doubt to share the insipid, annoying, tinkling hold music with Sam. He lowered the volume at least, thank God.
“I totally buy that athreatwas made,” Sam said, using air quotes. This was their first opportunity to debrief after finishing up their interview with Rene. “Wig-Milt was twenty-one, fresh out of juvie, immediately steps back into his same-old bullshit, gets drunk or high or whatever, so Milt the Senior points to the door. And Wig-Milt’s allCheck out my prison tatt, better watch yer back, Daddy!before he bursts into tears and staggers away. It wasn’t any kind of real threat.”
“Childish acting out,” Jules agreed. “I suspect that, somewhere in there, Milt the Senior relents and cuts Wig-Milt a giant check to just be gone, completely out of his life. Because Wig-Milt obviously has his own pile of money, except... It had to come from somewhere. Best guess is his father.”
“Wig-Milt doesn’t seem like much of a self-starter,” Sam agreed, glancing over at him.
“But why, all these years later, does Harper pretend that Wig-Milt’s a big enough threat to keep a five-man security team at the estate, twenty-four/seven?” Jules asked.
“Is it possible that Wig-Milt came back?Please, sir, I’d like some more?” He did a pretty good English-accentedorphan, if he said so himself. “Papa-Milt goeshell no, and Wig-Milt saysYou better or else...”
“I mean, maybe?” Jules said. “What I can’t figure out is why, if Wig-Milt was such a dire threat in the past, Harper’s now so eager for him to inherit. Unless there was never really a threat, and the security team was just a quick and easy way for Harper to help himself to some of Devonshire’s millions.”
“And then there’s that,” Sam said. “A little skimming off the top as he handled the estate’s expenses.”
“Unless something more pressing comes up, I’m going to dive into the accountant’s files tonight,” Jules said. “See what I find.”
“Just say the word, and I’ll help,” Sam said. “Oh, hey, mind if we stop at Ralph’s? Your husband ate my Cocoa Puffs. I had to have freaking Cheerios this morning.”
“Oh my God,” Jules said. “Those were yours? I’m sorry! That was me. I thought Robin got them. I didn’t realize...”
“Yeah.” Sam confessed, “I can’t eat that shit at home. Can’t even bring it into the house. Ash would find it, devour it, and turn into a blazing, unstoppable ball of energy until he hit the wall and tantrumed himself to an unconscious state.”
“You make having children sound so much fun,” Jules said.
Sam looked over at him again as he waited to make a left turn against the traffic. Did Jules really want to talk about...? God, he hoped so—Sam had so much to say, but he’d been sitting on it for awhile now, waiting for Jules to be ready to dig in.
It’s not just fun, Jules, it’s everything. It’s like taking the miracle of loving Alyssa and Alyssa loving me back, and combining that mindblowing intensity into this crazy, powerful laser beam of love for Ash. And I don’t mean to leave Haley out—but I missed a lot of her early years, which Iwill regret til the day I die. But it’s still... it’s amazing. Not just when they give me a hug—it’s when they open their mouths and the craziest shit pops out, and I go into freefall because they’re both completely their own people, even Ash who’s so freaking little. And yeah, I’m helping to teach him how to use that big brain, but ultimately he’s Ash and I cannot wait to see what he’s going to do with his life and it’s so freaking great. Sometimes, yeah, it’s notquiteas much fun, but it’s always,alwaysthe most beautiful, wonderful thing I’ve ever known—having and loving children—and yes, dear friend, you and Robin should absolutely try again.
Before Sam could say more than “It’s not just fun,” Jules cut him off.
“I know,” he said quietly, shaking his head. “Let’s not.”
“Nah, man,let’s,” Sam started.
But Ernest Harper saved Jules. Or at least the lawyer’s receptionist did. The obnoxious music cut off as the young man came back on the line. “I’m sorry that took so long, Mr. Cassidy. I’m afraid Mr. Harper’s left the office. I’ll leave a message for him and we’ll get back to you first thing in the morning.”
“Thanks, Greg,” Jules said and hung up the phone. “Damnit.” He then very obviously changed the subject. “What’s your take on the Devonshire Place security team?”
Okay, Squidward. Let’s talk about that, instead.
Back at the estate, they’d asked Rene to show them the security office. It was little more than a closet down near the laundry room, and it too had been locked, but the key was hanging in the kitchen.
Jules hadn’t managed to get the security cameras and video monitors up and working—the system was unfamiliar, but clearly still operational. He did snag one of the many video tapes—an old school VHS cassette—from a dusty shelfthat had clearly been untouched for many years. He’d taken it, no doubt, as a sample, because something about that leaked video footage was still bugging him.
But his main focus was questioning Rene while they had her.
Harper still hadn’t provided them with security head Clayton Spencer’s phone number—note to self, google Spencer tonight—so their goal was to get as much info out of the woman as they could. Despite security being out of her “purview.” She’d been on site with the team for quite a few months, and she had both eyes and a working brain, so...
Was the security always five men?No, sometimes more. They came and went.
