I shake my head, bewildered. “If Drew can get the police to start viewing this as a homicide, they’ll have to take a closer look at all the party guests, and who in that group might have had a motive. Because he left early, Liam is going to grab their attention, and at that point I’d feel obligated to turn over this list to them.... Have you spoken to Drew, by the way?”
Sam looks confused.
“About thedog,” I say. “And the fact that Jamie couldn’t have killed himself.”
“Not yet,” he says. “But I will. I think it’s important to do it in person, and I have to find the right moment.”
His response triggers a prick of impatience in me. What’s he waiting for? As if sensing my feeling, Sam suddenly grabs hold of the chair arms and pushes himself into a standing position, obviously ready to split.
“Maybe I should stop by Drew’s now and see if he’s home,” he says.
I’m glad he’s following through, but his departure seems abrupt. I rise as well and trail behind him toward the driveway.
“Sam, wait,” I call out. “I need to ask you something else—about Percy West.”
He spins around, looking surprised. “What is it?”
“I was at the Salisbury Garden Center today and she came up to me and started talking about Jamie.”
His eyes bore into mine for a few moments. “I’d stay away from her, Kiki,” he says finally.
“Is there something about her you’re not telling me?”
“No, nothing, other than the fact that I never got why Jamie asked her out in the first place.”
I’ve been asking myself the same question. Maybe he met her one night when he was hanging at a bar in the area and, newly single, fell for one of her flirty quizzes.
“Do you think he was seeing Percy longer than you realized—before he figured out she was a phony? She seemed to know stuff about me.”
“There are only so many ways I can say it.” Sam exhales loudly. “He barely knew the woman.”
“Had he slept with her?” I know it’s awkward for me to ask this, but it feels relevant.
“He told me he hadn’t, and he wouldn’t have had any reason to lie.”
“Then why did she say she couldn’t give Jamie the forgiveness he needed?”
Okay, now he’s starting to look annoyed. “What?Jamie didn’t need forgiveness—from her or anyone else.”
Then he’s gone, and a second later I hear his car back out of the driveway and emit a small screech as it makes the turn. Does he not like me pressing him about Jamie? Or did he take off so quickly for a second time because he knows I want something from him that he’d never be able to give?
Leaving the chairs and table behind, I trudge inside with my laptop. Maybe it makes no sense to question Percy’s role in Jamie’s death. She’s simply, as Sam suggests, an odd, unpleasant woman who lied to Jamie when he first met her, only to reveal her true nature a short time later. And she decided to get a rise out of me by pretending that the two of them were closer than they were.
Clearly the person I should be focusing on is Liam. But all I can do right now, it seems, is wait for Sam to contact Drew and hope the police will be galvanized into action, action that will eventually cast a light on Liam.
I despise holding patterns, in part because they remind me of the assault by R and how my failure to act made it even worse for me in the end. I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing by not reporting the situation, that it was smart to let sleeping dogs—so to speak—lie. R seemed to avoid me after that night, and when our paths occasionally crossed, he never made eye contact.See, I told myself.Good call.
Before long, however, I felt my certainty morph into dread. Was this simply the lull before the storm? Was R, emboldened by my silence, orchestrating a scheme to get me alone so he could try again, even more aggressively this time, or was he concocting his revenge? Hislack of eye contact became ominous rather than reassuring, and soon I spent each workday welded to my desk, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was no longer simply passive, I was practically unable to move, to perform. When I was fired soon after, I was positive R was behind it, but because of the dip in my performance, I didn’t see how I could push back against the decision.
I can’t do that kind of waiting now, I decide. Yes, on the one hand it seems ludicrous that Liam killed his own cousin. Perhaps he’s more successful financially than I ever imagined, and Jamie had the list because he was considering buying an investment property himself and wanted advice. On the other hand, maybe Liam’s a thief, one who would do anything to prevent being found out.
If only there was a way to learn more about the properties—but I have only a handful of days left here in the house, and I’m not sure what I’d be able to find out from my apartment in New York.
Wait, maybe there is a way. It will involve retracing some of my steps and summoning some chutzpah. But I’m game for both.
18
AS EAGER AS I AM TO EXECUTE MY PLAN, I’VE GOT MY CLIENTZoom call coming up and after that it will be too late in the day. I’m going to have to cool my heels until first thing tomorrow morning.
