I hesitate for a second, because I never told him that I was eavesdropping on that conversation. But I trust my gut that he will understand and be forthcoming with the information and ask her to hang on so that I can get him. I put the phone to my chest and go back to the adjoining door, peeking my head through just as Cameron is tipping the hotel employee for delivering our room service.
“Cameron, can you come in here, please?”
“Be right there,” he says, as he puts his wallet back in his pocket and directs the man where to set down the trays.
“He’s coming,” I tell Monika, and add, “Oh, and before I forget, all this needs to stay between us. Scott and Gabe can’t know anything about it.”
“Understood,” she says, and I put her on speaker as soon as Cameron strides through the door.
“Cameron, I have my boss and dear friend Monika on the phone to help solve the case.”
“Hi,” Monika says through the speaker.
His brow knits together, but he manages a polite hello back.
“Monika is an expert at solving criminal cases, so she is going to help us find out who actually killed Delaney so that I don’t get blamed for it.”
He nods that he is following, but his brow remains pinched. “This is your boss from the bookstore?”
I nod.
“And she’s a private investigator on the side or something?”
“Something like that,” she says smoothly through the phone before I can reveal that she’s actually just an amateur with a borderline unhealthy obsession. “Drew tells me that time is of the essence, so I am going to cut right to the chase. She overheard you and your lawyer talking about the victim beingparanoid in the months leading up to her demise and also mentioned that there was a person in jail who needed to be checked in on. Can you tell me more about both of those things?”
Cameron’s eyes widen to the size of saucers as he turns away from the phone to look at me, and if I wasn’t so desperate to know the details myself, I may have blushed for being outed so unceremoniously. Time is ticking down, though, and I don’t have the luxury of being embarrassed.
“I overheard the end of your and Reggie’s conversation earlier,” I confirm, causing him to rock back on his heels in surprise, but he recovers quickly, and just like I hoped he would, he launches into an explanation.
“My mom, Bernadette James, used to run the retreat with Delaney Atwood, the victim. My mom and I were at lunch one day about eight months ago, just catching up about work and life, and she mentioned that she was worried about Delaney because she had started becoming paranoid that someone was following her to and from Ravenwood on retreat weekends and would show up to work intoxicated or hungover. Oh, and Ravenwood is the name of our family home in Charlotte—”
“I know. I helped book the retreat for Drew’s birthday.”
“Okay,” Cameron continues. “We have an old family friend, Detective Barry Cartwright, who is with the local police department, so we asked him to look into it. He watched from a distance on two separate retreat weekends and found no sign of what she was claiming.”
I smile at his unprompted use of first and last names for every person that he mentions and take a step towards him so that I can press my shoulder against his in a silent show of thanks. He responds by lifting his arm to pull me in closer, tucking me into his side.
“Do you know anything about her friendships or past romantic relationships? Any hunch as to who she thought might have been stalking her?”
“No. Other than the fact that she worked for my mom for five years, I didn’t know anything about her and had only seen her in passing one or two times before this weekend.”
“Thank you. Now tell me about this person in prison you mentioned.”
My body rocks alongside him with his deep sigh. “The man’s name is Nash Taylor. We grew up playing soccer together, but we went to different schools, so we were more rivals than teammates. He ended up getting himself into trouble a few years back and came to me for representation. I agreed to take him on as a client but had to recuse myself for ethical reasons before his case went to trial. He’s serving his sentence out here in North Carolina, but my colleague Reggie was able to confirm that he is, in fact, still there. So, he’s not someone we need to worry about.”
Both Cameron and I turn around as a keycard beeps to unlock the door to his room, and Jalen lets himself in. The clock on my phone confirms that it has been an hour on the dot since Jalen first called. It’s time for me to go. “Monika, I have to leave in a few minutes. Do you have everything that you need?”
“I think so, but I’ll text you if I think of anything else.”
“Give her my number, too, please,” Cameron says, and then kisses the top of my head before excusing himself to intercept Jalen. “Thanks for your help, Monika.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, then after a few seconds pass, she asks, “Drew, are you alone?”
“Yeah, he’s in the other room,” I say, but close the door for good measure.
“I like him.”
I smile, regretfully. “Me, too. Thanks for all your help.”
