“Do they? Well, I’m at a disadvantage, since I missed hearing all that, but of course I had nothing to do with Mr. Delamont’s death. I barely knew the man, after all, whereas some of you seem to have much closer connections to him. And I don’t just mean his wife and daughter.” Kelly cast a swift glance at Jennifer.
“They both have been cleared by the police,” Pete said. “Airtight alibis, apparently.”
“But I believe Mr. Kepler knew Delamont before this week, as did Ms. Rivera and Mr. Carr. Isn’t that right?” Kelly’s golden lashes fluttered over her clear blue eyes.
“It is,” I said, “but I’m not sure how you would know that, Kelly.”
She lifted her hands in a dismissive gesture. “I did a little investigating of my own after this whole mess started. Just to make sure I wasn’t associating with dangerous criminals.”
“And you found out what?” Bernadette asked, her tone barbed as a fishhook.
“That Lincoln Delamont cheated Mr. Kepler’s father out of a significant amount of money, for one thing.” Kelly smiled sweetly. “Todd and I have some connections in the book world, and in case you were all unaware, Mr. Kepler’s dad was Nathan Caine.”
“Really?” Julie turned to stare at Scott. “That was your dad?”
Scott bobbed his head but kept his gaze focused on Kelly. “You asked around and found out about Delamont swindlingmy father? Okay, I admit it does give me motive, but what did you discover about the others you claim to suspect?” He pointed toward Julie and Damian. “I doubt they have famous parents who are known by your wealthy friends.”
Jennifer chimed in before Kelly could reply. “Well, Julie Rivera was having an affair with my husband.”
“Not an affair,” Julie said. “Not really.”
“You mean, not yet.” Jennifer tossed her thick dark curls. “Found out the truth in time instead.”
Kelly’s gaze ranged from Julie to Jennifer and back again. “Yes, that one was obvious. Lincoln Delamont was leading Ms. Rivera on, and when she found out he was still quite married, perhaps she snapped and stabbed him.”
“As if I would risk prison time on some guy,” Julie said, sharing a glance with Scott. I was glad to see he looked unperturbed, which meant Julie must’ve already told him the truth about her relationship with Lincoln.
Hoping to get the discussion back on track, I stared down at my notes.Lincoln Delamont was apparently something of a scammer, one bulleted point said.Ask about deception in relation to Tey’s books, which often included that theme.“Perhaps we should get back to talking about Tey,” I said. “I wrote out a few discussion starters—”
“Such as how most of her books deal with murders?” Bernadette asked, arching her eyebrows. “I thought we were dealing with that topic already.”
“Yes, but she also wrote a lot about deception. Many of her characters were engaged in scams of some kind,” I said, allowing my gaze to sweep around the room. “There was the con manbrother and the astrologist inA Shilling for Candles, for example. Betty inThe Franchise Affair. And of course, deception lies at the heart ofBrat Farrar.”
“You know my opinion on that,” Bernadette said, with a sniff. “Not a likely scenario, not by a long shot. Family would always know their own.”
“I don’t know. It might be different for family members, but I think everyone can be fooled, if the con artist is good enough.” Scott spoke slowly, as if trying to untangle a knotted skein of thoughts. “My father, who was a very intelligent man, was conned.” He met Julie’s sympathetic gaze. “Charlotte knows this story, and I just told Julie the other night, so I guess there’s no reason to keep it under wraps. As Ms. Rowley just revealed, my dad was scammed out of a considerable amount of money by Lincoln Delamont.”
I glanced at Jennifer, whose expression was as frozen as a glacier.
“I don’t believe that,” she said coldly. “He may have been unfaithful, but Lincoln didn’t need to cheat anyone for money. He had plenty of his own.” She shrugged. “That was the one thing I could count on, at least. The money. Most of it was invested, and he used the interest to fund his business, not the principal, so it wasn’t like he was going broke anytime soon.”
“Really? And where did all this money come from?” Scott asked, ignoring the hand Julie had laid on his arm. “Maybe from other, earlier scams?”
“No.” Jennifer met Scott’s stare with a glare of her own. “If you must know, Lincoln’s parents died in an automobile accident when he was around twenty-one. He inherited the money from them.”
I bolted upright in my chair.An automobile accident, an inheritance …As I sneaked a surreptitious glance at the woman sitting next to me, an image of Lincoln Delamont flashed through my mind.
He’d been slender, blond, and blue-eyed, just like Kelly Rowley. In fact, they looked enough alike that Lincoln could’ve easily passed as her brother.
I swallowed a swear word and clasped my hands tightly on top of the notes in my lap as my mind processed a new, unexpected theory.
Kelly Rowley had lost her parents in an auto accident, just like Lincoln Delamont. Kelly when she was around eleven, Lincoln at age twenty-one. A ten-year age gap. Which was exactly the age difference between Kelly and the older brother she’d claimed had disappeared from her life. But he must have returned and, according to the magazine profile, inherited her parents’ entire estate.
Leaving her with nothing?I gathered up my notes and carefully placed them on the floor beside my chair.
Bernadette stood, placed her hands on her hips, and surveyed the people in the room. “Why are we wasting time talking about Tey’s books? I don’t know about the rest of you, but personally, I still want to hear Ms. Rowley’s alibi.”
“I can’t see that I need one. I never met Mr. Delamont until last Friday night,” Kelly said.
