Talia—she was involved in all of this. She and Jane seemed to always be at odds with each other. Had the ex-girlfriend been jealous of the control Jane had over Mason’s life? If so, she’d seemed to move on quickly. From Bret, back to Mason, and now, back to Bret. He must feel like a yo-yo. She knew feeling sorry for his attachment to Talia was futile. You loved who youloved. But she seemed so opportunistic. Making up the Netflix contract, for one. And maybe she’d been using Mason too. Especially this new, rekindled relationship, which seemed like only she and Mason were privy to. Had Talia been messing with his head and not planning on moving back in? And why would Jane hold that against her? Or were they fighting over something else?
It occurred to Rarity that she’d never checked out the rest of Jane’s social media posts. Grabbing her laptop, she opened it. At least she’d have something to report to the sleuthing club on Tuesday. When she found the right Jane Carey, Rarity sat straighter and kept scrolling. The page was a memorial to her old boss. Picture after picture, candid shots, not posed, pictures were plastered all over her Facebook feed. Including one with her and Mason’s arm around her.
Had Jane been in love with Mason?
She texted Drew and asked if there were any fingerprints on the syringe she’d found in the back room.
One word came back.Yes.
Then her phone rang. “Hey, Drew.”
“What do you think you know?” he asked, not wasting time with a greeting.
“I think Talia killed him, but I can’t figure out why. Money? Who’s the person behind the charitable donations to the festival and the Sedona scholarship? Do you know yet?”
“That I know. His lawyer had a certain allowance to make donations around the moviemaking industry. He thought it might go a long way in keeping Mason’s name out of the mud here. He said he reached out to the stepbrother listed in the will, and he died last year. Two guesses on who the other heir is, and first guess doesn’t count.”
“It’s Talia, right? Did Jane get anything? I know she’s just an employee, but they were together for years. And she was in love with him.”
“Why do you say that?” Drew’s reaction to the statement was quick.
“Check out her Facebook page. She’s got pictures of him all over. I didn’t know you could attach that many pictures to one post.” Rarity realized she was getting off track. “So whose fingerprint is it?”
“Unknown. We’ve asked for a release through a judge, but so far, they’re stonewalling. I’ll let you know if we make an arrest.”
“Oh gee, thanks, Dad.” Rarity tried to pull everything together that Drew had told her into a question. One he couldn’t avoid answering. Or at least his lack of an answer would mean she was on the right path. “Oh, one question.This stuff was for his performance issues, right? Could he have delivered the shot himself? Especially if he thought he was getting lucky with Darby?”
“Interesting question,” Drew acknowledged, “and really good thinking, but the answer is no. Apparently this provider from the snake shop said he sold Mason three shots the last week since he’d forgotten his supply at home. Then he shut up when we started talking about conspiracy to murder charges. The coroner said the blood report showed three times the amount of toxin than the syringe we found in the kid’s car. Someone mixed all three shots in one syringe. The kid swears they were separate when he sold them. He also said he wasn’t stupid, so there’s that.”
“Someone wanted to kill him with the venom.”
Drew sighed. “Looks that way. And it had to be someone close enough who knew he was using it in the first place.”
After talking to Drew, Rarity decided to go for a drive. She needed to think about Mason’s death and his life before. Who would have wanted to kill him? Did he have someone else in his life who was close enough to know about Mason’s habit and could have gotten close to him that night at the bookstore?
She bundled Killer up with his leash. “Want to go for a short drive? Maybe we’ll even go to the pet store. You’re almost out of dog treats.”
Killer thought that was a great idea and ran to the door to wait for her.
As she drove out of the subdivision and around town, she started thinking about who Mason would tell about his situation.
Not a guy, definitely. Drew and Archer both had been uncomfortable with even the idea of using the spider venom in any way. Rarity smiled as she remembered the way Archer had covered his ears even, like a young boy.
So the killer had to be a woman. He said they had asked a judge to gather fingerprints, but he didn’t say on who. Talia? Or Jane? Or someone else?
Jane obviously was in love with her boss. Especially after seeing her Facebook page. But had Mason ever seen her that way? She was Talia’s and Darby’s total opposite. Dark, straight hair compared to their red, curly hair and green eyes. Jane wasn’t ugly, but she’d never be called beautiful. At least not in the California movie industry. He probably appreciated her quick wit and dedication, along with her intelligence, but for Mason, the attraction must not have been there.
Rarity found herself at the theater. The doors were open, and it looked like they were cleaning up after last night. She parked and put Killer on his leash; then she walked up to the still blocked-off parking lot. No one even looked at her as she wandered around the empty tables and chairs. A piece of paper, maybe a business card, was in the corner of the lot. She leaned down and picked it up. It was for the snake shop in Flagstaff. On the back was a name: Jax.
She stared at the card then looked around the area, trying to remember who was here last night. They’d sat over by the side, and in each corner, a different movie group had taken up shop. And in this corner, Talia had been holding court. If she remembered right. She texted Archer and asked if he remembered where Talia had been sitting.
Talia who?
Okay, so Archer wasn’t going to be a help here. She texted anever mind, then sent the same question to Jonathon.
This time she hit pay dirt. He did remember.
She started to call him then saw someone heading her way. She put the phone away.
