Page 117 of Hard Heart

“Or use batteries.”

“And who’s going to change those?”

“Just uninstall them afterward?”

“No, with everything that’s going on, we should have eyes here.” Alexa pushed her chair back and got to her feet. “I need to check the wiring.”

“Could there be a rodent problem?” I asked.

“Possibly, but most of it was recessed.”

She headed out with Jerry. I glanced at the screen again, and that was when I noticed the time stamp.

“Uh, is that right? This clip is from two days before the murder?”

“It’s right,” Ari said.

“Ruby’s killer was in the house for two whole days?”

“Probably longer—we don’t yet know how they left. And Jez is furious about it, Alexa too, which is why they’re both in such snippy moods today.”

“But…but how? There were nine other people living here. What if someone ran into him?”

“Eight. Grey was away, and we’re working on the theory that the intruder hid out in his bedroom. It was next to Ruby’s, and the door was locked, but if they managed to analyse fields of view, work out blind spots, break into the house undetected, and commit a murder full of misdirection, then picking a lock would have been child’s play. Also, we don’t know for sure it was a ‘him.’”

“Ruby was raped.”

“Assuming Levi’s story is the truth, Ruby had consensual sex and then suffered significant bruising from a blunt object.”

Suddenly, I felt lightheaded, and Ari must have noticed because she guided me to a dusty chair.

“Are you okay? Are you having another panic attack?”

“I…I don’t think so. I don’t even know why that happened, in the office, I mean.”

“Subconscious stress, brain chemistry, genetics, an underlying medical condition, or even something trivial like drinking too much coffee. Maybe you should switch to decaf?”

“Please, I’m a lawyer. Caffeine is my lifeblood.” I focused on breathing, on getting air into my lungs. “It’s the stress. It must be. Although my sister has some mental health challenges, so I guess it could run in the family.”

“Speaking of challenges, how’s Levi holding up in prison, health-wise? I know he was on a bunch of medications when he lived here.”

“Levi’s fine. He doesn’t take any medication these days.”

Ari’s brow furrowed. “But the guy was a walking pharmacy?”

“His mother most likely suffered from Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another.”

“I’ll need to google that.”

“Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy. They updated the name.”

“That’s where parents pretend their kids are ill to get attention?”

I nodded. “She popped him full of pills and threatened to withhold his research funding if he didn’t comply. He was trying to break free—that’s why he moved into this place—and if he’d been clearheaded, he would have kicked her to the kerb. But he was stuck in the mire. Ruby was a great support to him, and I don’t think the others realise how close the two of them actually were.”

“Jez described her as sunny but secretive.”

“I think that about sums it up. There was a lot going on with Ruby, and Levi… Levi was trying to protect her, even in death. He always assumed he was framed for something he’d done, not her, and he didn’t want her reputation to get trashed in court, so he kept quiet about the skeletons in her closet.”