Influence

Chapter 35

Jasper leaned forward from his perch on Detective Garcia's couch, elbows on knees, hands clasped in front of him. "I remember you now."

It had taken a while for the memories to bubble up. His brain didn't work like Goldie's had. His wanted to move in a forward, linear fashion, but her death had forced him to bring the past up for chopped up visits to the present. The only moments he had remaining with her were these visits—memories that seemed stolen from dreams.

The past was where Goldie belonged now, and it was also in the past was he'd met Garcia. "You were dancing with Goldie at a club. She invited me to come out with her and then ignored me the whole night, but you were there. You looked different. Happy."

"I let my hair down every now and then, if the right person wants to run her hands through it."

It had been dark in the club and Jasper was already a few drinks in by the time he'd arrived. When he realized Goldie was otherwise occupied, he'd flirted with the bartender and left with her as soon as her shift ended. He'd never given a second thought to the woman Goldie danced with, hadn't realized she'd become something special to his stepsister. By the time Goldie died, he'd forgotten all about that night. He couldn't even remember the bartender's name, much less the person he'd assumed was just a random woman grinding against Goldie out on the dance floor. "I don't have a memory for faces."

"It doesn't matter, Jasper. It made it easier—that you didn't remember me."

"Easier for you to lie to me, you mean." Detective Ryan sulked from his spot in the room's darkest corner. He refused to sit with them. Jasper supposed it would take more than an evening to smooth things over between him and his partner. In a way, it was a relief, the detectives' discord. He'd fucked up a lot but so had Maris. She'd been in a serious relationship with their murder victim and had fought and broken up with her within hours of her death. She'd failed to disclose any of that to Ryan, which seemed like a reason to strip her of her badge if ever there was one.

"Are you a suspect now?" Jasper asked her.

Tam slapped his knee. "Jasper!"

"Well? She argued with Goldie and may have been the last one to see her alive. Or the second to last depending on if she murdered Goldie or not."

"He brings up a good point," Ryan said. "Maybe the reason you were so hellbent on seeing Tam behind bars was because you were the one who belonged there."

Maris clucked her tongue. "You don't believe that."

He leaned against the wall as though he wished he could disappear into it. "The jury is still out."

"I don't believe it," Tam said. "I have more reason than anyone else in this room to resent you, Maris. And everyone here has a big reason to be mad at you. But I'm not angry. You may have had motive to kill her, and the means. And you were at the crime scene near the time of her death. And okay, that sounds really bad. But all those same things can be said about me, and I still believe in my heart her death had something to do with Lucre. She may have used me, but Wanton Cosmetics used her too. Any number of things could have occurred to piss them off. And one thing in my experience you really don't want to do is piss off an international drug ring."

"There's also Shay." Three pairs of eyes turned in Jasper's direction.

"Who's Shay?" asked Tam.

"GoldieGirl01. I forgot to tell you; she was wearing a nametag when I talked to her at the zoo. Her name is Shay, and she is definitely involved."

Ryan extracted himself from the corner, choosing a chair as far away in the room as he could get from Maris. "You claimed you'd already told me everything you could about this case."