Influence

Chapter 38

They'd traded in their hotel suit for a guest house on the beach. "Won't it be conspicuous?" Tam asked him when they arrived. She'd thrown her bags on the bed and stood in the doorway staring out at the dark shoreline. Jasper came up to stand behind her, strong arms pulling her towards him. The sea surged, the steady rhythm bringing back memories of the fake relationship they'd forged in the Maldives. There they had been lost in a fantasy Tam couldn't make sense of and Jasper didn't want any part in. Here, they were living out a mystery, the ending of which neither of them had solved.

"I was careful, Tam. We'll keep the shades drawn."

The next day, the day the mystery began to dissolve, Tam waited, breathing in and out with the crash of the waves. She worried the turquoise stone she wore around her neck, rubbing it between her fingers like it was a magic talisman that would act as a ward against evil.

Jasper returned with their lunch. His lips turned downward as soon as he saw her. "What's wrong?"

"I called Maris."

"And?" He sat next to her.

"She had quite the update."

He handed her a to go box containing the shrimp tacos he'd picked up for her from a nearby food truck. "Tell me."

She stared at the tacos with pursed lips. "Shay's roommate brought Goldie's phone and turned it over to them. She said Shay kept it under her bed. Jasper... she stole it from Goldie when she was...after she fell. It was pretty banged up, Maris said."

Jasper's eyes lit up. "She stole her phone... from her body?"

"Maris thinks the phone fell with her but landed away from the body. But yes. She still took it, to have a trophy, like what serial killers do when they take fingernails or locks of hair or whatever."

"That's fucked up."

"Yes, it is. But Jasper, there's more."

He groaned. "We're not going to be able to enjoy these tacos, are we?"

Tam grabbed her phone from beside her and showed him the image of a woman she'd been staring at before he'd returned. "Maris sent this to me."

He took the phone from her. "This is the cleaning woman from Shim Consultants."

It had taken Tam longer than him to recognize her. The cleaning woman sported a brimmed hat and had kept her gaze down. But in this image, she stared directly at the camera, shimmering blue eyes seeming to pierce through the screen.

"Her name is Dierdre Veil. She's Shay's roommate."

"Are you serious?" He held the phone a little closer.

"Something very strange is happening." She swallowed, afraid of what she had to say next. "And Paul may have something to do with it."

"My father? What about him?"

"When she was interviewing her, Dierdre said something that stuck with Maris. Dierdre assumed I was guilty because Paul saw me running from Goldie's apartment looking like I'd seen a ghost."

"Which he did. So what?"

"That information was kept out of the press. The detectives asked Paul not to disclose it publicly. So, how did Dierdre know?"

He handed her phone back to her. "She couldn't have."

"She could have if Shay told her."

"And how would Shay have had that information? Was she in the building that night? Are you saying she's the killer?"

"Not yet. If she witnessed me running from the apartment, A: Paul didn't see her, and B: she must have already retrieved Goldie's smashed up phone from the alley and then went all the way back upstairs. Why would she have done that. And would she even have had the time?"

"Jesus." He ran a hand through his hair. "What are you saying, Tam?"

"I'm saying that Dierdre can place me outside Goldie's apartment because the only witness gave that information to Shay, who then told Dierdre."

Jasper recoiled. "Stop."

"I'm only trying to determine the truth."

"That can't be the truth."

"He's Shay's source, Jasper. He's the reason everyone on the planet has marked me as a murderer. He's the reason these blinds are closed, and Aiden attacked me and there are still people who want me dead. And he was there the night that Goldie was killed. Right next door."

"With my stepmother. He has an alibi."

"Jasper, we have to go talk to him."

"No, we don't. Some greedy fentanyl dealer killed her. Or Shay. She could have done it, Tam."

"Jasper."

He stood up and paced to the other side of the room. "Paul is a deeply terrible father, but he's been Goldie's manager since she was fifteen. He's seen to all her needs and secured for her some of her biggest breaks. And he benefitted from it. He's shallow, but their relationship worked. Plus, he loves Becca, as much as he's capable of loving anyone. He wouldn't kill her daughter."

"Maris is going to call him back in for more questioning."

"Jesus fuck!"

"I want us to talk to him and Becca first. Maybe clear this up." She said the next part entirely for him, to help him survive as the world continued to dissolve around them. "Let's go prove me wrong."

He stood motionless, then gave the slightest nod. They would go, and he would likely remain in denial. She picked up her phone, still showing the picture of Dierdre. She hadn't seen the resemblance during their brief encounter in the shadowy vestibule at Shim Consultants, but she couldn't stop seeing it now. She shut off the phone, keeping her latest revelation tucked into her back pocket.

_____

What revelation??? What's going on? Is Tam right to point the finger at Jasper's father?

Only four more chapters to go!