“His wife.”
Kate watched Pearl march over to Wolf, who lay on the couch beneath a faux fur blanket. “This ought to be good.”
“Wolf!” Pearl barked, and the poor man’s eyes flew open. “Do you remember me?”
He cast a confused glance across her face. “Should I?”
With a satisfied smirk, she extended her hand. “Pearl Godfrey.”
Wolf did not shake her hand. He stared at her with utter disgust. “Godfrey? As in—?”
“As in Jonathan’s wife,” she declared. “I’m here to settle the contents of his will. He signed everything over to me, including the money you kept from him. You’ll need to relinquish that too.”
Wolf pushed himself up on his elbows and snarled, “Over my dead body.”
Pearl grinned. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”
12
“This is insane.”
“I know,” I agreed. “Who knew Jonathan had a wife? Not me. Not Wolf.”
Evelyn cleared her throat and gestured to the line of cars in front of us. “I meant the traffic, but sure. It sounds like the Godfreys are more complicated than we thought.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.” I rested my forehead against the window, letting the chilly glass smooth the lines in my skin. “Did you see Wolf’s face? He wasn’t expecting that at all.”
“What do you think the story is?” Evelyn asked. “Jonathan never mentioned Pearl to you either, right?”
The bitter taste of anger rose in my throat. “He certainly did not. I’m trying not to jump to conclusions. Maybe they got married to make Wolf upset.”
“Or to gain access to Wolf’s money,” she replied. “Didn’t Pearl mention that?”
“Apparently, Wolf set up a trust fund for Jonathan when he was born,” I explained, having gathered the information from Wolf and Pearl’s heated conversation. “Jonathan was supposed to have access to the money when he turned twenty-five, but Wolf found a way to keep the money in his own accounts.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To keep Jonathan close?” I guessed. “Maybe Wolf thought it was the only way he could repair his relationship with his son. He used the money to manipulate Jonathan.”
Evelyn switched into the fast lane and sped up, but another car cut in front of her and slammed on the brakes. She swore colorfully, veered around the offending driver, and held up a rude gesture as she whizzed by.
“They don’t know what that means here,” I informed her.
“He can read between the lines,” she said. “If I’m late picking Max up from the airport, I’ll never hear the end of it from my mother.” When I didn’t respond, she risked taking her eyes off the road to glance at me. “Are you going to look into Jonathan’s death too?”
“Is it my place?” I asked, more to myself than to Evelyn. “If this was obviously linked to Megan Hollows, I might consider it, but I can’t help thinking this is a family issue. It’s none of my business.”
“Never thought I’d hear you utter those words in your entire life.”
On a normal day, I might have swatted her knee for making such a comment, but today felt miles from normal. “Just drive, will you? Go slower. I need as much time away from the Saint Angel as possible.”
Evelyn let her foot off the gas pedal, frowning as the car who’d cut her off earlier zoomed ahead of us. For anyone else, she wouldn’t have sacrificed her pride.
Though we could drive away from the Saint Angel, I couldn’t entirely escape the case I’d agreed to pick up. My phone buzzed, indicating a new email. I recognized Kate’s address and clicked on the link to open the message:
Finally got a hold of someone who works for Alexander Bond, Kate had written. They have security cameras to cover the entrance to the apartment building, but not the alleyway. Still, do me a favor and review the footage. I need another eye in case I missed something. Viewer discretion advised, by the way.
My throat tightened as I opened the video file and pushed play. The frame covered the sidewalk and street in front of the apartment building next to the Saint Angel. Only the very front of the alley was visible. Few people walked by; most everyone had already gone home by that hour.
Unexpectedly, a flailing shadow appeared at the top of the screen and dropped to the bottom. I swallowed bile. Though Megan’s body was not technically visible, watching her silhouette plummet to her death didn’t come as a blessing.
No one reacted to the body dropping out of the sky, not even the homeless man sleeping against the building across the street. I zoomed in on him and replayed the video. His eyelids flickered when Megan’s body fell.
“Hey, have you seen this guy around?” I asked Evelyn, holding the video under her nose.
At a red light, she observed the man. “Yeah, he’s always on this block at night. I’ve seen him a few times. Why?”
“He might have watched Megan die.”
Evelyn’s little brother, Max, was more excited about missing school than his eldest sister’s wedding. When we picked him up from the airport, he flung his suitcase into the trunk, hopped in the back, and stuck his eager face between our seats.
“Who’s ready to party?” He sloppily kissed Evelyn’s cheek and tried to stick his finger in her ear. “How’s it going, Ev?”
She swatted his hand away. “Do that again, and you’ll be missing a finger in the morning.”
“That attitude’s not going to win Mum over,” Max said, settling into his seat and buckling his belt. “Especially after you lied about your job.”
She glanced sharply at him in the mirror. “You know about that?”
“I heard Mum yelling at Dad over the phone a while ago,” he said. “So you’re a bodyguard, huh? That’s pretty cool. Have you ever had to catch a bullet for someone?”
I watched Evelyn out of the corner of my eye. Her lips tightened, but she didn’t answer. I had a feeling she liked it better when her family didn’t have any details about the Wagner Company.
We took Max to lunch then returned to
