“Last 24 hours?” A small furrow formed between Steven’s brows.
“Yesterday,” Ryan clarified.
Steven looked to the side, thinking. “I was working most of the day. Cairo and I were due to meet for lunch that afternoon, but she didn’t show.” He frowned slightly. “She had lost track of time. I had to return to meet a client, so we were going to meet up tomorrow.”
“Was that normal for her?” Dane asked that question.
Steven nodded once, his firm chin making the situation feel extra grave. “She was lovely, but she was often sidetracked and a bit flighty.” There was a tinge of regret to his voice. “It wasn’t the first time she had missed our plans.” That was bitterness.
Ryan doubted missing plans was a motive for murder, but the fact that there was resentment there was something she noted. If the ME decided it was a murder, then she had to have a good understanding of the potential suspects. “What did you do in the afternoon?”
Steven steepled his fingers on the desk, his elbows planted. “My client interview finished at 3pm, then I worked here at the office until six. You can ask my secretary.”
“And after that?” Ryan didn’t like that she was having to pull information bit by bit, but it wasn’t going to stop her.
Steven was quiet. Then he sighed. “I went home and had a glass of scotch on my own, to de-stress from a bad day.”
That explained a lot of his reluctance. “Can anyone verify that?”
“No.” There was a flatness to his voice. “I was by myself.”
“What about after that?” Dane asked, his voice friendly and genuine. Ryan could feel the undercurrent sizzling under her partner’s skin. There was something off to him, too.
“Then I took a sleeping pill and went to bed.” Steven lifted his head to meet their eyes, not flinching. “Cairo and I live apart.”
“Was there a reason for that?” Ryan asked.
“We don’t believe in cohabitation before marriage,” Steven said bluntly.
Ryan noted the lack of ‘sex’ in there.
“Is there anything else you need to know?” Steven looked between them.
“Has she been acting differently at all in the past couple weeks?” It was important to establish from those closest to her whether her behavior had changed, or whether there had been thoughts or discussions of suicide or what to do after her death. “Depressed at all, or suicidal?”
Again his eyes shifted to the right. Was he lying, or was he thinking? It could signify either. “She was a bit more distracted,” he said finally. “Something was on her mind.” He exhaled slowly. “I don’t know…” He frowned. “I don’t think she was suicidal.”
Ryan waited a few seconds, until it became obvious Steven wasn’t going to finish. “Is there something else?”
“She recently won a settlement,” he said. “She was sworn to a gagging order on the case, and I don’t know much about it.”
“Was it a lot of money?” Money could be a motive. Or a strike against suicide.
“I think so.” Steven’s face was impassive now. “We did not combine our finances.”
Ryan merely nodded, not betraying anything she felt.
“Is there anything else?” Steven asked again.
Ryan and Dane exchanged looks, then Ryan shook her head. “I think that’s it for now.” She reached out and shook his hand, followed by Dane. “Thank you for being willing to talk to us.”
Steven nodded once, and then his attention turned back to the computer on his desk.
“I’ll accompany you out.” The secretary reappeared at the door, much to Ryan’s surprise. Silently the two detectives left his office and got into the elevator.
Once it closed, Ryan looked at Dane and he looked back. There was a scowl on his face. “Told you,” Ryan said with a grin.
“It still could be a suicide!” Dane protested.
“But now we have to look into it.” Ryan’s grin faded. Someone had been murdered. She shouldn’t be happy about that. Both Steven and Cairo’s mother Pat had said that Cairo wasn’t the type to commit suicide.
Still, now they had a direction for their investigation. Or at least a guess that something was out there.
“Let’s go.” Ryan led the way out of the large plaza, leaving it and Steven’s cool demeanor behind them.
6
Thursday 29th September; 2:30pm
Technically Liv wasn’t sticking her nose into business that didn’t belong to her. She had known Cairo’s mother, Pat, since she was in elementary school. Dozens of times they had met together to play, or gone to the same dance classes, or one of the millions of ways that lives overlapped in a village as small as Amaranth.
She rang the doorbell at Pat’s house, a thermos of hot coffee in one hand and a plate of brownies in the other. Brownies were Pat’s favorites, especially with a swirl of peanut butter in them.
“If you’re the media, we’re not interested!” Pat’s voice was hoarse through the door.
“It’s Olivia,” Liv said, hopefully loud enough that Pat could hear.
There was a brief moment of silence in the house before Pat opened the door. “Olivia?” Her eyes were puffy, as if she had been crying, and she was dressed in the hastily thrown together outfit of someone whose life had just fallen to pieces.
“I brought some coffee and brownies,” Liv said, showing her.
The merest wisp of a smile ghosted Pat’s face. “Come in, dear.” She opened the screen door, inviting Liv in.
The tall, gray-brown house was neater than Liv remembered. When they were young, Pat had always been so busy chasing after the energetic and smart Cairo. As a single mother, Cairo had kept Pat on her toes.
“I’m sorry,” Liv said, drawing Pat into her embrace.
Pat hugged her back, the strength of the hug startling her. “Thanks.” There wasn’t much else to say, not really.
“Come in, come in.” Pat pulled back, then gestured for Liv to bring her treats into the kitchen. There was someone sitting at the bar, someone Liv didn’t recognize.
Then it hit her. The blonde hair, the sharp dressing. It was the woman from her coffee shop.
“I don’t think we’ve had the
