“What is this?” he asked as he opened the envelope.
“A check,” I said. “You really helped us out this month.”
“Cool,” he smiled as he read the amount.
I paid him decently, about as much I pay AJ for a month’s work.
He held up the check, “I can pimp my ride, now.”
“Or pay tuition,” AJ took the check.
“That, too,” he said with a disappointed tone, and he took the check back and turned to me. “So I gotta know, what did you figure out that day that we watched the tapes?”
I laughed. “On the video, when you saw they were doing hand signs, I saw Olivia look at Julianna like a dog in heat.”
They all laughed.
“And then,” I said, “I thought about Julianna and Gabriel leaving, and how Olivia would have felt about that. And, the blinding jealousy became that elusive motive we couldn’t figure out all month. I just needed her to fill in a couple of holes.”
“Like why Beyo instead of Julianna?” AJ asked.
“Right,” I asked. “And to smooth out some wrinkles, like why Judith and Malone were back there, and if Beyo was in cahoots with them. And a few other details.”
“I did not see that expression,” Landon smiled. “I’ll have to watch the tape again.”
Officer Durant, Olivia, and Neville were gone now, and it was just our little team.
“Alright, people,” I said. “I think we’ve earned the rest of the day off. Let’s lock up.”
“I’m all for that,” AJ said.
“You’ll call Julianna?” Vicki asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “To tell her that her girlfriend killed their mutual boyfriend and then tried to frame her for it? I think I’ll sit on that one for a couple hours.”
“I know I would,” Landon said. “Sheesh.”
We all gathered our things and congregated toward the door.
“Landon,” I nodded and shook his hand. “Have a safe trip back to Chicago.”
“Thanks,” he said.
Landon and AJ left, and then it was just me and Vicki.
“So what should we do with the afternoon?” I asked.
“I can think of a few things,” she winked.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she said.
Chapter 19
Her idea of an afternoon activity was not what I had in mind.
“Okay,” she slipped on her shades. “You go down this way toward the lake.”
I sighed as I followed her navigation. “I’m all for checking out this land, but now?”
“Andrea’s got another offer,” she said. “If we don’t take it now, we’ll lose it. Besides, you owe me for missing my hearing.”
“Alright,” I laughed.
The drive from our office to Andrea McClellan’s land was admittedly scenic. It took us down a long country road, with the Arizona desert all around us, in picturesque red and orange with dots of green.
“It’s a relaxing drive,” I remarked. “How far is the commute?”
“Ten minutes from the office,” she said.
“Only ten minutes?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “But it’s all country back roads, so it feels longer.”
My phone buzzed with a call.
“Julianna,” I told Vicki. “Time to tell her the good news.”
“Or bad, depending on what way you look at it,” Vicki replied.
I raised an eyebrow in agreement and accepted the call.
“Hey, there,” I said as I hit cruise control on the open road in front of me.
“Hi, Henry,” her voice sounded anxious. “How did it go?”
“Well,” I said. “It was good and bad.”
“Oh,” she murmured. “The bad news first.”
“They’re the same thing,” I said. “Olivia confessed to the murder.”
“What?” she gasped in disbelief.
“Yeah,” I said. “We have it all on tape, and you’re free to come by sometime to watch the recording. Although, I don’t know if you would want to or not. But, when she heard you were leaving with Gabriel, she wanted to leave the group with you.”
Julianna sighed. “I knew she would, and I felt terrible that I had to leave without telling her, but I couldn’t risk Beyo finding out, and I couldn’t take her with me. She’s a sweet girl, but I needed my own life.”
“Well,” I said. “The long story short is that she tried to follow you when she found out, and Beyo tried to stop her and said some horrible things about her history with Malone.”
“He could be like that,” Julianna said. “He was so cruel sometimes, particularly to her. I think it’s because of Malone.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Well, he pushed her too far that night, and she saw the dagger on the table, grabbed it, and killed him in a fit of passion.”
There was silence on the line for several seconds.
“Julianna?” I finally prodded. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, yeah,” her tone was hoarse and slight. “I’m still here.”
“I know it’s upsetting,” I started.
“It can’t be,” she said. “There’s something wrong. She would never.”
“She admitted it,” I said. “We’ve got it on tape. I’m sorry. I know this is hard to hear.”
“Then why didn’t she say something in all of this time?” Julianna asked.
“She said she told Malone because she was scared,” I continued, “and he told her not to confess and said that he would take care of you. So, he paid Judith Klein to confess.”
“Judith Klein?” she replied. “The crazy cheetah feminist lady?”
“Yeah,” I said. “She’s batshit nuts, and she did it so her genius son would have money for expensive colleges.”
“So,” Julianna said, “All of this time, Olivia has been watching me cry, and have anxiety attacks, and she knew she did it the whole time?”
“That’s about right,” I said. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this.”
“No, no,” she said softly. “You’re just doing your job. I-I can’t believe this is happening. Is this real?”
“It’s real,” I sighed. “Olivia left our
