Page 106 of Sexy as Sin
One of the men, a sandy-haired, freckled guy who was clearly the senior of the two, said, “That’ll be helpful,” even as his blue eyes asked,Why are you here?
Willow asked Tom, “Can I get a hard chair, please? Soft surfaces hurt.”
He brought over a dining chair without a word, then resumed his seat. Amanda sat on the adjoining easy chair, where she’d probably been before, and Brett, after thinking it over, sat on the couch beside Tom, while Dave carried over another dining chair himself and settled himself in it like the immovable force he was.
“You were explaining, sir,” the sandy-haired man said to Tom after a moment, “about hooking up the propane canister.”
Tom dragged his hand through his hair again. “I’d done it with Andy dozens of times. The hose must have been faulty, that’s all I can think. I checked the connection. Andy probably checked it, too, though I didn’t see him do it. I’ve been thinking about it over and over.” He put his hand over his face, and his shoulders shook. “When I realized what was happening... when I saw Amanda fall...”
“And yet,” Brett said, “you didn’t go after her.”
Tom raised his head, his eyes wild. “It was like I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move.”
“Good job Brett could.” That was Willow, speaking for the first time. “Even though he’s scared of the water.”
Brett could have done without that bit of sharing. He said, “It was lucky for Crystal, too, that she took that fall out of the basket right at the start and didn’t end up going up after all. I have no idea how well she swims.” He explained to the investigators, “One of Nourish’s employees, who was originally supposed to be in the balloon. You probably heard about it.” He could tell from their focus that they hadn’t. “She dashed out at the last minute before they took off, fell, and hurt her wrist, and Amanda took her place. How’s Crystal doing, by the way?” he asked Tom.
“I don’t know,” Tom said. “I can’t remember... how she got home. What happened. It’s a blur.”
Brett was waiting for his moment to drop his bombshell. Or both of them. The second one, that somebody had been skimming money from the company, invoicing from firms that didn’t exist, and that as soon as Willow had asked to see the books, the accidents had begun. He wanted to do it here, while everybody was on edge, and there were official witnesses. He wanted to know what would happen.
That was second, though. Something else came first. Dave shifted, cleared his throat, and told Tom the thing he’d started to say back in the car, following the van. The deal clincher. “Odd, then, that I saw you out in Mullum with that sheila Crystal a month ago, looking more than cozy, not to mention having a pash behind the café with her afterwards. If you can’t even remember how she got home.”
It was nearly seven in the evening, and Willow was as drained as if she’d... well, fallen from a balloon. She was also lying flat on her back on Brett’s enormous bed. She’d tried sitting up against the pillows, but she couldn’t manage it anymore. Tomorrow, she’d sit up.
Azra was sitting beside her with her legs crossed. She’d brought over Willow’s clothes, and had stayed for the story, or like she didn’t want to leave. Brett, whowassitting up against the pillows, poured more wine into both their glasses, then tipped the rest into his own and said, “We need another bottle.”
“Mate.” Willow was buzzing. Floating. “I can’t drink it lying down. I need a straw.”
He laughed. “Oddly, I have one. We both need to stop getting hurt.”
He left the room, and Azra said, “He really is a hero, as surely as if he were in a book.”
Willow smiled, looked up at the ceiling, and said, “He is.” When Brett came back with a strawandthe other bottle, then stuck the straw into the juice glass that was serving her as a wine goblet, she took a sip and said, “Tell Azra the rest. I would, but I’m just going to lie here and hurt and smile instead. This is good wine.” She sighed. “I have good taste.”
“You do,” Brett said. “So the cops came, eventually, once the aviation investigators called them,” he told Azra. “Tom couldn’t wait to throw Crystal under the bus, although I’m sure itwasall her idea. It terrified him all the way. You could see it. He was only half thinking it would work, I’m sure, but when Amanda insisted on getting into the balloon instead? I’m sure he thought, ‘Well, that’s fate taking a hand. I didn’t make her do it. I tried to tell her not to.’ And then sweated every minute of it. Not enough to jump in the water and try to save her, of course.”
“Butwhy?”Azra asked. “Surely there are easier ways to make money. And would interfering with the fuel hose have been sure to kill people? I don’t know anything about hot-air balloons.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” Brett said. “Very iffy method. I’m guessing she did it for the drama as well as the money, because I’m sure she loves stirring up drama, but let’s consider the money. She was going to run away to Samoa with a fifty-five-year-old man on whatever Amanda and Tom had in their savings and whatever he’d skimmed, and work as a waitress in their beachfront bar, happily ever after? Yeah, right. That’s what she toldhim.But when the balloon ride came up? That was a whole different prospect. That place of Amanda and Tom’s isn’t cheap, and the business is worth a fair amount, too. The grieving widower would be a much more attractive enticement. Once she was married to him? Six months, then a romantic boat ride at sunset, and he goes for a swim and doesn’t come back. She searches for hours, but she can’t find him. So distraught. She’s a very convincing crier. Or he was on the balcony, had too much to drink, and pitched over. Who knows how he’d have met his well-deserved fate? A woman who watches a TV soap and turns it into her own real-life murder plot the moment the opportunity arises is a woman who’s always thinking. The next husband would’ve been a step up the food chain. Don’t marry a murderer. Life advice. Too bad Tom’s an idiot.”
“But she must have known they’d be found out,” Azra objected. “And why the mushrooms?”
“I’m guessing she’s gotten away with most things she’s tried in her life,” Brett said. “And, no. If they’d kept their heads, and Dave hadn’t seen them together? I doubt they would have been found out. The balloon guy, Andy, would have lost his business and his reputation, just like Willow and Amanda almost did with the mushrooms, but Crystal and Tom would have been fine. And she wouldn’t have started out by saying, ‘Let’s murder your wife and run away together on the money.’ The mushrooms were a diversion, when Willow started asking to look at the accounts, and then pressed harder on it. She was a monkey wrench in the works, and she was messing up Crystal’s plans. The mushrooms were her revenge, and a way to push Willow out. After which, with nobody to look closely at what was going on, the fraud would have started for real. People trust too much and explain things away too easily, especially when the consequences of believing the worst are too unappealing. Amanda would have bought what Tom was selling. She already had.”
“And what then?” Azra asked, like a little girl being told a bedtime story. Brett had asked her to stay the night in the guest room, and she’d accepted. “So I can drink wine,” she’d said, “and not have nightmares.”
“Then,” Brett said, “we started pressing more. Willow was asking to see all the files, including the vendor files. Not to be too conceited about it,Iwas looking at them, and I probably looked dangerous. The fraud would have been uncovered, and she knew it. Tom had probably only taken ten thousand or so, twenty thousand max, just since the money started coming in better and Crystal had set her sights on him. That wasn’t nearly enough. Better than Jamie, because Jamie was just for keeping Tom jealous, keeping him interested, but it wasn’t taking her where she needed to go, either. When I called the number they’d forwarded and started asking about the so-called restaurant-supply company? Tom panicked. Fraud, grand theft, divorce... it was all looming large. Crystal would have persuaded him that nothing really bad would happen. She’d climb down from the balloon, of course, just to make sure, but after that? Andy was a good pilot. He’d have seen the gauge and landed. Another diversion, that was all. Willow looked more than happy to run away from all the troubles with me, at least to Crystal, since that’s whatshe’dhave done, and in a year or two, Crystal and Tom would get that little apartment on the beach and start their new life. She counted on him being too much of a weasel to step in and stop Amanda from taking her place, even knowing what could happen, and she was right.”
“Still,” Azra objected. “Not necessarily fatal. Not at all. He almostdidland the balloon.”
“That’s right,” Brett said. “She didn’tknowpeople would die, although somebody died on the show, right? An enticing possibility. If nobody’d been there to pull them out of the water, Amanda and Willow, at least, wouldn’t have made it. Even injuries would have worked, though. Amanda has to sell the company, because she can’t do it anymore, and besides, Tom persuades her that it’s time to take it easy. A quick transfer of funds to that offshore account, and they make a break for a place with no extradition treaty. That would have worked, too. Never open a joint account with a man who wears beer T-shirts,” he told Willow. “Make a note.” Sounding giddy himself.
“When did you know?” Willow asked.
“Something was wrong. Too many things not adding up. Somebody was crooked, and it made no sense for it to be Amanda. ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ Sherlock Holmes. And the balloon... something was off there, too, something worse. I felt it, and when we were following the van, Dave said, ‘That cute little sheila’s having it off with that fella,’ and told me how he knew, and the pieces fell into place. I didn’t like that substitution, the way Crystal had subtly encouraged Amanda to get in. Also, he knew too soon.”
“What?” Willow was going to fall asleep pretty quickly here. “Who did?”
