Page 35 of Intrigued
“Was that a question?” she asked.
“A statement. Listen, for some reason, Bryn hired me to uncover what she needs for her book about her family. Perhaps she wants them to atone for their sins. She and I were college roommates for a year.”
Finally, Sally stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her. She hugged herself to keep warm, even though she was wearing a thick green turtleneck sweater.
“What do you want?” she asked.
I had to make my question good. I had to confirm all my earlier leads. “How old was Amelia Christmas?”
Sally searched up and down the street, then her eyes fell on Tiffany in the car.
“She’s my Uber driver,” I said.
Sally closed the space between us. “I’m forty-seven. Amelia and I were close. Probably best friends, as much as she knew how to have a best friend. But we were the same age.” Then her eyes narrowed to slits. “That’s all I could say.”
I felt my incredulous expression. “But that would mean she was fourteen when she had Jasper.”
“Was that a question?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Don’t go anywhere.” Sally walked into her house and closed the door behind her. When she came back, she handed me a hairbrush. “This used to be Amelia’s.”
I wanted to do a happy dance, but instead, I pressed my lips together and said, “Thank you for this.”
“You were never here,” she said. “You understand?”
“No one knows I’m here, and no one will ever know I’ve been here.” I made sure my tone was credible.
She pointed her chin at Tiffany. “She knows you’re here.”
“I covered my tracks. Believe me. I’m an investigative reporter.”
“I know who you are.”
I gulped. “You do?”
“Yes. And that Randolph Christmas was a lecherous bastard. Amelia Rainier was a healthy woman until she wasn’t. Make him pay for what he had done to her. That’s all I have to say.” Sally turned her back on me, walked into her house, and carefully closed the door.
I stood there for a moment then slipped the brush into my purse. Having that evidence was like striking gold. I couldn’t take it back to the mansion with me, so I stopped in the middle of the walkway, took out my phone, and called the laboratory I always used to process the sort of evidence Sally had given me. Rich, the lab tech, reminded me of the rules before he agreed to accept my delivery. The results could not be used in a court of law unless the sample was resubmitted by a law enforcement agency. Also, the sample could not be part of an active law enforcement investigation. I assured him both were true.
“Then send it on, although we won’t have results until after Christmas.”
“That’s fine,” I said and continued walking. “Will tomorrow be too late to send samples to compare with the one I’m sending you today?”
“Nope,” he said.
I put my hand on the car door handle. “Great. I’ll overnight what I have today.”
“I’ll be waiting,” he said.
Chapter Fourteen
Tiffany drove me to the nearest FedEx, where I overnighted the brush to the lab. On the way back to the neighbor’s mansion, Tiffany kept herself occupied with a hands-free phone call with one of her girlfriends. They were planning a trip to Bali in the near future.
I tuned them out as I searched as much of the information Kylie had sent me as I could to see if she had uncovered what I’d just learned. She hadn’t. I felt proud of myself for finding a pot of gold at the end of this murky rainbow. But then I wondered if Bryn seriously wanted me to continue with the investigation. I didn’t need to do it for myself. I couldn’t give a damn about the Christmases’ deep, dark secrets. One didn’t take on the task of ruining a powerful family unless she was willing to sacrifice her safety for it. Every now and then, I found myself looking over my shoulder, wondering if someone was on the verge of taking me out on behalf of the Howsleys. The acclaim I’d received for writing my book helped keep me safe. If something sketchy happened to me, the Howsleys would be the first people the authorities would look at.
But Bryn was my friend. I owed her dark and crazy family a lot for paying for my dorm room. I’d lived comfortably, and having enough money for room and board was something I’d never had to worry about during college. I’d often suspected the Christmases had paid for my first year of graduate school as well. My scholarship had dropped me at the last minute for a reason that was still a mystery. However, on the day I’d gone to the financial aid office to fill out the loan papers, I was told that another scholarship had picked up my tuition. However, the source had requested they remain unidentified. The financial aid officer had assured me the company was reputable, though. They’d tried to pay for my second year of grad school as well, but I’d turned down their scholarship and allowed my fellowship and position at the city paper to pay for my second year.
