Page 67 of Murder in The Summer House

“To be fair,” Brogan tossed back, “Chad Pollock is now conveniently the sole beneficiary to a trust fund worth millions of dollars started by his father in 1995. He’s been reaping the benefits for twenty-one years now while Anna and Matthew are dead in their graves. Didn’t you think it was eerie that less than a year after Anna was murdered, Matthew fell out of a window? Chad was less than five minutes from Matt’s hotel when it happened.”

On the other end of the line, Adelai went silent.

“Are you still there?” Brogan wanted to know.

“Yes,” Adelai said in a quiet voice. “There’s something you should know. I was with Chad in Las Vegas the night Matt died. May 2002. We hosted a debut party at the MGM Grand for his newest recording artist. Around twelve-fifteen, though, Chad disappeared that night. For almost an hour, he went MIA. I didn’t know where he was. No one else missed him, though, I’m sure of it. With plenty of booze and drugs floating around, why would they? But when I saw him again, he came rushing into the ballroom, dabbing the sweat off his forehead with a bathroom towel. When I asked him where he’d been, he lied and said he’d gone upstairs to our penthouse to take an important phone call from Japan without all the noise in the background.”

“But you didn’t believe him,” Brogan encouraged.

“He was lying. I’d been up to the suite to try to find him. Chad wasn’t there. We didn’t miss each other at the party either. One minute I saw him talking to Justin Morgan. The next moment Chad was gone.”

“Matt went over that balcony railing at the Hard Rock Hotel at 12:45,” Brogan stated for emphasis. “The timing fits. When did you and Chad call it quits?”

“Four years ago.”

“Did you leave him?”

“Sadly, no,” Adelai admitted. “Talk about a stereotype. He dumped me for a twenty-two-year-old assistant with the brains and body of a teenager and the morals of an alley cat. Thankfully, I’d put aside money over our long relationship. Come to think of it, if you get anything to stick on this bastard, especially murder, I’m happy to enlighten the authorities about everything I just told you.”

“Thanks for talking to me so candidly, Adelai.”

“No problem. Just so you know, I’ll be watching for that huge donation to show up in your name.”

Brogan chuckled into the phone. “I’ll see to it personally because I don’t have an assistant.”

“Neither do I,” Adelai cracked, cackling with laughter. “But seriously, if I were you and Lucien, I’d watch my back. Chad Pollock is as sneaky and underhanded as they come. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

“She certainly has her old boyfriend pegged,” Lucien added after Brogan ended the call. “Do you believe her about not leveling with the cops because she was scared?”

“I don’t know. That sounded like a lame excuse to me. But give her some credit. She wants to do the right thing now. And that helps us. We should update Brent Cody on what we know about Chad’s whereabouts on the morning Anna and Mack died.”

“And the night Matthew fell to his death,” Lucien declared.

“Maybe knowing those two things would give Brent some leverage toward changing Rivkin’s mind about Trey and putting a motive on Chad’s back. From my standpoint, we need to get Chad on the first murder we can prove. It might not be Anna’s and Mack’s.”

Lucien ticked off his list. “I see no way to get him on his father’s heart attack or his mother’s drowning. But I refuse to give up on Anna and Mack. The thing is, I agree our best shot might be Matthew’s death.”

“Did I suggest we give up? No way. But unless we can find Vincent Jarreau or Aaron Deming, that might not be possible. I’m simply looking at what we’ve got so far. And an old girlfriend’s made-up alibi isn’t enough to put Chad away for the other deaths.”

“It’s convenient how Matthew is dead. Not only that, but Adelai set it up where Chad could blame him for Anna and Mack. What if Jarreau and Deming were in on this with the brothers?”

Brogan lifted a brow in doubt. “Why?”

“To get back at Anna. Maybe she duped both of them into thinking they were Elliott’s father. Maybe both men had an axe to grind after the way the affairs ended.”

“Why would she dupe either guy? She didn’t need child support. She had Mack in the father role and a hefty trust fund. And besides, who’s to say Mack isn’t Elliott’s dad?”

“You’re not following what I’m saying. What if Pollock took advantage of their anger at Anna? What if he used Jarreau’s and Deming’s frustration against his sister? What if Chad took it to another level, knowing he’d already decided to get rid of Anna? He used these guys like he used Matthew. Chad could’ve set it up where either Deming or Vince would get the kid. But since Vince was the one caught in the neighborhood that morning, I’m betting Vince played a role in this somewhere.”

“Yeah, but what did Dr. Deming get out of Anna’s death?”

“I don’t know. Revenge maybe? Jealousy? Both are powerful motives.”

“Unless the doctor was a fellow poker buddy and got in over his head the same way Matt and Chad did—with big-time gambling losses.”

“Exactly. Chad could’ve promised him a share of the inheritance. We’re talking about millions. If we think Chad later killed Matthew to gain all of the trust fund, maybe the motive was because he had to share some of the money from Anna’s death with Deming.”

“These could be solid theories, Lucien, but how do we prove them?”

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