The Grey Tier (33 page)

“I’m terribly sorry.” And I was. Bradley really seemed like a decent guy. Sure, he’d made some mistakes in his life, but hadn’t we all? A thought struck me. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but your father isn’t doing well and . . . he must have made provisions for you, something to . . . to take care of you after he’s gone.”

Bradley sighed again, head still firmly planted in his hands. “Yes, I’m sure that’s the case. But honestly, I don’t have any more time to wait. The IRS is going to take our house and cars soon, and I don’t have access to my father’s money until after he’s gone. And in reality . . .” He looked at me with tears falling openly down his face. “I’d rather my dad still be here, even like this. I know it’s selfish, in a way, but I just wish he could hear me and feel how sorry I am for being a screw up.” He stood, taking his father’s limp hand in his, and leaned over the bed, sobbing.

It was pretty awkward and I really felt horrible for him. I knew I could have helped, even a small bit, by touching him. But it seemed like a huge invasion of his privacy and, well, sometimes the best way to deal with grief is to face it head on, as he was doing.

“I’m sorry. I really am.” Bradley grabbed a tissue and blew his nose loudly. “Can you give me a minute? Then maybe we can go out to the garden and have lunch. I’m pretty hungry.”

I nodded. “Sure. No problem. Take your time.” I left the room, quietly closing the door behind me. Perky Kristen was standing outside and pounced on me the moment I stepped out into the hall.

“Everything okay, hon?”

“I’m fine. But, well, it’s not an easy situation.”

“Oh, I know, and poor Mr. Bradley, he comes here all the time, and it is always the same. He apologizes to his father and ends up leaving in tears. He was doing it when the old man was conscious, but nothing and no one ever seemed to make that old man happy but Mr. Bradley’s friend Nick Gordin.” She shook her head, tsking. “Terrible thing what happened to Nick,” she said in a low voice. “Then when he got the news, Mr. Warren slipped into a coma and that was it. It is awfully nice of you to come and visit your grandpa, though!”

“Um, what?”

“Your grandfather, Mr. Warren.”

I was just about to correct her when she continued, “Your dad told me you were away at school somewhere.”

Wait. Bradley had a daughter? He had mentioned some illegitimate kids. I stayed silent, waiting to see what else she might reveal.

“Anyway, you coming out here to see the old man, especially the way he’s treated your daddy, is so sweet. I suppose you know this, but Mr. Warren told me he was leaving the bulk of his money to Nick Gordin. Forty million dollars!” She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. “And poor Mr. Bradley will get the remaining five million. It’s just wrong, that’s what it is. To treat his only son like so much trash.”

Whoa.

Dederick came up behind us, startling me. His mouth pressed into hard line.

“Kristen, what’s going on? You know we don’t discuss patient details with anyone!”

“Oh! But Miss Evie here is Mr. Verne’s granddaughter.”

Dederick shot me a suspicious look. “No she isn’t. She’s a friend of Mr. Bradley’s.”

Kristen brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh dear.” She glanced over at me and then at Dederick. “I, um, I better be off. Nice to meet you, miss.” She turned to go but not before Dederick requested her presence in his office when her shift ended.

I felt certain Kristen’s days were numbered at Platinum Partners. And I wished I could have helped her out . . . because thanks to her slip up, I was certain I’d learned the motive for Nick’s murder
and
I was certain I knew who the killer was.

I calmly walked over to Dederick who was again seated behind the desk at the nurse’s station.

“Mr. Verne is having a really hard time in there with his dad. I’ve decided to take a rain

check on our lunch and give him some much-needed downtime. Would you be able to pass along my regrets and let him know I’ll call him later today?” Dederick nodded, but didn’t say much. He retrieved my purse and I made a hasty exit, feeling his eyes on me all the way down the hall. I felt bad for ditching Bradley in his time of need, but I wanted to make sure I was nowhere near Bradley Verne, because I had no intention of following Nick to the grave.

Chapter Fifty

MY HANDS WERE SHAKING as I dropped into the driver’s seat of my van. I coasted out of the main entrance and pulled over further down the drive, away from potentially nosey valets. I knew I needed to talk to someone, and the only rational person I could think of, the only one who had a real stake in this, was Joshua.

I whipped out my phone and hit autodial. Joshua didn’t answer, but I left him a message saying I thought I knew who’d murdered his dad. Yeah, it probably wasn’t the greatest way to share the news, but it’s not like I had a lot of options . . . or time.

“I’ll tell you about what I learned tonight and we can come up with a game plan.” I hung up only to see a text arrive from Simone. Apparently she was having a
business
lunch with Joshua and things were going swimmingly. So much for her spa day. At least I now knew why I couldn’t reach Joshua.

I texted her back, “Tell Joshua to check his messages after lunch.” No point in ruining their little tete-a-tete.

Meanwhile, I had some time to kill before I was scheduled to work at the bar, and I needed to to think all of this through.

I was pretty shaken by what Kristen told me. See, I liked Bradley. And, to a lesser degree, I liked his wife. But I also knew—and not just from listening to my dad on the pulpit—money and greed caused people to do evil things. Fact is, when you considered the resentment Bradley no doubt felt towards Nick and his father, well, it sure seemed like he had some strong motive for murder. Sure, the guy would have gotten five million, and in my world, that is some serious cash. However, forty-five million was a heck of a lot more and, considering Bradley’s bankruptcy and his obvious concern about failing his wife, well, it was a no brainer.

But now came the hard part. As in, how to get proof.

As soon as I arrived back home, Bradley called. I decided to answer, trying hard to keep my voice as normal as possible.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Evie. It’s Bradley Verne. Is everything okay? I came out of my father’s room and Dederick said you’d decided to take a rain check on lunch.” He paused for a moment. “I-I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable with my waterworks.”

“Hey, I’m sorry. Truth is, it seemed like you could use a break and I figured we could meet up for lunch another time when things weren’t so, um, heavy. And as it turned out, I got a text from my other boss saying she needed me for a gig tonight. I wanted to tell you in person but you were so upset. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t scared you off.”

Yes, you did! “No, not at all. Thanks for checking on me though.” I paused, collecting my thoughts. “Hey, maybe you and Raquela can come by the bar tonight? Drinks are on me.”

“You don’t have to do that. Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, of course!” At this point, I wasn’t sure if I should win an Oscar or receive a one

way ticket to hell. I’d never lied like this back home.

“Okay, sounds good. Let me check with Raquela and maybe we’ll see you tonight.”

“Great!” Oh God.

I hung up, confident he had no idea I was on to him. And now, I simply needed to figure out what I could do to rat him out.

I spent the rest of the day planning and trying to enjoy the typically awesome weather. Cass spent much of the day following me around with a ball in her mouth. Mac, on the other hand, was on his back on the sofa. It was nice having the place to myself, but this was also the longest I’d gone without seeing Janis and Bob. I couldn’t help wondering if those two had gotten into trouble because of me and my visit to the other side.

Then again, I was still kind of miffed at Janis for her antics concerning Joshua. But now that Joshua seemed completely smitten with his new business partner, well, it didn’t matter that much anymore.

Finally I’d had it with all the thinking and decided to play a game of fetch with Cass. We played hard. Cass even dove into the pool a few times. Just as it was clear she was getting tired, I tossed the ball one last time, extra hard. It shot over the pool and down the hill, towards the guesthouse. Cass and I watched it land in a dry patch of lawn with a thud. Then we looked at each other.

I shrugged. “Let’s go. If you want it, you’re coming with me.”

We jogged down the hill together. The ball had rolled right up to the front door of the cottage. I moved towards the porch, the hair on my arms suddenly standing to attention. I glanced over at Cass who’d lowered herself to a crouch, the fur along her back echoing my arm hair and standing straight up. She let out a low growl.

I should have turned away—it would have been the smart thing to do. But like one of those horror movie bimbos, I walked right up, reached out my hand, and turned the doorknob. To my surprise, it opened. The drapes were shut tight, making it dark inside. I flipped a light switch to the right of me, figuring if there was power in the house, there had to be power out here. I was right.

The house smelled musty and boxes were stacked all over. But it was actually kind of quaint, with hard wood floors and detailing around the windowsills and doors. The ceilings were high, with wood beams, making it feel larger than it was. I moved further inside, exploring, Cass following reluctantly.

The kitchen had a stove, a small island made of wood, and a colorful, if dated, tile back splash in teal, yellow, and burnt orange. It was sort of retro-Spanish looking to me.

Cass whined, clearly wanting to leave.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, not knowing why I was whispering.

On the other side of the kitchen was a small living room with an arched fireplace. It was covered in the same tiles as the kitchen back splash. I walked a bit further. There was a door that opened into a decent sized bedroom. The room was all white, minus the dust, with white linens on a rustic looking bed. The only color in the room came from a red, faded blanket at the foot of the bed. I moved closer, reaching out to touch the red blanket. And that’s when I noticed something, a stain maybe, peeking out from one corner. I gingerly lifted the blanket up to reveal a few rust-colored blotches dotting the white cover beneath. It looked an awful lot like blood. I backed away quickly, releasing the blanket.

As I turned to go, a photo on the nightstand caught my eye. I walked over and picked it up. Cass increased her whining. I recognized one man, the guy who I had assumed was Blake, the owner. And there was Lucas, and a woman draped over him, a very beautiful, dark-haired woman. But it was the third man in the photo who captured my full attention. When I looked at him, my skin began to crawl and I dropped the photo to the ground, bolting out the door as fast as I could with Cass at my heels.

The man in the photo was none other than the man from my bizarre sex dream. The same man whose face had been splashed across the screen during Jackson’s review—the one who’d pushed Jackson in the pool. And the same man who had shown up in the vision when I shook Kane Richard’s hand. He was clearly alive in the photo . . . but I was pretty sure he wasn’t anymore.

Chapter Fifty-One

ONCE INSIDE THE MAIN house, I screamed. Cass began to howl, and Mac rolled off the couch and strolled over to watch his two roomies go bonkers.

For the first time since I arrived, I felt the strong urge to go back to Texas. I was living in a haunted house. I was trying to solve a murder. I had freakishly strange friends and things were getting further and further out of hand.

But was going home the solution? If I went home, I would likely fade back into a shadow of my current self. Or, even worse, I would wind up working at the local Piggly Wiggly and married to someone named Billy Joe who chewed tobacco and swore worse than Simone.

After much mulling, I decided I much preferred LA crazy over small town crazy any day, and I’d simply have to deal with the ghosts and murders head on.

Once I calmed down, I took myself upstairs to shower and get ready for the night. It was a little after four o’clock. The long hot shower helped take me down a few notches.

I took a little extra time dressing and putting my makeup on. At one point, Cass started pacing the floor and then jogged out of the room. I heard her paws hit the stairs and travel down. She was as agitated as I’d been. Mac, of course, followed her.

I was putting on lip-gloss and getting ready to go down when I heard a whooshing sound from below, and then I heard what sounded like a heavy book hitting the floor. I started down the stairs calling for Cass, wondering what she and Mac had gotten into now. And I stopped as soon as I turned the corner into my kitchen.

Cass was there, but she was lying on the floor, whimpering, with blood oozing onto the tiles from somewhere on her body. I ran to her, horrified, bending down.

“Oh my God!” Then I looked up to see someone standing over me. Cass attempted to growl, and I felt a sharp blow to my face as what appeared to be an expensive, high heel shoe connected with my jaw. I fell back onto the floor with a thud and stared in surprise at the two people above me. Raquela Verne and Nurse Dederick.

I moaned in pain, and Mac began meowing at a high pitch, until Raquela screamed, “Shut-up!” and fired a small but deadly look gun at him. Thankfully, Mac got away, and I hoped he’d hidden himself under a bed.

“Why?” I cried, looking up into Raquela Verne’s wild eyes. “Why are you doing this to me?”

She sneered nastily down at me. “Because, you had to go and stick your nose where it didn’t belong! And you’re the only thing currently standing between me and forty-five million dollars! With Nick out of the way that money was to go back to my dip shit husband, and then it would all become mine—at least half of it would!” She began pacing the kitchen in agitation.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be married to an insufferable, miserable prick like Bradley?! Fifteen years! Fifteen years of whining about his dad and Nick and all of that bullshit. Fifteen years of dealing with illegitimate children, none of whom I could give two shits about. And then I finally met someone wonderful.” Her angry glare quickly morphed into a love struck smile and she blew a kiss at Dederick. “A man who wasn’t so wrapped up in his own pity party that he didn’t have time for me. And then I find out that old bastard decided to leave the bulk of everything to that moron, Nick! Then Bradley tells me he has to file for bankruptcy. No way am I getting nothing after all I have put up with. So you have to go away, Evie! Such a shame, because you didn’t even need to get involved in any of this. You could have lived your silly little life singing your silly little songs serving silly little drinks to those lushes! I’ve been watching you. Bradley told me all about your sleuthing. Then when he told me you two were having lunch today at the nursing home, I knew I needed to put an end to it all!”

I groaned slightly. I could see Dederick put an arm around her. Raquela handed him the weapon, probably deciding to let him do the “dirty” work. I can only assume he got my home address from my purse that morning at the nursing home.

“You’re delusional, and so is your boyfriend,” I muttered through a very sore mouth. “You realize you’ll never get away with this.”

That’s when I heard Cass’s moan, her breathing becoming more labored. And I don’t know how it happened but I found the strength to sweep my legs out, hard, beneath Dederick’s legs. He went down with a yelp, dropping the gun to the floor. Raquela shouted angrily, as she dove for the weapon. I kicked out again from my prone position on the floor. My wedge-heeled foot made contact with Dederick’s face and he grunted in pain. I quickly propelled myself forward, along the floor, and made a grab for the gun.

“No one hurts my dog! No one!” I grabbed the gun with sweat-slicked hands and aimed it at Dederick who was rolling on the floor, clutching his nose which appeared to be bleeding profusely. Raquela, seeing I had her boyfriend in my sights, stopped in her tracks.

The three of us sat there silently, assessing the current turn of events. Just as I began to think I’d gotten the upper hand in things, Dederick shot his free hand out and roughly grabbed a fistful of Cass’ fur. He yanked her towards him menacingly. “Drop the gun or I’ll break the dog’s neck if I have to.” He made as if to punch her with his fist and I cried out in anger and frustration.

And then Bob and Janis appeared right behind Raquela. Janis winked at me although I had no idea what the two of them planned to do. Janis raised her hands and a reddish light began to pulse out of them towards Raquela. She yelped, startled, and stumbled forward in surprise. Dederick turned to glance at her and it was the split second I needed to heave my very sore body off the floor, grab Cass, and pull her away from him. Janis did the light thing again and almost knocked Raquela off her feet. Raquela turned behind her, an expression of fear and anger mingling on her face.

“What the fuck?!”

Neither of them were paying any attention to me as I slid further away with Cass in my arms.

“Who’s there?” Dederick shouted, dashing from one side of the kitchen to the other. “We’ll find you, no point hiding!”

I figured I needed to man up and fire the gun. Those two would only be distracted for so long. I’d never shot anyone in my life but I didn’t think I had much choice, considering the alternative. Then I heard a shout, “Evie!”

Joshua bounded in through the patio door, almost colliding with Dederick. He grabbed the smaller man and made short work of him, with a little help from the nearby corner of the stove. Dederick dropped to the floor for the second time in minutes, but I seriously doubted he’d be getting up again anytime soon.

Raquela stared from Joshua to me with the gun and back again, an ugly look of panic flitting across her face. With a growl, she turned, probably to try and run, but Bob was there doing the same light thing from his hands as Janis had. He pushed Raquela straight into Joshua’s arms. In a parody of an embrace, Joshua grabbed her and squeezed—hard. She struggled mightily, screaming obscenities, and I worried she’d knock him in the face with the crown of her head. I sprinted over (well, more like staggered) and dealt her a sharp blow across the head with the butt of the gun. She went instantly limp and Joshua dragged her away from the kitchen, presumably to tie her up.

For a few seconds, I simply stood there, panting. Bob and Janis had disappeared again. Cass was lying motionless on the floor, her breaths coming in shallow gasps. Dederick was . . . gone. Oh shit. I momentarily debated about trying to find him, but I didn’t want to leave Cass, even for a second.

And that’s how Joshua found me a few minutes later, cradling Cass in my arms and sobbing. He crouched down next to us.

“Shhh, Evie. It’s going to be okay. Cass will be okay, I promise.” He reached into his pocket and quickly dialed 9-1-1. His voice shook as he explained to the switchboard operator what had happened and gave them my address. Then he hung up and gently placed his arms around me.

I ached badly all over, and my sobbing got heavier as I called out Cass’s name, stroking her fur gently.

“Evie, I promise Cass will be okay. Paramedics are on the way. I will get her to the emergency vet hospital as soon as the authorities arrive.”

I shook my head, wincing as a stab of pain shot through my neck. “No! Take her now. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. There’s a killer running loose in the neighborhood, and I don’t want to leave you here with that woman. Hang on, and I promise to do everything I can for Cass.”

I choked back another sob. It hurt to cry. My rib cage was killing me. I closed my eyes and heard Cass whimper. My eyes shot open and, for the umpteenth time that day, I was shocked almost speechless. “Oh my God,” I gasped.

“What?” Joshua said, looking at me and then at Cass in alarm.

About ten feet away from us stood Lucas—his colors drastically diminished. He had tears in his eyes and he was holding Hannah’s bracelet up and in his hands. I started to call Lucas’ name when the air shimmered behind him and two more figures appeared.

Pierre and Anastasia. I thought I might be sick.

“Evie, what is it? Are you okay?” Joshua kept asking me over and over.

Anastasia morphed into a jaguar and her mouth opened wide . . . then wider still . . . until it was a large, black hole . . . grotesquely huge on her lithe body. She roared, and then, in a horrifying visual I will never forget, swallowed Lucas entirely. Pierre smiled. “See you in the Black Tier, Evie.” Then they disappeared.

And I passed out.