The Michaela Bancroft Mysteries 1-3 (78 page)

"What do you mean?"

"Last summer Sterling went to see his family in Santa Barbara, and you went?"

Tommy nodded. "I went with him for a couple of weeks. Zach came down for a few days, too. We had a great time, but his family…a bunch of uptight jerks, if you want my opinion. We didn't hang out much at their place. That brother of his runs the show. His dad passed away not that long ago and their mom is pretty ill, I heard."

"How about Carolyn Taber? Did you meet her?"

"Sterling's sister-in-law? Briefly. She was a snob, too."

"Did Sterling ever say anything about her to you?"

"No. He couldn't stand Carolyn or his brother."

"Really?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I have reasons to think that maybe there was more to Carolyn and Sterling's relationship than what he might've let on."

"No way. He thought she was a total bitch."

"He never said anything to the contrary, like maybe he wanted to sleep with her? I wasn't born yesterday. I know guys talk like that, and she's an attractive woman. I saw her at the funeral yesterday and, I don't know, there was something that I picked up on that made me think she had more than just a sisterly type of interest toward him."

Michaela didn't want to tell him about the tapes. She wasn't sure she could trust him yet and she thought she'd let the police see them before she said anything.

He laughed. "Look, Sterling liked women. He liked a lot of women, but I can guarantee that his sister-in-law was not one of them."

This line of questioning was getting her nowhere. Obviously Sterling hadn't found Carolyn too off-putting, but he hadn't let on to Tommy that he was involved with her. Or maybe they hadn't gotten together until after the summer, when Sterling's stipend had been cut in half. "How about Rebecca Woodson?"

"You read some old papers." Tommy frowned. "I met her." He shook his head. "Talk about a wild one. Once she hooked into Sterling, man, she wasn't about to let go."

"She was not from a well-to-do family?"

"Not that I was aware of. My impression was that she'd gotten connected with a group of rich kids out there and glommed on to the party scene with them. The rumor was she had some old guy who was keeping her in the cash as long as she was keeping him happy. He was supposedly married, so he didn't have much say as to what she did on her own time."

"Did you ever get the name of that guy?"

"No, why would I? I really didn't care. She was a party girl, a kind of…you know…how do you say it nicely? I mean, she put out pretty easily."

"So Sterling wasn't really dating her?"

He laughed. "Like I said, she put out. Sterling was a guy. She was hot. Problem was, as soon as they connected and she found out how loaded his family was, I think she saw a better deal than having to pay homage to the old guy. You know, I shouldn't be talking about her like that. It's not cool. If you read the paper, then you know that the poor girl died, too. She drowned."

"I heard that. Sterling was there that night, wasn't he?"

"We both were. It was a crazy party out at some mansion on the beach. Tons of people."

"What happened?"

"Like I said, it was crazy, you know, like out of the movies. Rebecca and Sterling…well, everyone was drinking a lot. I was super buzzed. There were a lot of drugs, too. I'm not into that, but I had my share of booze. They got into a fight. He wanted her to back off and leave him alone. It was a pretty nasty scene. She left the party, and the next thing we know the police are at Sterling's house the next morning because they found Rebecca washed up on the beach near the party house."

"Was it an accident?"

Tommy shrugged. "I think it probably was. She had a bump on her head, they said. Her body was found right off the pier. It looked as though she'd leaned against some old railing, it broke, she fell, hit her head, and rolled into the water off the embankment, then drowned."

"But the cops thought there might have been foul play?"

"I know you're trying to clear your name, but why all the questions about Rebecca and Sterling and what happened in Santa Barbara? The police finally closed that case, said that it was an accident."

"But there's still speculation that it wasn't. And Zach told me that Sterling's family nearly disowned him after this took place, because the girl's relatives brought a civil suit against Sterling, and his folks didn't want the media attention or bad publicity."

"That's true. But still, why are you asking? I mean, are you going anywhere with this?"

"Honestly, I'm not real sure. But I have to wonder if maybe someone in Rebecca's family or even Sterling's own family didn't have something to do with his murder, and if it doesn't all lead back to the night that she died. Or is it even possible that the older guy who was paying for her company might not have sought revenge?"

"Oh. Wow. That's a good point." He nodded. "Yeah, Rebecca's family went berserk. Like I said, I never knew who the old man was that she hung out with. I'm sure some of the kids we partied with might know."

"Do you know anyone that I might be able to call?"

"Jeez, I don't know. I'd have to check my book. You know, that was just a party scene. It wasn't like I was making lifelong friends out there. I might, though. I met a couple of girls out there and took their numbers. I can call you if I find them."

"That would be great."

"What about Rebecca's family?""I wouldn't know how to get a hold of them. I know that she had a brother who came over a few days after they found Rebecca and tried to beat on Sterling, but he was arrested. I think his name was Ryan. Not sure. It was an ugly scene and I went home that afternoon, actually. Once Sterling was cleared by the police he came back here, and we never talked about it."

"Excuse me," the woman on the sofa called out. "I think we want to look at the first ring again."

"I'll be right there," Tommy said. "Hey, sorry, I've got to help these guys out. And then Ed wants me to run some errands."

"No problem."

"Hope I helped."

"You did. Thanks."

Tommy nodded and went back to assist the customers. As Michaela started to leave the store, her eye noticed a display of bracelets. She peered in through the glass and spotted what looked to be an exact replica of the tennis bracelet she'd found. She needed to ask Camden if anyone had come forward to claim it. It seemed odd that no one had. She could turn it over to the police—to Jude. Maybe not her best option, albeit logical, if she wasn't already in over her head.

She decided to wait around a few more minutes for Tommy. She wanted to ask him the price of the bracelet.

A saleswoman approached. "Can I help you with anything?"

Michaela looked at Tommy. He and the couple were engrossed in their business. She didn't know how long he might be. "Yeah, sure, you could help me. That tennis bracelet: How much is it?"

"This one?"

She nodded and the gal pulled it out. "Eight grand. Gorgeous, isn't it? I would love to have one of these."

"It is beautiful." Michaela reached into her purse and pulled out the bracelet. She'd hadn't gotten a chance to ask Tommy about it, but maybe the woman could help her. "I had no idea they cost that much. Can you take a look at this for me? I'm curious what it's worth."

"Let me take a look," the woman said. She held it up to the light and then placed it on a black velvet fold and studied it through a jeweler's loupe. "This is a great fake. Excellent really."

"What do you mean, fake?"

The woman looked again and nodded. "Yes. These are high-quality CZs. Cubic zirconium. Really nice, though. Didn't you know they weren't real?"

"No, I didn't. They look like the ones there in the case. I found the bracelet, so no, I didn't know. I placed a classified because I was sure someone would be missing it."

"I would think that someone would claim it, though. I know they're not real, but they still aren't cheap. Like I said, it's a great fake. That's what is so cool about good CZs. No one would ever know that they're not real, unless you have a trained eye." The woman handed the bracelet back to Michaela.

"Mitchell's doesn't carry cubic zirconium jewelry then?"

The woman smiled. "Are you kidding? Have you ever met Ed Mitchell? The man is super particular. Only the best of everything. Best for his store, best food, best clothes, best cars, best for his family."

The buzzer rang and an older, elegant-looking woman walked in. "Good luck with that," the saleswoman said and turned her attention to the new customer.

"Thanks." Michaela looked back at Tommy to say good-bye, but he was still busy with the couple.

"I DON'T THINK REBECCA WOODSON'S DROWNING was an accident," Michaela said. She'd called Camden to see if they could meet in town for a late lunch. "Have you found out anything on your end? Did you get a hold of anyone you know in that Santa Barbara jet-set circle?"

Camden nodded and set her iced tea down. "I talked with this gal whose family owns a big winery up there. She knows a lot of the gossip. She told me that the Tabers are real secretive."

"No kidding. But there must be someone who knows what they're about."

"She knew a few things. The scoop is that Charles, Sterling's brother, is a control freak and runs the entire family. After the dad passed away, Charles took over. They are filthy rich and everyone knew that Sterling was the black sheep of the family. Always has been. The thing with Rebecca Woodson was a big deal there last summer, but the Tabers have paid a lot of cash to keep things as low-key as they could. This friend of mine said that the rumor is they even paid off someone in the police department. When her family filed the civil suit, the Tabers settled with them out of court. Sterling came back here, and word was the family didn't want him around ever again, and they stopped giving him money to live on."

"Ten grand a month, though; he was still getting that. They didn't cut him out completely," Michaela said.

"When you're talking about a family with the kind of status and money the Tabers have, then I can see where Sterling was coming from, why he might have been disgruntled."

"This I have to hear."

"Think about it: Here's a guy who has been spoiled and has a sense of entitlement. Take it away from him, even if he'd done something to cause it, and he throws a temper tantrum."

"Imagine that." Michaela clucked her tongue.

"There's more." Camden rubbed her palms together briskly.

"You're scaring me. I think you're enjoying this in some perverse way."

"As if you aren't."

"Trust me, I'm not. It's a necessity. You like the gossip angle of it."

"Maybe a little…but listen, so there's been talk that Sterling had been in trouble with the law when he was a kid. He even spent some time at juvenile hall. His dad couldn't get him out of that one and his brother wasn't running the show at the time."

"What did he do?"

"I don't know this for a fact, only what my friend told me. She said that he was a thief. He stole. He would hang out at friends' houses and take any money lying around, that kind of thing. But he got popped supposedly for stealing some rare emerald off someone's nightstand."

"Seriously? Why would a kid with that kind of money need to steal?"

"For the same reason any kid does anything negative: attention. His parents were busy jet-setting, his brother was the golden boy, and Sterling had to lash out to get noticed. So he did it by becoming a petty thief…but it wasn't so petty."

"He was really screwed up. It's a shame." Michaela shook her head.

"You think he killed Rebecca Woodson? You know, it's so weird, because I knew him, and I never figured him for the pathological type."

"Your hormones knew him."

Camden shrugged. "You're right. What do we do now?"

"I don't know. I need to talk to Joe. He seems to know how to dig and get direct answers."

"What are you looking for exactly with this Rebecca Woodson thing?"

She frowned. "I can't pinpoint it, but I think Sterling's murder goes back to his past. There are people here who didn't like him and aren't sad to see him gone, but I can't help feeling like either he was killed because someone here was afraid of his past, or of him directly. I wish I could find out more about Rebecca Woodson. Or Carolyn Taber."

"Oh yeah, her. I wanted to tell you this, too. She's a manipulative one. She wormed her way into Charles's life. I guess she doesn't come from big money and she's been the one dark spot for Charles. The parents weren't keen on her, and she had to become Miss Perfect to get her hooks into him."

"She also got her hooks into Sterling. I guess he wanted to cement her situation all the way around. But it looked like it backfired on her."

Camden nodded. "I hate to run, Mick, but I've got to get back to the store. By the way, that necklace you wanted to give Joe's daughter for her birthday came in."

"Oh good. I'll be by to get it. Thanks for helping me with all of this."

"No problem. See you at home."

Michaela paid the bill and looked at her watch. She needed to go and work horses for a while. If she was going to get any further with finding out who'd done Sterling in, she knew she'd need some help. There were tons of loose ends; she just wasn't sure how to tie them up.

The fresh air, and working with her animals, might help clear her mind, but when she pulled onto the ranch, she knew that wasn't going to happen. To her dismay, another visitor had shown up. Detective Peters leaned against his car, waiting for her.

"HELLO, DETECTIVE. I'M SURPRISED TO SEE YOU." Michaela hoped he wasn't here to arrest her for breaking into Sterling's place. What if Jude had told him the truth about how he had come into possession of the tapes? Would he do that to her? Especially after yesterday? She didn't think so, but she also didn't like the mere fact that she was questioning it."

Good afternoon, Ms. Bancroft." He crossed his arms and shifted from leaning against his car.

Oh no. What was this all about?

"Some new evidence has come to light in our investigation regarding Mr. Taber."