“And then your aunt died.”
“Talk about surreal. It was a wake-up call. I realized life is short. Suddenly, we were the next generation of Wakelings. I waited several months before approaching Anna and Carter for a job, but when I did, they welcomed me with open arms.”
“Do you mind if I ask where your mother is in all this?”
“Florida. After Dad died, it was going to be hard for her to keep up with expenses in New York. She sold the apartment and got a condo in Naples. She visits at least twice a year. I think she’s happy that the cousins and I were able to pull the family back together, even if it was too late for Dad and Bob to see.”
It was a happy ending to the Wakeling family story, but something about it didn’t ring true to Laurie. Tom had to have resented his cousins for hoarding the largess of Wakeling Development for themselves, even after their father had passed away. Carter and Anna hadn’t built that company any more than Tom had, and yet they were “treated like royalty,” as he described it, while he was a “fish out of water.” He might have indeed decided “right then and there” at the museum to turn his life around. He may not have even waited for the gala to be over. She pictured Tom pulling his aunt aside for advice. Virginia would have been distracted, focusing on the party and her mingling with other benefactors of the museum. She could have told him it wasn’t the proper time or place, or maybe she rebuffed him outright.
Laurie could almost hear Virginia Wakeling speaking from the grave, as if she were standing in the room with them. You’re even less dedicated than your father, with none of his talent. Too little, too late. Tom might have continued to make his case. Or maybe he said something worse. You never worked a day in your life, Aunt Virginia, and now you’re squandering your money on a gold digger.
Virginia would have been upset. She would have gone to her security guard, Marco, asking to go up to the roof for fresh air.
Laurie imagined Tom watching his aunt step into the elevator. She could see him tripping the alarm in the exhibit and then slipping into a staircase when the guards weren’t watching. Knock it off, she told herself. You were ready to decide that Ivan was the killer before you met him. Now you’re about to prejudge Tom because he sounds too good to be true. Don’t get ahead of yourself.
“Well, thank you very much for your time, Tom,” she said, forcing a warm smile. “I’ll be in touch when we start planning our production schedule.”
“I’m happy to go along with whatever my family wants me to do.”
? ? ?
Jerry and Grace were waiting in the back of the black SUV that would return them to Manhattan.
“We have good news,” Jerry said, looking excitedly toward Grace as Laurie climbed into the car. “You tell her! You’re the one who did it.”
Grace was smiling from ear to ear. “Anna’s assistant called Jerry five minutes ago. Apparently Anna, Peter, and Carter all agree to participate in the show.”
Jerry said, “She specifically mentioned they didn’t want a liar like Ivan Gray to present his side of the story on national television without a counterpoint, pretty much quoting Grace word for word.”
“Nice work, Grace,” Laurie said, offering her a quick high five. “We can add Tom’s agreement to the collection.”
She handed Grace the document Tom had signed.
“So how did things go?” Jerry asked. “Get any dirt?”
“Maybe. He says it’s all love and happiness between him and the cousins, but I’m not so sure.”
The only thing of which Laurie was certain was that their list of alternative suspects had just grown by one.
18
When they returned to the office, Laurie invited Grace to join her and Jerry in her office for lunch, wanting to reward her for the work she’d done that morning at Wakeling Development. Grace offered to stay if she was needed, but said that otherwise she had taken Ivan Gray up on his offer for a free training session at PUNCH.
Laurie wasn’t sure how to feel about Grace spending time outside of work with Ivan. On the one hand, the entire reason they had this case was because of Ryan’s personal connection to Ivan, so Laurie felt like a hypocrite for telling Grace she couldn’t go. On the other hand, she was protective of Grace, and Ivan was still the most likely suspect in the murder of Ginny Wakeling.
Laurie was still trying to figure out what to say when Jerry blurted out a response. “Are you crazy, Grace? That man’s probably a murderer.”
“Laurie thinks the nephew, Tom, did it.”
“I think no such thing, Grace.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m just so impatient. Whenever we start a new special, all I want is to know who did it. Dealing day by day with this long list of people, not knowing who’s dangerous—” She shuddered. “It gives me the creeps.”
She was tucking a water bottle into the gym bag that had been stashed beneath her desk. “Rest assured, I won’t be working out with Ivan. I told him that to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, I needed to train with someone other than him. A nice woman named Tanya is meeting me in ten minutes. I’m told she knocked out a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound man cold last year when he tried to grab her purse on the F train. I think we’ll be fast friends.”
As they watched Grace walk away, Laurie said to Jerry, “If Grace becomes best friends with her boxing instructor, I bet she’ll find out what Tanya thinks of Mr. Ivan Gray.”
? ? ?
Now the take-out containers from their lunch had been cleared—an egg salad sandwich for Laurie and grilled salmon and asparagus for Jerry, who was torturing himself with a thirty-day “cleanse” consisting of nothing but vegetables and lean protein. They were at her office conference table, poring over the book that Charlotte had given Laurie from the “Fashion of First Ladies” exhibit. They had already marked at least fifty photographs with Post-it notes, making a point to draw equally from Democratic and Republican first ladies.
“I’m worried we won’t be able to re-create the excitement of the Met Gala from still photographs,” Laurie said. “But obviously it’s impossible to go back and replicate the exhibit.”