My mind reeled. Bentley would kill me if I handed over Lynn’s as-yet-unpublished manuscript. Not to mention how damning it would be to Lynn’s case. I was just about to ask if he had a warrant, a question sure to slide our relationship even further away from setting any wedding date, when the door opened and Bentley came in, Olive in tow.
Eliot immediately arched his back and started hissing. Bentley nodded down the hall and shot Vicky a look, prompting her to sequester the cat to the break room. Then she turned and leveled her gaze on Sean. “Why are you here, Detective?”
I noticed Sean’s shoulders tightening. Vicky had returned to her desk, wringing her hands nervously on her lap. “I’m here to pick up a copy of Lynn Werner’s manuscript.”
“Why don’t you get a copy from her?”
“It’s on her computer at home. She has no way to access it here. So, I’ll need to get a copy from your office.”
Bentley squared her shoulders. “Do you have a warrant?”
Sean’s shifted his feet. “No.”
Bentley threw up a gloved hand. “Well then, we have nothing else to discuss. Good day, Detective.” She started down the hall, Olive prancing proudly at her side. “Come with me, Lila,” she called over her shoulder.
After casting an apologetic look Sean’s way, I shuffled down the hall after her. Instead of her office, she went directly to the conference room.
“Shut the door, please,” she told me, shrugging off her coat, which I quickly took and hung on the coatrack, along with my own. In the meantime, she laid her briefcase on the table and was pulling out a list of papers. Next, she extracted her reading glasses. After slipping the attached bejeweled chain around her neck, she adjusted the frames on the end of her nose and started flipping through a notepad. I settled at my usual spot on the other end of the table. Olive took a spot on the floor next to Bentley’s feet. “There’s something I want to discuss with you before the other agents arrive.”
I gripped the side of the table. “Okay.”
“Things look bad for our clients. Well, not so bad for Jodi. She doesn’t have any clear motive for murder. But Lynn sure does. And she refuses to get an attorney, told the cops all sorts of ugly things about Chuck, her ex, and seems oblivious to how all this could affect her career.”
“I think maybe she’s relieved that he’s dead.” I told Bentley about the argument I’d witnessed between the two of them, calling to mind the way I saw her cower during the exchange. “She almost seemed afraid of him. But I don’t think she killed him. I can’t see her murdering someone that way. It doesn’t seem in character. At least not in real life.”
“Of course it isn’t. They’re both innocent. I’m sure of it.”
“But, like you said, the evidence is stacked against them. Especially Lynn.”
“Yes, it is,” Bentley agreed. “And as long as they stand accused, it’s going to look bad for our agency. I can’t let that happen. Nor can I stand by and let one of the Novel Idea family members be prosecuted for something they didn’t do.”
I was listening, wondering what exactly it was she planned to do about all this. But I didn’t have to wonder long, because she lifted her chin, her eyes taking on a determined look as she declared, “That’s why we’re going to help the police solve this case.”
Chapter 7
My mouth fell open. Did she just say that we’re going to solve the case? As in the whole agency? Before I could ask, the door opened and the rest of the crew filed into the room. Flora sat next to me, giving me a reassuring pat on the arm as she settled into her chair.
After a couple of seconds of small talk and paper shuffling, Bentley cleared her throat and started in on the meeting’s agenda. “As you all know, with the unfortunate murder of Chuck Richards at our book event, our agency has incurred another blow to our reputation.”
“Thanks to Ms. Murder Magnet,” Zach threw out.
“You can’t put the blame on Lila,” Flora defended me. “None of this is her fault.”
“That’s right,” chimed in Franklin. “It’s not her fault she keeps finding murder victims. She just seems to . . .” He stopped himself from saying the obvious. But I could fill in the blank. I just seemed to attract dead bodies. Like a magnet. A murder magnet. I sank lower in my chair. Across from me Zach wore a smug look. He was right, after all. I’d definitely earned my reputation.
“Not only has our reputation suffered,” Bentley continued, “but two of our authors have become suspects in the crime. Just think how detrimental this could become to their careers. Not to mention the shadow it casts over our agency.” She moved to the whiteboard, removed the cap from a dry-erase marker, and drew a long arrow. On one end she wrote the word Monday. Then she started marking off increments, labeling each with thirty-minute intervals.
“A timeline?” Vicky asked. Her head was bobbing up and down as she glanced from her own notepad to the whiteboard. Vicky was a dutiful note taker.
“Exactly,” Bentley confirmed. “What time did you discover the body, Lila?”
“Just a little before four o’clock, I think.”