Two nights before he died, Jason sent Dru another cryptic message.
Dru, you know plants better than I do. I need you to look at something for me, but you can’t tell anyone.
Dru had e-mailed back: Sure, when and where?
Jason responded: I’ll call you.
All the other messages were while Jason was away at college, talking about his classes, sharing some of his design projects, asking how various construction projects were going. Dru told him about her friends, her classes, and vented about how one of the guys at the site would touch her whenever he came in for his paycheck, and that he was creepy. Jason wanted to know who, she wouldn’t tell him.
Roger said he’d talk to him—I don’t want you getting in the middle of it. It’s really not a big deal, I just don’t like grabby hands.
The more Max read, the more she thought that Jason and Dru were just friends. There was nothing romantic in any of the messages, no “I love you” or “I miss you;” mostly chitchat. A lot about the sports complex.
She almost missed it because it was an old message, but one thread caught Max’s attention. Jason sent it a almost a year before he was killed.
I might be able to save Evergreen. Jasper and I talked about working with Gordon and bidding on the Atherton Prep Sports Center. Jasper can get us to be considered because he’s the one who put together the financing for half the project. Still, Gordon and I have lots of ideas that we think will work. I wish my uncle had the vision. Don’t say anything to anyone, I don’t want Uncle Brian finding out I’m working behind his back on this.
Dru never responded, but three days later Jason sent a second message.
Wow, thanks for all the information. Lay low, I’ll check into it after I graduate. In the meantime, Jasper talked to Brian and they’re working up a bid. Gordon already has a winning design—I’m certain he’ll get it. If Gordon’s in, I’m in. I just don’t know if Evergreen will make it. Cross your fingers.
There was no printer in her room—odd, considering she was a college student—so Max took a picture of each of the e-mails with her cell phone.
So Jason and Jasper were working behind Brian’s back. Maybe Jason’s murder was personal. At the least, Nick should follow up with Brian Robeaux, maybe check out that party again.
Max looked around. If someone was worried that Dru knew something about Jason’s murder, why hadn’t they come in here and searched? Unless they knew exactly what they were looking for. Of course, it could simply be that she had information—and if that was the case, she was still in danger.
Or, maybe, the killer just thought she knew something that would trigger a closer investigation into Jason’s murder.
How did they know that Nick Santini had come to talk to her? Unless it was Max’s presence yesterday morning that spooked them.
She made a note to ask Jasper Pierce, when she finally met with him, about the e-mails Jason sent to Dru, as well as the financing and no-bid project. Then she went to work searching Dru’s drawers, desk, and closet. It was under her bed that she found the jackpot. A file box of all Dru’s personal information—her school transcripts, grades, bank statements, insurance payments.
Max quickly photographed all the bank statements, but immediately something jumped out at her: DL Environmental.
Every other week, DLE deposited between four and five thousand dollars into Dru’s bank account through a direct deposit. Then, three days later, the money was wire transferred to a company called R4E, minus three hundred dollars.
Once or twice wouldn’t have caused Max’s radar to go wacky, but twice a month for nearly two years—twenty months total. The odd deposit and withdrawal history started three months after she started working for Evergreen. Coincidence? Or was there something wonky going on? Dru, essentially, made six hundred dollars a month for allowing her bank account to be used as a pass-through. For what? And did it have anything to do with the knife attack on Dru or Jason’s murder five months ago?
The front door shut, and Max quickly boxed back up the personal information. She grabbed her backpack from where she’d put it next to Dru’s door, and unzipped it, as if she were unpacking.
“Dru?” she called out. “Is that you?”
“No,” a female voice said.
Max stepped out into the hall. A petite blonde who looked like she’d just rolled out of bed was going through the mail on the kitchen table. “Hi,” Max said. “I’m Max, a friend of Dru’s. She said I could crash with her for a day or two, since my boyfriend is being an ass.”
“Whatev.” The girl glanced over at Max. “How do you know Dru?”
“High school. We haven’t talked much lately. Which roommate are you? Amy or Whitney?”
“Whitney. Dru’s not here?”
“She gave me a key yesterday and said she was going to be out all night.”
“Huh. She must be shacking up with J. C. for the weekend.”
“She didn’t say anything to me.” Who was J. C.? Max hadn’t seen any e-mails from a boyfriend, but with all the messages going back and forth via texting and Twitter and other social media, it would take Max a while to find it. She wondered if Nick had access to Dru’s phone, or if Gorman was going through the calls and logs.
“Talk about a jerk, but she’s all into him. He’s hot, but a wacko. I thought they weren’t together anymore, but it’s back and forth.” She rolled her eyes.
“He’s not from work,” Max said as if it were a fact.
Whitney snorted. She walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a Diet Coke. “Hardly. Want one?”
Max rarely drank soda, but she also knew that sharing a meal or drinks loosened tongues.
“Thanks.” She took the can and opened it.
Whitney sat at the table, one leg under her body, and leaned back. “I should go save her.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be saved.”