Trey

“So how are the kids?” I ask Becky as we head out the door. Tommy is still lurking in the reception area, so I want him to hear us discussing something totally benign.

“Oh, they are all grown up and have their own busy lives.” She sighs.

“Any grandkids?” Mandy asks.

“Not yet, but I’m still hopeful,” she laughs as the elevator dings and the doors open.

We all stand in silence as the elevator doors close. However, I’m chomping at the bit to see what Becky was so eager to talk to me about. It’s not until the elevator begins to descend that she finally begins to talk.

“There is something really wrong,” she begins. “I have never seen Bill Gleason so upset.” Bill is the chairman of the board and was one of Dad’s biggest allies.

“About what?” I ask, wanting her to elaborate.

“I only heard bits and pieces, but Bill was accusing Tommy of doing something. I didn’t hear enough to know exactly what,” she whispers. “But based on how angry he was when he left, it was something major.”

“Well, we both have suspicions that Tommy has something to do with Tyler’s near death,” I reply. “As soon as we are in the car, I’m going to give Bill a call and see if he will tell me anything.”

“I’m feeling a little uneasy about everything,” Becky says as the elevator stops at the lobby. “Sam is in Seattle on business, so I think I’m going to spend the night with my sister.”

“Why don’t you come with us,” I suggest. “We can talk a little more and then we will drop you off at her place. If we all put our heads together maybe we can figure this out.”

“That would be wonderful,” Becky exclaims, looking back over her shoulder as if she thought someone might be watching her.

Mandy

Becky and I make small talk while Trey gives Bill a quick call. Becky totally reminds me of my second grade teacher. She’s about five feet tall, salt and pepper hair and reading glasses that hang on a chain around her neck.

“Hi Bill, this is Trey Addison. Would you give me a call when you get this message?” he asks before hanging up.

“He’s probably out to dinner,” Becky speculates after looking at her watch.

“So has anything else been going on that seems strange?” Trey asks her.

“No, other than Bill being so upset earlier the only other thing that stands out is the fact that Carly called several times. She has never called three times in one day before,” she says with a perplexed look.

“Tommy said she was just looking for some information,” I reply, knowing that he was probably downplaying the situation.

“No. She was upset, I could tell it in her voice. She’s normally as cool as a cucumber, but she definitely wasn’t today.” She shudders and folds her arms across her chest.

“Did she and Tommy know each other before now?” Trey asks, seeming immediately suspicious.

“Oh, yes. She’s the one who introduced Bill and your dad to Tommy. She knew him from their college days at Yale,” she informs us. “Carly is just a year older than him,” she adds with a funny grin.

“Really… that’s interesting.” My mind immediately starts re-evaluating everything in relation to this new bit of information. Tommy and Carly have known each other for years; both her and Bill Gleason were upset with him today. Why?

“Why would both Bill and Carly be upset with Tommy?” Trey asks, reflecting my line of thinking.

“That’s the million dollar question,” Becky says with a twinkle in her eye. “I was trying to figure out what they were arguing about, but they never gave it away.”

“Well, hopefully Bill will get back to me later tonight,” Trey replies. “It must have been something major, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bill upset.”

“No, it takes a lot,” Becky quickly agrees.

Trey

After dropping Becky off, the limo heads back toward the hospital and I pull Mandy closer to my side. I can’t stop thinking about the relationship between Carly, Bill and Tommy and the fact that both Bill and Carly were mad at him. Maybe it has nothing to do with anything, but the way Becky was acting it definitely seems to be related. I find it shocking that Tommy and Carly have known each other for years, but now that I think about it… things are beginning to make sense.

“Are you going to let me in on what you are thinking?” Mandy asks, becoming impatient with my silence.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to fit it all together,” I tell her. “Why would both Carly and Bill be mad at Tommy?”

“Because he did something that pissed off both of them,” she replies, stating the obvious with a laugh.

“I know, but what’s the connection?” I start thinking out loud.

“Their common connection was your dad,” she says with a shrug, again pointing out the obvious.

My phone rings just as we are beginning to brainstorm. I pull it from my pocket and I tilt it toward Mandy showing her that it’s Detective Kelly. “Hopefully we sold him,” Mandy whispers with a glimmer in her eyes.

“Hello, detective. What’s going on?” I ask, assuming that he is calling to tell me that I’m no longer the target of his investigation.

“That was quite an article on the front page of the Times this morning,” he says getting right to the point. “I can’t imagine your mother and Mr. Greyson are too pleased about it.”

“Yeah, that’s an understatement. Mom was not impressed,” I admit. “But like I told her, it wasn’t my idea. I thought Perry was just going to send a copy to you guys.”

“He likes to be dramatic, but I’m not sure why he would feel the need to publish them,” he says suspiciously twisting it into a question.

“Well, I wanted him to get the media off my back, so I guess he thought this would be a way to discredit future stories,” I speculate. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it.”

“You can tell him congratulations from me. It made for an entertaining read.” He laughs. “I don’t know what to think about it though. It kind of makes sense to me, but I don’t totally buy it.”

“Okay. What doesn’t make sense to you?” I ask, feeling a nervous pang in my stomach.

“Why didn’t you tell officer Martello and me about them if they were just love letters?” he asks, catching me a bit off-guard.

“I was still in denial about it all. I wasn’t even sure if they were real yet,” I protest.

“My gut tells me that you didn’t murder your father, but I still think you were up to something,” he replies coldly. “But more importantly, I need you to fill in a few blanks for me.”

“If we can sit down with you, we’ll tell you everything we know,” I reply, knowing that we need his help more than he needs ours. “Mandy and I have been playing detective all day, but we are definitely in over our heads.”

“I can’t imagine why.” Detective Kelly laughs. “Where are you headed now?”

“Back to the hospital,” I tell him. “My brother woke up today, so we will be up there for the next few hours.”

“I’ll stop up there with the FBI agent that has been assigned to the case,” he replies. “Right now, he is following up with the medical examiner to see if there are any preliminary results on Dr. Potaturri.”

“Okay, I think all of this is connected to Dad’s murder,” I add, anxious to get him moving in that direction. “I think Tyler found out what was going on and that’s why he was poisoned.”

“After seeing the toxicology profile, I have to agree,” he replies, throwing me a bone. “It looks to me like Potaturri was trying to scramble his brain a little and when that didn’t work, they decided to take him out.”

“Exactly! I think he had figured out who killed Dad or at least he thought he knew.” I ease in the seat a bit, thinking we were finally making headway.

“But if that’s the case, why did he accuse you?” he asks, sending it right back to where we had begun.

“I have no clue,” I tell him honestly. “I just felt better about it once I found out he was basically on roofies and pain killers.”

“That’s true!” he laughs again. “I’ll see you up at the hospital in an hour or so.”