47
Laurie felt like a coach in the locker room as she stood at the whiteboard in her office, marker in hand, while Ryan, Jerry, and Grace were gathered at the conference table in front of her.
“As always, we go in with open minds, but we’ve got two leading suspects: Ivan Gray and Carter Wakeling.” She circled both names on the board. Jerry had done phenomenal work over the past five days. They had a complete production schedule already nailed down. This team meeting was to go over final details and make sure Ryan was prepared for interviews.
“The case against Ivan is essentially the same information that led police to suspect him in the first place.” Ryan’s Harvard-trained legal mind was evident as he quickly listed the details: the age difference between him and Virginia, his financial motivation to seek a relationship with her, and, most important, the absence of any corroboration that Virginia had known about the half million dollars transferred from her accounts into Ivan’s gym. But even though Ryan had clearly mastered the facts, Laurie could tell from his dismissive tone that he was not taking the evidence against his personal trainer seriously. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself for the time being.
“The new information we have relates to Carter,” she said. Grace was taking down notes furiously, like a front-row student in the classroom. “To make this theory work, we need to lock down three new points. Ivan has always said that Virginia was planning to change her will, greatly reducing her kids’ inheritance. We now have backup from Virginia’s assistant, Penny.”
“If only we had that interview on tape,” Jerry said.
“I think Penny will come around if Ryan can get Carter to admit that they were seeing each other,” Laurie said. “My guess is that’s the secret Penny is trying to keep. Once that’s out, she may want to tell her side of the story. And that brings us to the second new fact: Carter and Penny’s relationship. And the third fact comes from Gerard Bennington: Carter and his brother-in-law, Peter, were seen arguing at the gala shortly before the murder.”
As Ryan tied the three pieces of evidence together, he sounded like a prosecutor delivering a closing argument. “Virginia was going to change her will. Penny found out and told Virginia’s son, Carter, who stood to lose millions. Carter pushed Peter, who was not only his brother-in-law, but also a close legal advisor to Virginia, for details and didn’t get them. One, two, three. He was desperate to keep his mother from changing the will, even if it meant killing her.”
They were still speculating for now about what had happened during that third step. Did Peter confirm that the will was going to be changed? Did he refuse to intervene?
“What about the original will before Robert Wakeling died?” Laurie asked. “Do we have that from the probate court yet?” Even though it was a long shot, Laurie still wanted to compare Virginia’s will to the one she and her husband had written together while he was alive.
“We should have it tomorrow,” Ryan said. “I took care of it already.”
She had a feeling that Ryan had not, in fact, taken care of it, but would remember to do so now.
“And are we sure about interviewing Anna and Peter together?” she asked. It had been her decision, but she was having second thoughts.
To Laurie’s surprise, Ryan, who’d initially disagreed, backed up her first instinct. “I’ve come around on this,” he said. “I think you’re right.”
“Should I get a tape recorder?” Jerry joked. “That might be a first.”
Ryan smiled, but Laurie could tell that the comment had irked him. “You said that Mr. Bennington was very clear that the conversation between Carter and Peter was heated, enough so that Anna told them to quiet down. And you all agreed that Anna and Peter seem like a couple in complete lockstep. If we interview them separately, neither one of them will budge from whatever statement they prepared in advance. But if they’re together when we tell them what we know, there’s a chance something new will break.”
“And Jerry, we’re all set for filming tomorrow?”
They only had access to the inside of the museum for one day, so the plan was to interview Ivan, Gerard Bennington, and Marco Nelson there, in addition to getting footage of the roof itself. Marco had agreed to participate on camera after Laurie assured him there was no need to mention the circumstances of his departure from the museum.
“A hundred percent,” Jerry said. “I worked with that wonderful curator, Cynthia Vance. A tiny corner of one little gallery is being painted this week. We’re going to stage it with Gerard’s dresses and then splice it together with footage taken of the exhibit before it opened. After some cut-and-paste magic, it will look like we were there for the real thing.”
“Amazing,” Laurie said.
As they were getting ready to leave, Grace offered to type up her notes and circulate them to the full team. Laurie thanked her for taking the initiative and then asked Ryan to stay behind for a second. Grace closed the door behind her. As always, she could read Laurie’s mind.
• • •
“I know you think Ivan’s innocent,” Laurie said.
“Because he is. I’ve spent time with the guy. He’s not a killer.”
“Okay, but we’re a news show. We have to be objective.”
“If I recall correctly, our last case involved a woman with a connection to one of your best friends.”
The show’s most recent special had questioned the evidence against Casey, who had already been convicted of killing her fiancé. Casey knew about the show because her cousin worked for Charlotte.
“True,” Laurie said, “but I told her—and everyone else—from the very beginning that I would go wherever the evidence led us. We put Casey through a grueling cross-examination, as you’ll recall.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said.
“Are you prepared to do the same with Ivan Gray? If you go easy on your boxing coach, the audience will see it. It could call our entire series into question.” Laurie had worked for years to earn a reputation as a credible producer with journalistic values, despite the “reality show” label used to describe Under Suspicion.
“I’m going to do my job, Laurie. Because you know what? When it all comes out that Carter Wakeling’s guilty, I want everyone to know that we were fair.”
She nodded. “Then we’re on the same page.” To herself she added, At least I hope so.
• • •
She had only been in her office alone for a few minutes when she found herself looking at the phone on her desk. She wanted to call Alex.
She reminded herself once again of the vow she had taken not to step back into the same cycle that had driven him away in November. He had pressed her to answer one simple question: “What am I to you?”
She stared at the phone, asking herself why she was so desperate to speak to him. It wasn’t about the case. In fact, today’s team meeting had probably been the longest she’d gone without once thinking of Alex since they first met. It wasn’t about an event with Leo or Timmy. It wasn’t a complaint about Brett or Ryan.
If I called, what would I want to say?
And then she realized that the topic of conversation wouldn’t even matter. They could talk about politics, music, television, the snow, or the color of the sweater she was wearing today. She just wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to see him. She would even settle for sharing a phone call with him. She missed him, for no reason other than that he had been a big part of her life, and now he was gone.
She was ready.
She picked up the phone and dialed his cell phone number from memory. With each ring, she felt her heart sink further. She pictured him staring at the screen, waiting for it to go to voice mail.
You’ve reached Alex Buckley. Please leave a message.
Her handset was halfway back to its base when she decided that, no, they had waited long enough. She was done hitting the pause button on this part of her life.
“Alex, or should I say, ‘Your Honor,’ this is Laurie. Please give me a call when you have a chance.”
As she hung up, she studied the framed photograph on her desk of Greg, Timmy, and her. I looked so happy then, she thought. I want to be happy that way again. Greg, you would want that for me. You would like this man. He is good and decent and he loves me—or at least, he did.
Please, don’t let it be too late.