“I think you’re right. What movie should we watch?”
It didn’t matter. She’d taken her pill and would be asleep before long. Maybe he could sleep as well with her beside him and the noise of the television in the background.
“Pick anything out you like,” he offered, tucking a blanket around her as they settled on the couch. “I’ll even watch a chick flick.”
She rolled her eyes and chose Weekend at Bernie’s but the movie had barely begun before her head drooped onto his shoulder, fast asleep. Jason listened to her even breathing as her palm settled on his chest, right over his heart. Like it belonged there.
This woman had wormed her way past all the defenses he’d so carefully erected around him, knocking them over effortlessly. Jason didn’t know her well but already she was important to him. She meant something, although he had no clue exactly what. Or even if he was in any shape to find out.
But he liked her.
She made him laugh and she made him think.
When she touched him her fingers felt like flames licking the flesh and made it hard to breathe.
Lust or something else didn’t change the mission.
Keep Brinley Snow safe. And alive.
Chapter Ten
‡
Brad Enright was everything Roger Gaines wasn’t. Handsome, fit, tanned, charming, and successful. From the little Brinley knew of Roger it was difficult to imagine the two men being friends. They seemed to have nothing at all in common.
“How long did you know Roger?” Jason asked as they settled into Enright’s large and extravagant office. Dressed in an impeccably cut blue suit, expensively styled dark hair, and diamond cuff links, Brad was the epitome of the prosperous businessman. Their research had revealed that the dealership had been in the Enright family since the 1940s with Brad taking the helm a few years ago when his grandfather retired.
Showing off blindingly white teeth, Brad smiled as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and settled into the huge black leather chair. “Since kindergarten. The teacher put us in alphabetical order and there was no one in the class who started with ‘F’. The rest is history. Of course I haven’t seen much of Roger these last few years. I’ve been busy here.” Brad picked up a glass statuette from his desk and held it up proudly. “We’re the number one dealer in luxury automobiles in the state of Montana. Say, what do you drive? You know your vehicle says a lot about who you are. What statement do you want to make, Mr. Anderson?”
“I’ll have to give that some thought,” Jason answered smoothly when Brinley might have stomped on the man’s shiny black shoes. He seemed awfully happy despite losing a close childhood friend. “So you’ve known Roger since kindergarten but you haven’t spent much time together lately. When was the last time you saw him?”
Brad sat back and gazed off into the distance for a moment. “I guess it was about six months ago. My daughter had her second birthday and Roger came to the party.”
“Did you notice anything strange?” Brinley found herself asking, only to be on the receiving end of a quelling look from Jason.
Oops. I was supposed to be quiet.
“About Roger?” Brad chuckled and began to play with a couple of paper clips on the desk. “Roger has always been a little strange. Smart but strange. But I guess he was acting weirder than normal. He was pale like he hadn’t seen the sun in months. He didn’t bring a gift which I thought was kind of rude. Well, at least my wife Trudi thought it was but it didn’t surprise me all that much. But the strangest thing was all he could talk about was murder. The guy was obsessed. From what he said he hung around other people just like him. They talked about blood spatter and autopsies. My mother-in-law said she found him gruesome. The way he was that day? I can’t say I blame her.”
“Was he always like this?” Jason asked, leaning forward. “Had he always fixated on murder?”
“Hell, no,” Brad declared, shaking his head. “Roger was a normal kid. We built forts and played baseball. Ate popsicles and rode bikes. Nothing unusual. Shit, he lettered in three sports in high school. He dated the prom queen and was valedictorian of our graduating class.”
That didn’t sound like the slacker who lived in filth in his brother’s bonus room over the garage.
“When did Roger change?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Brad shifted in his chair. “I’m not sure. In college, I guess. He got more and more involved with life on the Internet. That’s where he met his latest girlfriend. He talked about her at the party.” Brad tapped his pen on the desk. “What was her name? Let’s see… Anita-something. Yes, Anita Hazlitt. He said she lived in a little town near here but I don’t remember what it was. She probably knows more about Roger these days than I do.”
Jason finished scribbling down the information. “So everything was normal in high school but he changed in college. Are you sure it was college? Did anything traumatic happen in high school? Like did he break up with the prom queen or anything?”
Brad stiffened in his chair, his back ramrod straight. “They broke up right after graduation when Roger visited his grandparents in Florida for the summer.”
“Was Roger upset about that?” Jason persisted. “Did he talk about what happened in Florida?”
Brad stood up, clearly indicating that the interview was over. “No, he never did talk about Florida. Now if you will excuse me I do have to get back to work.”
As a teacher Brinley was a student of body language, and this guy was lying about the dog eating his homework. It was written all over him. And it had started with breaking up with the prom queen.
She and Jason stood also and she followed him to the door. She was supposed to be quiet and not ask any questions but Jason was already mad at her. One more probably wasn’t going to make any difference.
“Whatever happened to the prom queen, Mr. Enright? Does she still live in Billings? Is she still in touch with Roger?”
Enright’s lips flattened and he slowly and deliberately buttoned his jacket. “She’s my wife Trudi. So I guess you could say they were still in touch.”
*
Jason hadn’t said a word to Brinley since they’d left the office of Brad Enright and climbed back into the truck. After Enright’s admission that Roger had dated his wife years ago, Jason had turned on his heel and sat right back down. He’d peppered the car salesman with several more questions until the man finally admitted that things had been very tense between the two of them all through high school and college.
They were more frenemies than friends – constantly competing and trying to one-up the other guy. But at the end of the interview Enright insisted he didn’t have a motive for killing Roger.
Because he’d won. Roger’s life sucked and Brad’s was a dream come true.
“So will you just yell at me and get it over with? I was supposed to stay quiet and I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
Jason pulled out into traffic before answering. “I’m not mad.”
“You look mad.”
A muscle was ticking in his jaw and he hadn’t made eye contact for several minutes. In her book that meant he was pissed off.
“I’m not mad,” he repeated. “At least not at you. More at myself. I knew he was hiding something but I was going to let him off the hook today and come back another time when he’d had a chance to stew about things.”
“And I ruined that.”
Jason laughed and finally turned to look at her. “You could have really messed things up. But this time you didn’t. You got lucky. We know much more now than we knew before.”