‘Hate her?’ Garcia asked with interest.
Tania hesitated for a moment as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have. She offered an explanation. ‘Mandy was very pretty, very ambitious and very good at what she did. She was also very charming and she certainly knew how to win clients over. Right from the start, everyone could see she’d go places, and it didn’t take long for the envious looks to start flying around. Every male employee and client wanted to sleep with her.’ Tania thought about it for a second. ‘I’m sure some of the female ones did too. The real estate business is a very tough business, detective. Everyone’s fighting to do better than the next person, and sometimes the punches come very low.’ She anxiously ran a hand from her forehead up to her hair and kept it there for an instant. ‘No one’s ever happy for you if you’re doing well, unless they own the company and you’re bringing them money. And Mandy always did well, very well.’
‘So when you say “hate”, you mean people were envious of her?’ Hunter asked.
‘Yes. Of her beauty and of her success.’
‘But you weren’t?’ Garcia this time.
Tania shook her head. ‘Look at me,’ she said with a coy smile. ‘I’m no Miss America and this isn’t something of late. I’ve always looked like this. I’ve always been a big girl. I knew I could never be like Mandy, so it didn’t really bother me. I never had the sort of ambition she had either.’ She paused and used the back of her right hand to clear her tears. ‘Truthfully, I was happy that she became my friend. In school I had very few friends. People made fun of me all the time because I was fat and not very pretty. I pretended it didn’t affect me, but deep inside it was awful. I’d never cry in school, but when I got home I broke down almost every night.’
Hunter nodded understandingly, and for a brief moment he remembered how skinny and awkward he used to be in school.
‘I knew how Mandy felt in the office with everyone giving her the eye and whispering behind her back. I think that’s probably why we became such good friends.’
‘How was she as a boss?’ Garcia asked, crossing his legs and leaning his elbows on them.
‘Fantastic. The best boss I ever had. I guess because of what she went through, she had no patience for bullies. She treated everyone equally.’ Tania reached for the box of tissues on the coffee table.
‘Did she ever have a problem with an employee?’ Garcia asked. ‘She had to let a lot of people go, didn’t she?’
‘Everyone who worked for Mandy loved her. She did everything she could to keep every job in the company intact, but it wasn’t up to her. The property market in LA has collapsed, and everyone in the business knows that. No one held her responsible.’
A brown cat appeared at the kitchen door, looked at both detectives for a long while and decided it didn’t want to come any closer, disappearing back into the kitchen.
‘Do you know if she was seeing someone?’ Hunter asked.
‘Since her divorce, Mandy didn’t care much for relationships. She had flings, but nothing serious.’
‘Any recent ones?’ Garcia asked.
‘Not that I know of.’
‘Did she date clients?’
‘No, never.’ Tania shook her head vigorously. ‘She might’ve flirted with some, but that’s part of the job. We’ve gotta be charming, sometimes flirty, but that’s all. As far as I know, Mandy never broke that rule.’
‘I understand Mandy showed the house in Malibu to a prospective buyer on Saturday evening,’ Hunter said, now using Amanda’s nickname as if they were chatting about an old friend.
Tania dabbed the corners of her eyes with a paper tissue and nodded. ‘He was the killer, wasn’t he?’
Fifty-Four
Hunter leaned forward and held Tania’s gaze for a short moment before tilting his head. ‘We can’t say for certain, but he’s a person of interest. What can you tell us about him?’
‘Not very much,’ Tania replied in a strangled voice.
‘Anything would help,’ Garcia insisted.
‘He booked the viewing over the phone. He said his name was Turner, Mr. Ryan Turner.’
Hunter wrote it down in his black notebook. ‘When was that? When did he call to book the viewing?’
‘On Friday.’
‘Who talked to him, you or Mandy?’
‘I did the first time.’
‘Was there a second?’ Hunter pressed.
‘Yes. He called on Saturday to say he’d be a little late.’
The cat appeared at the kitchen door again. This time it moved into the living room tentatively and laid down under the acrylic table.
‘Do you remember the conversation you had with him?’
She nodded. ‘It wasn’t a very long one, though.’
‘Do you remember his voice? Was there anything particular about it? An accent, for example?’
‘Yes,’ she said with a series of quick nods. ‘He definitely had a southern accent, like a hillbilly twang. Maybe Texas or Mississippi.’
‘Was his tone of voice aggressive… subtle? Was the voice high pitched… low?’
She shook her head. ‘Not aggressive at all. Very polite, actually. There wasn’t anything particular about his voice.’ She looked down at the floor. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘That’s OK, Tania,’ Hunter reassured her. ‘You’re doing great. Did it sound to you like he could be someone you and Mandy knew from before? A client… someone who visited the agency recently, maybe?’
A new pause. Tania stared at her unsteady hands for a moment before shaking her head. ‘I don’t think so. We haven’t had that many clients come in lately.’
‘Did he come to Reilly’s before going up to the house in Malibu or did Mandy meet him there?’ Garcia enquired.
Tania dabbed her eyes with the paper tissue again. ‘We have a policy of not giving out our property addresses to clients we’ve never met. He came to the agency.’
‘Did you meet him?’
‘No,’ Tania said in a deflated breath. ‘He’d booked the viewing for late afternoon, but called saying he was running an hour late. I asked Mandy if she wanted me to wait with her.’ A new wave of tears started rolling down Tania’s cheeks. ‘But she said that she’d be OK. She told me to come home as it was the weekend.’ She took a deep breath and her voice faltered. ‘I should’ve stayed with her.’
‘There’s nothing you could’ve done, Tania,’ Hunter said, comforting her.
‘Mandy was so petrified of fires,’ Tania said as she stared at the floor again.
Hunter and Garcia exchanged a quick look.
‘How’s that?’ Hunter asked.
Tania took her time. Her bottom lip quivered as she spoke. ‘When she was a young girl, she was badly burned.’
‘Do you know what happened?’
‘Not exactly. Mandy never really talked about it. She just told me that when she was young her dress caught fire. Since then, she developed a terrible phobia of fires. In her house, she doesn’t even have a gas stove or anything. It’s all electric. Even candles made her nervous.’ She paused for a deep breath and then started sobbing. ‘Why…? Why would anyone do something like that to Mandy or to any human being? I don’t understand. You’d have to be a monster to burn someone alive.’ Her breathing now came in short bursts. ‘She must’ve suffered so much.’ Tania broke into a high-pitched hysterical crying, burying her head in her hands.
Hunter moved off the sofa and knelt down in front of her. ‘We’re really sorry for your loss, Tania,’ he said, touching her shoulder. ‘I know how difficult a time this is and we’re very grateful to you for talking to us.’
The front door to the apartment opened and a man in his mid-forties in a decently fitting blue suit with a white shirt and a conservative tie stepped inside. He was Garcia’s height and in good physical shape. The man paused for a second as his eyes quickly took in the scene.