“I’m not sure afraid is the right word.”
“Should we get a copy of your book? I believe your exact words were that you feared for your life and wished you’d hidden the kitchen knives.”
“That might have been an exaggeration. Obviously, the publisher wants to sell books.”
Ryan was finding a rhythm. He had just nailed down a second point: Jason’s book was not the same thing as testimony under oath.
“Speaking of your book, it was published by Arden Publishing. I believe your editor was a woman named Holly Bloom. Can I ask how you came to be published by Arden?”
“What do you mean? I had an agent and he helped me.”
“Right. But did the agent send the book around to all the New York houses, or did he go straight to Ms. Bloom?”
“I’m not really sure. You’d have to ask him. His name’s Nathan Kramer.”
Laurie recognized the name as the same agent who had negotiated the deal for James Raleigh’s upcoming memoir, also to be published by Holly Bloom with Arden. Ryan confronted Jason with those coincidences. “Jason, isn’t it true that General Raleigh helped you obtain the publishing deal for the extremely negative book you wrote about Casey?”
Jason’s eyes darted around the ballroom, searching for guidance. Ryan leaned forward, and Laurie braced herself for whatever sarcastic, alienating comment was going to come out of his mouth.
Instead, Ryan placed a comforting hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Hey, it makes perfect sense. The General’s son had been murdered. You were Casey’s ex. Once he realized you had a story to tell, why wouldn’t he help you? It was a win-win.”
“That’s right,” Jason said nervously. “We both wanted the truth out there.”
A third point was on the board: Jason’s book had General Raleigh’s fingerprints all over it.
“But then some things got exaggerated along the way,” Ryan added.
“Right.”
“Jason, I want to thank you for being so forthcoming today. I just want to ask one more question that could really help us make sense of something Casey and her family have told us. We won’t have a he-said, they-said scenario. I think we all know that love can be complicated. Relationships are on and off. One day, we’re head over heels, the next we’re full of resentment. Am I right?”
Ryan actually had his arm around Jason now, like old buddies telling war stories from the dating world.
“You’re telling me,” Jason said. By now, he was agreeing with everything Ryan said.
“Okay, so I just want you to come clean about one last thing. You still loved Casey, didn’t you? In fact, that’s why you went to the gala that night. She didn’t think you should be in contact anymore now that she was engaged. So you went to the gala to ask her one last time to take you back.”
Jason said nothing. Ryan pushed. “Casey already told us. Her cousin, Angela, did, too.”
“Yes, okay. It’s like you said: it was complicated. We were toxic for each other, until we weren’t, and then it felt like magic. Our relationship was crazy. We were crazy.” Ryan had just nailed down his fourth point, and the word choice couldn’t have been better. “I thought I’d try one last time-a grand gesture to declare my love, and if she chose Hunter, I’d let her go.”
“So you surprised her by going to the gala and poured your heart out to her. But she didn’t take you back, did she?”
He shook his head. “She said she finally understood how love should feel. That it didn’t have to be difficult. I’ll never forget: she said Hunter ‘felt like home.’ ”
“And how did that make you feel? That you made her crazy, and he felt like home?”
Jason suddenly jerked away from his new friend. “Wait. You don’t think-”
“I’m just asking questions, Jason.”
“Look, I told you everything. My career wasn’t going as planned, and I was tight on money. I accepted the Raleigh family’s offer to help me get a book deal. We were all tired of Casey playing Little Miss Innocent. But if you think I killed Hunter and framed her, then maybe you’re the one who’s crazy. I’m calling a lawyer. You can’t air this,” he stammered, pulling off the microphone from his lapel.
The second Jason left the ballroom Laurie raised both hands and gave Ryan a round of applause. “Not bad for the new kid.”
He took a mock bow.
Four facts were now established: Jason had still loved Casey, Jason’s book was an exaggeration, arranged by Hunter’s father, and Jason had no alibi. But had Jason murdered Hunter Raleigh? They still didn’t have an answer to Ryan’s fifth question, but they were making progress.
And Ryan might not be Alex, but he had stepped up to the plate when it mattered.
“Laurie,” he said while the crew took a break, “thank you for the pep talk. You were right. I just needed to be myself. I have the best instincts. Like they say, behind every great man is a woman.”
She could feel her newfound goodwill toward him blow away, like air from a balloon. More like behind every cocky man is a woman rolling her eyes, she thought.
Grace and Jerry were walking quickly toward them, looking excited. “Gabrielle Lawson’s here,” Grace announced.
“And you will not believe what she is wearing,” Jerry said. “It’s a dream come true.”
Laurie had instructed the show’s participants that business attire would be appropriate for filming, but Gabrielle Lawson apparently played by her own wardrobe rules. It was only three-thirty in the afternoon, but she arrived in a sequined ivory gown, her hair and makeup ready for a nonexistent red carpet. Something about the gown was familiar.
As Laurie was thanking Gabrielle for coming, she realized where she’d seen the dress before. “Gabrielle, is that the same gown you wore to the gala fifteen years ago?”
“It sure is,” she gushed. “I knew someday it would have historical importance. I was wearing it the last time I saw Hunter. I’ve preserved it in a bag for the day the Smithsonian calls. It still fits like a glove, too.”
While Jerry got Gabrielle mic’ed up, Grace whispered in Laurie’s ear. “I know I said Casey has crazy eyes, but this lady takes the cake. Let me know if you need me to call the men with the straight-jackets and butterfly nets.”
44
Laurie checked the screen to make sure that what she was seeing in front of her was being captured on film. Gabrielle Lawson was leaning forward in her chair-almost at a forty-five-degree angle-staring intensely into Ryan’s eyes. Whatever damage Ryan had done with his abrasiveness at her apartment had been forgotten.
Jerry passed Laurie a note he had jotted on a pad: Get a room!
Ryan was handling the situation like a professional-businesslike for the cameras, but warm enough to keep Gabrielle talking. He began by walking Gabrielle through a shorter version of her trial testimony. According to her, Hunter realized that Casey was too “coarse” and “unsophisticated” for him to marry. He was interested in pursuing a relationship with Gabrielle “after an appropriate amount of time had passed.”
Ryan then moved on to the same line of cross-examination Janice Marwood had pursued, establishing that no one had been able to corroborate Gabrielle’s claims of a relationship with Hunter. Gabrielle had an explanation for everything. Hunter was “subtle.” They weren’t “crass” enough to be seen in public. They had a “special connection” and an “unspoken understanding” about their future commitment to each other.
Ryan continued to nod politely, but Laurie could tell he was about to move into unchartered territory. “Gabrielle, it’s been fifteen years, and there’s still no way to know for certain that Hunter was planning to leave Casey for you-which formed the basis of Casey’s supposed motive to kill Hunter. What would you say to people who think that you’re either lying about your relationship with Hunter, or perhaps even imagined it as a kind of wishful thinking or fantasy.”