“Thanks for letting me come. It’s a far more attractive refuge than the Superdome.”
“You must stay with us. We missed our window to fly out. I suppose you’re here because you’ve heard about Gary? My poor Gary.”
“Gary?”
“Stroke during the flight to Mayo. We have to have faith that he will regain everything the assault and this stroke have taken from him. It will take years of rehabilitation, but it’s obvious he’ll never be the same. I’ll fly to be with him tomorrow, if the plane is still in the hangar. Hell, if the hangar is still standing tomorrow.”
“Dr. LePointe told me you were riding out the storm,” Alexa said, not sure if she should call him Casey’s uncle or her father.
Casey frowned. “Unko hates storms. I’m sure they bring back unpleasant memories. What took you by Unko’s?”
“I went by to let him know I’ll be doing everything I can to put him in prison. He deserves to be in prison for life.”
“I wish you all the success in the world. That’s a terrible thing to say. But I mean it.”
“Are you alone, Casey?”
“At the moment, except for the kitchen help and Edgar, my remaining security guard, we’re alone. It will be nice having a friend here to huddle with.”
Casey led Alexa to the kitchen. “Ahm not you fren,” Deana said, sticking out her bottom lip at Alexa.
“Shouldn’t you have gotten Deana out?”
“She’s perfectly safe with me here. So are you. Deana, Alexa is your friend. She saved your father’s life. She’s Mommy’s very best friend ever. Aren’t you, Alexa?”
“I hope so,” Alexa said.
Casey put her daughter in her high chair and handed the child three cookies to keep her occupied. Retrieving her abandoned martini, she turned to Alexa and asked, “Coffee? Or a stiff one?”
“Nothing for me,” Alexa told her.
“Just a sec,” Casey said, and went to the laundry room, returning with a pair of dry jeans. “These may be a bit large, but you can roll the cuffs.”
“I’ll change in a few minutes.”
A maid entered the room, and busied herself preparing coffee.
“So tell me everything that happened,” Casey urged. “I heard some of it from Chief Evans. It’s terrible about those two detectives. I’m going to hire the very best doctors for them and we’ll send them wherever they need to go to be made whole. After all they did for us, it’s the least I can do. And I want to do something for you. Name something, Alexa, anything.”
“You don’t have anything I need.”
Casey’s smile vanished and she gave Alexa a hurt look. “Is it an insult to offer? It isn’t like I’m trying to buy you, really. You’ve done so much for me…”
“There is one thing.”
“Name it.”
“Talk to me. Now.”
“I know we have a lot to talk about, but is now a good time?” She waved her hand absently at the storm outside. “We have all night.”
“I’d feel better getting it out of the way now.”
“You want me to hear what that woman had to say?”
“I think you should. Alone,” Alexa said, turning her eyes toward the maid.
Casey tilted her head and studied Alexa thoughtfully. “Mary, watch Deana. Please, follow me,” Casey told Alexa.
Alexa followed Casey down a long, glassed-in corridor with a view of a garden on either side. The limbs of the trees rocked violently. Leaves had long since flown from the branches, the flowers were all stripped of their petals. The corridor ended in a pool house, which would have made a wonderful home for a family of five. There, Alexa played the tape of Sibby’s interview while Casey listened intently. After it was over, Alexa turned it off.
“Fucker man,” Casey said, exhaling loudly. “So he…”
“He killed your parents. I believe Sibby. She’s fought to remember it all these years.”
“But she can’t testify, can she?”
“No, not any time soon. There’s some areas to explore, along the lines of corroboration from witnesses and sources, but I’m not sure about the fine points of law.” Alexa told Casey about finding the missing diary pages. Taking the plastic-sleeved pages from her purse, she handed them to her to read.
“I don’t want fingerprints on them, other than those that may be on them already.”
After reading the pages twice, Casey handed them back to Alexa. “That’s horrible. Beyond horrible. Did you play the tape for my uncle?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You showed him these pages?”
“No. But he knows they exist.”
“Did he admit anything?”
“He is under the illusion that Sibby’s words are not going to hurt him.”
“There’s no justice,” Casey said sadly.
“There is only setting things right. A lack of justice could work to your advantage.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your uncle told me some disturbing things. I didn’t want to believe them, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and what he said makes a great deal of sense. Too much sense.”
“Do explain.”
Alexa felt the chill gathering in the room. “It’s about an actress who’s been playing a very challenging part-victim, sensitive artist, bereaved and loving wife. Perfect mother.”
Casey stared at her, her expression unreadable.
“You really had me going, Casey. You really did. Trouble is, things don’t really add up.”
“You’ve been talking to Uncle William. He’s a cagey and a professional-quality liar. He hates me.”
“You told the press the diary was authentic. Is it true that the prenuptial you told me all about is void now because Gary is incapacitated? Did you force William out of his position and take his place today? I’m getting a disturbing picture, a nasty interpretation of events that looks like motive.”
“Let’s continue this talk in the sauna.”
“The sauna?”
“It’s more private.”
“You think I’m wired?”
“Don’t be silly, Alexa. We’re dear friends. Leave your purse on the table.” Casey opened a door, and Alexa could see into a room where a blond-wood bench held a neat stack of linens. Across the room, a tiled enclosure area had two showerheads and a drain in the floor. A wooden door with an opaque glass panel obviously led to the sauna.
“It helps me relax. Take off your clothes, wrap up in a bath sheet, and we’ll talk. Unless we’ve talked enough.”
Alexa said, “I’m here because I want to talk this out. Because you matter to me, and I think after all I’ve been through that I deserve to know.”
“Fine. Why does it matter where we are when we talk?”
While Alexa undressed, Casey watched her with a serious expression, studying her bruises.
“You’ve had a rough couple of days.”
“Comes with the job.” Alexa took the top sheet and wrapped her body, tucking it above her breasts. Casey slipped out of her robe and Alexa was somewhat surprised to see that her hostess hadn’t been wearing anything else.
Casey opened the door to the sauna. The walls, ceiling, and floor were tiled in limestone. A wide stone slab ran along three walls, forming a bench. Casey poured a dipper of water on the kiosk filled with heated stones, sat across from the door, pulled her feet up so her heels rested against her buttocks, and leaned back against the wall.
The light went out.
“We just lost power,” Casey said in the pitch-blackness.
The light came back on before she’d finished saying it.
“We have a generator that runs on natural gas. Let’s talk.” She patted the bench beside her.
Alexa sat close enough to give the impression of intimacy, but far enough away so someone could have fit between them. If LePointe was right about Casey, Alexa felt she might talk about it because she had won, and there was nothing Alexa could present as evidence that could tie her into anything. Once Casey walked out the door, the conversation was her word against Alexa’s, and Alexa knew she couldn’t win in a battle against Casey West and her lawyers.
Alexa began, “Before I went to your uncle’s earlier, everything fit neatly, but after I listened to his vitriolic diatribe, I had a problem. Until I learned about the covenant and your prenuptial escape clause, you were without any motive.”