Remember, God will see to it that you reap what you sow.
PHYLLIS IN KNOXVILLE
Ali was in tears by the time she finished reading Phyllis's note. There was so much hard-won wisdom in the words and so much caring that it took Ali's breath away. She posted the note in the comments section and then sent Phyllis a personal response.
Dear Phyllis,
Thank you for writing. Thank you for your kindnessfor knowing what I was feeling and giving me comfort; for giving me much needed guidance when I was in danger of losing my way.
BABE
Several of the other notes were in the same vein. Ali responded to them all, but the one from Phyllis was the only one she posted. That was the one that said it all and said it best. When her cell phone rang a little later, she expected the caller to be one of her parents or maybe even Chris. She didn't expect to hear the voice of Dave HolmanYavapai County homicide detective Dave Holman.
"I just talked to your mom," Dave said grimly. "Is it true? Do the cops out in L.A. think you're involved in Paul's murder?"
In the years before Sedona had built its own high school, kids from Sedona had been bused to Mingus Mountain High School in Cottonwood. Dave Holman had been a tall skinny kid a year ahead of Ali in school. After graduation, he had joined the Marines. He went to college later, studying criminal justice. He was both a detective in the sheriff's department and a captain in the Marine Reserves who had served two tours of duty in Iraq. He was also a much valued breakfast regular at Bob and Edie Larson's Sugar Loaf Cafe.
Ali felt an initial stab of resentment that her parents had spilled the beans about what was going on in her life. Then she remembered her blog. Maybe Dave read cutlooseblog.com the same way Ali's mother did. Maybe that was where he was getting his informationeverything but her phone number, that is.
Why was it I wanted to have a blog? Ali asked herself.
"They didn't come right out and say so," Ali replied. "Not in so many words."
"What words?" Dave asked. "Tell me exactly what was said."
"They took my statement," Ali said.
"With your attorney present, this Angel guy?"
Obviously Edie had given Dave a complete briefing on Ali's conversation with her.
"Angeleri," Ali corrected. "Victor Angeleri, and yes, he was there."
"Edie says you told them about driving past the crash site, seeing the emergency vehicles, all that?"
"I had to," Ali said. "It's the truth. I could see those lights from miles away. Coming past Palm Springs at that time of night, I couldn't not see them."
"Great," Dave muttered. "What else did they have to say?"
"I don't know. They asked a bunch of questions. I answered them. End of story."
"What did they say when the interview was over?"
"What do you mean?" Ali asked. "You mean, like, did they say good-bye?"
"No, I mean like, Don't leave the state without letting us know.'"
Ali paused. "Well, yes," she said at length. "I suppose they did mention something to that effect. They told me they'd be pursuing all possible leads but it might be best if I stayed around L.A. for a while. I told them that was fine. That I had planned to be here several more days. They hinted it might take a little longer than that for them to get all their ducks in a row."
"I'll just bet," Dave said. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm glad your mother is on her way."
"Mom is coming hereto L.A.?"
"Yes. Edie Larson is riding to the rescue. Didn't she tell you?"
"No," Ali said. "As a matter of fact she didn't. I'll call and tell her not to come."
"That's probably why she didn't mention it to you, and by now it's too late, because she's already on her way. I may show up, too," Dave added. "I came to Lake Havasu to see the kids this weekend, which means I'm only four and a half hours away."
Ali knew that since Dave's ex-wife and her new husband had taken the children and moved to Lake Havasu City, Dave had spent at least one weekend a month going there to see them.
"Really, Dave," she told him. "That's not necessary. What about your kids?"
"What about them? I already did what Rich wanted me to do this weekendwhich was to get him signed up for his learner's permit. As for Cassie and Crystal? They'll be glad to have me out of their hair. Spending weekends with me is more of a hassle for my daughters than it is anything else. I'm not nearly cool enough to suit them."
"But it makes no sense for both you and Mom to drop everything and come running to California," Ali argued. "I'm sure this is no big deal."
"No big deal?" Dave repeated. "Are you kidding? Being accused of murder is always a big deal, even if you end up getting off. Ask O. J. Simpson. Ask Robert Blake. And since you obviously don't want me to do this for you, let's just say I'm doing it for your folksfor your mom. This is my cell phone, by the way," he added. "Feel free to call me on it anytime if you need to."
The truth of the matter was, Ali still had Dave's cell phone number stored in her phone. She had needed his help once, desperately, when the abusive husband of one of her cutloose fans had come looking for Ali. But there was no way she was going to admit that to him, especially not right then.
"I still think this is silly," she said.
"Everybody's entitled to his or her opinion," Dave returned. "I don't have enough available cell phone minutes to waste time arguing about it."
"All right," Ali said, capitulating. "You know where to come?"
"Edie gave me the address. Rich is putting it into MapQuest right now. Unfortunately my Nissan Sentra doesn't come equipped with the fancy-schmancy GPS you have in your Cayenne. I can't leave until a little later, but I'll be there."
He hung up. Ali was still holding the phone in her hand when it rang again. "Ali?"
Helga's near-baritone usually made people think they were talking to a man. Ali knew better. "What's up?" Ali asked.
"Are you decent?"
"Not exactly."
"Get that way," Helga ordered, "and then meet us downstairs."
"Us?"
"Victor and me," Helga said. "We have an appointment with Ted Grantham half an hour from now."
"With Ted?" Ali asked. "What for?"
"With Ted and with Les Jordan," Helga replied.
"Who's Les Jordan?"
"Paul Grayson's estate planning attorney."
Far be it for Paul to have one attorney when he could have two, Ali thought. Then she realized she had no room to talk.
"Why are we meeting him?" she asked.
"For a reading of the will."
"Now?" Ali wanted to know. "Don't people usually read wills after funerals instead of before?"
"Under normal circumstances that's true," Helga said. "But these circumstances are far from normal. Meet us downstairs in fifteen minutes."
CHAPTER 5
Victor and Helga arrived together in Victor's silver Lincoln Town Car. When Ali looked inside the vehicle, she could see that Victor took up more than half of the front seat, with the steering wheel grazing his ample belly. Helga, on the other hand, was so tiny that once Ali settled into the backseat, the top of the diminutive attorney's hairdo didn't clear the headrest.
"I'm not sure why we're doing this in such an unseemly hurry," Ali said, once her seat belt was fastened. "Yesterday we found out Paul was dead. Today's the day he and April were supposed to get married. Couldn't we wait a day or two and give the poor woman a chance to adjust?"
"We're doing it now because we need to," Victor said. "Because if the cops are going to pin a murder-for-profit motive on you, we need to know whether or not it will fly, and it may, especially if you're still a beneficiary under the will. The cops will naturally expect that the will won't be read until after the funeral, and they know the funeral can't take place until after the coroner releases the bodysometime next week. In other words, reading the will now gives us an investigational leg up for at least the next several days."