Best Kept Secret (Rochester Trilogy 3)

“You remember my sister, Carrie? She just had her baby.”

They chat about the baby and I try my best to follow along. Of course Beau remembers her sister. Wow, he can’t believe she’s already had three children.

Wasn’t she a year behind us in school? Oh, two.

“Sorry we’re late.” A man steps through the door carrying a Styrofoam cup. He’s followed by two other people, one man and one woman. He drops a file folder onto the table and sticks out his hand to both of us. “Shane Williams. Internal affairs. This is Paul and Susan. They’ll be at the meeting tomorrow. We’ll need you there, Mr. Rochester.”

“Just me?”

“Yes.”

The three of them take their seats. Lauren gestures to Shane. “Why don’t we go straight to your questions for Beau and Jane?”

Beau and Jane. The way she says our names makes it sound like they belong together. I’m not sure they do, in the end. Judging from last night’s conversation, Beau and I have very different ideas about how our lives will look.

“As you know, we’re here to discuss Detective Joe Causey. Because it’s an ongoing investigation, we can’t comment on the details.”

“Move on to the questions.” Beau’s being exactly as surly as he was the first night I came to Coach House. This time he isn’t up against a stubborn little girl and a kitten. He’s up against the entirety of the law enforcement system.

“When was the last time you saw Emily Rochester? Before the events of this week?” Shane takes out a legal pad and a pen.

“About eight years ago.”

“And when did you become aware that she was still alive?”

“A week ago. Joe Causey came to the inn where we were staying with video footage of her from one of the stores downtown.”

“What was his demeanor like during that encounter?”

Beau frowns. “It surprised him. He was shaken up. Didn’t know what to do about it.”

“Ms. Mendoza—” Shane glances over his legal pad. “You met with Detective Joe Causey on a couple of occasions, right?”

“He came to my hospital room and accused me of starting the fire at Coach House.”

The prosecutor exchanges a look with one of the people on the internal affairs team. Shane takes notes. “And he interviewed you at the inn as part of his investigation.”

“That conversation was bullshit. He was more concerned with details of my will than the fire.” Beau folds his arms over his chest, glowering.

He’d changed his will to include me in it.

Joe was the one to give me that information. If Beau had died in the fire, I would be rich beyond my wildest dreams. It makes my throat tight with frustration. I’d never choose money over Beau Rochester. I’ve spent my life thinking that money would solve all my problems if I could get enough of it. Not a billion dollars. Enough to afford food and a place to live and a second to breathe.

“Your will?”

“I added Jane as a beneficiary.”

“Without telling me,” I say, fear turning to frustration.

“You didn’t need to know.”

“So Causey’s thinking was that the change in the will made Jane a suspect,” Shane says.

“The changes were made without her knowledge,” adds Lauren. “He didn’t follow that line of investigation any further after the last meeting.”

“I never asked for your money,” I mutter back.

“In a way you did, because you took my job offer in the first place.”

“And the internal investigation won’t focus on that,” answers Shane.

“No,” says Lauren. “Our sole focus is on the Emily Rochester case.”

“It’s not just a job anymore. It’s your life. And obviously I’m never going to fit into it if you think you have to give me with money.” My heart pounds. This is my real, true fear. That women like Emily Rochester are the only ones who will ever have a place in Beau’s life. That they’re the only ones who can have a non-transactional relationship with him.

“That’s bullshit,” mutters Beau.

Lauren raises her eyebrows. “Do we need to take a break?”

“No,” we both answer at the same time.

“What we’ve found in our investigation is that Joe did more than siphon drug money. He took bribes to make evidence disappear. We need to know what cases were impacted.”

I can’t keep my mouth shut. “It’s not bullshit.”

Shane’s answering Lauren now, but I’m not listening.

“It is bullshit. So you can be with a broke college student, but not a billionaire? I don’t know how one plane ride with Emily made you think I’m trying to buy you like a whore.”

“That’s what it means when you pay for college in exchange for being together.”

“I’m not fucking paying for college in exchange for being together, Jane.”

Lauren drums her red-tipped fingers on the table. “Can we stay on topic? The diary presented some necessary background for the criminal case. Causey wasn’t just stealing evidence. Her account details quite a history of domestic violence from her husband. I think Joe wanted it as blackmail against Rhys. I think he was using her to manipulate him.”