“It makes sense I guess. Wow. I’m kind of blown away. I should have thought of that angle before.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Marina said, waving a hand lazily in the air. “You’re not a trained journalist.”
Jada rolled her eyes. “And I wasn’t in possession of all the facts thanks to my sister lying to me.”
“You don’t have to keep gouging me over it. I’ve apologized until my throat’s sore.”
“You must have a delicate throat, then. Never mind. I’ve had a thought. Do you think the woman who bribed Sylvia might also have paid her to plant the marriage license in the records department?”
“Sylvia’s only admitting that she took a bribe to leak the tip,” Marina said. “But she sure is running scared right now, and for a big blabbermouth, she’s suddenly gone tight-lipped. She might be over-reacting because of possible repercussions if it’s discovered she accepted money in exchange for tipping off CGTV. Or, what seems more likely, she’s lying about her level of involvement and is actually up to her eyeballs in the whole thing.”
“Yeah. I mean, think about it. Why would someone pay Sylvia to make a tip to a television hotline? Why didn’t they simply do it themselves?”
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Marina agreed.
“So if Sylvia accepted a bribe to file what she knew was a fake document ... isn’t that illegal? If that’s what happened, she really must have been desperate for the money. If she’s found out, she’ll be fired.”
“And then some,” Marina said. “I’d feel bad for her if you hadn’t been dragged into it.”
“Me too. So, our best guess is that regardless of how deeply Sylvia is involved in this, Sasha probably has an enemy who wanted to make a fool out of her or to hurt her. We know it’s a woman.”
“Not necessarily. The woman who met with Syl could have been the culprit’s agent.”
“An agent? Like Agatha?” Jada asked.
“No, not that kind of agent. I mean the mystery woman could have been working for the actual culprit. We can’t make assumptions.”
“I’m going to make some anyway. I think the likeliest scenario is that a woman who hates Sasha did all of this to get revenge on her for something. We need to get Sylvia to answer her phone and talk to us so we can get a description of the mystery woman.”
“Duh. I wish. Syl did say that the woman was intimidating.”
“That’s something at least,” Jada said. “I think we should investigate this angle.”
“Me too. I’m going to grill Sasha about all her enemies. I know of a couple of models she’s had fights with in the past, according to the news.”
“The gossip. According to the gossip.”
“Right. Anyway, we need to find out who Sasha’s enemies are.”
“But not right now,” Jada said. “I need some time to think about this, make sure I’m not jumping to conclusions. And I need some time to stop being angry at you for not telling me everything right away.”
Marina pulled herself upright. “Are you still mad about that?”
“Yeah, I am. And I’m not thrilled that you want me to keep this from Ian, either. I don’t see why he can’t know. He could help us, a lot.”
Marina jumped up. “No, no, no. Please, Jada. Don’t tell him. Not yet. Give me one more day.”
“He’s not going to do anything to you. He’s a reasonable man.”
“Yeah, well, you think he’s reasonable. But you’ve just met him. You said yourself that these rich people can be strange. Who knows what his reaction might be? Think about it. I used his name to get CGTV interested.”
Jada blew out a loud breath. “You know how it is with secrets. The truth always comes out ... always, and then you’re in for it because you didn’t tell the truth to begin with. Secrets are always a bad idea, Marina.”
“Not this time. Give me one single day. Until tomorrow night. I know I can get through to Syl by then, and I can solve the whole Sasha thing, too. I know it. One day, Jada. Come on. For your little sister?”
“Don’t even. I don’t know how you talk me into this crap. We’ll never be able to keep this a secret.”
“Why not? I’m not telling anyone. Are you?”
“No.”
“Then it’ll be fine. Trust me. Say it’ll be fine.”
“It won’t be fine,” Jada said, “but I’ll do it anyway. Though I don’t know why.”
Marina’s smile lit up the room. “You’re the best sister in the universe. Why don’t I let you have a little alone time now? Take a nap. Get some rest. Then make yourself beautiful for dinner, for Ian, right?”
“Right.”
“I’ll just grab my dress,” Marina headed to the closet door. “When Elly comes back, tell her to come to my room, and—hey. Where’s my dress? I thought she hung it on the door before she left.”
“I don’t remember. Maybe she put it in the closet.”
“Huh. I didn’t think so.” She shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.”
Marina pulled on the heavy closet door and it swung outward, revealing the large interior space. She stood in the doorway, staring inside.
“Uh, Jada, you want to come here for a sec?” she asked.
“What?”
“Come here.”
Jada walked over and peered inside, and if she’d been holding anything in her hands, she would have dropped it.
There, behind the ironing board, holding a dress in her thin, pale arms, her eyes as wide as sand dollars, the spattering of brown freckles on her nose and cheeks standing out in stark contrast to her snow white skin, stood Elly.
And it was painfully apparent that she’d heard everything the two sisters had said.
Chapter Three
JADA WAS LIVID. “SEE, MARINA? What did I tell you? We couldn’t even keep the secret for sixty seconds. In fact, it was no sooner out of our mouths, than it was done for. Unbelievable. I’m telling Ian.”
Marina grabbed onto her arm. “No! Don’t do that. It’s not so bad.” She sent a plaintive look toward Elly. “Elly will keep our secret, won’t you, Elly? Because we’re friends? See? She’s nodding.”
“She is not!” Jada said. “That was a twitch of fear. You’re scaring her.”
Jada crept up to Elly, her arms opened wide, the way one approaches a frightened animal. “It’s okay, Elly. I’m sorry. We didn’t know you were in here. It’s all o-o-o-okay.”
“It’s not okay,” Marina said. “It won’t be okay until you say you’ll keep our secret, Elly.”
“Hush,” Jada hissed. “Now Elly, put down the iron. That’s right, let go. Everything is fine.”
The young woman smoothed a shaky hand down the soft fabric of the dress, as if the texture soothed her. Finally, she spoke. “I’m-I’m so sorry, Miss. I d-didn’t mean to overhear. I didn’t know what to do, how to make you stop. And you said you were going to have sex with M-Mr. Ian and Miss Marina lied and I couldn’t come out then. So it
went on and on and I hoped you’d never find me. But you did. And ... I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Jada said, taking her arm and gently leading her out of the closet. “Come have a seat and you’ll feel better. Marina, get her a glass of water.”
“Oh, I can get it, Miss,” Elly said.
“No, you come sit down on this chair right here. There you go. Good girl,” Jada said.
Elly sat stiffly on the edge of the wingback chair, her hands clutching her knees.
“Poor thing,” Jada said, sitting across from her. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“To be a good servant, Miss, I’m supposed to be invisible.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re a person like anyone else. Far from invisible.”
“But that’s the rule, Miss,” Elly said.
Jada was glad to see some pink returning to her pale cheeks. “If you say so.”
Marina rushed over with a tumbler of sparkling water. Elly took a small sip and gave a pathetically weak smile that only made Jada feel sorrier for her.
“Gawd, Elly. You aren’t in trouble or anything,” Marina said, hands on curvy hips.
“I’m supposed to be invisible.”
“So you keep saying. Well, tell you what. We won’t report you for being visible today if you keep quiet about everything you heard in that closet,” Marina said.
Jada gave her a hard look. “Be quiet, Marina. This is no time for bargains.”
Over the next few minutes, Jada held off her sister to give Elly a chance to recover. She felt badly that the girl had been put in such a difficult position. She was so sincere and likable, it was impossible not to feel for her.
When Elly finished her water, she made to stand up, but Marina stopped her.
“Don’t get up yet, Elly,” Marina said. “There’s no hurry. We should figure out what our next step is. For instance, what, exactly did you hear us say?”
“Um, everything? How you told CGTV about the marriage license and how you think someone is out to get Miss Sasha, and how you want to lie to Mr. Ian—”
“About that lying part,” Marina interrupted. “It’s not so much lying as withholding information until the time is right to share it. Big difference. You can see that difference, can’t you?”