Surprise Bidder

“Sorry.” I scratch the back of my head.

What am I doing? I’ve never let my mind wander off during a conversation before. And such an important conversation, too. I should be ashamed of myself.

I clear my throat as I lean forward. “You were saying?”

Angelo draws a breath. “Let me start from the beginning.”

“Thank you.”

“You asked me to investigate the death of Daniel Lawson. I spoke to his wife. She is convinced it was murder. She told me the same things you told me. She also said she feels it was a woman who did it.”

My eyebrows arch. “Did she say why?”

“She said it was a feeling, that poisoning was more of a woman’s murder method. Also, she said her husband had been sleeping with other women. And the night he was murdered, she said she caught a whiff of a woman’s perfume on him.”

I’m not surprised. Many of the men at Ambrosia cheat on their wives.

“So she suspects that Daniel’s lover killed him?”

Angelo nods.

I tap my fingers on my desk. “And you believe her? You don’t think she’s trying to throw suspicion away from herself?”

“You told me to give you facts, not opinions,” Angelo answers.

Right.

“And the fact is that the drug which killed Daniel Lawson was a slow-acting drug. It takes three to four hours to take effect. Rachel Lawson said her husband came home after ten. Time of death was placed before midnight.”

“Which means she couldn’t have given her husband the drug,” I conclude.

Not that I believed she would.

I’ve met Rachel. She never pretended to be a doting wife. She and Daniel were more friends than a couple. Still, she’s always been faithful to him and seen to all his needs. She could have moved to one of the other houses they owned when Daniel started sleeping around, but she didn’t.

Besides, Rachel is a clever woman, and her family owns a pharmaceutical company. That’s why she knows about Daniel’s medications. If she wanted to kill her husband, she could have done it with a drug that would leave no trace.

“One of the guards at the Club places him there from eight until ten,” Angelo continues.

Just as I thought, Daniel’s killer is a member of Ambrosia.

“It was a Friday night, so as you know, no women were there.”

One of Ambrosia’s rules. No women allowed on Friday nights.

“Except for the waitresses,” I say.

Who sometimes serve more than food and drinks for a price. And…

“Who don’t wear perfume.”

Angelo nods. “Perfume, though, can last on the skin for hours. Daniel was at work until seven, right before he went to the Club. His last meeting ended at around six. He had time to meet with his lover before leaving work. But if she’d poisoned him then, he would have died before midnight.”

I stroke my beard. “So the killer could have been a man.”

Angelo gives another nod.

It was only Rachel who suspected it was a woman, after all. And while she may be right about her husband’s affair, she could be wrong about that.

“And there are plenty of men at Ambrosia,” I add.

Plenty of greedy lowlifes in expensive suits. Any one of them could have killed Daniel. Maybe it could even have been more than one.

A plot to get rid of a member of the Council.

“Anything else?” I ask Angelo.

He shakes his head. “Not about this case. Even I can’t get past Ambrosia’s security at the Club.”

Or its fog of secrecy. That’s probably why the murder was committed there.

“I understand.”

“I do have some new information about Goldberg, though,” Angelo says.

My eyebrows crease. Goldberg? I thought he was no longer a problem.

“As it turns out, his car was tampered with the day of the auction. That’s why he was late,” Angelo tells me. “I know that case is closed and he’s no longer in the country, but I just thought you might want to know.”

So someone tried to make sure he wouldn’t be there for the auction. But why?

I shrug. It’s a mystery, but it’s no longer my concern. All that matters to me is that that scumbag won’t ever come near Leah again.

“Anything else?” I ask Angelo again.

Again, he shakes his head. “I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes up.”

I nod. “I’d appreciate that.”

He stands up, puts on his cap and heads towards the door. Suddenly, though, he stops and turns around.

“Oh, there is one thing,” he says.

“Yes?” I lift an eyebrow.

“Rachel Lawson thanks you for the flowers.”

And here I thought he had left out something important.

I let out the breath I was holding. “Well, Daniel was a friend of mine, after all.”

Angelo tips his cap and leaves my office. I sit back in my chair and clasp my hands on top of my stomach.

So Daniel Lawson’s murderer really is at Ambrosia, huh?

I glance at my watch. I’d like to go back to my apartment, but since Leah hasn’t been in a good mood, I’m not too eager to get home. Besides, it’s a Saturday night, the busiest night at Ambrosia.