French Silk(108)

Josh turned defensive. "That's how I feel."

"Okay." Cassidy leaned back in his chair. "For the moment, let's pretend it happened like this. Ready? Ariel left your company, returned to the suite she shared with your father, killed him with a gun no one knew she possessed and which hasn't been recovered, then came back for round two in bed with you, correctly assuming that you'd be her alibi."

"That's how I see it."

Cassidy smacked his lips with consternation. "What I'm having trouble with is your motivation for telling me this now."

"The lie has been on my conscience."

"Conscience?" Cassidy repeated skeptically.

Again, Josh took umbrage. "I might be an adulterer. I admit to cuckolding my own father. But I'm not going to share a murder rap with Ariel."

Indecisively, he gnawed on his lower lip. "Okay, it's more than conscience, Mr. Cassidy. You might not believe this, but I'm afraid of her."

Cassidy snorted.

Josh exclaimed. "It's true. Before all this, I knew she was ambitious and shrewd, but she's gone way overboard. She's ruthless. Mean. She stops at nothing to get her way. If somebody crosses her over the least little thing, she fires him. No mercy. No discussion. Zap," he said, smacking his fist against his opposite palm. "He's expunged."

He stared down at his shaky hands. "It's as though I've had blinders on. Maybe I was so focused on my father, I didn't see Ariel as she really is until now. I think she's capable of doing just about anything to protect her interests. I think she's unbalanced. Dangerously unbalanced."

Cassidy subjected him to a long, thoughtful stare, then stood, signaling an end to the interview. "Thanks, Josh." He extended his right hand. The young man shook it, looking bewildered.

"That's it? I thought you'd have a million questions to ask me."

"There'll be plenty later. I'm going to work on this immediately. In the meantime, act normally around your stepmother. Go about your business as usual. Don't do or say anything that might tip her that you've been to see me. Let her continue thinking that I eliminated her as a suspect weeks ago." Cassidy looked at Josh solemnly. "I know this wasn't easy for you."

"No, it wasn't. For years Ariel and I took refuge from my father in each other. I guess you could say we were codependent. We shared a common misery and relied on each other to make it bearable. Since his death, we haven't needed each other to exact petty revenge. Hating him was the only attraction that had drawn us together.

"I believe that Ariel has serious psychological problems that date back to her impoverished childhood. I get mad at her, but mostly I fear her. Still," he added, shaking his head sadly, "I can't let her get away with murder."

"Josh, because of your longstanding affair with Ariel, I have to know—would you be able to testify against her in court?"

Without a moment's hesitation Josh replied, "Yes."

They said their goodbyes. Josh had no sooner left his office than Cassidy pulled on his suit jacket and straightened his tie. As soon as he'd given Josh enough time to leave the building, he took the elevator up to the next floor and headed for Anthony Crowder's office. He didn't heed the secretary's warning that Crowder was terribly busy and had asked not to be disturbed. With a confidence he hadn't felt in days, he barged in unannounced.

"Before you start shouting at me, listen. I think I know who killed Jackson Wilde."

Crowder tossed down the ballpoint pen he'd been using. "Well?"

"His son."





* * *



Chapter 22

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Practically verbatim, Cassidy repeated his conversation with Joshua Wilde. When he finished, Crowder stopped drumming his fingers. "I'm confused. You said you thought the son was the culprit, but he's claiming it's the widow."

"Out of pique. Tattling is a coward's way of getting even, and Josh has a yellow streak a yard wide down his back."

"Then where'd he get the courage to kill his father?"

"He caught Wilde at his most vulnerable. Naked. Lying on his back. Possibly even asleep. Josh knew his father's habits. He knew when to attack. Which would also apply to Ariel, for that matter," Cassidy mumbled as an afterthought. "Anyway, Josh shot Wilde in the balls to throw us off, to make it look like a woman had killed him. He even reminded me of that when we talked."

Crowder folded his meaty hands beneath his chin and ruminated on it a moment. "Why would Josh want his father dead? Jealousy?"

"Possibly. If Ariel's baby is his father's, as she claims. But I believe he had a stronger motivation."

"Stronger than jealousy? Money?"

"Not directly. No doubt Josh had a hankering to take over the ministry when his old man was no longer around. He figured he was heir apparent to the spotlight. For a young man who had been his father's apprentice, who had always lived in his giant shadow, that would be a reasonable ambition."

"Instead, Ariel seizes control."

"With both hands. Just as before, Josh is in the background. He's still second banana. But discounting the ministry as a factor, there's the personal one."