The Last Lie Told (Finley O’Sullivan, #1)(74)

“I didn’t want to get dragged into this.” Cherry bit her lips together and considered what she wanted to say next. “My husband doesn’t know I spent some time in places like that one. I’m just trying to protect my son and my marriage.”

“I can understand that. Really I can. But you have to understand, one of my clients is dead, another, maybe two, are missing. No matter that Holmes is in prison, I one hundred percent believe he has something to do with this. If you know anything about him—anything at all—you need to help me find the truth.”

“I can’t help you.” Cherry reached for the door.

“If you refuse to help me,” Finley warned, “I’ll have no choice but to turn this information and the photo over to the detectives investigating his claims.”

Fury snapped in the other woman’s eyes. “Are you threatening me?”

“No,” Finley said. “I’m only informing you of the choices we are both faced with. You can help me, or you can help the police.”

“He’s crazy,” she said with a covert glance around. “Completely and totally nuts. He’s another of the reasons I had to go into hiding. I changed my hair.” She shuddered. “It was terrifying.”

Something on her right cheek, near her hairline, captured Finley’s attention. A slightly darker area shaped in a triangle or maybe a diamond. Birthmark? Finley hadn’t noticed it the last time they spoke or in any of Cherry’s many, many images on the net. Maybe she’d forgone makeup since they were in the pool.

Finley refocused on the conversation. “So the two of you had some sort of relationship?” Sure as hell sounded that way to Finley.

“I guess you could say we were friends. I had a lot of girlfriends who loved clubbing. Charlie—” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “He liked meeting new women. I introduced him to a lot of my friends. Everyone, myself included, was in awe of him back then. He was charming and confident. Talented. He could make you believe anything.”

“Did you ever see Cecelia or Olivia Legard with him? Maybe you introduced him to the twins. You worked for their father.”

“I didn’t introduce him to either of them. Cecelia and her friends came to Paradise all the time, using fake IDs. In fact, I told her father they were playing with fire. Cecelia hated me after that.”

“You’re certain it was Cecelia.”

“As certain as I can be. She said she was Cecelia. Her friends called her Cecelia.”

“Was Bethany Briggs one of the friends who hung out at Paradise with her?”

“Yes. I’d seen her photo in the paper. She was like Miss Nashville once. I couldn’t understand how they were friends. They were so jealous of each other.”

“Did Holmes ever talk to you about Cecelia or Bethany? Make any comments at all about either of them or their families?”

“He said he was intrigued by Cecelia. She was like him somehow, and that turned him on.”

The more she said, the angrier Finley became. Cherry could have told Finley this days ago. “Maybe Sophia Legard would still be alive if you’d told me this the first time we talked.”

“You don’t understand,” she argued. “I would do anything to protect my son.”

“Did you consider Cecelia one of his followers?” Finley was beyond pissed off, but she couldn’t risk pushing the woman too hard or she’d shut down. Or maybe worse—her husband would appear and shut Finley down. Right now Finley had some leverage, as the husband didn’t know. She did not want to lose her upper hand.

“She was infatuated with him. Bethany too. They followed around after him like he was a god. A lot of women did. He had that kind of draw.” She hugged her arms around herself. “He could talk people into things.”

“Then why would he kill Lance Legard and confess?” The more Finley learned about his so-called charisma and his following, the less sense what he’d done made. “How did a kid like Cecelia get him to do her bidding?”

“I don’t know. The only thing I can tell you for a certainty is that he is very, very dangerous. If he finds some way out of that prison, there won’t be anyplace anyone who talked to the police will be able to hide.”

“Is there anyone in particular who knew him especially well? Someone who might be able to help me put all the pieces together?”

“Cecelia. She was closer to him than anyone else.”

“She claims she didn’t know him and had no contact with him.”

“She’s lying. Even Lance said he couldn’t believe anything his daughters told him.”

Finley looked her straight in the eye and asked the question that really counted. “Did you or your husband hire or otherwise encourage Holmes to kill Lance Legard?”

“No! Elton was prepared to drag Lance into court and damage his reputation. But murder?” She shook her head adamantly. “He would never even consider such a thing.”

“Would you?”

“No. Of course not.”

“What about Sophia? Did you have anything to do with her murder?”

Shock claimed Cherry’s face. “No! I haven’t been in that house since . . . before.”

“But you have the security code to the property.”