The Last Invitation (68)

Neither woman said a word as the detective opened the front door and escorted her inside. Gabby didn’t wait around for idle conversation. She headed for the second floor but barely made it up three stairs before the detective started talking.

“We’ve subpoenaed your divorce attorney’s file and notes.”

Gabby stopped in midstep and looked down at the detective. “Nice try, but all of that is protected by attorney-client privilege.”

“Not if your discussions include information about the commission of a crime.”

“What crime?” Gabby tried to think if anything on the list Kennedy had asked for last night was worth being here.

“Your brother-in-law killing your ex-husband.”

Gabby’s hand tightened on the bannister in a grip that turned her fingers a chalky white. “He didn’t.”

“You’re the one who insisted someone else was in the room.” The detective glanced in the direction of the study. “We investigated and followed the trail to Liam.”

This was the nightmare. She wanted answers, and the police had punished her for it. Worse, they were punishing Liam. “You’re wrong.”

“There was no sign of a break-in here the day Baines died, and the alarm was switched off. You and Liam had keys, as did your daughter, but we’ve ruled her out because she was at school.” Detective Schone smiled. “Well?”

“Thanks for clearing my teen daughter.” Gabby started walking again, determined to get to her daughter’s bedroom and get this visit over with as soon as possible.

Detective Schone followed behind, laying out her case piece by piece. “You claim you didn’t know about the added security. Liam did. The alarm company technician says Liam was here when the system was installed. That would explain why he isn’t seen on the house’s security video. He would have known where the blind spots were.”

“Wait a minute.”

They stood on the landing, facing each other. The accusations piled on top of one another until they built into a sturdy stack. Not devastating, and nothing that shook her faith in Liam, but combined, they had impact.

“Money issues at the company. Baines hiding business dealings from Liam. Liam having a key. Liam knowing where the cameras are. No self-defense wounds on Baines because he likely trusted his brother and didn’t see the attack coming.”

So many coincidences, and all of it circumstantial but compelling. Even Gabby had to admit that. “Liam wouldn’t—”

“Then there’s the sedative illegally obtained and found in Liam’s home, which he would have used to disable you, so you didn’t see him lurking in the room.” The detective’s gaze dipped to Gabby’s arm. “Have you checked? For needle marks? They should have faded by now, but did you back then? Was there a part of you that sensed what really happened in that room?”

Gabby forced her hand to stay at her side. Her ribs still hurt, but she’d checked after the police found the needle. Used her magnifying mirror and contorted and swiveled around until her body ached. Looked in case someone—not Liam—had debilitated her that way. She didn’t see anything.

“Liam was at work when Baines died,” Gabby said. “That destroys your entire theory.”

The detective shook her head. “He wasn’t. He says he had a meeting at a potential warehouse site, but the individual he was supposed to meet with never showed. We haven’t been able to locate that individual to verify Liam’s account.”

The fact scenario got worse and worse. “You have this all wrapped up and solved.”

“We’re getting there.” The detective walked past Gabby and stepped into Kennedy’s room. She stopped by the window, but her gaze never stopped scanning. “Which is good for you. If Baines was murdered, you get your insurance. A substantial amount. A four-million-dollar policy.”

The amount sounded huge, but her attorney had insisted she needed the insurance. Now that Gabby wasn’t getting a dime, she wished her attorney had required a few more protections on the money. She’d be fine, but not where she was before. She’d already started looking for legal jobs she might be qualified for after all these years of not practicing. “That amount was to cover future alimony and expenses for Kennedy and—”

“And it provides motive.”

“Wait . . . me? You just spent five minutes laying out a case against Liam.”

“I never said we thought he did it alone.”

The woman was relentless. And wrong. Gabby would be the first to admit she’d made mistakes. She’d been furious with Baines and his attitude during the divorce. She’d used old photos and recounted family stories to remind him of their life together, of all those years, but no plea blunted his need to grind her down.

But their marriage, all those years of friendship, meant something, and that’s why she couldn’t blindly agree to the suicide ruling. Now the entire family would pay for her persistence.

The juxtaposition of Detective Schone standing in front of a wall of posters, a sea of young male entertainers Gabby couldn’t identify if someone put a gun to her head, made it hard for her to concentrate. “At least you finally agree Baines was murdered.”

Detective Schone picked a stuffed teddy bear off the shelves above Kennedy’s desk. She fiddled with something in the back of it.