The Bad Always Die Twice (15 page)

He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. It was a nice kiss, warm. “I’m glad you came,” he said. “I missed you this week.”

Inside the foyer, he hit a button that closed the front gate and then he walked toward the back of the house. “I was just cleaning up. Let me finish and we’ll have a glass of wine.”

The kitchen, renovated by his wife in the early stages of her cancer treatment, was very French country: a brick floor, honey yellow walls, granite countertops, distressed white cabinetry, ceramic tiles and rustic urns. Copper pots hanging from a rack over the enormous island added to the ambience. The dirty dishes in the sink, children’s toys on the floor, and food on the counter did not.

She dropped her bag on the end of the counter. “Is this your mac & cheese or Maria’s?” She picked up a blue plastic fork that sported a pink Disney princess handle and dug into the serving dish on the granite island.

“Mine.”

“Oh, Jeremy. I adore your mac and cheese.” Nikki practically moaned with pleasure. “I love the Gruyère in it. I can’t believe your kids will eat this.”

“I ply them with the bacon and sneak the Gruyère in,” he explained. “I made dinner
and
did the art projects.” He pointed to a kids’ table covered with watercolor paintings. A glass of murky water with paintbrushes protruding from it still stood there.

“Impressive, you Super Daddy, you.”

“Maria’s gone to a wedding in Arizona. Remember? We’re roughing it this week without her, hence the mess.” He opened his arms, as if she hadn’t already noticed it. “And my preoccupation this week. I’m really sorry that we haven’t had a chance to talk about the murder.” He began to collect dirty plates off the counter and rinse them in the sink before adding them to the dishwasher. “How are you? How’s Jess?”

She sighed between mouthfuls of lukewarm macaroni smothered in cheese, flavored with just a hint of smoky bacon. “I’m fine. She’s fine. Back to what we were talking about.” She motioned with the princess fork. “Answer my question. Do you really feel like you know me? I mean, do you know me well enough to know I would never commit murder?”

“Ah, hell, what’s Victoria done now?”

She laughed. Her initial starvation staved, she plucked a dried macaroni noodle off a stool, dropped it in the trash can in the middle of the floor, and sat down. “I didn’t kill Mother. Not yet. Now, Mother?” She waved the fork. “I can’t say for sure
she
wouldn’t kill someone. You know, to protect me. Maybe some of my siblings. Not Harrison.”

He cringed. “Harrison in trouble again?”

She closed her eyes. “Don’t ask.”

“Okay, so Victoria. Yes, she would kill, but she’d be smart enough to not get caught.” He poured juice from a sippy cup into the sink.

Jeremy and Marissa’s children were twelve, nine and three. Two girls and a boy. She had always wanted to ask him why a third child, once the first two were older, but she’d never figured out how to word it without sounding childless and judgmental. Marissa’s breast cancer was discovered while she was pregnant with Katie. She had refused treatment until after the little girl was born. Her sacrifice had likely cost her her life. Marissa had been such a good person that Nikki felt small in her shadow, sometimes. It was a hard feeling to fight.

“But you don’t think I would kill?”

He grimaced, but didn’t answer.

“Jeremy, what I’m asking is, do you think that maybe we don’t
really
know people, even the people we
think
we know?”

He looked at her through half-closed, confused eyes. “I have no idea what we’re talking about or why, so I’m pretty sure I’ll say entirely the wrong thing here and not get to make out with you.”

“There isn’t a wrong answer.” She licked the princess fork, choosing to ignore the making out bit, even though she liked it. This was a side of Jeremy she hadn’t seen in a long time. Maybe he really
was
getting used to his new life, without Marissa. He had promised Nikki he would get there eventually, but it would take time.

“It’s just that Rob was telling me today that you never know people, not inside,” she explained. “He thinks any one of us could potentially kill another human being.”

“Does he think Jessica had something to do with Rex March’s death?”

“No. Of course not. The police are saying now that he wasn’t even killed in her apartment.”

“So, she hasn’t been charged?”

Nikki shook her head. “I don’t think they
can
charge her, even though they’d probably like to, just so they have someone to splash all over the front pages. But he wasn’t killed in her apartment, they don’t have a murder weapon, and Rob told me on the down low that some cops were talking this morning about how they think Rex’s body was refrigerated.”

“Since the plane crash?” he asked incredulously.

“No!” She thought about it for a second. That idea had never occurred to her. Surely a person couldn’t keep a body refrigerated for six months? But she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought to ask Rob that question. She just assumed Rex had been killed recently. “I don’t think he’s been dead
that
long.” She got off the stool and walked around to Jeremy’s side of the island, taking her fork with her. “How long can a body stay good in a refrigerator?”

He continued to load the dishwasher. “Don’t ask me. I’m the tooth and gums guy.”

She rinsed off her fork. “Okay, so final answer. Do you think I could kill a man?”

He took the fork from her and dropped it in the dishwasher. “Nope. You don’t have a mean bone in your body.” He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “But you do have some fine other parts.”

She grinned, looking into his gaze. “So what’s going on here?”

“What?”

She slid her arms over his shoulders, looking up at him. “You know what. This.” She pressed her hips against his, hitting the bingo button just right.

It was his turn to grin. “I don’t know.”

She studied him carefully. “Does this mean our celibacy is coming to an end?”

After Marissa died, their relationship had gotten hot and heavy pretty quickly, but then, fearing it was based on grief and a shared love of Junior Mints, he’d insisted he and Nikki slow things down. That had translated to no sex. She’d understood completely; that didn’t mean she liked the idea.

“I don’t know. I guess I had a good week. Maria was gone.” He let go of her and went back to filling the dishwasher. “And the house didn’t cave in on us. Everyone ate, bathed, got to school on time. Almost on time.” He smiled at her. “I’m feeling good.”

“I’m glad.” She tried not to be disappointed that he’d traded her warm, willing body for dirty dishes. “So do you think Rob’s right?” She grabbed a plastic container from under the counter and began to fill it with the leftover mac and cheese. “I’ve been thinking there’s no way Edith would have had anything to do with this. Or even Thompson, at least at first glance. Because I know them. But could anyone in Rex’s life be his killer?”

“You’re not serious about this, are you? You really shouldn’t be getting involved.”

“I’m not getting
involved
.” She lowered the dirty casserole dish into the sink and turned the water on. “I’m just keeping my eye out for Jessica’s best interests. Someone is obviously trying to frame her for Rex’s murder and I won’t let it happen.”

“Well, I still think you should leave this to the police.” He squirted dish soap into the running water. “But Jessica couldn’t have a better person on her side.”

Chapter 13

M
onday morning Nikki met a potential client, taking with her a comparative market analysis. Over coffee and croissants
au chocolat,
she broke the news to the young pop diva and her assistant that if she sold her Malibu home right now, it would be at a loss, considering what she paid for it three years ago, and what the market would bear today. It had been a downer for both of them; the singer owed more on the property than Nikki could possibly list it for. She had agreed to think it over, but Nikki feared she’d just shop for a different real estate agent, searching until she found someone with fewer honesty genes.

By the time Nikki made it into the office, it was after eleven. Jessica hadn’t made it in yet. Nikki tracked her down at a posh Beverly Hills spa. Jessica’s reasoning was that if the bosses weren’t going to let her work, what was the point in coming
to
work? Nikki reminded her about her past-due AmEx payment. Jessica conveniently found herself getting another call and had to disconnect.

Then, while on hold with the bank because of their denial of a client’s preapproved loan, Nikki found some packing tape and boxed up the Bristol Farms gourmet crackers that had been sitting under her desk for over a week. Nikki didn’t know how she got herself into these things. Victoria had insisted Nikki buy the crackers to send to her half sister, Celeste, Victoria’s daughter by her fourth husband. Nikki had argued that New York City
had
crackers, but had given in on day three of her mother’s running monologue about
said
crackers. Nikki had found the Bristol Farms crackers and bought them, but then Rex had gotten himself killed a second time, Jessica was in the process of being framed, and Nikki had been too busy to stand in line at the post office.

With the box ready to go, Nikki snagged a bottle of water from the break-room fridge and sat down to look over the daily hot sheet. It was a report put out by the Multiple Listing Service that showed new listings, status changes, and price changes for all the properties for sale in the L.A. area. Jessica usually just skimmed through it. She had an amazing head for numbers and remembered prices, and not only of the current properties, but what they had gone for the last time they were sold. Nikki was a slower learner; she tried to make a point of looking over the hot sheet every day.

Over the weekend, several interesting properties had gone up for sale. There was a new listing on Benedict Canyon Drive, and one in Beverly Hills Flats, and the price had dropped dramatically on a celebrity’s house on the beach in Malibu. It was very important with their clientele that celebrity buyers’ and sellers’ names were kept confidential, but it was just a game. In Hollywood, there were few secrets, including who was buying and selling and who had lost their ass in the process.

Nikki also found on the hot sheet several new listings for luxury condos. The first time she looked through the list, nothing really stood out; it was business as usual. But on her second pass over the properties just reduced, something caught her eye, something she couldn’t believe she missed before.

Less than a week before Rex March was murdered, a luxury corner condo on Wilshire had gone up for sale. The place on the nineteenth floor of the office-to-residential conversion on Wilshire Drive just west of downtown L.A. was a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1768-square-foot condo with amazing floor-to-ceiling windows and a gourmet kitchen. Nikki knew for a fact that the view of the city was impressive because she had once attended a cocktail party there. It belonged to Thompson Christopher.

Nikki picked up her phone and hit Jessica on her speed dial.

“Nik, I’m so glad you’re there,” Jessica said when she answered the phone, not giving Nikki a chance to speak. “I was just talking with Alicia, you know, Godfrey Hearst’s wife, and she and her husband are in the market for something more spacious. She’d love us to come out and have a look at their place on Doheny.”

Nikki could tell by the tone of Jessica’s voice that she was still with Mrs. Hearst.

“We were thinking maybe tomorrow,” Jessica said. “She’d like to see some properties in Holmby Hills; she likes the place near Aaron Spelling’s. But she’s totally open to our suggestions. Something in the eighty mil range,” she added casually.

Nikki shook her head in disbelief. This was the third new client Jessica had picked up since she’d found Rex dead in her apartment a week ago. Death certainly hadn’t been good for Rex, but it was doing amazing things for Jessica’s client list. Shoot, at this rate, she’d be applying for a black AmEx card in no time.

“Tomorrow works. Set it up.”

“You haven’t got anything on your calendar tomorrow?” Jessica asked sweetly.

“Nothing that I can’t change for Mrs. Hearst,” Nikki answered with equal sweetness.

“Great.”

Jessica must have then lowered the phone because her voice got quieter. “One o’clock will be super, Alicia. We’ll bring our laptop, show you a couple of ideas we have, and then maybe go for a drive.”

Nikki heard another female voice, but she couldn’t make out the words.

“You too, Alicia. See you tomorrow.” Jessica chuckled as her voice got louder. “And you thought I was just sitting on my duff getting a pedicure, didn’t you?”

Nikki had to smile. “I don’t know why Downy thinks you should ever come into the office. You should just go from spa to spa.”

“
There’s
an idea. I think you should bring it up next time we meet with him to discuss sales goals.”

“I’ll certainly bring it up.” Nikki unscrewed the cap on the water bottle and eased off her pumps under her desk. “Hey, listen. Did you see that Thompson Christopher put his place on Wilshire up for sale?”

“And he didn’t call us? What a prick!”

“So you didn’t know?”

“I knew there was a new listing on Wilshire. That was Thompson’s? The corner condo listed with Wong for $980,000?”

“The very same.” Nikki sipped her water. “It went on the market October first and it was reduced this morning to 950.”

“So he stood right there at the party the other night and chatted like we were his best buddies and he had already listed his place with Wong? Pretty nervy.”

Nikki tapped the keyboard on her laptop and ran a search for the property. The Wong agency had a great website featuring videos of many of their properties, something Windsor was doing, but not as well yet. “Why do you think he’s selling, Jess? He’s owned it less than two years.”

“I suppose because he’s pretty much living with Edith. I know you like him, but he’s got a reputation for going for the older ladies. With money. He’s selling his condo so he can live off Edith’s money instead of his own. Did you get lunch? I’m craving a burger. I think I’ll stop at In & Out on my way to the office. I’m going to be as big as a house if I don’t stop eating those things. You want something?”