Hounds Abound (20 page)

On my way back to HotRescues a while later, I thought
again about how the concept of money provided a reason for people to kill.

Notwithstanding Bella’s frequent disclaimers and my hopes, her innocence wasn’t conclusive. Not at all.

I had managed to ask briefly about how easy it had been for her to get permits to open Save’Em. She’d indicated she had done what she had to but hadn’t elaborated. That suggested she’d done as Matt had said and perhaps gone a bit too far, by bribing people.

Even if she had, that didn’t mean she had murdered Miles—but it did mean she wouldn’t just give up if something was important to her.

To stop their fighting over money, to make sure she retained rights to their real property and didn’t have to pay back her half of their cash and stocks, would she have killed?

The money had been needed to save not only dear little Soozle, but all the animals at Save’Em and those to come.

Would Miles’s relatives have killed him instead so they could inherit what he had left—and the right to fight with Bella for the rest? If not, they still could have had other reasons.

What about the Traymores? Not only money was involved but revenge, too. Fighting over medical and other expenses could have been part of the reason one of them had killed Miles.

Miles’s coworkers at the plastic surgery clinic? Money and emotions could have been involved there as well.

Kip, to help Bella financially and get her ex out of her life once and for all? That would be another reason he’d want me to butt out.

Who else was there—someone I didn’t yet know about? Someone I knew of whom I hadn’t yet recognized as a list-heading murder suspect?

I didn’t know. But I did know that my own determination to figure this out was stronger than ever.

I only hoped I wouldn’t come to regret it.

I entered some notes into my computer files as soon as I got back to my office, to memorialize the things my mind had obsessed over on the ride back here.

Staring almost unseeing at Zoey lying on the rug beside me, I considered the order of suspects. Once again, I thought of what I’d learned from Stefan Garciana when the detective had entered me at the top of his suspect list and let me dangle there for a long time: Be sure to consider those you think least likely to have done it. In his eyes, that hadn’t been me—but it was his method of investigating.

What about Miles’s family? His brothers and sister-in-law were apparently making more waves now with Bella. I had put them toward the bottom of those I thought likely to have killed Miles—but that was before learning about their pursuit of his money.

I wanted to get together with all of them so I could make a better determination of how they’d felt about their brother—and whether they were happier now that he was gone.

I could have suggested such a gathering to Bella when I’d been at Save’Em before, but I’d been so involved in getting to know Soozle and her situation that I hadn’t focused on it.

Now, though, I called Bella and recruited her to invite her ex-in-laws to join us for coffee, today if possible. She in turn was to call them with the excuse of wanting to talk about their current monetary standoff without lawyers involved. Maybe they could make headway on their own. She wasn’t to mention I’d be along as an unofficial mediator—and just as unofficial an inquisitor.

They’d agreed as long as we met in a neutral location. Surprisingly, perhaps, they were all available at three that afternoon. Did their prompt agreement mean they were hopeful, too, of reaching some kind of accord?

If they knew of my ulterior motive, they probably wouldn’t have been so agreeable.

On the phone once more before I headed out, I asked Bella a few telling questions about her three former relatives, their lifestyles, and how they had all gotten along together—before. Then, I was ready.

By design, Bella and I met there first. The place was a chain coffee shop in Burbank, filled as most of them are with people with expensive drinks either working diligently on computers or having earnest conversations.

Not my lifestyle, but it obviously worked for a lot of folks.

Bella got there before me and commandeered a fair-sized table in a corner. She had donned an obviously expensive gray suit, as if she were confronting the group in a lawyer’s office. That went against my suggestion that she dress casually, as I had—a nice cotton shirt and dark slacks. I’d also said she should act casual, too—unless, as we talked, my attitude changed.

I said hi to her, ordered my drink at the counter—brewed coffee, no room for cream—then joined her.

“You ready for this?” I asked.

She nodded, then took a swig from her cup as if it contained something a lot stronger than a mocha latte.

She had already told me none of the Frankovicks was financially strapped or even in any real need of inheriting something from Miles. Apparently the fight was more of a memorial to Miles than a play for money.

“Tell me again where the furniture shop owned by Brewster and Eleanor is located?” The way she had described it, it was well established and popular among residents of its nice Pasadena neighborhood, so it hadn’t been affected much by the recent economic downturn. The other brother, Edson, was in marketing at a major film studio and was apparently well paid.

By the time Bella had finished telling me the store’s location, we were near the time the Frankovick crowd was due to arrive. “Do they tend to be prompt?” I asked.

“Not always.”

“Good. Now tell me about their home lives. Do they
have kids? Pets? Did you get along with them before Miles and you broke up?”

I’d gotten only a smattering of this before when we’d talked on the phone. Some of what Bella said was important, and some of it wasn’t.

I also threw out an idea that had been percolating in my mind, and Bella seemed receptive.

The Frankovicks did indeed arrive on time just a few minutes later. They appeared like a military battalion girding for war, with their grim expressions and taut stances as they remained close to one another while ordering their drinks.

They soon joined us. All of them glared from me to Bella, then back again, their question clear: Who the heck was this interloper?

“You may have met my friend Lauren at Miles’s memorial,” Bella said. “It may seem silly, but I brought her along for moral support since there are three of you and only one of me.”

They were all seated by then. None looked especially welcoming, but no one tried to boot me out, either.

“Let’s try to be honest,” I began. “Do you all hate Bella?”

Four pairs of shocked eyes lit on me—Bella’s included.

“If she killed my brother, I do,” Edson finally said through gritted teeth. He was the one with light eyes and gaunt features. He had dressed in business casual, with a turtleneck beneath his button-down shirt.

“I didn’t, Eddy.” Bella’s voice was low and sincere.

I looked at the married couple, Brewster and Eleanor, as
they glanced at one another. I couldn’t read their expressions, but thought that they were at least listening.

“Assuming that Bella didn’t hurt Miles—and I believe that’s true,” I said, “what do you think of Save Them All Sanctuary?” Bella had already told me that Brewster and Eleanor always kept at least one dog and a couple of cats around their upscale Pasadena home. Edson had a pet allergy and lived alone.

“I think it’s a worthwhile cause,” Eleanor said at once. She had been the one to snap at Bella at Miles’s service, so I found it interesting that she would be supportive now of Bella’s undertaking. I recalled likening her to a snake. Today, though, with her light hair loose around her face and her pink vest over a red shirt, she resembled a younger, hipper woman. Maybe that was who she tried to be in their furniture store.

I looked at Brewster. He nodded slightly. I still thought he resembled Miles physically, with his round face and loose skin beneath his chin, but I was willing to overlook that for now. “Do you have any pets?” I asked, knowing the answer—or at least what it had been before, when Bella had been part of the family.

“Yes, a couple of dogs and one cat now,” Brewster said. “They were all rescues.”

“You knew that Miles wanted Bella to shut down Save Them All Sanctuary?” I made my tone questioning.

Brewster nodded. “Our brother liked animals but thought a shelter like that just wasted money on trying to keep them alive past their time.”

“Is that what you think?” I looked from one to the other, not meeting Bella’s gaze. I couldn’t focus on her now.

“I don’t,” Eleanor said firmly.

“I heard a friend of yours, Bella—that vet, Vic Drammon—say that your shelter makes animals suffer.” Brewster looked steadily toward Bella.

I held my breath while she answered. She had to finesse this—make it sound like it wasn’t just her own opinion that what she was doing was worthwhile. “I heard Vic, too. I’ve talked to him and—well, we disagree with one another. I’ve checked with other vets including Dr. Carlie Stellan—you know, that really wonderful lady vet who has both an excellent clinic here in L.A. and also stars on the
Pet Fitness
show on the Longevity Vision cable channel?” She looked at the others, clearly trying to gauge if they’d heard of Carlie. All three nodded. “She’s filming a show at Save’Em that will demonstrate some of the good we’re doing. And—well, if you take up Miles’s argument, fight me for money and property that are rightly mine, I may not be able to keep Save’Em going.”

“Is that why you killed him?” Edson interjected.

Bella closed her moist blue eyes as if in pain. “I already said, Eddy, that I didn’t kill him. I’m sorry if you don’t believe me.”

“Okay, let’s diverge here, since you started it again,” I said. “Anyone at this table who killed Miles Frankovick, please raise your hand.”

Eleanor tossed an angry scowl toward me. I caught it and lobbed a similar one in her direction.

“Was it you?” I asked her.

“Of course not. You’re making it sound like a game.”

“No,” I said. “I just want us all to get beyond this point.” Maybe. I didn’t really expect any of Miles’s relatives to
admit to being a murderer. But on the other hand, I did look from one to the next to observe their expressions.

Not that I’m a lie detection professional or a shrink like Mona, but none appeared to be trying to hide a guilty look.

“So, any admissions here?” I pressed.

Brewster smiled wryly. “I don’t think so, Lauren. Bella’s already said she didn’t do it. Did you?”

“I hardly knew Miles,” I said. “I didn’t like his attitude about Save’Em, but I didn’t kill him, either. Okay, so no one here committed the crime—or at least will admit to it. Next item—who here wants to close down the very worthwhile Save Them All Sanctuary?”

Again no takers. “That isn’t our point,” Edson said. “We just feel that Miles’s last wishes should be upheld.”

“Then here’s a suggestion: Miles might have wanted to punish Bella for leaving him and taking money from their accounts. He claimed he didn’t want the money wasted. But none of you seems to be against Save’Em the way he was. How about working something out so that almost all of the money and property they argued about would go to Save’Em and not to Bella?” I’d already run the idea by Bella. She was fine with it, especially under the terms I was about to toss out for consideration.

I went through my plan. The bulk of the money would be put into a trust for the benefit of the sanctuary, and one of the trustees would either be Carlie or someone she suggested. The idea would be to make sure that the money wasn’t wasted but in this case was put to good use caring for special-needs animals. Not exactly what Miles had wanted, true, but the trust would be partly in his name, a memorial
to him that would make him look like a good guy. Plus, Save’Em would solicit donations from other sources.

Bella would get a fair salary and benefits as long as she remained chief administrator of Save’Em—which she intended to be forever. She couldn’t dip into the rest of the trust money except on behalf of the pets at the sanctuary, and then only if the trustees agreed. That way, she wasn’t growing rich from the money that perhaps rightly should have been half hers anyway, but it would at least be dedicated to the cause she loved. Besides, she did have some other money she had inherited from a dead aunt, so she wouldn’t starve.

No one completely won but the animals. No one completely lost, either.

“Interesting idea,” Eleanor said when I was through. “We’ll need to think about it, though. Run it by our lawyers.”

“Bella will, too.” I’d suggest that she run it not only past her divorce lawyer but also by Kendra Ballantyne, the lawyer—and pet-sitter—who was Dante DeFrancisco’s lady friend. She did a lot of pet law, so this might be something right up her alley.

We had all finished our drinks and our conversation.

“We’ll get back to you within the next few days and let you know our decision, Bella,” Edson said.

Bella scanned their faces, as did I. “Do you think you’re likely to agree?”

“Probably,” Eleanor said.

“But don’t hold us to that till you hear from us,” cautioned Brewster.