“Edie, probably,” I said. “They don’t have kids.”
Alex continued. “The last call I have on Miles’s cell for that night was an incoming. It was right after the call to Edie ended. From one of Brent Farmington’s numbers.”
“And I got him.” Michelle held up Alex’s phone. “Brent Farmington is Aubrey’s aide.”
“Sounds like that’s who Aubrey was looking for,” I said.
Michelle passed me Alex’s phone. “He looks like the serious type.”
A LinkedIn photo showed a sharp-featured man in his thirties with slicked-back hair and wire-framed glasses. I thought about the timing of those phone calls-and the order. Aubrey to Brent. Aubrey to Edie. Brent to Aubrey. I gave the phone back to Michelle and looked at the monitor over Alex’s shoulder. “Seems like Aubrey actually talked to Edie, and right after that, Brent called him.”
Michelle raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it kind of late to be looking for his aide?”
I flopped down on the couch. “Definitely. But you saw him on that video. He was in a panic. If we’re right, if he did kill Marc, he needed help with… something ASAP, and he couldn’t exactly ask Edie. ‘Hi, honey, I was having a threesome and got into it with the other guy and killed him. Can you give me a hand?’”
Alex stared at the monitor. “The timing of the calls is awfully tight. Brent called Aubrey almost immediately after Aubrey spoke to Edie.”
“You think Brent and Edie were together?” Michelle asked.
I shrugged. “Not necessarily. Brent might’ve just happened to notice his missed calls right after Aubrey talked to Edie. Or maybe Edie called Brent right after she spoke to Aubrey, and Brent finally picked up.”
Michelle looked skeptical. “Heck of a coincidence.”
Alex shook his head. “According to the book, there’s no such thing as coincidence.”
I shot him a dagger. “Really? The book? Now?”
Alex held up his hands. “You say it, too.”
That was true. Irritating, but true. “Whatever. But if they were together, that’s an interesting wrinkle.” It was pretty late for Edie to be hanging with her husband’s aide.
Michelle nodded. “They could just be friends. Maybe went to a late movie or something.”
“I suppose.” Stranger things have happened-like meeting your father for the first time when he’s charged with a double homicide. In any case, that was a dead end for now. We had no way to find out tonight if or why Edie had been with Brent. “However it happened, Aubrey connected with Brent.”
Michelle looked down at the photo of Brent on Alex’s phone. “So Brent’s in the middle of this.”
I nodded and went back to pacing. I’d been thinking about why Aubrey would need to call him. If my theory was right-that he’d killed Marc during the fight in the living room and dragged his body into the ocean-then there was only one reason I could think of for him to call someone. And it fit with what was on the camera footage. “We saw Paige follow them out of the bedroom, and when she came back, she was freaked. She grabbed her purse and ran. She had to have seen the murder. My guess is, Aubrey was worried she’d call the cops-”
Michelle frowned. “So he told Brent to go kill her? I don’t know-”
“Not necessarily kill her.” I paused at the window and looked out at the night sky. “I’d guess he just asked Brent to go talk her down and keep her off the phone until he could get there.”
Alex shrugged. “Then really, either of them could’ve killed Paige… and Chloe.”
Michelle gave me a stern look. “And I’m sure the police will be glad to take it from here, so-”
I shook my head. “Michy, these guys aren’t street-corner dealers. They’re smart. They’ve probably already put some kind of story together. Hell, I can think of one right now: Brent never got to Paige’s place-or he got there and no one was home. And Aubrey’s going to say he only called Brent to go calm Paige down and that Marc and Paige took off together after the fight.”
Alex gave Michelle an apologetic look. “She’s right.” He sighed. “But we’re not going to get anything out of Aubrey.”
I had to agree. “No, that’s probably hopeless. But Brent…”
Michelle looked from Alex to me. “If you’re thinking you’re going to confront either of those guys, you’re out of your friggin’-”
I waved her off. “Of course not.”
Not yet, anyway.
SIXTY-ONE
Alex had gone to clean up in the kitchen. When he came back to the living room, he had his cell phone to his ear. “Just thought I’d check in with the answering service.”
We hadn’t picked up our messages since the fire. “Anything exciting?”
“Just the usual bazillion messages from the press. Some nice personal condolences from Brittany and Edie about the fire. And of course, they wanted your reaction to Storm’s death.”
Edie. That was interesting. “Can you give me Edie’s number?” He read it off to me as I tapped it into my phone.
Michelle’s brow furrowed. “You’re not going to ask her if she was with Brent that night, are you? Because I don’t think-”
“Yeah, right. ‘Hey, Edie, what’s new? By any chance, are you banging your husband’s aide?’” I rolled my eyes. “But she might have some inside information on Storm’s death.”
Alex held up a hand. “Maybe it’s not so smart to make contact. What if she knows about the murders?”
I shook my head. “I can’t see Aubrey telling her anything.” He’d have to trust Edie not to turn him in-or at the very least, not go for a divorce that could get very nasty. I hit the last number and listened to the phone ring. Just when I thought it was going to go to voice mail, Edie answered. She sounded hurried and irritable. “Yes?”
“Hey, it’s Samantha…”
There was a long pause. When she spoke, her voice sounded brittle and a little high-pitched. “Samantha! Hey! I was just thinking about you. You okay?” I told her I was. “Such bad news about Storm.”
Sounds of traffic and loud voices filled the background. “Yeah. Are you covering the story?”
She spoke in a breathless rush. “I am now. They pulled me off a car chase in Pasadena. I had to slog through rush-hour traffic. Took me two hours to get here. Anyway, you want to give me a comment?”
“On what?”
“Anything. On your situation, on Storm. I could send a crew out if you want to get on camera?”
“No crew, but thanks. No comment on the fire. They have no leads. As for Storm, how about, ‘This is a terrible tragedy, and my sincere condolences go out to all his friends and family.’”
“What about the case? Doesn’t this put a big dent in your defense?”
“No comment on the case. Sorry.”
“Okay, off the record, then. What did he tell you? It sounded like he was going to be your ace in the hole.”
I couldn’t see any reason not to tell her. The video was what mattered, and I wouldn’t tell anyone about that until we called the cops. “Actually, he just said that he saw Paige and a young guy heading to Malibu on the night she died.”
“But wait… didn’t he say his testimony would prove Paige was the target? How does that prove anything? She might’ve just been giving him a ride.”
“Yeah. He got a little carried away. Wanted to make his fifteen minutes last.” I took a beat. This had to sound casual. “What are you hearing about the accident? Are they sure that’s what it was?”
Edie paused, and I heard police in the background shouting for people to get back. “Seems so. One of the first officers said they were looking for signs that he’d been pushed off the road, but so far no one’s saying they’ve found anything.”
“Okay, thanks. Well, if you hear any-”
She broke in, her voice rushed. “I’ll keep you posted. Studio’s calling. I’ve gotta go.”