Page 16

Thirteen years ago

Two days after Derrick Bell’s murder

After the grandfather coaxed Lucia out of the hospital room with the promise of a blended iced coffee, Alice turned her attention to Noelle. The woman’s eyes were more alert and her posture better than the day before yesterday.

“I’m glad to hear you can leave the hospital,” said Alice.

“Are they sure your head will be okay?” asked Oscar in a cautious voice. “Brain injuries aren’t anything to fool around with.”

Alice turned to him, her gaze hard. “I’m sure the specialists know what they’re doing.”

“Whatever you say.” Oscar solemnly shook his head.

“No, whatever the doctors say,” said Alice, looking back at Noelle, who was closely watching the two of them.

“He’s definitely the pessimist of the two of you,” Noelle stated. “Do you feel like you have to constantly balance him out?” She looked at Alice in curiosity.

Psychology major.

“It’s fine,” said Alice, even more annoyed with Oscar for exposing a truth about their working relationship. “I bet you’re excited to go home ... well, go to your grandfather’s house. That’s what you’ll do, right?” she said hurriedly to change the subject.

Noelle eyed her for a long moment, clearly seeing that Alice didn’t want to talk about herself and Oscar. “I don’t think I can go back to Derrick’s house just yet.” She swallowed. “Do you know if ... if it’s been ...” Misery flashed on her face.

Derrick’s house? Not “our house”?

“It’s the right plan to go to your grandfather’s. Your home actually won’t be available for a while,” said Alice, realizing the woman couldn’t bring herself to ask if the murder scene had been cleaned.

It hadn’t.

The physical investigation continued. Alice and Oscar had made a quick trip though the home on Friday, and forensics had spent the day in the home yesterday, but Alice wanted to go through again, taking her time.

“Now that you’ve had some time to rest, do you remember anything else that happened on Friday? ”

Noelle leaned back against her large pile of pillows. “No. I’ve been trying. It’s hard with the pain in my head.”

“They haven’t given you something for pain?” asked Oscar.

“They’ve prescribed good stuff,” said Noelle. “But nothing fully takes the pain away. And the meds make it hard to focus, but I don’t know if my recall would be any better without them. I guess I could go off them for a while and see what happens.”

“Probably not a good idea,” said Alice. “You’ll be done with the medication soon enough.” The words were hard to say; Alice wanted answers now. But as the swelling went down, she hoped Noelle’s memory would fill in some holes.

Alice mentally reviewed her next questions.

It was important not to lead the witness—especially when their memory was faulty.

“Do you mind if we record this?” They hadn’t recorded their first interview with Noelle, and Alice hoped it wouldn’t cause a problem down the line.

She and Oscar had made careful notes immediately after leaving, and they were pretty confident they’d covered everything.

Noelle blinked and ran a hand through her hair. “No.”

Oscar started recording with his phone.

“Just to review, what do you remember from Friday?” Alice started.

Noelle’s answers were identical to those in their first interview. She apologized several times for not recalling more.

“What is your relationship to Brendon Simon?” asked Alice.

The woman’s eyes widened. “Brendon? What does he have to do with this?” Her voice rose.

“Your relationship?” Alice prodded.

“He’s my ex-husband. We were married for two months when I was eighteen.” Noelle pressed her lips together, looking from one agent to the other. “Why? Why are you asking about Brendon?”

“We’re just trying to get a view of the big picture,” said Oscar.

Her eyes narrowed. “Bullshit. What were you told about Brendon?”

“Do you keep in touch?” asked Alice.

Noelle looked at her for a long moment. “We do. We text occasionally. Meet in person every now and then.”

“What did your husband think of that?” asked Oscar.

“He hated it, of course. But if someone is insecure over an innocent friendship, that’s their problem, not mine.”

“Innocent friendship?” Alice pushed. “You were married. It didn’t last. Why?”

Noelle’s face was expressionless, but Alice felt her annoyance hover in the air.

“It didn’t last because we were both young and stupid.

We knew nothing about money or relationships.

It was doomed from day one. Once we got past blaming each other for being naive, we got along.

He’s now one of the people I could call in an emergency, and he’d drop whatever he’s doing and show up. ”

“Have you called him about this emergency?” asked Alice, gesturing at Noelle’s head.

“He knows.”

That’s not what I asked.

“He’s in a serious relationship,” Noelle said pointedly.

That’s not what I asked either.

“We’ll be getting records of your text messages from your cell provider,” said Alice.

Noelle held her gaze for a long moment. Then she picked up her cell phone, tapped it a few times, and handed it to Alice without saying a word.

Alice skimmed the text conversation between Noelle and Brendon.

Her ex-husband had texted several times starting late Friday night, begging to know if she was okay, stating he’d heard about the attack on the news.

Noelle hadn’t answered his texts until Saturday morning, explaining that she’d just gotten her phone.

Everything since then read as Alice would expect of an exchange between a concerned friend and a victim.

She scrolled up, looking at the messages from before Friday.

The last one was from three weeks before, Noelle sending him a happy-birthday text with several emoji. He’d thanked her.

Texts can be deleted.

But her wireless carrier will have records with all the time stamps.

Oscar pulled a piece of paper from his suit pocket and set it on Noelle’s lap. She picked it up and scowled as she skimmed the legalese. “You’re taking my phone,” she stated.

“Ask your grandfather to buy a temporary phone for you.”

“All my contacts are on that one.”

“We’ll bring in your laptop, and you can print them from that,” said Oscar.

“And then you’ll take the laptop.” Annoyance filled her tone.

“Correct. It’s a murder investigation and—” Alice started.

“And you need to eliminate me as a suspect,” Noelle finished.

She slumped back in her bed. “I get it. It just creates some inconveniences. I’m not complaining,” she added quickly.

“I want you to find who did this. I can live without my things. They just become an extension of you—a habit, you know?”

“We know,” said Alice, and then changed the topic. “Where does Brendon work?”

Noelle named the hospital they’d stopped at that morning.

Alice shook her head. “We went there. They said he left three months ago.”

Surprise crossed Noelle’s face. “Then I don’t know. Why would he not tell me that?” Hurt flickered in her eyes.

Oscar asked about the address they had for Brendon.

“I assume that’s his address,” said Noelle. “I’ve never been to his home, but I know that’s the part of town he lives in. We’ve only met up in restaurants or at Starbucks,” she said pointedly.

“His girlfriend doesn’t mind your contact?” asked Alice.

“You’d have to ask her. All I know is her name is Isabella and they met at the hospital—the one you said he no longer works at.” The hurt flickered again.

“Do you know if Derrick ever spoke with Brendon?” Alice watched her closely. She was forming an opinion that Noelle was sharp and observant. Even under the influence of painkillers. Everything she’d said had felt true to Alice, but sometimes the sharp ones were the expert liars and manipulators.

“They met about a year ago,” said Noelle. “We were out to dinner, and Brendon and Isabella walked by as they were being led to a table. Brendon spotted me and stopped. It was brief and awkward for everyone.”

“What did Derrick say about that meeting?”

Noelle thought. “He said, ‘ That’s the guy you married?’” Disdain filled her tone. “He didn’t give a reason for saying it like that, and I tried not to let it annoy me. He knew we married too young. His comment was unnecessary.”

“Obviously his comment stuck with you,” said Alice.

“It did,” she agreed. “That’s the only time I’m aware of that they met.”

“How was Derrick’s relationship with his parents?” asked Oscar.

Noelle studied him, and Alice could almost see the gears turning in her head.

“They all loved each other very much, and Derrick was close to both of them. I know he missed working with his father after he was elected.”

The answer was evenly paced and devoid of emotion.

Still trying for the best daughter-in-law prize?

“Have you heard from his family?” asked Alice.

She paused. “Lora texted. His parents must be absolutely destroyed with grief. I’m sure I’ll hear from them later.”

Alice noted she didn’t mention Derrick’s brother.

“What else can I do to help you?” Noelle asked, including Oscar in her question.

A subtle change of topic.

“Information on life insurance, bank and investment accounts, and Derrick’s recent activities would be good,” said Alice.

Noelle nodded, her brows moving together as she thought. “His assistant, Jon, will have a daily calendar of Derrick’s meetings and such. I’ll see what I can figure out about bank accounts.” She frowned. “I don’t think there is life insurance on him. If there is, I’m unaware of it.”

“No life insurance?” Oscar sounded surprised.

Noelle shrugged. “He said he had plenty of money. If he died, I wouldn’t be lacking for funds. There was no point in buying insurance to get some more.”

“Did he have insurance on you?” asked Alice.

Noelle jerked back slightly, apparently never having considered the question. “Not that I know of. Why would he? He’s wealthy.”

“You seemed uncertain when you mentioned bank accounts,” said Alice, pleased to start addressing money. In her experience, murder motivation usually boiled down to one of two things. Sex or money.

Who would gain financially from Derrick’s death?

The woman in front of her seemed the most likely. But Alice would dig into his family.

Noelle took a deep breath. “We had a joint checking account and investment account. The rest of the accounts were solely his. I assume I’m the beneficiary on them.” She grimaced. “I shouldn’t assume anything,” she added.

Alice wondered if the sad look in her eyes was from the loss of her husband or what appeared to be a lack of information from him.

“I’ll get you whatever I can find,” Noelle stated.

“Who else did he have financial dealings with?” asked Alice. “Shared business ventures? Investments in start-ups?”

Noelle looked to one side. “I don’t know,” she said softly.

“We didn’t have many conversations about money.

I didn’t feel it was my place to ask what he was doing with the money he already had when we married.

His father or brother might know.” She looked back to Alice and frowned.

“I sound like a nineteen fifties housewife. But I’m not, I swear.

I put myself through school and paid it off.

I know how to manage money. With Derrick—” She paused.

“He had his spending money, and I had mine.”

“So you also had your own accounts completely separate from his?” asked Oscar.

“Yes. And credit cards.”

“Why did you quit your bartending job?” Alice tossed the question into the room.

Confusion and reluctance flashed in Noelle’s eyes. She lifted her chin. “I no longer needed to work.”

Alice sat on the corner of Noelle’s hospital bed. “You worked hard,” she said softly. “You were respected there, and I suspect you enjoyed the environment.”

“I did. But it was just a bartending job.” She shrugged and picked at the white hospital blanket. “What was the point of staying? I didn’t need to.”

A silence stretched.

“He didn’t want you to stay on, did he?” Alice’s tone was matter-of-fact.

“It wasn’t a good look for a politician’s wife.” Noelle was very earnest. “I wanted to do everything I could to help him succeed. He loved politics, thrived on the challenge, and wanted to do good for his community. It was a small sacrifice—not even a sacrifice—to help him out.”

Alice felt as if she’d just heard a frequently rehearsed argument.

I wonder who it originated with? Catherine or Derrick?

Noelle had probably stated it dozens of times.

Alice felt an affinity for the woman and admired how perceptive Noelle was.

A valuable quality, in Alice’s opinion. But had Noelle allowed her husband’s wants and dreams to push hers out of the way?

Not that being a bartender was Noelle’s dream, but Alice suspected being a smiling political wife wasn’t either.

But somehow, she’d slid into the role.

“I saw my independent girl slowly change into a quiet one over the last few years.”

Noelle’s grandfather’s words. Alice wondered what had made Noelle decide to change who she was.

“That was nice of you—to sacrifice that for your husband,” Oscar stated. He sounded sincere, but Alice had no doubt that Noelle’s claim bothered him as much as it bothered her.

So what if Noelle quit her job?

This isn’t getting us any closer to finding a killer.