Page 26

Four days after Derrick Bell’s murder

“It’s too fucking early,” groaned Oscar for the fifth time.

“It’s not helping yet,” he muttered as he took three big swallows.

She pulled over and parked in front of the home that had been empty on their first visit. Today there was a small truck in the driveway. “Got him.”

“Yay,” Oscar said flatly. He took another swallow and got out of the car.

Alice joined him, and they approached the door together.

She knocked as Oscar pushed the button on the doorbell camera.

Alice fought to be patient. Glancing around the neighborhood, she noticed a woman in running gear walking two French bulldogs on the other side of the street.

She stared back at Alice, a frown on her face.

Alice waved.

The woman looked away and continued her walk.

“Neighbors taking notice,” she said quietly.

“That’s because sane people don’t knock on doors at six a.m.,” grumbled Oscar.

The other reason Alice had pushed for this time was that something had jumped out at her in the downloaded bank records they’d received last night.

After leaving the forensic team to go through the Bell mansion’s tossed office and primary suite, they’d received several subpoenaed bank records and phone records.

She’d been exhausted after the long day of interviews and the discovery of the mess at the mansion but had perked up when she learned they’d received Noelle’s, Derrick’s, and their immediate family members’ bank statements.

To Oscar’s dismay, she’d immediately dived in.

“Go home and sleep if you want,” Alice had told him as she scrolled through Lucia’s sole bank account.

She’d decided to look first through the least complicated instead of tackling some of the Bell accounts.

Each person in the Bell family easily had a dozen accounts, while the Marshalls’ were much fewer.

“I’ll stay,” Oscar had said in his Eeyore voice.

Alice had already finished with six months of Lucia’s statements and moved on to Eve’s, which were the second least complicated. “Start with Derrick Bell’s,” she requested.

A minute later Oscar groaned. “You gave me his accounts on purpose. This will take forever.”

“I did. Enjoy.”

Hours later, the agents had made a list of several interesting things that needed follow-up. And one of those things involved Brendon Simon.

Oscar pressed the doorbell camera button again.

“Can I help you?” A tinny male voice sounded from the doorbell. “You know it’s six a.m., right?”

Alice held her ID in front of the camera. “Mr. Simon? We’d like to talk to you about Noelle and Derrick Bell.”

There was a long pause. “It’s six a.m.,” he repeated.

“Well, you weren’t here when we stopped by the other night. Excuse us for not making an appointment. This shouldn’t take long.” She hoped.

“Give me a minute. I’m still in bed.”

They waited several minutes.

“What’s he doing?” asked Oscar. “Taking a shower?”

The door finally opened a few inches, and Brendon Simon studied the two of them.

His hair stuck up on one side, and his T-shirt looked like he’d picked it up off the floor.

“Can I see your ID again?” They held out their IDs, which he studied without touching either one.

“Is Noelle all right?” he asked, opening the door wide.

“Didn’t she text you that she’s okay?” asked Alice.

“Yeah, but I know she had a head injury. Is she still in the hospital?”

“Can we come in?” Alice asked.

Brendon paused for a moment but opened the door wider and stepped back.

Alice moved inside. “Thank you.” Under the messy hair and wrinkled clothes, it was apparent that Brendon Simon focused on fitness. His muscles rippled as he led the agents to a table in the kitchen nook. A coffee maker rumbled, fresh coffee streaming into the pot.

That’s why he took so long to answer the door.

He grabbed a mug out of a cupboard as the agents sat. “Coffee?”

“Please,” said Oscar. “Black.”

“Same for me,” said Alice, who wasn’t interested in coffee but had been taught that it was rude to turn down an offered beverage in someone’s home. A minute later he set three mugs on the table.

“How is Noelle?” he asked as he sat.

With the early-morning sun streaming in the windows, Alice noticed he had startlingly blue eyes. He ran a hand through his mussed hair, and she abruptly knew one of the reasons Derrick Bell did not like Brendon Simon. The man was attractive.

“Still has some memory issues,” said Alice. “Doctors are hopeful that she’ll get her short-term memory back but won’t make promises.”

Brendon nodded thoughtfully and sipped his coffee.

“Do you talk to her much?” asked Alice.

The man shrugged. “The occasional text. Mostly just a ‘How’s it going?’ type thing. We’ve met for coffee to catch up a couple times.”

“You two divorced,” said Oscar. “But you keep in touch?”

“Weird, right? She’s a good person. Was very supportive when I went to rehab after our marriage.”

Rehab?

Brendon raised a brow as he looked from Oscar to Alice.

“Your expressions tell me you didn’t know that.

I figured you’d turned my history inside out after her husband was murdered and you learned I still talk to Noelle.

” He paused and fiddled with his coffee cup.

“Gambling. Haven’t touched it in years.”

“Congratulations. That’s not easy,” said Alice, truly meaning it. Beating addiction took strength.

“I assume you want to know where I was at some date and time?”

“Thursday evening to Friday morning,” said Oscar.

“I was at work most of that time. I work graveyard.”

“Where?”

He named a big hospital in town.

“Noelle told us a different hospital.”

Brendon frowned. “I could have sworn I told her I switched hospitals. I get more money and better benefits now, but I’ll be on graveyard for a while.

Maybe she forgot?” He wrinkled his forehead, concern in his eyes.

“Think it’s from her injury? We’ve had coffee since I moved, so I must have told her. ” He paused. “I think.”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Alice, wondering the same about Noelle’s memory. “We’ll confirm your shift with your employer. Did anyone see you in the hours before or after your shift? I assume you worked eleven to seven?”

“I did ... let me think.” Brendon stared into his coffee cup. “Isabella wasn’t here. She only stays over the nights I’m off, or I go to her place.”

“Did you go to a restaurant?” asked Alice. “Buy gas? Did a neighbor pop in?”

“Might have gotten gas. Let me check my credit card account.” He opened his phone.

“Is the truck in the driveway your only vehicle?” asked Oscar.

Brendon looked up. “Yeah. Why?”

“Mind if I take a look at it?”

“Go ahead.”

Oscar stood and held out a hand. “Keys?”

Brendon didn’t move, still gripping his phone.

“I promise not to steal it,” said Oscar.

A resigned look crossed his face and Brendon stretched to reach a drawer behind him and pulled out a key fob. He handed it to Oscar. “Lock it up.” He turned his attention back to his phone.

Alice appreciated Oscar’s maneuver, asking for permission to “look” before asking for the keys. She knew he’d check the vehicle for an insurance tracking device and anything odd.

“I got gas that Thursday,” said Brendon.

“I know I did it on the way to work because it’s just a few blocks from the hospital, so that would have been a bit before eleven.

After my shift, I went straight home. I usually crash for a few hours right away.

I need that sleep. Can’t think of anyone I saw after I left the hospital that morning.

” He met Alice’s gaze as he set down his phone.

“Thanks. We can check the gas station’s cameras.” She looked at her map app. The hospital and Brendon’s home were more than forty-five minutes from the Bells’ home. Assuming cameras and shift clockings confirmed his presence, he was covered for their current window of time.

But she knew that window was an estimate; Brendon Simon’s movements didn’t rule him out.

“I didn’t kill Derrick Bell,” he said quietly. “The only time I met him was during a brief chat in a restaurant. And I remember wishing we hadn’t crossed paths.”

“We’re doing our due diligence. Crossing people off our list. Why do you wish you hadn’t met him?” she asked.

“It was just a weird situation. I could tell Noelle was uncomfortable, and it made Isabella feel awkward. You gotta put on a happy face, you know? Pretend like you don’t care who an ex is seeing now.”

“Are you saying you care?”

He leaned on his forearms, a half smile on his face. “Only in a friendly way. Noelle landed in a good situation, and I’m happy if she’s happy. Derrick is a bit slick, but he has to be in his job. Just bugs me. I hate it when people act overly happy and interested in you. It’s fake.”

Alice knew what he meant.

The front door opened and closed, and Oscar appeared. He handed over the key fob. “It’s locked.”

“Anything interesting?” asked Brendon with a touch of sarcasm.

“You buy a lot of energy drinks.”

Brendon snorted. “Isabella hates that I go through so many of them. And she really hates that I toss the empties behind my seat.” He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug.

Alice studied Oscar’s expression. He met her gaze but offered no reaction.

Nothing of note.

“We’ve been reviewing bank statements,” began Alice.

“And you want to know why Noelle gave me nine thousand dollars three months ago,” Brendon finished.

“That’s correct.” A few large sums had been transferred out of Noelle’s account over the last six months. The one to Brendon was the largest. Alice had checked two years’ worth of Brendon’s records, but that appeared to be the only transfer he’d received from her.

“Don’t you think that if Noelle wanted me to kill her husband, she’d pay in cash?” asked Brendon. “She’s not dumb.”

“That’s where your brain automatically goes? A payment for murder? Why would you think Noelle would do that?” asked Oscar.

“That’s not what I meant,” said Brendon with a glare. “Don’t twist my words. You’re here about a murder and you want to know why Noelle gave me money. Any person would jump to a conclusion that you need to rule out a payment for murder.”

The testosterone level in the room rose as Brendon and Oscar had a stare-down.

“So what was the money for?” asked Alice, wanting to get them back on track.

“It paid off my student loans,” Brendon said quietly.

“I’ve been scrimping and saving and paying off as much as possible for seven years—even in my gambling days, I made sure I paid extra principal.

Nine thousand was the chunk that was left.

Somehow it came up in conversation, and Noelle offered to take care of it. ”

“You just let her?” asked Oscar. “I don’t know if my ego would stand for that. She’s your ex. Why should she care what’s going on with your finances?”

Brendon met Oscar’s gaze. “I struggled with that. Still feel a little guilty. But the relief from being out from under that black cloud that’s been hanging over my head for years was worth it.

Long ago I gave Noelle a bit of money a few times when she was in college.

She said this was her way of paying me back.

” He gave a short laugh. “I may have given her two hundred dollars at the most, so it definitely wasn’t an even trade.

That happened after our divorce, and I think she was in her second year of college. ”

“You’re the oddest ex-couple I’ve ever met,” said Oscar.

“Everyone tells me that.”

Alice had been listening quietly and watching Brendon. His body language was relaxed, he sounded forthcoming, and she wanted to believe him. “Can you think of anyone who would kill her husband?”

Brendon sat back in his chair, shaking his head. “Dunno. Noelle didn’t discuss him with me much. She seemed happy. Didn’t tell me or even imply that anything bad was going on with her husband. Or her.”

Alice thought of what Noelle’s grandfather had said. “What sort of changes have you seen in Noelle since she married?”

“You mean besides the expensive shoes, clothes, and nails? And that ridiculous little sports car?”

“Yes.”

“She’s the same,” said Brendon matter-of-factly. “The few times we’ve met up, it takes me thirty seconds to get past how polished she is now and see the young woman I was in love with. She’s the same person under the fake veneer.”

“What about how outgoing she is?” asked Alice. “Was she a secure person when you knew her?”

“No changes,” said Brendon, thinking hard. “She’s always been a confident person. Still is.”

Doesn’t line up with her grandfather’s observations.

“Are you planning to visit her?” asked Alice. “Check in on her?”

“Only if she asks,” said Brendon. “We both have our own lives now. But I’ll always care a bit, and I think she will too. Out of respect for Isabella, we’ve cut way back on our communication.” His eyes were earnest.

“A good idea,” said Alice.

A few minutes later she and Oscar moved down the walkway from Brendon’s home. “Truck was clean?” she asked.

“Yes, except for two dozen empty energy drink cans. No insurance tracker.”

“We need to verify he was on the job that night. And that he got gas.”

“Seems like a good guy,” said Oscar. “I’m still a bit shocked he accepted her money.”

“Not shocked she offered it?” asked Alice.

Oscar didn’t answer until they were inside Alice’s vehicle. “Not really. I saw her accounts. That money was nothing compared to what she had. And it looked like she handed out money to family a few times.”

Alice nodded. They’d found several large dollar amounts going from Noelle’s account to Eve’s and Lucia’s. But not to her grandfather’s. Alice couldn’t see him accepting money from any of his granddaughters. No doubt Noelle had offered.

“I wonder if Derrick’s family knew Noelle was giving money to her family,” said Alice.

“None of their business,” said Oscar.

Alice snorted lightly. “I suspect anything financial didn’t go unnoticed.”

“Derrick was a grown adult. You think Mommy and Daddy were still holding purse strings?”

“Not sure. Still need to tackle the rest of the Bell accounts.”

“Don’t remind me,” moaned Oscar. “Surely we can get extra hands for that. It’s busywork.”

“Good idea. I’ll ask.”

Alice put the car in gear, and soon Brendon’s home was in her rearview mirror.

Do I believe her ex?

I want to ... but I don’t know.