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CHAPTER NINETEEN

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023

5:30 A.M.

After the call from Detective Horn, Adam had pulled himself together and spent the whole weekend working in his at-home office almost around the clock on the permit issue. By the time he and Joel left for John Wayne Airport on Tuesday morning, he felt like a zombie, but the thorny permit situation was under control at last, and the plans were ready to be submitted.

Joel had booked their flight late enough that they hadn’t been able to have seats together, but that was okay. Adam didn’t need to talk nearly as much as he needed to think. Once on the ground, they would go straight to Edmonds PD for their interviews with Detective Horn. Adam’s was scheduled at ten a.m. Joel’s would follow his. Not knowing how much time they would have between the interviews and the funeral, he and Joel were dressed to go straight from Edmonds PD to the mortuary.

As far as the funeral was concerned, Adam didn’t know what to expect. With his father a homicide victim, there was bound to be a press presence, but he had no idea who would be there. Most likely some of the people he’d met at the party the week before would be in attendance, but he had no way of knowing who else would show up. He doubted Clarice would be allowed out of lockup long enough to attend.

The plane was still on the ground when the woman seated next to him tried to strike up a conversation. “I’m going to Seattle to visit my sister,” she said. “Are you going for business or pleasure?”

Adam didn’t want to talk to her right then, any more than he wanted to talk to Joel. “I’m going to my father’s funeral,” he said.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry.”

“So am I,” he said. He regretted being so terse, but it was enough to keep her from asking any more questions. Once the aircraft reached cruising altitude, Adam leaned his seat back and pretended to be asleep. Instead of sleeping, he was thinking about his father and Clarice.

He had barely interacted with her at the party, but he remembered her sitting there alone most of the night. And he’d caught a glimpse of her as Joel walked her over to the elevator to accompany her upstairs. Even clinging to Joel’s arm, she had been unsteady on her feet. How could she possibly have been strong enough or coordinated enough to stand at her husband’s bedside and deliver that many fatal stab wounds? But she must have been, and the cops must have had plenty of evidence against her if they’d been able to convince a judge to hold her without bail.

But on the off chance Clarice hadn’t killed his father, who else would have? Adam had no idea about his father’s situation in the days leading up to his death. Horn had mentioned something about a pending divorce. Adam didn’t have a clue as to who the other woman might be, but was it possible his father’s death was the result of a love triangle? Was there an irate husband or ex-husband in the picture?

And was there a will? If his father’s attorney had known enough about Charles Brewster’s business to go ahead and make funeral arrangements, he probably also knew whether or not there was a will. Presumably there was one. And just then, for the first time, Adam wondered if, despite he and his father’s long estrangement, he himself could possibly be a beneficiary under the will?

Adam had been sitting with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep for the benefit of his chatty seatmate, but that realization was enough to make his eyes pop open. He thought he and Joel were being interviewed right along with all the other party attendees. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if Detective Horn was looking at Adam as a possible suspect?

“Are you okay?” his seatmate asked.

“I’m fine,” he said.

Despite what he’d just said, suddenly his heart filled with dread. Adam had never been involved in any kind of criminal activity, but now, for his first time at bat, he was a possible homicide suspect? That was unthinkable.

The rest of the flight seemed to take forever. By the time the plane landed, Adam was a nervous wreck. They had traveled only with carry-ons, so they headed straight for the car rental desks.

“What’s wrong with you?” Joel demanded once they were in their rental and headed for I-5.

“What if the cops think I did it?” Adam asked.

“You?” Joel returned.

“Yes, me,” Adam answered.

“You’ve got to be kidding! We were both at the hotel when the homicide happened. Surely the hotel will have security footage that can prove it. And if there’s no film, the cops will be able to ping your phone. That will show we left the party and went straight back to the Hilton Garden Inn in Bothell. Besides, why would you be a suspect? You reconnected with your father for the first time only a few weeks ago. What would be the motive? Surely your dad wouldn’t have suddenly up and added your name to his will based on that one phone call.”

“You’re right about that,” Adam agreed eventually. “My father was never someone who made snap decisions. What was I thinking?”

“You were thinking like a man whose father was just murdered and whose stepmother is the prime suspect,” Joel replied, reaching over and placing a reassuring hand on Adam’s knee. “Just answer the questions.”

In the interview with Detectives Horn and Burns, Adam did just that. He answered whatever questions were posed to him to the best of his ability. Since the questions were general in nature and not the least bit accusatory, Adam’s case of nerves evaporated. When had he and Joel arrived at the party? When had they left? Where had they gone after the party? What time did they get back to the hotel? During the party, had Adam noticed anything out of the ordinary? Had there been any kind of disagreement between his father and his stepmother?

“I guess there was something strange,” Adam said. “Although Clarice was the nominal hostess, she wasn’t really involved with any of the guests—didn’t interact.”

“You’re saying she was alone in the crowd,” Detective Horn confirmed.

Adam nodded. “And more than slightly drunk. I was grateful when Joel went out of his way to visit with her. But that’s Joel for you—kindness personified. She bailed on the party early on—around nine or so. When she went upstairs to bed, Joel helped her navigate the elevator.”

At that point, the interview changed direction, focusing less on the party and more on Adam’s relationship with his father. How long had they been estranged? What had prompted their recent reconciliation?

That last question gave Adam pause. “It wasn’t really a reconciliation,” he answered. “It was more like we were becoming reacquainted. There wasn’t enough time for an actual reconciliation.”

Much to his surprise, Adam ended up telling Detective Horn about his mother’s death and about how losing Michael had led him to Joel in the same way losing his wife must have led his father to Clarice. Maybe he told that part of the story as much for his own benefit as for the detective’s. It was as though, by forgiving himself for what had happened between him and Joel after Michael was gone, Adam was finally coming closer to forgiving his father for what had happened between him and Clarice.

The interview ended with Detective Horn asking for a DNA sample and fingerprints, assuring him that was standard procedure for anyone who had attended the party. Adam was happy to provide both, but relinquishing his phone was another matter entirely.

“You’re welcome to examine it to your heart’s content, but can you maybe clone it and the same for Joel’s?” he asked. “We’ll be heading back to L.A. later this evening. I have a lot going on at work this week, and I really need my phone.”

“Of course,” Detective Horn said genially. “If you don’t mind turning it on for me, I’ll hand them over to our tech unit. I’m pretty sure they can make that work.”