Page 149 of The Body in the Backyard

A series of slightly less blurry photos appeared on the screen. Griffin pulling into a handicapped parking space in the same parking lot. Griffin and Bella exiting the car. Claudia, now wearing sunglasses and a ball cap, approaching their empty vehicle. And finally Claudia scraping her keys down the driver’s-side door of the shiny red sports car.

The suspect in question shrugged carelessly. “He parked in a handicapped spot. He’s an asshole and deserved to have his car keyed.”

“Very true,” Nick agreed. “Where did you spend Christmas last year?”

She frowned at the change in questioning. “With family in Colombia. Why?”

“This tidbit hasn’t been released to the public yet, but these two men who chased Gentry down and shot at him?” He pointed at the new picture on the screen. “They were contract killers extradited to Colombia after their arrests on charges of murder.”

“That’s like saying, ‘Gee, I know you went to kindergarten in Texas. You must know my third cousin Fred in San Antonio,’” Claudia said in a mock baritone. She crossed her arms and drummed her fingernails on her biceps. “If you’re seriously suggesting all Colombians know each other or that I had anything to do with this, you’re as dumb as your client.”

“What I’m suggesting is you have as good a motive as anyone else in this room.”

“Then you’re a dumbass,” she muttered.

“We’ll see about that,” he said before turning away from her.

“Is it smart for a small business to piss off local media?” Josie wondered.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Riley whispered back.

“Henry Wu,” Nick called.

“Who?” Josie asked.

“Him,” Riley said, pointing at Griffin’s assistant, who was trying to blend in with a large potted palm.

“Uh. Present. I guess,” Henry said.

“As Gentry’s personal assistant, you have access to the house. In fact, you’re the one who let all of us in. Isn’t that true?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“And as Gentry’s personal assistant, how much money do you earn?”

Henry looked around as if searching for an escape. “Well, nothing so far. I’m an intern. My parents think internships are character building.”

“Even though you’re on call twenty-four seven? Even though you missed your grandmother’s seventy-fifth birthday party to capture a spider that turned out to be a set of fake eyelashes on Gentry’s bathroom floor? Even though you had to cancel the date you finally landed with the hot guy from the gym because your boss needed you to mop up the barbecue sauce he spilled all over the kitchen floor on a Saturday night?”

Tyra and Betty shook their heads and tut-tutted. “You’re a monster,” Betty said to Griffin.

Riley was in agreement.

Griffin’s mouth was too full of gummy candy dicks to respond.

“You got payback though, didn’t you? Starting with the chest waxing,” Nick said, pointing at the TV.

A photo of Griffin’s hot-pink G appeared.

Titters of laughter rose up. Henry looked down at his feet and shoved a hand through his hair.

“But pranks weren’t enough, were they? You personally adjusted the studio light that fell during Gentry’s interview, didn’t you?” Nick pointed at Brian.

The image on the TV shifted to time-stamped video footage of Henry setting up a ladder on set and climbing it about an hour before Griffin and Bella’s interview. Only his legs were in view, but when he climbed back down, he was smiling.

“I swear, I didn’t sabotage the light. I mean, I did. But not how you think. I double-checked that the filter on the light had a green base tone to mess up Griffin’s tan on screen. I always do that because it makes Griffin mad, and then he gets another spray tan, which just turns him more orange.”

“Henry, Henry, Henry, you expect us to believe that you didn’t cut through that mounting cable after everything Gentry has put you through?” Nick asked.