Bethany eyeballed each of them in turn, then said, “Dad changed his career for her, just six months ago—give or take—and now she wants to sell? Where does that leave my dad?”
Amanda couldn’t disclose that Tony had inherited the business. She did offer, “You can be sure that your father’s financial needs will be taken care of for the rest of his life.” And really, he could always return to being an accountant somewhere, but the job market wasn’t the strongest at the moment.
“Still. Money isn’t everything. He had a career he loved.”
“He could always go back to it,” Trent interjected, saying what Amanda had just thought.
“No. She had her claws into him.”
“She’s gone now,” Amanda said coolly.
“Good riddance, in my book.”
Her cold, bitter reaction had Amanda recoiling. “Your father is grieving. Alicia’s sons are grieving.”
“Grief is something that passes.” Bethany set a blazing glare on Amanda.
Amanda gasped, the verbal impact as good as a physical blow. “It doesn’t pass,” Amanda spat. “It stays with you, becomes a part of who you are. Do you understand that?”
Bethany flinched.
“Do you?” Amanda barked.
“Yes. I’m sorry, I should have been more sensitive.”
“Yes, you should have been.” Amanda let a few seconds pass before speaking again. “You know, even your mother didn’t hate Alicia. She worked for her, which you probably know.”
“Yes, it’s sad, isn’t it? She just took the job so she could see Dad. Quite sure of that. Maybe to free Alicia of some of her money too.”
“When did you last see Alicia?” Amanda asked.
“A few weeks ago. Just ran into her at the house when I was there to see Dad. Didn’t talk to her much. She just sort of popped into the kitchen, grabbed a coffee, and was off to her home office. She was always on a computer.” Bethany made a dramatic show of rolling her eyes.
“It sounds like you knew her well enough. Did you know that she had trouble sleeping at night?” Amanda tossed that out just for due diligence.
“You’d have to ask Dad.”
Nothing in Bethany’s facial expression or body language indicated she was withholding.
Trent shifted beside Amanda and asked, “Do you know Eve Kelley?”
Bethany nodded. “I’ve heard of her. She’s the owner of Pixie Winks, right? Dad or Alicia might have said her name before.”
“She was,” Amanda said.
“Was?”
“She’s also dead, injected with an overdose of pentobarbital.” Amanda would run with that as fact.
Bethany’s face was devoid of emotion. “I don’t know what to say to that, but I’m not sure why you’re talking to me about her.”
“How about we circle back to an earlier question? Even if you give us just one name, who would you imagine had motive to kill Alicia Gordon?” Amanda asked. From there they could see if the rest—Eve’s murder and the threats against the other bidders—held water.
“If I were you, I’d have a talk with Leo’s nanny. The crock about Alicia selling the business to spend more time with her family? Yeah, well, I just don’t buy it, but if she was going to do that, then…” Bethany left them to fill in the blank.
“The nanny would be out of a job,” Amanda said. She and Trent figured the killer wanted to either prevent the sale of New Belle or drive down the price somehow and get a deal. But would loss of employment be enough motive for the nanny to kill Alicia, Eve, and threaten the bidders interested in New Belle? The nanny would know about Alicia’s sleeping aid and potentially have access to the bottles. Goosebumps trailed down Amanda’s arms. Then, too, so would the housecleaner that Tony had told them about, but the investigation had steered her and Trent away from following up there.
“Oh, it’s not just that; Alicia was a troll to her. I’ve seen it myself. I was there the one day. Again, to see Dad. He wasn’t home yet, but Alicia was, and so was the nanny. I overheard Alicia yelling at her upstairs.”
“About what?” Trent asked.
“Alicia was telling her she was incompetent and to get her act together. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, Alicia told the nanny she better get her act together or she wouldn’t provide a good reference.”
It sounded like Alicia had told the nanny the need for her services were coming to an end. Motive? The nanny also had opportunity, theoretically. The means wasn’t there yet though. And was the nanny the mystery person from the video? Amanda had assumed it was a man, but she didn’t know for sure. “Did the nanny ever come here? Is there any way she could have gotten her hands on any of the pentobarbital?”
“I wouldn’t think so.”