A Tangled Truth (Stonewall Investigations Book 3) Page 19

  The typo in the email and the typo in the suicide note was telling me they were connected. It made sense for Johnny to have written up the note after he killed his second wife; that way he could get some suspicion off his back. And it made sense for him to want to slander Liam’s name… but then how was I going to tie it all together? A few simple typos weren’t enough.

  I dropped my head in my hands, letting out an exasperated breath in the process.

  Knock, knock.

  I jerked up, looking toward the doorway with wide, hopeful eyes. For a split second, my brain tricked me into thinking everything was exactly like normal, that it was Collin who was knocking to get my attention.

  Obviously, it wasn’t. He’d never knock again.

  “Hey, Zane.” I dropped my head back in my hands.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to bother you.”

  “Not bothering at all. Come in.”

  I heard Zane shuffling in. I picked my head up as he was taking a seat on the other side of my desk. He was wearing a dark gray shirt and black pants. The gray was a change for him; he’d been mostly wearing all black for the past few weeks. His hair wasn’t as done as it usually was, and he clearly needed a good night’s rest.

  I thought I was taking it badly, but Zane must have been torturing himself over Collin’s death. He was the one who had assigned the Unicorn case to him. Not only that, but Zane had lost someone to the killer long before we all lost Collin. He had to bury his husband because of that monster, and that made Zane connected to the Unicorn in a way I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. This must have been some sick déjà vu for him.

  “How you holding up?” he asked, always caring about others before himself.

  “Hanging in there,” I said. “And you?”

  “Focusing it all on work.” He coughed into a closed fist. “No more running away. I’m going to find the Unicorn, and I’m going to put an end to the terror.”

  That was news to me. “Wait, you’re taking the case? I thought we were done with it?”

  Zane shook his head. I should have known. He would never let the trail go cold. I looked into Zane’s amber eyes, filled with a stone-cold determination, and I had a glimmer of hope that maybe he could do it. That glimmer was overshadowed by the serrated blade of anxiety buried and twisting in my chest.

  “No,” he said. “I’ve thought about it and decided I’m taking the case. It will end with me.”

  “Just be careful,” I said, as if it needed saying. “You’ve gotta stay safe.”

  “You’re the only one who knows about me taking the case, Mark, and I’m going to keep it that way for a while. I don’t think I’m even going to tell Enzo. I don’t want to get him worried.”

  I sighed. “He’ll worry for good reason. But I totally understand.” I didn’t, but I didn’t have to. The decision was already made, that was clear. “I’m offering you whatever help you need, whenever you need it, Zane. I want to help put Collin’s killer in a cage.” My chest expanded with a deep breath. “And then I’ll sink that cage in the middle of the Hudson River.”

  Zane let that moment sit, neither of us saying anything. The silence was broken by another knock. It was Andrew, his glasses dipping down his nose. He only wore his glasses whenever he wasn’t feeling great. I hadn’t seen him with his contacts for weeks now.

  “Mark, I’ve got someone at the front that wants to see you. Diana Coldwater.”

  That name surprised me. I had been reaching out to Johnny’s assistant like an incessant mosquito lately, trying to lock her down for an interview. I felt like she was one of my Hail Mary passes. Her loyalties clearly lied with Johnny, but maybe there was a crack in their relationship I could take advantage of. But she’d kept denying my calls or just saying she was insanely busy.

  So hearing she was at the front? Yeah, that was a surprise.

  “I’ll be in my office if you need to talk,” Zane said. I knew the conversation we were having wasn’t over.

  “Let me go and get her,” I said, standing up from behind my desk. I followed Andrew down the hall. He was wearing a faded pair of blue jeans and an old college shirt. It was casual Friday, but normally Andrew dressed cooler than the majority of people I knew.

  I’ve gotta take him out to lunch one day and make sure he’s okay.

  Andrew went to his chair, not even introducing Diana, who was standing in the center of the room with her hands held together in front of her.

  “Diana,” I said, taking initiative and stepping forward, hand extended. We shook, her grip light, her eye contact sharp. “How’ve you been?”

  “Good, thanks,” she said, smiling.

  “Come, let’s go to my office.”

  I turned to start walking but felt a hand close around my elbow. “Actually, sorry, can we do this outside? I’ve been locked up all day.”

  It was only eleven in the morning, but I wasn’t going to argue with her now. “Of course. Let’s go for a walk.” Whatever she wanted, I’d do, so long as she was comfortable enough to talk. I told Andrew I’d be back and headed out, following Diana’s lead. The day was hot, but not enough to make me regret this decision. She was wearing a pair of frayed khaki shorts that didn’t quite fit her and a shirt with an elephant printed on the pocket.

  “There’s a quiet spot a few blocks down. Mind a little walk?”

  I shook my head. She could tell me we were about to cross the Hudson River and I’d be fine with it, so long as we could talk during the trek. The more time I had her talking, the more chances I had of gleaning crucial information.

  “Nice tattoo,” I said, nodding to the ink on her inner leg as we started walking. It was a way of breaking the ice between us, but I also did genuinely like the tattoo. It wrapped around her calf. She turned her leg to show me it in full. It was a photorealistic tattoo of a sea turtle shaded and colored perfectly, like a real picture had been printed on her leg. One of the flippers had a white tip, which seemed like a mistake at first until I realized it was intentional.

  “Thanks,” she said. “It’s Benny, my spirit animal.” She held her leg out so I could get a better view. “Saw this guy on a scuba dive in the Bahamas. Took a picture of him, and the captain of the boat told me that it was incredibly good luck since he had that albino tip. A day later I won five hundred dollars on a scratcher.”

  “Nice,” I said, admiring the ink before starting on our walk again. “Did it hurt?”

  “Hell yeah,” she said, laughing. “But in a good way, if that makes any sense.”

  “A little.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be getting anymore anytime soon. Until I see another spirit animal.”

  “Look, there it is,” I said, pointing toward a black pigeon with a splotch of white on its head. It cooed and flew away as we drew closer.

  “Ah yes, I always felt one with the sky rats,” Diana said, laughing some more. I felt like we were building a good connection between us, which was vital. I had to get her to fully trust me. We continued toying around for another ten minutes before we got to the spot Diana was talking about.

  It was a small grassy area tucked behind a massive residential building. Too small to call a park but too big to call a backyard. There were a few benches and one picnic table. She walked us to the picnic table, where I took a seat across from her, the wood planks creaking under my weight as I sat. No one else was around except for a father who was emphatically throwing a baseball around with his daughter.

  “I come here sometimes to read. Especially if I’m having a crazy day at work. Johnny’s office isn’t too far from here, but even if I have to take the train, I’ll still do it.”

  “Does it usually get crazy working for Johnny?”

  She let out a pfft, her lips flapping with the puff of air. “Crazy is an understatement.” She put her purse on the table. It was a tan leather Coach bag with the edges frayed, and the strap was holding on by a string. She unzipped it and dug for something, pulling out a ChapStick and applying liber
ally. “I don’t know how I still have all my hair. It’s so stressful, honestly. And I sound like I hate it, which I sometimes do, but it’s also one of the best things that happened to me.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “I just wasn’t in a good place before Johnny offered me a job.” She threw the ChapStick back into the bag. “I was about to be homeless actually.”

  I was a little surprised at that. “Really?”

  “Mhmm,” she said. “I know—I look all put together, huh? Nope. Things were falling apart for me back then. It’s been like eight years now. Eight years, four months, and seven days to be exact.”

  We laughed at that, even though on the inside I heard brakes screeching. I wasn’t counting on Diana’s relationship with Johnny to be so damn heartfelt. It meant her loyalty to Johnny wouldn’t waver, and that was going to make things very difficult.

  “Wow,” I said. “Did you know him from before you started working with him?”

  “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “He took a leap with hiring me, and I’ve made sure not to let him down since.”

  “So you two have a good working relationship, then.”

  “It’s great,” she said, smiling. “Obviously, there’s things that pop up every now and then like every other relationship, but nothing we can’t squash. We just work really well as a team, and he takes good care of me.”

  Just like he took good care of his two dead wives, huh?

  “I can tell,” I said. I made sure to not glance at her beat-up purse. “So it’s safe to say there have never been any arguments between you two?”

  “Oh, there’s arguments, but we’ve been working so long together that we know how to diffuse things.”

  “Is Johnny a generally argumentative person? Even in his other relationships?”

  She paused on that one. “Umm… well, not really, no.” I stayed silent, waiting to see if Diana would fill in the silence with more information. “I mean, once or twice”—and there she went—“he’s like thrown things. Not at me, not at anyone. But he was arguing with his wife.”

  Ding, ding ding. There we go. Now we were getting somewhere. “Did he fight with both of his wives?”

  She shook her head. “No, just the last one.” She looked at a thin watch on her wrist. “This is about Johnny’s relationship with that trashy guy, Liam, right?”

  I swallowed. “Right.” This was going to take some finessing. “His relationship with Mr. Wolfe was definitely strained. I know that for sure. He made it clear by giving those interviews after the anonymous email was sent.”

  “What a scumbag that Liam is. Stealing and abusing. I knew it from the moment we started working with him.”

  It was taking everything I had in me to not stand up for Liam in that moment. If I did, it would be clear whose side I was on, and I couldn’t have that. I bit my tongue. “That’s a shame,” I said. “Did Johnny ever say anything about Liam?”

  “Just that he didn’t like him.”

  And that he had a problem with Liam being gay, right?

  “Got it.” I cracked a few knuckles. “So what kind of proof does Johnny have that Liam did any of those things that were alleged?”

  That question seemed to shake her a little. “Proof? Oh, um, hmmm, well, he’s seen a lot. Johnny’s got eyes everywhere. I’m sure he’s seen Liam do what he’s accused of. That’s one of the great things about Johnny—he’s such a good judge of character.”

  It was time to turn the heat up on this stove. “There are a lot of people out there that would say Johnny himself isn’t a good character. He’s been accused of some things that are way worse than what Liam’s being accused of.”

  Her brows rose at that. “Those are just dumb, bitter actresses who lash out when they don’t get more than three lines in a film.” The venom in her words was almost enough to see dripping down her chin.

  “So you don’t think any of the fifteen actresses that have come forward have any truth to what they say?”

  “No, not at all. It’s all organized to take him down.”

  “Fifteen women who had no prior relationship with each other band together and all share similar stories. You think it’s all planned?”

  “Absolutely,” she said, crossing her arms. “But he doesn’t see it. He doesn’t see the smear campaign in full swing. Now he’s dating one of the actresses who had accused him of crap a few years ago. Why? I have no goddamn clue. He can’t just find a good woman who wants to take care of him. He goes for the messy, drama-filled bitches.”

  “Who’s he dating?” I asked.

  “Her name is Marah Kim, an actress who’s clearly desperate for a role in anything she can get in, even a straight to DVD piece of crap.”

  Marah Kim… what the hell. What was she doing back with Johnny?

  I controlled my expression, not wanting to give anything away. I didn’t want Diana knowing that I had already met Marah weeks ago, and she was all for locking Johnny up back then. What had changed?

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “It’s pretty new. Probably like two weeks now.” She checked her watch again. “Well, technically new. They’ve been together before. She’s been around for a while. Like a nasty little fly.”

  “Since when?”

  “Pfft,” she exhaled. “Since his first wife was still around. Marah was one of the original side chicks. She’s one of the side girls who Johnny seems to really care about.” She grimaced. “It’s nauseating.”

  Another bombshell. Marah told me she’d only dated Johnny during his time with his second wife. She’d never said she was around for the first. “Do you know about all of his affairs?”

  “Mhmm,” she said. “I have to schedule them all, after all. Took him a little while to trust me, but once the seal broke, that was it. He filled me in on everything.”

  “Did his wives know? About the affairs?”

  “I think so. Pamela for sure knew.”

  “Think that’s why they killed themselves?” I watched Diana for any twitches or tells in her expression. If Johnny trusted her as much as she said, then she could very well know what he did to those women.

  She gave nothing for me to go on, her face unmoving. “Don’t know. I don’t think anyone can really say why they did it. No one knows what’s going on in someone else's head.”

  “Very true,” I said. I kept digging for a little longer, asking questions about Johnny and his behaviors, trying to see if he had ever done anything to Diana—something she may have been holding back on, something I could help her with. If she told me that he had assaulted her in any way, I would offer the help she needed to get out of there and with that, she would help me put him behind bars.

  But there wasn’t any mention of abuse. It was the total opposite. She just sang his praises even though I knew for a fact the guy was a scumbag.

  I had to ask her a hardball question. Something that could catch her off guard and bring down the wall around her. “Diana, did Johnny ever talk to you about being investigated by the NYPD? I’ve got some information that suggests he was potentially searching for illegal substances.”

  I could see the color in Diana’s face change in real time. “What? No, no, that’s crazy. He would never do that.”

  She was avoiding my question. “Did he tell you that the NYPD was investigating him?”

  “It’s just crazy, whether or not there was an investigation. Johnny wouldn’t hurt anyone. Ever. Yeah he likes to sleep around, but that’s it. That’s all,” Diana said, looking at her watch again. “Anyways, I’ve got to start wrapping this up. Johnny’s leaving for the week, and I’ve got some work to do before then.” She was already grabbing her purse and standing up. Something was scaring her off. “Plus, he wants me to help Marah go over some lines for a potential role she’s definitely not getting, so we’re having a ‘girls’ night’ tonight.” She did air quotes around the girls’ night. “I hope you figure out who sent that email, and I hope I helped show tha
t Johnny wasn’t the one who sent it.”

  She hadn’t helped much, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. “Thank you, Diana. I’ve also got some work to do.”

  We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. My thoughts were a whirlwind. Although she hadn’t given me much on Johnny, she had given me new information about Marah, and that was surprising. Why had she lied to me? And if she was one of the “chosen” affairs, then why did she act as if she was nothing to him?

  There was also Diana’s reaction to my last line of questioning that felt off. From the second I asked, I could tell she was going into cover-up mode. She wanted to keep her boss’s name as squeaky clean as possible. And one of her last statements: “Johnny wouldn’t hurt anyone…”

  I had never said what the illegal substance was or what it was used for.

  Things weren’t adding up, as usual. I decided I needed to follow up with Marah and figure out what the hell was going on. First, though, I had to freshen up. Liam had planned a surprise for the evening, and it was already almost time for me to show up at the meeting spot. Tomorrow I’d meet with Marah and get to the bottom of her truth, but until then I was going to allow myself to let go and enjoy my night with Liam. One thing I was learning over the past couple of traumatic weeks was that life was far too short. I had to try and find joy in every single second because the next one was in no way guaranteed. As for tonight, I had no idea what Liam was planning, but I did know I was feeling excited for the first time in weeks. I knew I would find joy with Liam, even if he took us to the dumpster for a date. It didn’t matter, so long as he was there by my side.

  By the time I got back to Stonewall, I realized I had been smiling.

  27 Liam Wolfe

  New York was bustling around me, crowds of pedestrians flowing down the sidewalk like salmon down a stream. It was six in the afternoon, so plenty of people were out on the streets, leaving work or going to dinner or pregaming for a night out or heading into work. Whatever the reason, it felt like everyone was out. The street I stood on was a one-way side street close to Broadway, so there was a healthy mix of photo-snapping tourists in the mix of city natives, too. I was standing underneath the marquee for Starlight Theatre, one of my absolute favorite places in the entire city. It was an old theatre that had stood the test of time, a relic from the 1940s that still retained its classic charm while adapting to the changing times. It was a one-screen movie theatre that took up most of the city block. It was also a theatre Mark and I would go to all the time as kids. Next to me was the box office, a circular room big enough for two people, currently empty.