Chapter Twelve
Twelve
When I finally convince Bertram to return to his apartment, I’m unsettled by the smoothness of his lies.
I have worked with all types of “clients.” From murderers to embezzlers to small-time pyramid-scheme entrepreneurs. Usually, I can smell a lie from a mile away.
So when Elodie and I meet up at the school parking lot an hour before pickup, I decide not to mention my encounter with Bertram yet, nor do I mention that Bertram now knows Elodie and I contacted Skylar.
Elodie will want to act on it. She’s not one to sit idly by.
I’m worried she’ll scare Bertram off, and then he’ll stop telling me anything at all.
“Margaux, hi!” She jumps out of her SUV, arms extended to give me a big hug. Her message couldn’t be clearer: We’re being watched. The parents at Westport Elementary aren’t exactly peeking at us through the blinds, but a butterfly doesn’t fart in this town without someone making a note of it.
Elodie wraps an arm around me and we make our way to the bench just outside the playground. SHARING IS CARING is painted onto an oil drum trash can.
“How’d it go with Skylar?” I ask.
Elodie’s eyes are bright in that way that tells me she’s got a juicy bit of gossip. “Turns out our billionaire was seeing this Skylar person in secret, but Annie found out. He ended things and hasn’t spoken with her since.”
“But then he ended things with Annie, too. Why?”
Elodie waves her hand dismissively. “Skylar says they were on-again, off-again. But Annie called Skylar directly and put a stop to things over the summer.”
I know Annie was confirmed to be alive just a few months ago, but she’s been MIA ever since.
“That’s all it took for her to back off?”
“Well.” Elodie leans in. “Apparently, Bertram tried to reignite things after the breakup with Annie, but he flaked out and ghosted her.”
“You got all of this out of her?” I say.
“Of course,” Elodie says. “A telemarketer called me, and I broke down crying and yelled at him like he was my toxic ex. Earned her sympathy and made a new bestie for life. She couldn’t wait to tell me all about Bertram.”
“Sinister,” I say. I consider this information against what Bertram told me. I think of how he charmed me with his little picnic but then chased me away. The fear in his eyes and the way he grabbed me when he spoke about it. “So, he’s not seeing anybody right now. What’s his game?”
“Technically, we’re investigating him for stealing that app,” Elodie says. “But his love life is far more interesting, and something tells me that’s where the real story is.”
“Yes…” I trail off.
“What are you thinking?” Elodie asks.
“That I’d like to meet this Skylar.”
“Good news, then!” Elodie beams. “I got us a gig planning an event for her in December, two weeks from now.”
My stomach fills with dread. “When in December?”
“The first.”
Her concerned look fades away, and I’m lost in my thoughts. December first, of all days. Waylen’s birthday. The big four-oh. I can already hear the argument now. “Can’t we make it for another day?”
“That’s the date of her twin nieces’ birthday,” Elodie says. “That’s when the party is, so no. Why? What’s up?”
Thankfully, part of being a skilled liar is that I can cover up stress quite well. “Waylen and I had a little something that night, I think, but I’ll see about changing it.”
“Great!” Elodie clasps her hands together. “I really think this will get the ball rolling on things. Bertram has been infuriating to crack. Have you had any progress on your end?”
“Not yet…” I trail off, considering. “I’ve just had an idea.
Annie disappeared while she was dating Bertram.
Erin knew about this, despite how badly Bertram tried to hide it.
So, if Bertram was seeing Skylar on the side, maybe Erin will also have some insights about that.
Maybe she can tell us more about her personality, some ways we can get her to open up to you even more. ”
“Oooh, good idea!” Elodie is already grabbing her phone and scrolling through her contacts.
“Oh, and I meant to tell you,” Elodie goes on. “Finnegan is really looking forward to having Collette tutor her this weekend.”
I give Elodie my best smile. “I think our girls can be great friends.” It’s the biggest lie I’ve told all week.
The phone rings. Elodie puts it on speaker, and we both huddle together.
“Hello?” Erin’s voice is soft, almost dazed, as though we’ve just woken her up. Mr. X’s policy is to call the client at least once during a mission without warning. When you interrupt people being themselves, you can learn something new about them. Even the people who are hiring you to do the work.
Erin, much like Bertram, has been an enigma. Something is odd about each of them, in a tandem way. Something is similar about their mannerisms and their secrecy.
But I don’t express this. I continue to observe her, taking a similar approach to Bertram.
“Erin, hi!” Elodie takes the lead. I’m happy to observe how Erin will handle the news. “I’m here with my colleague. Listen, we have a little update for you. I’ve managed to track down one of Bertram’s girlfriends.”
“Girlfriends?” Erin sounds more awake now. “You mean Annie? You’ve found her?”
“Skylar,” Elodie says. “Bertram was seeing her at the same time—”
“No,” Erin interrupts. “That must be a mistake.”
This activates the gossip quadrant of Elodie’s brain, and she launches into an excited explanation of how, according to Skylar, it was a loveless relationship with Annie by the end.
So Bertram promised Skylar the moon and stars.
But then Bertram abruptly ended things with no explanation and left her heartbroken.
I’m tempted to tell Elodie to stop sharing so much. Tact is key in cases like this. But Erin is so hard to read that I decide it’s better to see how this plays out.
There’s “good cop, bad cop” and then there’s “hyperexcitable cop, silently-nodding-along cop.” If Elodie overshares and this puts Erin off, I can step in and speak in a softer tone, isolating her and leading her to trust me.
Once Elodie stops speaking, the line is so silent that for a second, I think we’ve been disconnected.
“Hello?” Elodie says.
“I didn’t hire you to snoop into his love life,” Erin finally says, in a cool, almost emotionless tone. “I hired you to prove that he stole billions of dollars in investments and funding that should rightfully be going to me.”
“This is all connected,” Elodie says, clearly flummoxed. “It speaks to his character—”
“Call me back when you have something about that app,” Erin says curtly, and then the line goes dead.
Elodie stares at the screen as though it’s just committed some grave atrocity against her entire family. “I don’t get it. All of this information is relevant, isn’t it? She asked us to look into Annie’s disappearance!”
I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“We may not be able to get Bertram on stealing the app. And even if we do, he’s got the best lawyers that money can buy.
He can tie Erin up in legal fees until she’s bankrupt.
Finding out what happened to Annie and getting him on her possible disappearance is the best place to start.
Once he’s in prison for that, he’ll be way more likely to negotiate with us if we can offer him a lighter sentence. ”
“Exactly,” Elodie says. “It’s not like in the movies where the bad guy is just found guilty. They play dirty, so we have to play dirtier.”
“We should get some vinyl decals made up,” I say. “That’s a great sales pitch.”
Elodie gives me a wan smile, but clearly, she’s unsettled by the exchange.
She’s new to this line of work, and she doesn’t understand that charm can only get you so far with these sorts of clients.
They have their eye on revenge. It isn’t about whether they like us—in fact, most of the time they won’t.
But Elodie surprises me by doing something I wouldn’t have expected of her. She asks me for advice. “What should we do? This could be a very long process. If she thinks the way we’re going about it is all wrong, she’s less likely to help us.”
Because Erin isn’t the subject of our investigation, I haven’t had the time to research much about her. And Mr. X, incapacitated as he is, has grudgingly had to put his workload on hold.
But she’s a strange one. I’ve thought that from day one.
Estranged from her entire family, unemployed, collecting money from who knows where to pay the rent.
She believes her ship will come in if she can prove that Bertram stole Budgie, and that’s what I’m here to do for her.
But her entire life seems to be on hold until then.
It’s unusual. I’ve worked with all sorts of clients who hire me to spy and gain intel on people who have wronged them.
Every one of those clients has maintained some semblance of a life.
Working, having a family, painting as a hobby—something.
But not Erin. I’ve circled by her rental several times, only to find her curtains always drawn and her car always in the parking spot.
I thought it was best to just leave her alone. But Elodie has a point. If she’s not on board, it could serve as another roadblock. And Bertram is closed off enough as it is.
“We should go over there tomorrow morning and talk to her in person. Explain the process and give her the notes we’ve compiled so far about Annie.
I wish we could give her more information, but right now, the more time we spend investigating, the more questions we have. We’ll see what she can answer for us.”
“A house call!” Elodie is excited again. “I’ll bring croissants!”
The doors to the school open, and we rise to our feet. Finnegan is one of the first students out of the door, bouncing happily toward Elodie, as Elodie assumes her position directing the pickup line.