Chapter 43 #2
There was. Over five thousand bucks a month.
Rayna could have taken the cash and lived quietly in Mason’s Hill, no questions asked, no need to decorate anything.
But staying under the radar was impossible for her—she needed the attention like a fire needed oxygen.
That was the moment we knew Jez was right.
That Marielle was dead. Because no way would she knowingly allow a two-faced schemer like Rayna to collect rent from her property while she was getting away from it all in South America.
No, she’d have rented the place to a tenant herself and used the income to buy school supplies or something.
Which left one big question… “So, where’s the body?”
“Can you find me a picture of the house?”
Of course. Marielle’s family home was a four-bedroom, two-bath detached property with a wraparound porch, a good-sized yard—good for Long Island, at any rate—and a pool.
Not exactly the Hamptons, but it was within walking distance of a LIRR stop, which was probably more of a priority for Marielle if she didn’t drive.
I found an archived version of the rental listing that included photos and a video tour, plus several satellite photos, three of which were hi-res and of dubious origin. That was where things got interesting.
“The most likely scenario is that she was killed in the house,” Ari said. “If you were going to dispose of a body, how would you do it?”
“I’d call the Cleaners.”
“Okay, let’s suppose you didn’t have a connection to a team of covert operators.”
“Jez said she’d drop the corpse in the ocean.”
“Do that close to shore, and you risk the body washing up on a beach somewhere. Which means you need to beg, borrow, or steal a boat to get out to deeper water. Jez could steal a boat, no problem, but could Rayna? I don’t think she planned the murder in advance—she doesn’t seem the type.
She tried to strangle you in Nolan’s study, for Pete’s sake. ”
“What if I dressed the body in a bathing suit? A little misdirection?”
“Marielle never learned to drive because her parents died in a car wreck. After her best friend drowned, nobody’s going to believe she went out for a swim.”
That was a reasonable point.
“She could have dumped the body on land,” Ari continued. “Driven along Ocean Parkway at night, or paid a visit to the Pine Barrens… But there’s still the risk of discovery. And we don’t know if Rayna even owned a vehicle back then.”
“I can find out.”
“I’m not sure we need to.” Ari tapped one of my screens. “What’s this?”
I peered closer. Ari was pointing to a brown triangle sticking out from under a tree canopy in Marielle’s yard.
“A shed? A summerhouse?”
“Right. But it isn’t in this older image. If my calculations aren’t off, it appeared in the year after Marielle vanished.”
“You think Rayna built it? To hide the body?”
“How about this? Marielle and Rayna had their big fight, and the folks at Ivory and Ink knew they’d fallen out because of the frosty atmosphere at work, but the neighbours stayed in the dark.
That isn’t the kind of thing you broadcast. Latoya said Marielle wasn’t social, and she wasn’t close to anyone but Rayna and Angelo.
So Rayna got fired and everyone assumed Marielle took off for South America, but Rayna stayed behind in the house. ”
“If Angelo visited, it wouldn’t have been hard for her to hide behind a couch.”
“Exactly. Meanwhile, she buried Marielle in the yard. But she couldn’t stay on Long Island forever with no income, plus her name was mud in the design community, and unlike Marielle, Rayna needed to be around people in order to fuel her pathological need for attention.
So starting fresh in California makes sense.
But she was also greedy, so why not rent out the house as well?
The body was well-hidden, and to make doubly sure a pesky landscaper didn’t start digging, she stuck a summerhouse on the top. What do you think?”
What would Mom do? Whenever I needed to get into the head of a narcissist, I just thought of her. Could I imagine her being that dumb? Absolutely. She thought she was smart enough that she’d never get caught. And she’d probably spend the rent money on shoes.
“I think Rayna was both arrogant enough and reckless enough to do something like that.”
If she’d had access to Marielle’s bank account, she would have drained that as well. Maybe she couldn’t find the card?
“Any idea which law enforcement agency has jurisdiction?” Ari asked.
“Has to be either the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office or the Suffolk County PD. I’ll find out.” On second thought… “You know what? The FBI also has an office in Suffolk County. They can deal with it.”
“This isn’t a federal case.”
“No, but I know an FBI guy, and judging by how little work he does, they have more time to make phone calls than I do.”
“You’re going to…use the FBI instead of Google?”
“I mean, they’re not having much luck solving regular crimes.”
I picked up the phone and called Special Agent Branning.