Chapter 31
"Icame over to Liam’s apartment to start clearing out his things, and I found something odd,” Lauren said. “Actually, a few odd things. His door was unlocked when I got here. That’s really unusual. I know it’s a safe building, but he would never leave without locking the apartment.”
“Are there any signs of forced entry?” I asked.
“Not that I can tell.”
“Did anyone else have a key?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What about girlfriends?”
“I don’t think anyone he was dating had reached key status.”
“What about his ex-girlfriend?”
“Doubtful, but she might be worth looking into. There’s something else. His computer is missing.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve looked everywhere.”
“Did you check his car? His locker at the club?”
Lauren sighed. “No. I guess it could be either of those places.” She thought about it for a second. “I guess his car is still in the parking lot at the club. I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Is anything else missing?”
“It’s hard for me to tell. Somebody has definitely been in here and gone through things. Liam was very particular. He never left anything out of place. But his desk is messy. Books have been pulled from the shelves, drawers have been opened.”
“Okay. Sit tight. We’ll be right over.”
“There’s something else. I found a note.”
"What kind of note?" I asked.
"Liam wrote, ‘If something happens to me, it's not an accident. I'm not suicidal. It's because I was getting too close.’”
"Too close to what?”
"I don't know.”
"Where is Liam’s apartment?”
“In the Nautilus.”
"What's the unit number?”
She told me.
I ended the call, pulled myself out of bed, and went through my morning routine. I awakened Jack and began to grill breakfast.
The boat was a mess after the evening’s debauchery. Beer cans, drink glasses, and frilly undergarments lay scattered about. I figured we'd clean it up later, and with any luck, I’d get the guys to do it.
Floyd and Pinky had taken the van back to the practice studio and unloaded the gear last night.
They drove it back to the marina for the after-party and had handed over the keys to me.
JD and I hopped into the van and drove across the island to the Nautilus.
It was a luxury high-rise with all the amenities and an on-site marina.
Liam had done well for himself. There was no doubt about it.
Still, he was a far cry from country club money.
I left the van with the valet, and the concierge buzzed us into the lobby. We said hello, then hustled to the elevators and vaulted up to the 17th floor. JD and I hurried down the hallway, and I banged on the door to #1721.
Lauren answered a moment later. "I have a theory. It might sound a little crazy."
She stepped aside and let us into the apartment.
We followed her down the foyer to the living room.
It was a two-story unit with floor-to-ceiling windows, a nice terrace, and luxury appointments.
It was a two-bedroom, and one of the bedrooms served as Liam's office/workout room.
There was a desk, a widescreen display, a printer, and a bookshelf full of books on entrepreneurship, the stock market and investing, tennis, and a couple of biographies—most of which were now on the floor or stacked haphazardly.
On the far end, there was a treadmill, a set of weights, some yoga mats, and medicine balls.
“What’s your theory?“ I asked.
“I think this has something to do with our mother. She died last year. She was an alcoholic and a diabetic. She was overweight. She developed severe acute necrotizing pancreatitis. Went into sepsis and died from multiorgan failure.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said in a sympathetic tone.
“It all started right after she began taking this new drug, Vellara. It was almost immediate. Stomach pain, loss of kidney function. It was terrible. We both brought up our concerns to her doctors, but they dismissed the notion that this could be related to the drug. They assured us over and over again that it couldn’t be the cause of her death. “
I shared a look with JD.
“Liam and my mother were really close. I hate to say this, but he was her favorite. She left him almost everything. Whatever. I’m over it. I don’t hold that against him or her. My relationship with my mother was always a little strained. But Liam was her baby. He could never do any wrong.”
She sounded a little bitter, but she masked it well. I didn’t think she poisoned her brother, but the thought did dance around in the back of my mind.
“Liam swore he was going to get to the bottom of it.”
“Did he say how he was going to do that?”
“I know he started doing a lot of research. I didn’t think much of it. I mean, we didn’t really talk a lot about it. We weren’t really close before my mother died, and we weren’t really close after. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my brother. We just didn’t really like to be in the same room together.”
“You older?”
Lauren nodded.
“Was the note addressed to you?”
“No. He just scribbled it on a piece of paper and left it in a drawer in the nightstand. You want to see it?”
I nodded, and she showed it to me. “Do you think Blake would know anything about this?”
“I guess. They were pretty tight.”
Jack pulled out his phone and did a quick Internet search for the drug. He must have found something interesting because he lifted an intrigued eyebrow. “Get a load of this.”