Chapter 32
“Vallera is made by Hypexion Labs,” Jack said. “Do you wanna know who the CEO of Hypexion Labs is? David Duval.”
He showed me David’s picture on the website.
Lauren’s eyes flicked between the two of us. “Do you know him?”
“Not well. He’s a member at the club. Liam gave lessons to his wife.”
It was all starting to come together.
I told Lauren to watch herself. “Keep an eye on your surroundings. Don’t go out alone. Don’t press the issue. We’ll handle this. You might not want to spend time at Liam’s apartment alone either. Whoever went looking through his stuff may come back.”
Lauren nodded. She didn’t look like she was up for any trouble or drama.
I called the forensic team and had them come out and dust for prints while we searched the apartment. I didn’t think we’d find anything, but it was worth doing.
After they had finished, we escorted Lauren out of the apartment and down to the lobby. The valet pulled around her car, and we watched as she got in and drove away. We hopped in the van when the valet brought it around. I called Blake.
He answered after a few rings. "Hey, what's going on? You figure out who killed Liam yet? I heard Mr. Wescott’s in jail."
Without revealing too many details, I told him that we were looking for another possible suspect. "Did he ever talk to you about his mother?"
"I know he was really bummed out when she died.”
"Did he talk about how she died?”
"I don't remember all the details. I know she was in the hospital, and it was kinda sudden. He said something about some kind of medication she was on. I don't really know.”
"It seems like he blamed the pharmaceutical company. Did he talk about trying to hold them responsible?”
"Yeah, he said he wanted to expose them. But I didn't really know how he planned on doing that. He was really upset, and I figured he was just kind of ranting.”
"Did he talk to you at all about David Duval and Hypexion?”
"No. I don’t think so. Not that I remember. Liam always kept his cards pretty close to his chest.”
"So he never talked to you about any evidence he may have found or avenues he was pursuing?"
"When his mother died, he was a basket case for a while. I was really worried about him. He was not processing it in a healthy way. He was drinking, doing drugs. He finally pulled himself together and never talked about it again. I didn’t want to bring it up.”
"Understandable. Is there anybody he might have opened up to?"
“Getting Liam to open up would have been a monumental task. He always tried to keep that perfect exterior. He didn’t want anyone to see him as weak. He kept everything bottled up inside. I told him that shit’s not healthy. But you know who really got him out of his spiral?”
“Who?”
“Stephanie Wescott. Listen, I thought he was crazy for messing with that chick. I mean, she was young. But she was a good influence on him. I don’t know. I think he really liked her.”
“Did she know about his dalliances?”
“I don’t think anyone really knew the full extent of it except Liam.
He’d tell me stories here and there, but never any names.
” Blake paused. “I’m not saying he was perfect or anything.
We’ve all got our faults. But that guy always went to bat for me.
We go way back. I met him in grade school when these three guys were kicking the shit out of me.
He didn’t hesitate to jump in, even though these guys were way bigger.
” Blake chuckled. “We both got our asses kicked. But we’ve been friends ever since.
” He choked up. “I’m gonna miss that guy. ”
I thanked him and ended the call.
Jack said, “It’s convenient that Liam was giving lessons to David Duval’s wife, visiting her house.”
“That would be one way to possibly gain access to company information.”
“Maybe we should have another talk with Blair.”
“I don’t want to tip our hand just yet,” I said. “Right now, I’m of the mind that David Duval put anti-freeze in Liam’s thermos. How hard would it have been to get access? He could have done it himself or paid someone to do it.”
I called Brenda. “Were you able to pull any prints from that thermos?”
“A few,” she said. “One set belongs to Liam. There is a set that is likely female, and one other that is male. So far, no matches.”
“I think I’ve got a good idea who those prints might belong to.” I thanked her for the info, ended the call, and asked JD, “What was Warren’s assistant’s name? Lindsey?”
“Yup.”
“She’s got to be the female set. I think we need to grab David Duval’s prints.”