Chapter 6
I flashed my badge and made introductions. "I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news."
I tried to put it as gently as possible, but there was no easy way to say this kind of thing.
Lisa's jaw dropped, and her eyes rounded when I told her. She blinked a few times, then stammered, "I'm sorry, did you just say she's dead?”
"Yes, ma'am. We're very sorry for your loss.”
"But I just talked to her a few days ago. How did this happen?”
"I can't go into detail at this time. When you spoke, what did you talk about?”
"What I always talk about when I speak with her." Lisa frowned. "I tried to get her to see that her lifestyle was not doing her any favors. As you can imagine, she was not interested in listening to what I had to say.”
Lisa wasn’t much older than Eden. I’m sure it had been a bone of contention.
"What prompted the conversation?” I asked.
"I don't recall. I think she was looking for Richard. She couldn't get in touch with him. She called me."
"Did she ever express any suicidal thoughts or behavior?"
Lisa looked surprised. "So she killed herself?"
"The medical examiner hasn’t made a determination yet.”
Lisa frowned and shook her head. "I warned her. Her choices came with a toll. It was a heavy burden to bear. It's like a sore that festers and gets infected. You can't turn to sin and not pay the price.”
Lisa didn't seem to have a lot of empathy. I figured their relationship was a contentious one at best. I asked her about it.
"We were never going to be best friends.
I don't think she approved of my relationship with Richard, just like we didn't approve of her choices. Despite that, I always tried to express my love for her,” she said in a righteous voice.
“I mean, you may not always agree with family, but I believe love can prevail. At the end of the day, family is all we have.”
"Tell me about her boyfriend, Jesse Sutton."
A look of disdain snarled her lips. "I blame him. He's the one who got her into the drugs. He's the one who convinced her to start taking her clothes off on camera. As far as I'm concerned, he's a human trafficker. A pimp. No better than a common street thug.”
Her nose crinkled like she'd smelled rotten chicken.
"How bad was Eden’s drug problem?”
Lisa lifted an eyebrow. "Is there such a thing as a mild drug problem? It's a downhill slide that never ends well for anyone.”
She had a point.
"Do you know if she was in any trouble?”
Lisa tried not to laugh. "How much more trouble could she be in, Deputy? Her life seemed pretty troubled to me.”
"Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to harm her?” I said, clarifying.
Lisa shrugged. "I really don't know. I didn't have that much contact with her. I wasn't her favorite person. I'll admit, I was not shy about making my displeasure known. Richard didn't raise her that way, and it was quite embarrassing.”
"Embarrassing?"
"Well, yes. Richard's entire life has been about promoting a virtuous life of devotion and service, and she goes off and does something like this just to spite him. Lord knows we both prayed and tried to get her to come back into the fold, but God had other plans.”
“I guess it’s safe to say the relationship was strained.”
"I'm not sure how it could be any other way. When you've got people with viewpoints at opposite ends of the spectrum, there’s not much common ground.”
"Can you tell me where you were yesterday between 5:00 and 7:00 PM?”
Lisa hesitated and gave me a suspicious look. "Are you considering me a suspect?"
I made a dismissive expression to put her at ease. "Just a routine question.”
"I was here at the house," she said.
"Can anyone verify that?”
"Yes. Eddie Marshall. He provides security for us.”
"Is he full-time?"
Lisa nodded. "Yes. He lives in the guesthouse. We haven't had too many incidents, but every now and then we do get some loony tune that shows up.”
"It's a crazy world we live in," I said.
"You can say that again.”
"Where's your husband?"
"He's out of town, in Austin.”
"How long has he been there?”
"A few days. Because I know you're going to ask, he was online yesterday during that timeframe, giving a sermon to a million followers.” She smiled.
“I’d like to speak with Eddie,” I said.
“He’s running an errand for me.”
“Any idea when he’ll be back?”
Lisa shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“He leaves you here all alone?” I asked.
“Like I said, we haven’t had too much trouble. He lives on the property and keeps an eye on things, but he’s not around the clock. A full-time rotating security staff is expensive,” she said like she was poor. Lisa was the farthest thing from poor.
“I’ll need contact information for him.”
“Certainly.”
I dug into my pocket and handed her a card. "Please get in touch if you think of anything else that might be helpful."
"I will. Richard is going to be so devastated. I know how much he wanted to reconcile with Eden. This is going to break his heart.” A frown tightened her lips.
We thanked her again and offered our condolences, then walked back to the Porsche after she texted me Eddie’s contact information. We strolled past the two Ferraris—one white, one red.
Lisa stood in the doorway, watching us go.
“Something tells me she might be happy Eden’s no longer an embarrassment," Jack said under his breath.
"I believe you might be right about that."
We climbed into the Porsche, and I called Eddie Marshall before we set out to find Jesse Sutton.