Chapter 49
LILY-ANN
Despite how often she’d gone to Régina’s with her murderous ex-husband, the restaurant felt safe to Lily-Ann.
That’s why she’d invited Ocean and Sophie there to break the bad news, in an attempt to soften the blow.
Well, that wasn’t the entire truth. She also missed the coconut yogurt parfait.
And perhaps she’d stolen this strategy from Hamilton, but she enjoyed turning a casual conversation into a social occasion.
Look at her, Lily-Ann Novak, enjoying a fancy breakfast with her girlfriends on a weekday morning.
“What kind of evidence?” Ocean asked.
The waitress arrived before Lily-Ann could respond.
Sophie asked for the smashed avocado toast with pickled radish and tomato confit.
Ocean ordered the shakshuka, which impressed Lily-Ann.
That was real breakfast, and one of the most expensive things on the menu.
She appreciated that Ocean didn’t hold back out of misguided concern for the cost.
“I’d like the coconut parfait,” Lily-Ann told the waitress. “Except with passion fruit instead of dried cranberries, and no strawberries, and a drizzle of maple syrup instead of honey.” When the waitress left, she looked at the other two women and said, “I know you’re laughing at me.”
“It’s a pleasure to watch someone who knows what she wants,” Ocean told her.
“And who is certain there’s passion fruit in the kitchen!” Sophie said, reaching to touch Lily-Ann’s forearm as if to reassure her they were teasing.
“I used to come here with Piotr,” she explained. “I want to create new memories.”
“As long as you keep paying,” Ocean said.
Sophie smiled. “I like the word ‘shakshuka.’ What even is it?”
“Poached eggs in a savory tomato sauce,” Lily-Ann told her.
“With marinated feta,” Ocean said. “At least if you order it here.”
Lily-Ann decided that was enough chitchat. “The police found the fifty-five thousand dollars in cash from Frank’s ATM withdrawals, in a Trader Joe’s reusable bag with a note that said ‘For CJ.’”
Ocean frowned as if she didn’t quite understand and Sophie said, “Oh, shit, is that why Hamilton asked you to stay last night? His cop friend told him?”
“Yes. He didn’t know how to break it to Mrs. B or Ocean.”
“Me?” Ocean asked.
“He thinks you’re in love.”
“Five dates!” she said.
“Nicholas said you glow when you see her,” Lily-Ann said.
Sophie wrinkled her nose. “He told you that?”
“I asked him.”
“Enough about my radioactivity,” Ocean said. “Do we know why Frank was paying CJ fifty grand?”
“We don’t.”
“So, wait…” Ocean slouched in her chair. “He’s been withdrawing cash for months but never actually gave it to her? That’s weird. Why hoard it?”
“That is a good question,” Lily-Ann said. “Here’s another one: Is the fact that Karina found the money the day after CJ’s arrest a little too convenient?”
“You think she set her up?” Sophie asked.
“I think it’s a possibility.”
The conversation paused while the waitress served them, then Lily-Ann asked for a side of lime wedges and Ocean took a bite of shakshuka and said, “Oh, god, this is so good. Um. Okay, say Frank withdrew the cash for an innocuous reason. Like dodging taxes.”
“Innocuous,” Lily-Ann deadpanned.
“That works,” Sophie said. “Like they were going to pay someone under the table for working on the house, something like that. So first, Karina pretended she saw CJ push her husband, then she found the cash and added a note saying it was for CJ.”
“Huh,” Ocean said. “Maybe you’re onto something.”
“It’s a good, simple frame-up. Easier than some others…” Silence fell until Sophie cleared her throat. “If we’re right, how do we prove it?”
“We talk to Karina, I guess,” Ocean said. “And to Sunny Wheeler. Mostly to him. How do we explain his testimony?”
Sophie frowned at her avocado toast. “He’s the key. He suddenly remembered he saw CJ push Frank? Talk about convenient.”
“Yeah, that’s got to be bullshit. Which means he’s hiding something.”
“Perhaps,” Lily-Ann said. “Eyewitnesses are tricky. For most people, memory is deeply unreliable.”
“Not for you?” Sophie asked, with possibly a teasing tone in her voice.
Lily-Ann squeezed lime onto her parfait. “No.”
“Are you eating toast with a fork?” Ocean asked Sophie.
“What?” Sophie paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. “There’s too much stuff on top to eat with my hands.”
“Okay.”
“It’s messy!”
“Do you eat your burgers that way, too?”
“No, Ocean.” Sophie flipped her the middle finger. “I use my fingers.”
“Also,” Lily-Ann said, as they laughed, “CJ searched the web for ‘painless ways to kill an old man.’”
The two of them stopped laughing.
“That is the other piece of evidence the police unearthed,” she explained.
“She googled ways to kill Frank?” Ocean said, her shoulders slumping. “Well, that’s a bit damning.”
Lily-Ann couldn’t abide the imprecision.
“She searched online for how to kill a man who was roughly Frank’s age with roughly his medical condition.
At least, the police believe it was her.
The searcher used a laptop in the house, in Frank DeYoung’s office, not CJ’s personal computer or her phone so—”
“Karina could’ve planted the search,” Sophie interrupted.
“Searches,” Lily-Ann corrected. “There were two.”
“Well, shit,” Ocean said.
“They date back four months.” Lily-Ann dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “So if Karina framed CJ, she started at least that long ago—before the cash withdrawals—and she planted the evidence deep. However, Frank DeYoung also used that laptop.”
“Why would he search…” Ocean trailed off. “You think he wanted to die by suicide?”
Sophie made a thoughtful noise. “Everyone says he’d been slowing down.”
“It’s possible,” Lily-Ann said, “but if he were thinking of euthanizing himself, I suspect he would’ve searched something like ‘how to kill yourself,’ not ‘how to kill an infirm old man.’”
Sophie forked another section of her toast. “Which means we’re back to trying to prove that Karina framed CJ.”
“Or to admitting that she’s been guilty all along,” Ocean said.
“I don’t think she is,” Sophie said.
Lily-Ann decided against asking for more maple syrup, then said, “The computer searches don’t strike me as a big deal.”
“Why not?”
“It’s normal curiosity, isn’t it?”
“Searching how to kill someone?”
“Yes. I mean it’s an interesting question.”
“It might be interesting, Lily-Ann, but it’s not normal.”
The certainty in Sophie’s voice surprised Lily-Ann. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Hm.” She looked to Ocean. “You’ve never searched that about Mrs. B?”
Ocean covered her mouth to keep from spitting out her coffee. “No! No, I’ve never searched that, Lily-Ann.”
“Why not?”
“Why would I? I’ve searched for senior housing and memory care. I’ve searched if those garlic pills she takes are a scam. I have not, however, searched how to kill her, painlessly or otherwise.”
“Huh,” Lily-Ann said, a little taken aback by the lack of curiosity on display.
“Oh, god.” Sophie gaped at her. “Tell me you haven’t searched how to kill Mrs. B!”
“Not Mrs. B, no. Though I will now.”
“Of course you will.”
“Hamilton and I searched for ways to dispose of a body,” Lily-Ann admitted, “after two of them appeared on the property. We were curious. It’s more difficult than you might imagine.”
“Okay, but CJ isn’t you.” Ocean set her fork down. “What if she actually is guilty? Then she’ll run. And Mrs. B will lose everything.”
“We’ll all lose everything,” Sophie said.
“I don’t think she’s going to run,” Lily-Ann said, trying to allay their fears. “But I’ll admit this puzzle just became much more interesting.”