Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Roz endured the awkward silence for about twenty seconds before falling into her own trap. Stay quiet long enough, and your subject wants to fill the silence. In her case, she was bursting with questions.
“How much did Wayne tell you about his business dealings?” Roz asked Enolia.
“He told me what I needed to know. His lawyer was kind enough to draw up the papers I signed that gave Wayne the resources he needed to shop around my books.”
Wayne’s “kind” lawyer. The same one who set up the sham escrow account with Sebastian Esquivel?
“So if you’re confident in the movie deal he was pursuing—”
“I am,” Enolia said.
“What were you and Wayne arguing about in the alley before your book signing?”
Enolia sucked in a breath. Paused. “Who told you that?”
“You were seen. What was the fight about?” Roz shifted slightly so she could leap out of the way in case Enolia turned on her. After all, she might still be a crazed killer and could lash out, since she was cornered.
Roz belatedly realized she should’ve just waited for Alden to come back before confronting Enolia about Wayne.
Enolia’s look of shock melted into something calm and crafty. “Tell me, what would you do if you found Alden in bed with another woman?”
“What?” Roz exclaimed.
“You’re together, aren’t you?”
“I—” There was no use denying it. Were they that obvious? “Yes.”
“And?”
“I wouldn’t be happy about it,” Roz admitted.
“Would you get upset?”
“Of course.” And then she realized what Enolia was saying and leaned forward. “You and Wayne were … together?”
“We had a relationship. I thought it was an exclusive one. And then he set down his phone in a careless moment and walked away just when a particularly lurid text appeared on the screen. I saw it. I picked it up. How could I not? Could you have resisted?”
“I—I don’t know.” Roz was still trying to figure out just how angry Enolia was. She didn’t need disturbing thoughts like that—of Alden with someone else—planted in her head.
“You’re a curious person—I mean driven by curiosity,” the novelist said. “I think you know the answer. I read the whole chat. His disgusting exchange with that woman. She works at your newspaper, you know.”
“Sheryl Pugh? She’s a freelancer.”
Enolia glared at her. “She’s a tramp. Making plans to go away with him. Gushing about how much he was helping her. Commenting on his anatomy.”
“Ew.” Roz didn’t mean to say it, but there was such a thing as too much information.
Enolia nodded in agreement, her eyes bright with emotion. “I’m not saying I was in love with Wayne. But I expected some loyalty. I think the worst part was that he’d lied to me. And I’d had a bad morning. I was nervous about appearing at the bookstore.”
“You didn’t seem nervous.”
“I’m a very good actress. I’m a closet introvert.
” She acted like she was telling Roz a secret, but Roz got the feeling the line was well-rehearsed.
And hard to believe, given how she’d teased her audience.
“Besides, I’ve had one or two obsessive fans cross the line over the years, which adds to my jitters.
It’s why I like having people I trust around me when I do an event like that—Mae and Craig, who can be a bodyguard when I need him to be.
To tell the truth, I usually have a Taser in my bag as well. ”
So Enolia wasn’t afraid to use a little violence. “Had you just found out that Wayne wasn’t—loyal?”
“I saw the messages that morning, just before he left my house.”
“Why didn’t you confront him then?”
“I wasn’t ready. My characters often have a snappy comeback.
But I’m one of those people who has to think about what to say, especially when I’ve experienced a shock.
I fumed all morning, going over it again and again in my head.
I couldn’t focus at all before the reading.
I realized I couldn’t go on unless I set things straight with Wayne.
I’d heard his voice in the hall. So I followed him out back.
And I told him exactly where he could stuff that phone. ”
Roz nodded, swallowing a laugh that tried to escape. “Did you hit him?”
A proud glint sparked in Enolia’s eyes. “I yelled at him. I told him we were done, though I still expected him to deliver on his business obligations. And I smacked him the way a trifling man ought to be smacked. And then I went inside feeling much better.”
“How many times did you hit him?”
Enolia seemed surprised by the question. “Once. That was enough to convey how I felt.”
“Did he hit you back?”
“He—” She paused. “No. He seemed to be in shock, honestly. And before you ask, he was very much alive when I left him. And then I did my last-minute touchup in Mae’s office before I met my fans.
I thought I did rather well, especially given Craig misplaced the book I was going to use.
I’m always very careful about annotating the text before something like that, you know? ”
The book! Roz had almost forgotten about the beaten-up book. The book with blood on it.
Craig had custody of her book?
Maybe he didn’t lose it.
Maybe he hit Wayne with it!
“Did Craig know about your relationship with Wayne?” Roz asked, her spine tingling.
For the first time, Enolia seemed discomfited. “I suppose it couldn’t have escaped his notice. The car in the driveway overnight and that sort of thing. He hasn’t been happy lately. He warned me about giving Wayne too much money. Though I’ve always said you have to spend money to make money.”
“He’s protective of you.”
“I suppose he is, the poor thing. He’s been such a help to me. Ever since The Wentletrap.”
But that wasn’t the first book they worked on together, according to him. Or was it? “You found him working at a library?”
Enolia smiled, more relaxed now. “Oh, yes. He couldn’t wait to leave that job, but he has the kind of meticulous mind that’s perfect for research.
He just hadn’t found the right thing since he left the FBI’s Hazardous Devices School.
Not everyone is meant for law enforcement, but he has a delicious mind for mysterious plots. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“Hazardous Devices School?” Roz asked.
“Oh, yes. Haven’t you heard of it? That’s where people go to learn to be bomb techs.”