Grace Adamson might have gone on at length about the history of Essy, but her report contained even more information about her background, particularly the years before she started the company. She was born in St. Paul and grew up in a modest household in Roseville. Her father was a professor of American history at the University of Minnesota, and her mother was a large-animal vet. She was an only child. Her paternal grandparents lived in Philadelphia, where her father had grown up. Her maternal grandparents owned a pharmacy in downtown St. Paul. In her youth, they expanded to Minneapolis, Duluth, Rochester, Winona and St. Cloud. By the time she graduated from high school, they had assembled a minor empire and had become quite wealthy.
For reasons the report did not cover, she attended college in New York City and stayed on there to work at a small entertainment management agency. Her parents were killed in an automobile accident while she was in college. Her paternal grandfather died while she was in high school. The paternal grandmother passed away during Grace’s third year post-college. As she had told them, her maternal grandfather died when she was in her early thirties. The report cited the contents of his will, which had been probated a year later. Essy, or at that time Springboard Concepts, was established a year later. There was little noted about Essy until she partnered with Eloise five years ago and then the sale a year later.
There were no other personal details about her. She had never been married. Nor had the intern found details about any romantic liaisons she might have had over the years, male or female.
“What does this report tell you?” Marla asked Rex.
“Not much that we didn’t already know, other than the details about the parents and grandparents. The fact that she’s never been married or otherwise linked romantically is curious, don’t you think?”
“You mean because she’s a striking woman? It’s okay. I agree, and like you, I’m surprised there has been no man in her life. Or any special someone.”
“A question for us to ask her in our second interview.” He checked his watch. “We’re making good progress. What time is it?”
“One fifteen. Wait. Are you testing me?”
He made a face. “You caught that, huh? Sorry. Former cop instinct to verify a suspect’s statement.”
His action tickled her. Her time-telling trait had become so second nature to her that she’d forgotten how someone else might view it. But the last thing he said was too rich to ignore. “Suspect?” She let her voice rise. “I thought I’d been cleared as a person of interest in this case.”
His hands came up surrender-style. “I was kidding, Marla. I thought you’d realize that.”
She smiled. “I did, but it was too good an opening not to put you on the spot.”
He blew out a breath. “Okay, I get it. I probably would’ve done the same with you. But don’t do it again. I don’t take a joke as well as you.”
Big admission. She was already on to that trait. She wouldn’t tease him further. At least for a while. “Okay. Break over. Who’s next?”
“I suppose we could tackle them in the same order we interviewed them, but I’m very curious about Chloe. Her rapid rise to prominence at Essy has me puzzled.”
“Then Chloe it is,” she replied.
Chloe had been raised by a single mother. There was little information about her father, including who he was. She was an only child. Her mother died from a severe case of influenza Chloe’s first year of college when she was eighteen. It was later thought to have been an early case of COVID. No grandparents or other relatives were listed.
Her high school yearbook showed her participating in two plays and winning recognition as the lead in Oklahoma. She was also named as one of the school’s emerging leaders for her work on the student council and as an after-school tutor.
She grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from the U of Minnesota with a degree in human resource development. As part of her degree requirements, she interned for Essy her senior year. It didn’t say how or why she was assigned there versus another organization.
No other employment was listed.
“That’s disappointing,” Rex said after he finished reading it. “I hoped there’d be more. This doesn’t tell us much more than we already knew.”
Marla took a glance at what she’d just read. “The fact that she interned for Essy while she was still in college might explain why there was no recruiting. They already knew her and her work.”
“I saw that, but it didn’t ring any bells for me.”
“One more thing. She was big into theater in high school. The acting part. Even though that was a few years back, it suggests a talent for playing a part. And her degree in human resource development tells us reading other people is a likely skill she picked up or enhanced.”
“Good points,” he replied. “But if acting is her thing, how will we ever get to the real Chloe Reardon?”
“I’d like to believe as an actress myself I’d be able to tell when she’s playing a part and cut through it,” she said.
“Clue me in when you pick up on those vibes so I can back you up however you choose to respond.”
“I’m glad you said that, because the only way of cutting through her act that occurs to me is to respond to her in a way she’s not anticipating. Something far-fetched.”
“What do you have in mind?” he asked.
“Nothing right now. It’ll have to be an inspiration of the moment. Improvised.”
He narrowed his eyes like she was speaking in tongues.
“What? I’ll try to give you a high sign to let you know what I’m doing, if that’s what concerns you.”
“Good to know, but do you hear yourself? When we first began this partnership, you were the one who questioned whether you could work without a script. To our benefit, that’s worked out pretty well. But what you’re proposing is on a different level. Will you be up to it?”
“I should be. That’s a constant challenge in stage roles, when the other person forgets their lines or jumps ahead in the script, so it’s not something totally outside my wheelhouse.”
“All I can say is go for it, if the time is right.”
“Are we done with Chloe? Who’s next?”
“The ex-husband,” Rex replied. “My gut tells me he’s hiding his real feelings about his ex-wife. Correct that. He did tell us he didn’t like her, but he didn’t reveal the depth of those feelings. Let’s see what more the intern has discovered.”
Though a couple years older than Grace, Brecken had also grown up in Roseville and gone to the same high school. His high school yearbook showed a picture of them participating in chorus at the same time. An older brother, Preston, who now lived in Oak Park, Illinois, was married with three children. Their parents both worked for the University of Minnesota in support jobs. His father had been the head of maintenance until his retirement, and his mother had been a secretary in the dean’s office. Brecken appeared to have taken advantage of the free tuition, having earned thirty-six credit hours due to his parents working for the institution, but he didn’t finish.
He dropped out of school sometime during his sophomore year for unknown reasons. He seemed to disappear from the landscape for over ten years. He paid no taxes during that time.
Tax records started showing up about fifteen years ago when he started to work in facilities management for DeGrassi Manufacturing, where he met Eloise Carlson. They married thirteen years ago. They moved to St. Paul at the same time. Three years later, DeGrassi relocated its main plant to New Mexico and both the Wallaces were laid off. While he sought another position, Brecken took on odd jobs, including mowing lawns with a co-worker, Craig Jones, who had also lost his job. Six months later, they formed Wallace-Jones Lawn Care. The business remained small, just the two of them, for several years, although their tax returns indicated they’d seen steady growth in income.
The Wallaces were divorced six years ago.
Jones sold him his share of the business two years ago.
“Most of this tracks with what he told us, although there was little about Eloise,” Marla said.
Next up was Liz. Though they now resided in the same building, Marla hadn’t run into her except at the book club luncheon and at the match on Saturday, so reading her profile was a revelation. A local girl, she’d attended the school of fashion design affiliated with the U of Minnesota but had not graduated. Her employment record was spotty until a few years later, when she took a job as a nanny to a family in Connecticut. Following three years at that, she worked as a nighttime residence hall supervisor at a private girls’ school, also in Connecticut, then signed on as buyer with a major women’s clothing company headquartered in Massachusetts. That stint lasted nine years, until that business was acquired by a Dutch conglomerate and her division was eliminated.
However, it appeared she had survived that upheaval when they moved her to their executive staff in Amsterdam. Her stay there lasted almost five years. During that time she must have met and married an American entrepreneur, Wade Jenkins, because she/they relocated back to Atlanta, Georgia, in the States. There was no work history for the next several years, although the intern had located several media listings showing her and her husband at various social events.
Jenkins passed away twelve years ago. Liz remained in Georgia another year and then returned to the Twin Cities, where she bought the condo at Rambling Meadows. Since then, she’d become an investment consultant.
“I never would’ve guessed Liz has such a varied background,” Marla said. “Although looking back, she’s the one who’s shown interest in Letitia’s wardrobe.”
“Interesting how she wound up back here after living on the East Coast, Georgia and even the Netherlands,” Rex said.
“Kind of like the homing instinct with birds. No matter how far and wide they fly, most seem to find their way back to the roots of their origin.”
He offered a collegial smile. “You mean like Marla Dane returning to Minnesota?”
“Yes and no. I did feel the need to ‘come home’ as the result of my problems in LA, but I’m not here permanently. Just to touch base.”
He angled his head, all the while gazing directly at her. “Really? You’ve made up your mind about your next steps?” he asked, his tone failing to disguise a slight tinge of disappointment.
“Well, no. But coming back to Minnesota has always been a short-term solution for stepping away from my acting issues. Kitty’s open invitation to stay with her has made it easy for me to do that.”
“I thought you were enjoying being a real detective instead of playing one?”
“I am. But let’s face it, homicides are a rarity around here, the two we’ve been following notwithstanding.”
“Let’s hope so,” he replied. “But there shouldn’t have to be a murder to keep you here.”
“Why, Rex,” she said, adopting a coquettish attitude, “is this your way of telling me you like having me around?”
He sat back and crossed his arms in front of him. “Me? I was talking about you. Your outlook seems to have changed ever since you arrived. You look healthier … and happier.”
Did she? Sometimes it took an outsider to see things one couldn’t see for herself. “If that’s what you’re seeing, it’s not at the expense of two dead people. It’s just that I feel more involved here. More appreciated.”
“That’s important,” he said. “Now I would appreciate it if you continued to share your reaction to her profile with me.”
“Clever segue. The fashion thing was a bit of a surprise. The idea of creating her own line of evening wear for women seemed to come out of the blue when she told us, but now I can see that fashion has been a part of her background since college. I’d be interested in learning why she didn’t finish the program and then why she took other unrelated jobs, like being a nanny and working in a girls’ private school.”
“Did you know she was a widow?” he asked.
“No. Kitty has never mentioned it. Maybe she doesn’t know.”
“I’m anxious to get the financials on all six of our interviewees plus on Eloise as well. In Liz’s case, how much was in the estate of her late husband? It must’ve been enough to pay for her condo, but was there any left, since she’s now working as an investment consultant?”
“Also, what was her connection to Eloise?” Marla asked. “She said she knew her from ‘way back,’ but what does that mean? When would they have known each other? Liz moved out of state right after she dropped out of fashion design school.”
“A good question for Liz,” he said.
“That leaves Tanner. What do we have on him?”
There wasn’t much in his profile. He’d grown up in Mankato and come to the Twin Cities after graduating from St. Olaf with a degree in business administration. His first job had been with a national discount store. He left there after six months for an office job at a local nursery. He was there a year before being hired by Eloise as her assistant. That was right after she’d become the sole owner.
He lived three blocks from the Essy office in an apartment with two other roommates. He didn’t appear to have any outside interests.
Rex set down his phone. “We’ve read through all six suspect profiles plus one for the victim. Where does that leave us?”
The answer that came to mind wasn’t what they’d hoped for. “We still haven’t eliminated anyone,” she said.