Daisy let out a happy squeal as she closed the diary for the night and crawled beneath her covers. She could only imagine the excitement and happiness Trudy must have felt on her engagement to Thomas. She was eager to read about the family’s preparations for the wedding, but she savored the time she spent reading the diary and wanted to space out the entries, just as Trudy had so many years ago.
The next morning when Daisy went into work she was surprised to see that Mark John was leaving already.
“Where are you off to so early?” she asked.
He looked at her absent-mindedly, as if he didn’t understand what she had said, then gave his head a little shake and answered.
“I have to run an errand.”
Daisy got the feeling it was something private, so she wished him a good day and went back to her office. Only a moment later Jude knocked on the door, opening it at the same time. .
“Hi, Jude. How are you this morning?”
“I’ve been better,” Jude said, sitting down and crossing her long legs.
Daisy waited, watching Jude, knowing she would explain herself any moment.
“I found out why Brian was here looking for Mark John yesterday,” Jude began, sitting up a bit straighter.
“Is everything all right?
“He lost his job.”
Daisy gasped. “His teaching job?”
“That’s the only job he had, as far as I know.”
Snarky, thought Daisy.
“Why? What happened?” Daisy asked.
“We don’t know. Mark John’s gone to talk him off a ledge.”
“Not really,” Daisy said, covering her mouth with her hands. The very thought of it was horrifying.
“Of course not, Daisy.” Jude looked at Daisy as if she had two heads.
“Then don’t say stuff like that, Jude. It’s heartless.”
Jude had the decency to murmur an apology.
“I’m sure Mark John will call you as soon as he finds out what happened,” Daisy said. “Let me know what he says.” It wasn’t subtle, but it worked. Jude stood up and walked out.
Brian fired? And on the heels of the death of his sister and his good friend? What was this going to do to him?
Mark John returned to Global Human Rights a couple hours later and Jude immediately disappeared behind his office door. They were in there for longer than Daisy expected.
When Jude left Mark John she came into Daisy’s office. “Want to go for a drink after work?” she asked.
Daisy stopped typing and looked up, not bothering to conceal her surprise.
“You and me?” she asked.
“Sure.” Jude tilted her head toward Mark John’s office and raised her eyebrows.
“Um, okay. I can go for a little while,” Daisy said.
“Great.” Jude turned and left. Daisy didn’t see much of her the rest of the day, but when five o’clock rolled around Jude came to Daisy’s office.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Sure. Give me a minute.” Daisy turned off her computer and grabbed her tote bag from the back of her door.
“You know, you’re a big girl now,” Jude said, glancing at the tote bag. “Maybe you could think about getting an actual briefcase.”
“Really? Is this why you asked me for a drink?” Daisy asked in exasperation.
“No, of course not. I was just thinking a briefcase might be more professional.”
Daisy rolled her eyes and didn’t answer. She followed Jude to the elevator bank.
“Where do you want to go?” Jude asked.
“Somewhere quiet,” Daisy replied. She didn’t feel like talking over a hundred other voices.
“I agree,” Jude said. She led the way out of the building and down the street to a small bar.
When Jude had ordered a gin and tonic and Daisy had a glass of white wine, Jude sat back in her seat. “Do you want to know why I invited you out?” she asked.
“I assume it’s to tell me what Mark John had to say when he got back to the office today,” Daisy said.
“You’re right.” Jude sounded deflated.
“So what did he say?” Daisy asked.
“You’re not going to believe it,” Jude said. She leaned forward. “Brian lost his job because he helped his honors students cheat on a state test.”
“You’re kidding,” Daisy breathed.
Jude gave a smug nod, obviously pleased that she knew something Daisy didn’t.
“How did the school find out? Did all his kids get the same grade?” Daisy asked.
“Walt told the administration.” Jude sat back with a satisfied smirk.
“Walt told them?” Daisy asked. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open.
“It’s true,” Jude said. “I guess Walt has known about it for a while, but his conscience got the best of him after Fiona died. He spilled the beans to the school administrators two days before he was killed. Apparently he had also told Fiona. You know, pillow talk? Loose lips sink ships?” She arched her eyebrows and gave Daisy a significant look.
Jude was being incredibly callous about the entire thing.
This news changed everything. If Walt and Fiona had been the only ones who knew about Brian’s indiscretion, would Brian be worried about their ability to expose him? Would he be worried enough to kill?
She couldn’t wait to tell Grover the news.
As soon as she left the bar she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Grover’s number.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hi. It’s me. You’ll never guess what I just learned!” Daisy blurted out breathlessly.
“What?” He sounded uninterested, almost to the point of listlessness.
“What’s the matter? Have you talked to the police again?” she asked. She couldn’t wait for this ordeal to be over, and she knew that Grover was even more anxious about it.
“No. What did you learn?”
“Brian just lost his job at the high school. Apparently he was helping his students cheat on a state test.”
“So?” Grover asked.
“You didn’t let me finish,” Daisy said, taking a deep breath to let her rising annoyance dissipate.
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, apparently Walt knew about it and so did Fiona. Walt told the administration about it a short while before he died. This is huge, Grover,” she said.
“So you mean Brian could have been so mad at Walt for telling his secret that he killed him?” Grover asked.
“That’s exactly what I mean. And since Walt and Fiona were the only ones who knew, what if Brian killed Fiona to keep her from saying anything? Then what if he killed Walt because he was angry that Walt told the school what he had done? I mean, he would have had to be pretty unstable to do kill his own sister, but you never know.”
“I thought Brian was a good guy, just a little weird. That’s what you’ve always said,” Grover pointed out.
“Because that’s what I’ve always thought,” Daisy said. “But I don’t know him well at all. I may have misjudged him.”
“I hope so, for my sake. Thanks, Daisy. I should get going, though.”
“Um, all right. If you want to talk, give me a call,” Daisy said. Grover hung up. She had expected him to be as excited about this news as he had been.