I noticed Toby sitting at Claire's desk and Claire sitting in a desk opposite Riley, typing away.
"I ordered lunch from Oleo's," she said without looking at us.
Even though we'd just had snacks, Kelly and I tore into the bag like ravenous wolves. As usual, Claire got my order exactly right—a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. If Riley ever fires her, I'm going to hire her to do something. I don't know what that would be—organize my paperwork or my troop. This woman was too valuable.
Hopefully, Toby would be half as good.
"What do you guys have?" Kelly and I weren't sure where to sit, since our backs would be to Claire.
"Go ahead," Claire said. "I have to meet with a prospective client." She handed Riley some papers and then walked out the door.
"You are so lucky," I said.
Riley nodded. "It's nice having her drum up business."
"Hopefully she's smart enough not to sleep with you," I said quietly.
Riley acted like he hadn't heard me. "I've got some information. That shell company in the Caymans is giving me trouble. Those kids have some serious lawyers behind them."
"Great," I deadpanned. "Did Kelly tell you about last night?"
He looked at her. "What happened last night?"
Kelly told him everything, giving me a chance to eat. My former handler listened, nodding appropriately. Years in the field and a few attempts on his life ensured he wasn't horrified by what he heard.
When she was done, he turned to me. "You have a red convertible?"
I nodded, mainly because my mouth was full.
"Can I borrow it?" Riley asked.
I shook my head and swallowed. "Rex is taking it into the shop. Not that I'd lend it to you anyway. Why don't you buy your own?"
"I'm a business owner with three employees." Riley waved me off. "I'll hit you up again in the spring."
"Whatever. Do you have anything on Blue Zombie Productions?"
"I do have something." He sorted through some files on his desk before opening one. "It's pretty coincidental that they represent both Deliria and the Cult of NicoDerm. They're a small operation but have had a few successes. Frank Smith is legit. And Deliria was working with them before she died."
"Nothing more than that?" I was disappointed. It would've been nice to find out that they had orchestrated the whole double murder thing.
"I spoke with Frank Smith. He said Deliria was notoriously difficult to work with. She often called him in the middle of the night screaming about a comma in the wrong place on the contract. I guess she was a real pain in the butt."
"So, not the sweet, loving wife Austin said she was," I mumbled.
"No." Riley sat back in his chair. "I did find something interesting on Austin Wentworth. He's totally broke. The man has blown all the money he made from Espionage. He's had to rely on Deliria for everything."
"Most men don't like that," Kelly said. "It must've been a blow to his ego."
"I found a tiny article in a tabloid." Riley handed us a copy of a small article about Deliria. "She's barely C-List," he said. "But she did get coverage now and then."
"Is that Austin with another woman?" I squinted at the accompanying photo. The woman's back was to the camera, but she had blonde hair instead of red, it was longer than Deliria's, and this woman was more curvy.
Riley paraphrased what we were reading for ourselves. "There's no name, but he was caught on hot mic saying he couldn't wait until his wife was dead and gone."
"That's interesting," I said. "Caught in the tabloids with someone else, wishing his wife was dead."
Kelly said, "It sounds like motive to me."
"And"—Riley grinned—"I got something on Amy Rushton too." He steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair.
"Well? What is it?" I pressed.
"Hold on," Riley said. "I'm enjoying this moment of knowing something before you do."
Kelly shot him her hostile nurse's look that in her previous job had been reserved for large men in the emergency room after a bar brawl at the Cornhole.
Riley smiled. "In the last year, she made two thousand seven hundred phone calls to Austin."
My eyebrows went up. "Really? Sounds like they were having an affair."
"If Amy knew that she was getting the rights to Deliria's body of work, maybe she and Austin teamed up?" I asked.
"Or she wanted not only Deliria's money but also her young husband," Kelly added.
Were they conspiring together? It seemed likely. "What about Donald? Where does he fit in?"
"Claire called the hotel and found out he's been staying there as long as Austin and Amy." He pointed at Toby. "And Toby went over last night and interviewed the bartender and waitresses."
Toby looked up at us and smiled. Kurt had hoped to work for Riley as a private eye or bounty hunter. He wasn't going to like this new staff development. But I gave Toby the thumbs-up.
"What did they say?" Kelly asked.
Riley called for Toby to come over to us, and he did.
"They saw you talking to Amy a couple of days ago," he said. "But after you left, that guy, Donald, sat down with Amy. I heard him tell her Deliria made up her stalker. Amy asked how much he wanted to keep quiet. Then they argued before Donald stormed out."
"Good job, Toby," Riley said, and the young man went back to his desk. "You know, I hesitated to add more staff, but between the lucrative account Claire brought in from Stewie and Toby taking the initiative to investigate, I don't know why I didn't do this sooner."
Kelly gave him a look that turned the atmosphere to ice.
Riley cleared his throat. "It doesn't necessarily mean anything. Donald was a fan. Maybe he knew who Amy was?"
"Or maybe Donald was the stalker Amy warned me about," I said. "Maybe he was trying to get any info he could out of Deliria's agent, even though Deliria was gone."
We thought about this in silence for a moment.
Kelly asked, "I wonder if Amy wondered if Donald was the stalker too?"
I added, "Austin looked angry when he spotted Donald speaking on stage. He pushed Sherman to cut him off. That's when he made his Blue Zombie announcement. And Amy didn't look happy about that."
"I can understand why." Riley turned his monitor toward us. "Even if she knew about the clause where rights reverted to her, she probably didn't want him announcing it."
"Does that say five hundred thousand dollars?" I gasped. "For repeats of a little known late-night show?"
Kelly spoke up. "I've read that announcing something that big when it's up in the air can make the production company pull out of the deal."
"That would explain why Amy was mad." I tapped a pen against my head. "We don't know if Amy knew about the will, do we?"
Riley shook his head. "We're lucky to know that much."
I considered this. "I still believe it's safe to assume that Austin did not know about it."
We kicked these ideas around for an hour or two but just kept coming back to the same conclusions.
Toby held up a pen. "I can go back there tonight, if you want. I could try to approach Austin or Amy."
I shut that down. If anyone was going to do it, it would be me. "I'll do it. Amy is still waiting for my decision. If I'm lucky and they are having an affair, I might catch them together."
Kelly nodded. "I'm going with you. I could drop the bomb on Austin about the contract."
"Catching him off guard is the best way to get an honest reaction," I agreed.
My cell rang. It was Rex. I got up and walked away.
"Hey babe," I said. "Kelly and I are going out for dinner tonight, so I won't be home."
My husband's warm voice on the other side said, "Good idea. I think she was pretty shaken up. I know that you weren't."
I grinned. "You know me too well. Why did you call?"
This time, he sighed. "We're going to have to book Stewie, I'm afraid."
I didn't see this coming. "Why? He's out on bail!"
"Two witnesses from the Con called in and gave statements saying they saw Stewie kill Deliria. Sherman's the only other one who said that directly. And apparently these are just two random attendees. They're both from Omaha. I'm sending Troy to get their statements in person. It doesn't look good for Stewie."
Between Sherman's testimony, Stewie's saliva and fingerprints on the knife, and now two new witnesses, Rex was right. My heart sank into my shoes.
"When are you taking him in?" I asked.
"I can hold off until Troy gets back tomorrow. He doesn't seem like a flight risk. You might suggest that Riley get going on the case."
"What about me?"
"That goes without saying. See you later. Love you!"
I hung up, then went and filled Riley and Kelly in.
"That fast tracks us going to the hotel for dinner," Kelly said. "We should go soon."
"How about if I meet you there in an hour. I need to talk to Stewie before he's taken in."
"Are you going to warn him?" Riley asked.
"I'll try to do it subtly. I can't really tell him my husband gave me confidential information."
"Will he figure it out?"
"Not a chance." I stood up. "That kid is as dense as they come."