Emory exited the interstate in Knoxville. “I wonder if that’s why Blair Geister revised her will a couple of months ago. She was feeling guilty about what happened to Zyus but torn about whether she actually had anything to feel guilty about.”
From the backseat, Virginia added, “The puzzle served as a non-biased judge. If Zyus figured it out, he received retribution to make things right. If he didn’t, Blair could have peace of mind, knowing she was not responsible and finally free herself from the guilt. Of course, we did stack the deck in his favor by finding the Box for him.”
In the passenger seat, Jeff shook his head. “There’s just one problem. She’d be dead when Zyus was presented with the puzzle, so she wouldn’t know the outcome.”
“Maybe she believed she would.”
Emory had another suggestion. “Or maybe she was planning to give Zyus the opportunity before she died but put it in the will in case she didn’t get around to it.”
Jeff asked, “But why?”
“Maybe she was waiting until she knew she’d be out of the house long enough to give him the opportunity to look for it. She could stay at the apartment in The Monolith until time to solve the puzzle expired.”
Virginia rested her forearms on the front seats. “Guys, this is all speculation. The truth is Blair Geister was a very complicated woman. We’ll never know for certain the reasons behind a lot of her decisions, and I’m okay with that. She was still a remarkable person who did more good than bad.”
“Agreed,” said Emory. “I do feel bad for her, though. She spent half her life racked with guilt about the death of her brother. She came to terms with that, and then this thing with Zyus happens. And ultimately, no matter the game’s outcome, she really didn’t have any fault when it came to Zyus. It was an accident.”
“You don’t have to be at fault to feel guilty,” said Virginia.
Jeff patted the center console. “I just had a weird thought. What if Blair rigged the bed herself?”
Virginia asked, “Why would she do that?”
“Self-inflicted karmic retribution for her brother’s death.”
“That’s not karma,” said Virginia. “Karma would be if Tommy Addison killed her because he then died in the process.”
The guys looked at each other, but Jeff was the first to speak. “If Tommy did kill Blair, I know someone else he hated just as much.”
His mind buzzing, Emory said, “The open pool umbrella. The oversized sheets. The architectural drawings he had in his room. I saw the CEO office in them.”
Virginia grabbed their shoulders. “Guys, they’re opening the new headquarters today.”
Emory spun the car around and raced toward The Monolith.
Jeff asked, “Virginia, can you try calling Rue Darcé and tell her not to go into her office?”
“I’m already on it.” Virginia placed her phone to her ear. “I’m in the queue.”
Jeff pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Juniper and see if she has Rue’s cell number.”
The three PIs bounded off the elevator on the fortieth floor of The Monolith and ran up to the receptionist desk. “Where’s Rue Darcé’s office?” asked Jeff.
“Do you have an appointment?”
Jeff lied. “Yes, and we’re late.”
The receptionist pointed to her right. “Take the second hall you come to on the right all the way to the window, and hers is the last office on the left.”
They raced to Rue’s office and found a young man placing items into boxes on the desk. Emory greeted him. “Hi. We’re looking for Rue Darcé.”
Jeff asked, “Why are you packing up her office?”
“I’m her assistant. The board appointed Ms. Darcé the permanent CEO this morning. No longer temporary. We’re moving her to the CEO office. Can I help you with anything?”
“That’s okay,” replied Virginia. “We know where it is.”
When they arrived at Blair Geister’s would-be office, they found Rue speaking to her computer monitor. “No, everything’s going well here. We’re getting it up and running. The solar array windows are now online and should be at full power by this afternoon. Blair’s dream is coming to life.” She smiled at the PIs when she spotted them. “Oh, your investigators are here now.”
Rue turned her monitor around, allowing the PIs to see Juniper’s face on the screen. Juniper smiled at them. “I was just filling Rue in on everything that’s transpired, and I told her you were trying to contact her, although I didn’t know why exactly.”
“Sorry about that. I always silence my phone in the boardroom, and my office number hasn’t been transferred to this office yet. It’s been a whirlwind morning. For you all too, I understand. Thank you for catching Blair and Tommy’s killer.”
Emory grimaced at the misplaced gratitude. “We’re actually not sure we did.”
“What?” asked Juniper.
Jeff looked at Rue. “We think the killer is your ex-husband.”
“Tommy?”
Juniper said, “That’s ridiculous. I saw him die. He had nothing to do with it.”
Rue laughed and waved off the notion. “There’s no way Tommy was suicidal.”
“He died by accident,” said Virginia.
Emory’s eyes ping-ponged between Rue and the monitor. “He didn’t plan his own death, but he did plan Blair Geister’s.”
Rue looked to the monitor. “I thought that miner… What’s his name?”
“George Henry.” Juniper turned her attention to the PIs. “He almost killed you last night. What proof do you have that exonerates him in Ms. Geister’s murder?”
“That’s just it,” said Jeff. “We don’t have anything to prove his innocence yet.”
Emory held his palms parallel to the floor. “But if we’re right, there’s proof here of another murder plot, which would then prove George Henry’s innocence because he would’ve never had access to this building during construction.”
Rue looked around with disbelieving eyes. “What proof is here?”
Virginia replied, “We don’t know.”
Rue turned to the monitor. “These are the investigators you want to put on retainer?”
Jeff perked up at the last word, muttering to his partners, “The dream scenario.”
Juniper called the PIs to attention. “Look, I know Tommy – to put it bluntly – despised Ms. Geister, although he was good at hiding that from her.”
“What? I know that Tommy hated me after the divorce and the custody battle, but what did he have against Blair? She gave him a job and a chance to prove himself, and when that didn’t work out, she gave him another job with less responsibility and a place to live.”
Juniper hesitated before answering. “He thought she was the wedge that split you two up.”
“Then why move into her house?”
“I asked him that too. He said he just needed time to figure out what to do with his life. The job was easy, and it was a free place to live.”
“All right, so he held some grudges. Who doesn’t? What makes you think my ex-husband killed my boss?”
“Three clues.” Emory counted on his fingers as he listed them. “The wayward pool umbrella, the king-sized bedding he had in his closet and a parking stub.”
Juniper frowned at him. “You’re going to have to tie that together for me.”
Jeff started the explanation. “He rigged Blair’s bed to the lightning rod so she would, in essence, be struck by lightning during the next storm.”
Emory explained, “No doubt, he had heard the story of how her brother died and, to paraphrase Myles Godfrey, saw some kind of poetic justice in killing her that way. But we don’t believe he intended for her to be found in her bed because he had no way of knowing what state her body would be in from the lightning strike. Lightning victims can show barely any signs of a strike, or they can be burned to a crisp. Regardless, he planned to move her body outside. That’s where the umbrella came in.”
Virginia turned her attention to Juniper. “When Emory spotted the open umbrella on the lawn, you told us that Blair insisted on the umbrellas being closed when not in use and that she would’ve gone out herself to close it if she’d seen it open. We think Tommy, knowing Blair was coming home and a thunderstorm was in the forecast, opened the umbrella to give a reason for her to be found outside. You would’ve probably filled in the blanks when she was found by the pool next to the open umbrella, giving the sheriff a reason to explain why she would’ve gone outside in spite of the storm.”
Jeff said, “After moving her body outside, he would need to clean up the actual scene of her death. That’s where the bedding in his closet came in. He figured at the very least, the sheets on her bed would need changing, and maybe he’d have to flip the mattress. If the damage were extensive, he could swap the mattress with the same-sized one down the hall in the guest room. Once the body was taken away and the coast was clear, he would repair the wiring in Blair’s bedroom, and then no one would ever know.”
Rue crossed her arms and scowled at them. “Again I ask, where is your proof? You have all the proof in the world against this miner, but you seem to be twisting every coincidence to fit this damning accusation you’ve concocted against Tommy.”
“There’s something else.” Emory nodded at Rue. “You saw that he had the architectural drawings to this floor.”
“He did work here.”
“Not for months. Why hold onto them?
“I’m sorry, but the fact that he hadn’t tossed the drawings isn’t enough to convince me. Do you have any proof to support your claims?”
Emory pointed to the monitor. “We don’t, but Ms. Crane does. If you go to Mr. Addison’s truck in the garage, you’ll find a parking stub for Leland Cinema, about a block away from here. You’ll see from the time and date stamp he was near here two days before the storm. He knew the inner workings of this building. It would’ve been easy for him to sneak in.”
Rue asked, “Are you saying you think Tommy was responsible for the acts of sabotage we were experiencing here.”
“Actually, no,” replied Jeff. “But he planned to use them to explain your death.”
Rue threw a hand to her chest. “My death?!”
Virginia said, “We think he rigged something here to kill you, just like he did with Blair. He’d make it look like it was an accidental result of sabotage to the building.”
“Then go check my office. If you’re sure Tommy wanted me dead, show me how he planned to kill me.”
Jeff shook his head. “That’s just it. Everyone knew you were next in line to replace Blair. We think he rigged this office.”
Rue laughed. “All right then. Where is the instrument of my death?”
Jeff turned to his partner. “Emory, this is your purview.”
Emory looked around the office for several minutes, while the others watched.
Perhaps to break the silence, Juniper spoke up. “Rue, since I have you on the line, I wanted to ask if you’d like to take over Blair’s apartment in that building.”
“You want me to move into the apartment she built for herself?”
“I was thinking we could treat it like a rectory. Have it as perk for you and each subsequent CEO.”
“Can I think about it? Honestly, I’m just not sure I want to live where I work.”
“I understand. If you don’t want it, perhaps we can figure out another use for it. Maybe as guest quarters for visitors.”
While Virginia scanned the office from the center of the room, Jeff stepped closer to Emory, who was creeping along the walls, inspecting every inch.
Emory turned around to speak to Rue. “When we came in you mentioned the solar panels were brought online this morning.”
“That’s right.”
“In your speech the other day, you said that power goes to an inverter. Where is that in relation to this office?”
Rue pointed to the left. “It’s a small room outside this office.”
Jeff nodded toward a door in the office near the window. “Is that a closet?”
“It’s a bathroom.”
Virginia stopped what she was doing. “A bathroom. Would you mind if I use it?”
“I don’t know if it’s stocked yet, but you can see.”
Virginia tried the handle. “It won’t open.”
“Oh, I have to open it for you.” Rue got up from her desk. “Blair had hand panels installed at every door instead of keys, even the bathrooms. Actually, I don’t know if I have access to it yet.”
Jeff watched the direction Emory’s eyes were going and followed the path to the bathroom.
Rue reached her hand up and placed her palm on the panel.
“Virginia!” screamed Emory and Jeff.
Virginia glanced at her partners and saw them running toward her. She looked at Rue and saw a green light in the hand panel.
Rue stiffened, her hand glued to the panel.
Virginia tackled her and knocked her to the ground.
Sparks jetted from the panel. Small flames spit from the top of the panel blackening several inches of the wall.
“What’s happening?!” screamed Juniper from the computer monitor.
Jeff reached Virginia and Rue first. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” Virginia pushed herself up and turned her attention to Rue, lying on the floor underneath her. “Rue?”
The new CEO groaned and grabbed her right wrist. “My hand!”
Emory knelt beside her to inspect her injury, and he saw blisters already forming on her palm.
Rue’s assistant entered with a box in his hands. “What’s going on here?”
Emory yelled, “Call 9-1-1, and get us some ice.”
Juniper pleaded, “Someone please tell me what’s happening!”
Jeff went to the desk to respond. “Tommy rigged the solar power from the inverter to the bathroom hand panel. Rue’s been electrocuted.”