Seventy-nine

Ethan seemed convinced of his cousin’s guilt, but I found it difficult to believe.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Ethan said. “I can see it in your face. You’re wondering if Blair is capable of killing a woman so brutally and framing me for it.”

“Did Blair confess to you?” I asked.

“No, but it’s the only explanation that makes sense because I know I didn’t do it. And you have to understand, Blair wouldn’t have done it of her own volition. My aunt Addy would have put her up to it.”

“And Blair would do whatever your aunt asked?” I pressed. “Even murder?”

“She’s been financially dependent on my aunt for much of her life. Just as I have. Don’t you see, by framing me, my cousin and aunt not only erase the threat of Joan Gibson but also rid themselves of me and my problems. Two troublesome birds taken out with one stone.”

“When you say your ‘problems,’ are you talking about your drug use?”

“I’m an embarrassment to them. The night of Addy’s award dinner was the last straw. They were both livid. But my substance abuse issues aren’t the only reason I’m a liability. I’ve been a financial drain on Addy for years. I’m not proud of it, but my aunt paid for everything—my boarding school, my college and graduate degrees—though there were always strings attached. She insisted I take the adjunct professor position at NYU, which she arranged, but it’s never been my passion. I wanted to pursue my painting, to live and study in Paris, not lecture students who’d rather be scrolling their social media. But Addy wouldn’t support that. She insisted ours was a literary family and she wanted to polish me up for presentation to her circle of friends.”

Ethan sighed. “It was easier to do what she wanted, so I painted on the side. She gave me a generous monthly stipend to remedy my impecunious state, given my meager part-time income, and she let me live rent-free, as long as I served as her building manager—”

“Wait. Did you say her building manager?”

“Yes, Addy Babcock owns the Gold Coast building where I live. And for all her financial support, she demanded one more thing of me.”

“What was that?”

“To look after Jensen Van Dyne. Last year, when Jensen was released from the psychiatric facility, my aunt told me that he was an old friend, and she gave him that apartment you visited. Like me, he lives there rent-free.”

Hearing that astonished me. “Ethan, if your aunt has been sheltering Jensen, and you’ve been looking after him, then tell me this. Do you know who confronted him in our shop’s alley? Did Blair do it?”

Ethan shifted in his seat. “To be honest with you, I did—”

“You?! You said you were looking after him, yet you attacked him?”

“It wasn’t an attack. Please, don’t jump to conclusions—”

“Then you better explain.”

“Believe me, I want to explain because it’s all connected. On the same day that Jensen Van Dyne suffered a mental breakdown in your shop, my aunt learned about Joan Gibson’s contract with him to publish and publicize the truth of what happened in that old writers’ group. Aunt Addy was outraged. She said if the truth got out, it could ruin her career.”

“And what is the truth?” I pressed. “Was she involved in the murder of Ace Archer?”

“I have no idea. She refused to discuss the details. She simply told me to find Jensen’s true crime manuscript and destroy it. As the building manager, I had a key to his place. I knew he wrote everything longhand in notebooks, and I searched and searched, but I couldn’t find it.”

“Wait,” I said. “If you searched his apartment, then you had to know about the man’s pet duck.”

“Sure, I knew about Wacker,” Ethan said. “And I’m sorry that I lied to you and your friend, but I was never a fan of the mess it made. So, when you said you wanted to take care of it—” He shrugged. “I lied to get the duck out of there.”

“Forget the duck!” Mike said. “What happened after you told your aunt that you couldn’t find the notebook?”

“She was furious. She demanded that I convince Jensen to hand it over. He signed himself out of the hospital that evening and came back to the apartment. He said he had lost his keys, so I let him in. But when I tried to speak to him about the book he was writing, he became angry.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Joan convinced him that his book would not only help Addy’s career but also make him rich. Jensen felt that he was a financial burden on my aunt, and he wanted to repay her with the so-called fortune that he was going to make from his memoir. Clearly, he was deluded.”

Ethan shook his head. “I tried to tell him that his memoir would hurt Addy rather than help her, and it wasn’t likely to make much money. But he refused to believe me and stormed away. I was worried about him, and I followed him to your alley. He was in a state of panic. He said that he had left the notebook in your shop, and he started looking for it in the dumpster. I tried to help, but he was acting irrationally. He began to fight. During our struggle, he fell and hit his head. Then you came out and I ran…”

As Ethan spoke, I couldn’t help remembering how violently Jensen had thrashed about when Matt tried to help him in our shop. But still, I told him—

“You shouldn’t have run away.”

“I never meant to hurt him. I didn’t think he was injured that badly, and I assumed the people rushing into the alley would help him. Then I heard someone chasing me. I ran, ducked into a nightclub, took off my coat, rolled it up, and left with a group of people exiting the club to make sure no one noticed me.”

“I knew it,” Mike muttered.

“You have to understand,” Ethan said. “I couldn’t get caught or I’d risk losing everything.”

“But you’ve lost everything now,” I pointed out.

“And my aunt is still pulling the strings. She hired a top attorney to represent me, but he told me that the ‘settled insanity’ defense won’t hold up at a jury trial, that it was just a bargaining strategy. Now he’s pressuring me to accept a deal from the DA’s office. He wants me to plead guilty to murder, show remorse, and use my history of drug abuse to get a lesser sentence. My aunt and her attorney are just fine with sending me to prison for five to seven years, but I didn’t do anything. I didn’t kill Joan. And beyond my own ruined life, you have to understand that this isn’t over.”

“Why not?”

“Because my aunt and cousin still do not have Jensen’s notebook. They told me so. They’re still searching for it, and they’re absolutely terrified that it will fall into the wrong hands. If it does, Addy will be ruined—and so will Blair.”

“Because Blair is cowriting the new New Amsterdam novel,” I assumed.

Ethan nodded. “That whole reboot with the streaming series is set to revitalize Addy’s career and make her millions in international book sales. But if Addy is charged with a terrible crime, then she’ll be canceled, and Blair knows her future is tied to Addy. That’s how much is at stake for them both, and that’s why I believe they’ll be ruthless. If I’m right, they won’t stop with the murder of Joan. They’ll try to silence Jensen Van Dyne permanently—and anyone else who reads that notebook.”