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IT DIDN’T TAKE MUCH convincing for me to get Nate to come with us over to Kayla’s apartment. Considering she’d called in sick and Nate already knew where she lived, we gave it a shot. Nate seemed excited to be working side-by-side with a real private investigator...
I looked up at Nate through the rearview mirror. “So you never spoke with Kayla that night?”
“No sir,” Nate said.
“And how come you never spoke to John about it?”
Nate deadpanned. “Because he’s dead.”
I watched him in the mirror for a moment or two, but he didn’t seem to have much of an expression on his face. In fact, I wasn’t sure if he was messing with me or if he was just a young man whose brain had yet to fully develop. “What I meant was, it sounds like you’ve known about this money or, the insurance policy, for a little while now, right? Why hadn’t you talked to John sooner? Obviously, Nate...I meant before he was dead?”
“Well, I hadn’t talked to him in a long time. It’d been a few years. Like I said, even when my mom was married to him, I didn’t call him my stepfather.”
“And what about John’s wife, Michelle? You ever talk to her”
Nate looked off for a moment, his eyes somewhere outside the Jeep. But he didn’t answer.
“I understand she was your nanny?” I gave him a quick look over my shoulder. “Weren’t you a little old for a nanny?”
He rolled his eyes as I turned back toward the road. “My mom hired her when I was younger. She was in the insurance business. That’s how she met John. And for a while she traveled a lot, hired Michelle to take care of me. But that was before she met John. Or, at least before they got married.”
“But Michelle still worked for your mom, when you were a teenager, right?”
“She did stuff around the house. Cleaned, did chores. She’d pick me up from school or whatever else they told her to do. There was a time my mom wanted to get rid of her. I don’t know why or what happened. But John insisted they keep her.” He laughed. “I guess we know why.”
I glanced over at Alex, her eyebrows high up on her head and her eyes opened wide.
We pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex called The Jax where, according to Nate, Kayla had lived for at least the past couple of years. It was one of those modern apartments, with a big pool area and a lot of nice trees and landscaping all around.
Nate led us toward her building and pointed to the street along the sidewalk as we walked toward the stairs. “This is where I saw that white truck.”
“But you didn’t see anyone in it?”
The lobby door was locked with a security keypad, but a man was on his way out and held the door to let us in. We took the elevator up to the seventh floor and turned left down another hall. “There it is,” I said.
We stopped outside apartment number seven-two-oh-three.
I leaned against the door with my ear and listened. but it was quiet inside. I knocked hard against the door with my knuckles.
“What if she really is sick?” Alex said.
I turned to her but before I said a word the door opened.
Kayla stood and moved her eyes from me to Alex and then to Nate. “What...what’s going on? Why are you all...” She held one hand on the knob and raised the other up against the door’s frame, as if trying to block us from being able to see past her.
“Well, you missed our meeting today. So I thought we should come see if you’re okay.” I looked her up and down. She wasn’t wearing pajamas or whatever she might’ve lounged around in if she were really sick. In fact, she looked good, wearing makeup and her long hair down. I could smell her perfume.
She nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well. I should’ve called you.”
“You look pretty good for someone not feeling well,” I said.
She looked down toward the floor. “It’s just been really stressful at the office. I needed to take a day away from it all.” Her eyes shifted back to Nate. “Nate?”
Nate stepped forward between me and Alex. “I didn’t know if you’d recognize me. It’s been a long time.”
Her face turned red. “I know you’ve been leaving me all those messages. I’m sorry...I should’ve called you back. It’s just...” She stopped, looked back at me, then glanced at Alex. She paused a moment. “What are you all doing here?”
“Nate’s here because, well, he’d like to talk to you about some things.”
She nodded. “I know...I’m sorry. It’s about the life insurance policy...”
I held up my hand. “I’ll let you two discuss that when we’re done. What I’d first like to know, before we get into anything else, is who owns a white Ford pickup?”
Kayla gave a slight tilt to her head and held her stare on me for a moment. “A what? A white pickup?” She shrugged and shook her head. “I’m not even sure I know anyone who drives a truck.”
I narrowed my eyes and kept them on Kayla for a moment. “Not that I mind standing out here in the hall...but would it be all right if we come inside?”
“Uh, actually, I’m...”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We won’t take much of your time. I know you’re—I let out a slight cough of my own—sick and all, but I’ve got a pretty strong immune system...”
Kayla looked back over her shoulder and into her apartment. “It’s just that, well...my place is a mess.” She looked past me. “How about we go down to the pool area to talk?”
I said, “If you saw my place, you’d know a little mess won’t bother me. And to be honest, the damage done to Alex’s house last night by whoever drives that white truck, well...I can’t speak for Nate but I think we’re all used to a mess right now.”
“Really, I insist. We can sit under the pergola, right by the pool.” She started to back up into her apartment and close the door. “Just give me a minute, I’ll be right out.”
The door closed and I looked at Nate. “How come you didn’t tell me you’d met Kayla before?”
“I don’t know. What’s it matter? It was a long time ago, back when my mother was still alive...Kayla had just started working for John.”
––––––––
THE FOUR OF US SAT at a table by the pool, under the pergola as Kayla had promised. There was a large fan spinning above our heads, which did a decent job of moving the dead air. Although it was still warm, it felt cooler outside than it would in the middle of the summer.
There were plenty of kids swimming in the pool. Their moms or nannies or, whatever responsible adult was supposed to keep them from going under, sat around the edge in lounge chairs. A couple of the women had their heads in their phones. I couldn’t say for sure they had kids with them, but I was tempted to say something to wake them up, just in case.
Kayla said, “I know you’re working for Angela, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her you saw me today.”
“Because you are—I faked another coughed—sick and in bed?”
She gave me a look.
“So what is it about the white truck?” Kayla said. She turned to Alex. “And what’s it have to do with your house being a mess? I’m not sure I understand.”
“Someone in a white truck tried to kill us yesterday.”
Kayla put her hands over her mouth and gasped. “But you’re both okay?”
I nodded toward Alex and Alex turned her head to show Kayla. “Alex got stitches,” I said. “But that’s only because we were both lucky to get out. Could’ve been worse.”
Kayla’s eyes were wide open as she stared back at Alex.
“So we got home from the ER and Alex’s place was trashed. They spray painted a warning on the wall...and we’re almost certain it’s got to do with John and, as I’ve said, someone driving a white truck. And coincidentally, it was spotted outside your apartment.”
“Here? Outside my apartment?”
I nodded. “That’s what I just said. So if you want to tell me the truth...about whether or not you know who it could’ve been, I’d appreciate it.”
She shook her head. “I am telling you the truth. I have no idea...” She looked from me to Alex to Nate. “Are you sure it’s the same truck? I mean...there are lots of pickups around Jacksonville, as I’m sure you know.”
“I thought of that. Of course. But this one had a distinct feature...”
Kayla said, “But who saw it? How do you know—”
Nate said, “I saw it.” He said it like he was proud.
We all turned to Nate.
Kayla had a surprised look on her face, her head cocked slightly back. “When were you at my apartment?”
I said, “Nate wants you to help him with this insurance situation. And when you didn’t return his calls, he stopped by.”
She kept her eyes on Nate. “What are you...stalking me?” She pushed her chair out and started to stand. She was being a bit dramatic, I thought.
I grabbed her arm. “Kayla, wait a minute....just calm down now, will you?”
She looked down at my hand on her arm, then shifted her eyes to Alex. “It’s creepy, isn’t it? Some man shows up at your apartment uninvited?”
Nate shook his head. “It wasn’t like that at all. I’m sorry...I was just hoping you were going to help me.”
Kayla pulled her arm from me and started to turn away. “I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”
“Nate,” I said, “how much money are we talking about?”
“My mother’s policy?” He shrugged. “I’ve never actually seen it myself, but my aunt told me John got two million dollars when my mother died. And I was supposed to see a portion of it when I turned twenty-one.”
“And how old are you now?” Alex said.
“Almost twenty-two.”
I held my eyes on Nate for a moment. “Why’d you wait so long?”
Nate didn’t answer.