“I don’t know what you see in that Spice girl.”
Jayla swiveled her barstool to face James, her eyes brimming with challenge. He thought back to the last time he’d been in this bar, when Isobel had told him she believed in him, and then ignored his advice and taken herself back to Dove & Flight.
“It’s all in your head,” he said gruffly. “Now that you’ve met her, you can see she’s not my type.”
He wished Isobel had at least warned him that she and Jayla had met. He might have been better prepared. Better yet, he wouldn’t have asked Jayla to meet him for a drink. He’d struggled with the decision to begin with, but he had come to feel a strange sense of responsibility for Isobel.
“Go back to what you were saying before,” he continued. “The police say there was nothing in the coffee?”
“Yes. They came back to us, wanting to know if we had any information about where Jason was earlier that morning. They still don’t believe it was accidental.”
That much James knew from Isobel’s foray into the medical examiner’s office, but he didn’t want to let on to Jayla.
“What did you tell them?”
“There wasn’t much to say. Jason didn’t come into the office that morning. He went straight to Dove & Flight for his meeting.”
“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t go somewhere else first,” James pointed out.
Jayla rolled her eyes. “Obviously. He could have gone anywhere: the gym, a diner, an AA meeting.”
James ignored the dig. “Did they check his calendar?”
“The only thing there was his ten o’clock meeting at Dove & Flight and a two o’clock conference call.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Jayla stirred her vodka cranberry, and James clinked the ice in his Coke glass.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you any of this,” she said finally.
“Well, I appreciate it.”
She sighed and pushed her glass away. “No, that’s not true. I do know why.”
James looked at her expectantly. She lowered her eyes and carefully folded a corner of her cocktail napkin.
“Michael and I are getting married.”
In spite of himself, James felt a pang at this news. Jayla had once wanted to marry him, though he could never understand why. He had never wanted to marry her. He knew he should be happy for her that what had started as a meaningless affair with his buddy Michael had led to this. Marriage was all-important to Jayla. He should have been relieved, but instead, he just felt sad. Because he knew she didn’t love Michael. Not the way she had loved him.
He managed a smile and patted her hand. “Congratulations. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Her eyes flicked up and met his. “Guy?”
“Michael is lucky. You’re a great catch, Jayla. For the right person,” he added quickly, seeing the flash of accusation in her eyes.
She withdrew her hand and shifted on her barstool. “Anyway, I thought you should know. Will you come to the wedding?”
James smiled. “I’d like that.”
“But don’t even think about bringing Isobel.”
As if he would ever be that suicidal.
“Another round?” For a change, the bartender’s intrusion was welcome.
He glanced at Jayla who nodded. “Yeah, thanks.” James watched the bartender move away. “You know, I don’t know much about what Jason’s been up to these last few years. It’s not like we stayed in touch. Obviously, he was doing well for himself at your firm. Was he married?”
“No. As far as I know, he was perfectly happy playing the field.” Jayla sucked up the last of her drink and released the straw back into the glass. “He went on a few dates with Katrina Campbell from Dove & Flight, but I don’t think it went anywhere.”
James cocked his head with interest. “Really? First I’ve heard of that.”
Jayla shrugged. “Why would you?”
“Did he ever date anyone else he worked with there?”
Jayla shook her head. “Nah. One’s married and preggers, and the other’s a dude. No, I take that back. You can’t really call an Orthodox Jew a dude.”
“Did Jason get along with them?”
“Well enough, until the Brazil thing.”
“What was that?”
“They sent out a pitch that exposed us to a reporter in a very damaging way. We were going to fire them until Clark Schumann—he’s the head of the firm—told us we couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Dove & Flight is being acquired by our parent company. The word came down from on high that we had to give them another chance.”
“But except for that, Jason got on with them all right?”
“Well, there was one incident with Aaron Grossman that I know about.”
As the bartender set down their drinks, it struck James that Jayla must really feel guilty about marrying Michael to be speaking so freely and for so long.
“You gonna tell me the story?” he asked.
She took a long sip of her new drink, gave a satisfied smile, and leaned forward. “Jason and Aaron were having lunch—this was right after we hired them—and Aaron ordered a salad. When the waiter brought it, Aaron was going on about something and not really paying attention. Jason noticed that the salad had bacon bits on it. Not only did he not warn Aaron, he actually laughed when Aaron ate a few bites before he realized it.”
James cringed. “That’s not right.”
“You know it,” Jayla said. “Aaron still had to make nice because we’re a client, but he was always very cool toward Jason after that.”
“Is that everyone at Dove & Flight?”
“Everyone who counts. Jason met Angus Dove when they pitched us the business, but Aaron, Liz and Katrina were our team.” Jayla slapped her hand on the bar. “Wait, I forgot Kit Blanchard. She’s his sister-in-law. No, wait, let me get this right. Kit is married to Jason’s brother’s wife’s brother.”
“That’s not a sister-in-law. That’s—I don’t know what that is. An out-law.” He laughed at his joke, but Jayla didn’t so much as curl a lip.
“That’s how we found them in the first place,” she went on. “We were looking for a PR firm, and Jason recommended them because of Kit. But I don’t see why any of this matters. We know he wasn’t poisoned at Dove & Flight, so why do you care? Your precious Isobel had nothing do with it.”
“How about you?” he shot back. “What was your relationship with Jason Whiteley?”
In a swift movement, she grabbed her purse from the bar and slid off her stool, her almond cat-eyes wide with fury.
“You can be a real asshole, you know that?” she hissed. “Thank God I’m marrying Michael. You are so not worth it!”
Lord, save me from my own big mouth, he thought as he watched her brush aside a hapless waiter who was blocking her path to the door. Maybe he and Isobel had more in common than he thought.