Neil arrived at Villa Nirvana just in time to see an older blonde woman being escorted out by Sergeant Lucy Detree.
“Hey, Lucy, what you got going here?” Neil asked the young policewoman he’d met through Detective Janquar.
“Sorry, Neil. This is an official police investigation. Can’t talk about it.” Lucy slammed the door to Anneka’s rental car shut.
“I’m here officially. I got a call from a client I represented in LA that his fiancée died here. I’m here to help him out until I can find local counsel for him,” Neil lied. Why did he think he’d be reading more about Commercial Paper the way things were going?
“Oh, you mean Sean Keating? In that case, come on up to the house. We’ve got everyone sitting around the pool. Don’t go anywhere else. We haven’t started in the house.”
Neil’s legal antennae popped at the sound of Lucy’s warning. This sounded more like a criminal investigation to a seasoned criminal lawyer.
“Are people free to leave?” Neil asked. He knew the rules on paper regarding criminal procedure in the islands were not the same as those practiced. He hoped they were as loose as usual.
“We’re letting the people who didn’t arrive until this morning for the brunch go shortly. They all have their names on a list at the gatehouse showing their arrival times so they can be ruled out. Except your girlfriend and her partner. They get to stay and give statements with the other people who were here last night when it appears the death occurred.”
Neil caught a ride up to the house with Detree. He paused at the foot of the driveway, taking in the sheer ostentatiousness of the villa.
He could see Amy and Erin were packing up the Triple B food truck. The open great room, which served as the center of the house, was empty other than for a few cops with purple gloves standing around, a sign the cops were collecting evidence. At the far end of the great room was the predictable infinity pool, although this one even had a fancy fountain. He spotted Sabrina and Sean at one of the tables around the pool.
Neil strode confidently toward them, not acknowledging the cops in the great room. Oh, he still knew how to play this game. The question was, did he want to?
Sean saw him first, getting up from his chair where he’d been sitting next to Henry. Sean rushed toward him, hand stretched out, ready to greet him.
“Neil, thanks for coming. Things are a mess here.”
Neil shook Sean’s hand, remembering how he’d saved his butt from a drunk and disorderly charge that had involved the daughter of a film director and had promised to get ugly. He’d helped Sean out a few other times for a few misdemeanors that weren’t uncommon with young men in their twenties who drink too much and think getting laid is a national sport. But he’d liked Sean and remembered how he’d come up with quick cash when Neil wanted out of LA fast.
Neil walked back with Sean to the table, saying hello to Sabrina and Henry after being introduced to Jack and Kate Keating and Heather Malzone.
“What did you find out? They’re not telling us anything,” Sabrina jumped in.
“How about first someone clues me in?” Neil asked, not entirely sure he actually wanted to know.
“They’re not saying whether Elena committed suicide, Neil. We were supposed to be married here this evening. She wouldn’t sign the prenup my family wanted to protect the business. She felt we were attacking her character. I was so stupid. I went to tell her I didn’t care about the prenup this morning, but she was gone,” Sean said. “She was the one, Neil. You know what I mean? The real thing.”
Neil looked at Sabrina without even thinking. But she looked away from him and stared at her phone.
“I thought she was distraught over the prenup and that she’d committed suicide, but the police have been treating us like something criminal has happened ever since Sabrina brought Elena in on the paddleboard,” Kate said.
“You went out and got the body, Salty? Really?” Whatever was she thinking? Why didn’t she just wear a T-shirt that said, “Dead bodies find me”? Neil figured the bar exam was definitely a good idea if Salty was in his future.
“Kate spotted her while she was painting. We couldn’t tell what we were seeing floating in the water. If I didn’t check and Elena was alive and then drowned, everyone would have blamed me. You know that, Neil.”
“Calm down, Salty,” Neil reached to pat her hand, but Sabrina drew it away. This was way more than he’d bargained for when he dropped everything to come help.
“Calm down? Don’t you dare tell me to calm down, Neil Perry. How condescending. I leap into action, ready to help in the best way I can, struggle to bring Elena in from the water, where the lace on her wedding gown had gotten stuck on a rock—”
“She was in her wedding gown?” Neil asked. He knew he had ignited Sabrina’s temper and needed to apologize fast, but he couldn’t get past the poor woman drowning in her wedding gown.
“Yes. It was an awful way to find her. Sabrina did a great job. I’m very grateful,” said Kate, looking over at Sabrina, whose cheeks were still flushed from her outburst.
“Look, Salty, I’m sorry. I just can’t wrap my head around all of this.”
“She had it on late last night before we left Villa Nirvana. I went to see her before Sabrina and I left after clearing up after the rehearsal dinner. She had refused to sign the prenup and told me she may as well get to wear it because it didn’t look like there was going to be a wedding,” Henry chimed in.
“This really does sound more like suicide. Did anyone look for a note?” Neil asked.
Jack, Kate, and Sean all looked at one another like they’d been poked with a cattle prod.
“Neil, we haven’t been allowed to do anything other than sit at this table. The cops barely let me get into dry clothes. They’re treating the Keatings like they’re criminals rather than a family who has just suffered a tragedy,” Sabrina said.
Neil had been so focused on talking to Sabrina and the Keating family that he hadn’t noticed everyone had left the other tables, including the waitstaff from Ten Villas, with the exception of two men sitting several tables away.
“Who are those two guys?” Neil asked.
“My other son, Gavin, and the company CFO, Paul Blanchard,” Jack said.
“Have the cops come over and told you not to discuss the case with anyone?” Neil asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
“Good. Let’s chat a little before they’re on to us.”