We stopped at a gas station for AC, got back on the road, and made our way for Teddy’s. Soon as we pulled up to the gate of Camelot Castle, Aunt Kat covered her mouth. “Is that supposed to be a house or an amusement park?”
I reached out my window to ring the buzzer. “I’d call it a resort prison.”
“Hello?” Susanne’s thin voice squeaked through the intercom.
“Hi, this is Tori,” I said in a pleasant tone. “I’m here for Teddy. Is he home?”
“Did you make an appointment? He’s at the country club.”
“No appointment. Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“You must schedule an appointment with Teddy. Can I give him a message for you?”
I was about to tell her to calm down when a red Porsche pulled up beside me. “Tori?” Teddy said, looking sober for the first time, his hair messy from driving with the top down. “Bring a friend for the big castle tour?” He winked at Aunt Kat.
She winked back at him. “I’m your aunt. Don’t you remember me?”
“Not with purple hair,” Teddy laughed. “Cool though. Everyone should have a wacky aunt with purple hair.”
I pointed to the empty golf bag in his passenger seat. “Golfing?”
“Yeah, but we called the game early.”
“Where are your clubs?”
“Oh.” He blushed. “They roll out of the bag when I drive so fast.” He bent down and picked one up to show me. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“If you could spare a few minutes, I’d love to ask you some follow-up questions for my case.”
“Yeah?” His voice vibrated with nerves. “You close to figuring it out?”
“I think so.”
“Sure you don’t want the house tour first?”
“I’d love to, but how about next time? I’ve got lots of work.”
“All work and no play makes Tori a bore.” Teddy pulled a dramatic pout. “But fine, we can chat so long as you don’t tell Susanne what we’re talking about. Deal?”
I gave him a reassuring smile. “Fine by me.”
“All right. Let me get changed out of these sweaty clothes and grab a couple of brewskis. I’ll meet you at the fire pit.”
With his clubs in one hand and golf bag in the other, Teddy dashed through the medieval doors, and Aunt Kat and I got out of the car into the cloudless, sunny day. While Aunt Kat marveled at the monstrosity of Teddy’s fortress, taking in all its towers and turrets, I seized the opportunity to open a Topo Chico and swig back another pill without her seeing. After all, my tolerance was going up. I needed more to be where I needed to be.
Aunt Kat rolled her eyes. “You really believe his golf clubs just rolled on the floor of his car?”
“Nope,” I said, drinking more sparkling water. “He’s hiding something. Maybe he got back from a rendezvous and was hiding sex toys in his golf bag.”
“He’s having an affair?”
“You really surprised?”
I led Aunt Kat around the castle until we reached the arcade, where she took a seat at the patio table to wait in the shade. Then I walked across the lawn toward the lake and got out my phone to check the security camera’s live streams from Aunt Kat’s porch. The question wasn’t whether someone was coming to the house, but when. If only Darnell had returned Aunt Kat’s call yesterday, he could have stood guard. But he didn’t want anything to do with me and my relapse, and I couldn’t blame him for that.
I opened the video feeds where one camera faced the front door, while the other showed the street of neighborhood kids setting off firecrackers. I put the phone away and grabbed a seat at the fire pit to guzzle more sparkling water and take in the beauty. Lake Weatherby was cleaner than the Missouri River, but I still wouldn’t go swimming in it. Not when it was hot as bathtub water.
“Teddy said you were out here,” a meek voice said behind me. I turned to find Susanne in a sleeveless summer dress with a tray of iced tea, sugar cubes, and cookies. “I thought you could use some refreshments, especially in this heat.” She had as much life in her as a Hallmark card as she set the tray on the table.
“Thanks,” I said, though I didn’t want any of her cookies. Even if I was hungry, I didn’t trust her enough to eat her food.
“What do you need to talk to Teddy about?” she asked.
“Uncle Charlie’s funeral tomorrow.”
“I see.” Her voice softened, though there was still suspicion in it. “Yes,” she went on, “Charlie’s death has been hard on Teddy. He’s been grieving by golfing and boating every day.”
“Was Teddy close to Uncle Charlie?”
“Close?” she repeated with confusion in her face. “I suppose he admired him for his achievements, but I wouldn’t say they were close. No one could be with how paranoid and terrible Charlie was.”
“That’s what I keep hearing—”
“Tori,” Teddy shouted, while trotting across the lawn with a bottle of beer in each hand. When he reached us, I could see by the wrinkles in his face that he was worried I was talking to his wife without him. “Thanks, Suzie.” He pecked a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll talk to Tori alone now.”
“About funeral matters?” She lifted an eyebrow.
“Exactly.”
Susanne still looked dissatisfied by our meeting, but headed back for the house. Meanwhile, Teddy dug through the cookie jar and sugar cubes before pressing his ear to the pitcher of tea, lifting the tray, and taking a cookie.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Making sure everything’s good. Want a cookie?” He pushed the jar of chocolate chip cookies toward me, but I especially didn’t want one after he’d fingered them all. Teddy took a bite and chased it down with some beer. “Thanks for the white lie about the funeral.” He let out a burp. “She doesn’t need to hear any of this murder talk. Would upset her unnecessarily.”
“It’s confidential anyway,” I reminded him, and put my phone on the table to record our conversation.
“Are you here because of what happened to Walt? What a tragedy. I know he was awkward, but overall a decent guy. Or was there something else you wanted to discuss?”
My memory of Walt dead on his desk floated back to me. Again, I saw the purple face, the foam-filled mouth, the rolled-back eyes.
“Tori?” Teddy said, pulling me back into the present.
I blinked, then looked back at my cousin. “Yes. What happened to Walt was horrible, but that’s not why I’m here. I want to know more about your role as the food supplier at Uncle Charlie’s. Do you know many KC meat suppliers?”
“Of course.” Teddy took a pull of beer.
“Then maybe you can help me. The night Walt died, I was surveilling Uncle Charlie’s and saw a night delivery. Walt said this was normal, is that right?”
“Yeah, we occasionally have night deliveries.”
“Would you know the name of a particular meat supplier? He’s a giant with an ugly blond haircut.”
Teddy reacted to this description of Squishy by knocking his bottle on the table and spilling its contents. “Dammit,” he muttered and grabbed a napkin to wipe up the mess. “And yes . . . that’s Harrison. He only delivers at night.”
I pointed to the bottle shaking in his hand. “You afraid of him or something?”
“Oh. No, no, no. I’m upset I spilled my beer.”
“You ever argue with Harrison?”
“Argue? I mean, we don’t always see things eye to eye. He’s not happy delivering at night, but what can I do about it? It’s the only time he’s free and we’re not busy.”
“Would you be surprised if he was a murderer?”
“A murderer,” Teddy laughed uncomfortably. “Wait, do you think he killed Luis?”
“I don’t know. I just want to know your thoughts. He does go to Uncle Charlie’s at night, which is when Luis was working alone. But another question. What do you think of Chuck’s accounting skills?”
Teddy laughed again, comfortably this time. “Is Chuck good at anything besides drawing cartoons? Even that’s debatable.”
“You’re saying he’s not good with numbers though he’s the company accountant?”
“Yeah, Dad gave Chuck that job because he gave us all jobs, but there’s been more than one occasion when Chuck royally screwed up. Dad was so angry about it at the barbecue party on Memorial Day that he said he’d kick him out of the business.”
“What did Chuck miscalculate?”
“No idea,” Teddy sighed. “All I can remember is how amusing it was watching Dad scream and Chuck squirm.”
“Chuck gave me this.” I pulled out the financial records from Chuck’s Mickey Mouse folder. Now it was time to watch Teddy squirm. “It says here that you took out one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars in May. Is that accurate?”
Teddy shot up from his chair. “No,” he shouted, “that weasel must be up to something.”
I remained calm. “So you’re saying these records aren’t right?”
“Of course not. Either he’s making me look bad on purpose, or he really is that incompetent. You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if he stole that money and blamed me for it.”
I nodded. Though it was possible Chuck had falsified the records, I was at least certain that either he or Teddy was lying. As Teddy sat back down and chugged his beer like a hungry infant, I proceeded to my next question. “You’ve mentioned that you didn’t get along with your father, but did you fear him enough to do what he asked?”
“What? No. What kind of question is that? My father never owned me. Do you see where I live?” He pointed at his castle. “I have more than double his assets.”
“What I meant was, how much did you seek his approval? Did you want to be the next face of Uncle Charlie’s, but he wouldn’t let you?”
Teddy now pointed at the front gate. “Okay, I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, pointing at his chair for him to sit down. “Unless you want me to play our last interview for your wife. I can skip to the part about the Crown Room with her cousin.”
Panic lit up in Teddy’s eyes. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
“But that’s a breach of your confidentiality rules. You can’t do that.”
“I can if I’m conducting a murder investigation, and someone wants me dead. Can’t say I care too much about the rules right now, so can you please sit down and answer my question?”
“This is so fucked.” Teddy sat back down and twisted the cap off another bottle of beer. “But to answer your question, yes, I often did what my father asked of me because he was my boss.”
“Did he ever ask you to commit a crime? Like do something about Luis?”
“What? Of course not.”
“You might have an alibi for when Luis died,” I began, “but you’re also on tape at Uncle Charlie’s speaking to Luis a few days before his death. You claimed you didn’t even know who he was, so what were you doing in the office with him? Or were you too drunk to remember?”
Teddy’s face reddened while he squeezed his beer bottle. “Excuse me?” he squealed.
I opened the surveillance footage from Uncle Charlie’s. Teddy covered his mouth when he saw himself on the screen.
“See,” I continued, tapping on the screen at the image of himself, “you went into the office with Luis for three minutes. When he came out, he was happy. Why is that? Or were you having an affair with him too?”
“Hell no.” Teddy’s exclamation came out as a burp. “It was illegal what we were doing, that’s why I kept quiet.”
“Were you doing coke?”
“How’d you know?”
I gave a closed smile. I didn’t mention Walt had told me Teddy was snorting in the office. “So you gave Luis drugs?”
“Sure, we did a line or two together. No big deal. But that’s why he was glowing when he left. Now you know the truth.”
“I don’t know if I do. His widow said he never did drugs.”
“And wives always know what their husbands are up to, right?” Teddy smirked.
“I thought you said your wife knows you’re having affairs.”
“Yeah, but we don’t talk about it. If you brought it up, she’d deny it before trying to cut your tongue out. It isn’t proper etiquette to speak of these things in our society. I expect Luis’s wife behaved similarly, whether in denial or not, to preserve the integrity of his character and reputation.”
“And you don’t think it’s strange Luis died a few days after you gave him coke?”
“How’s that strange?” Teddy brushed a hand through his hair. “Makes total sense to me. He switched from coke to heroin and overdosed. Probably didn’t know what the hell he was doing, or maybe it was cut with something fatal. That happens all the time with opioids, especially fentanyl.”
I held up the threatening note with the sparkly letters. “What about this? Do you recognize it?”
Teddy took the note from me before dropping it like it was two hundred degrees. “Of course not.”
“Listen.” I leaned toward him. “I know you didn’t kill Luis since you were busy banging your wife’s cousin in your wife’s castle, but maybe you played a role in his death in another way. Maybe by accident. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No, no.” Distressed, Teddy grabbed another chocolate chip cookie and shoved the entire thing into his mouth. “I admit I gave him coke,” he garbled through the cookie. “But like I already told you, I had nothing to do with his death. I swear.”
A figure in the distance made me swivel around in my chair. It was Susanne, charging across the lawn for us. Now she was full of energy, and as she got closer, I could see it was an energy driven by fury.
Teddy jerked in his chair. “Hey Suz—”
She hit him on the back of the head and grabbed the sugar jar. “Tori needs to leave right now.” From the jar, she pulled out a white cube and twisted it open. Inside the Styrofoam that looked like any other sugar cube was a tiny microphone. She shot me a glare. “You lied to me. You said you were here to discuss Charlie’s funeral.”
“Tori’s a private investigator,” Teddy said. “But don’t worry, our conversation’s confidential.”
“I don’t care. Your meeting’s over.” Susanne pulled a gun from her dress pocket, and I stood up.
“Suz.” Teddy reached for her arm. “Please, we don’t want a scandal. Give me the gun.”
“Shut up, or I’ll point it at you.”
I didn’t need to get shot to know when it was time to leave. “Don’t worry, I’ll go,” I said and started power walking for the car. Aunt Kat was fanning her face in the arcade, and I gestured at her to join me.
Soon as Aunt Kat hustled beside me, she nodded back at Susanne holding the gun. “What’s going on? Is that woman going to shoot us?”
“Nothing’s going on,” I said. “Everything’s great. We’re just leaving.”
In silence, Susanne followed us all the way to the car. “Don’t come back here again,” she said, as if this wasn’t obvious.
“Have a fantastic day,” I told her and turned on the car.
Once I’d driven outside the castle gates and was safely beyond the aim of Susanne’s gun, Aunt Kat turned to me. “Jesus, what happened there?”
“I guess Teddy’s wife wasn’t too happy hearing about his infidelities.”
“That’s why she pulled a gun on you?” Aunt Kat shook her head. “Seriously, is there anyone in this family who isn’t insane?”
“You and me.”
But I wasn’t so sure of that as I drove toward Overland Park for Annie’s, my foot trembling on the pedal, my hands choking the steering wheel. With all the drugs in me mixing with fury toward my cousin, I was feeling a little insane myself. This encounter would also be different from running into Annie at the hotel by accident. Now I was expecting to see her. I didn’t even care that Aunt Kat watched me knock back two more pills. She’d think they were anti-narcotics anyway. You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.
Except I was lying to myself.