Stranger on the Shore - lanyon Josh (лучшие книги читать онлайн бесплатно TXT) 📗

“Brian was killed for some reason,” Griff said. “There had to be some motive. Some reason.”

She stared at him as though she had only realized who she was speaking to. “I’ll tell you the reason,” she said. “This family is cursed.”

She turned and went back inside Jarrett’s room. The door closed silently behind her.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Griff had to wait for the elevator. When the door finally slid open, Marcus stood before him. The harsh light was not kind. His face was puffy and he looked drawn with weariness. His expression, as he recognized Griff, was not pleased.

“What are you doing here?”

“Your father asked to see me.” Griff waited for Marcus to exit the elevator, but Marcus made no move to step out.

“Why would he? About what?”

“I’m supposed to leave today. He just wanted a final word.”

“Leave?”

Griff nodded. “Were you getting out?” he suggested.

“I’ll ride down with you.”

Griff stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. Griff pressed the ground floor button. He remembered that he had not yet interviewed Marcus. He had fully intended to. He had intended to speak to all the Arlingtons. But the week had flown past and somehow there was always someone more important, more in the forefront of his investigation to interview.

“Did the police give you permission to leave?” Marcus asked.

Griff said, “I’ll check back with Detective Patrick before I go, but there would be no grounds for keeping me here. I made my statement last night, and I can always answer follow-up questions by phone.”

Marcus’s hollow gaze seemed fixed on Griff’s face. “Do you think you have enough information to write your book?”

“I don’t know if there will be a book now. Your father asked me not to write it.”

“Because of Brian. That doesn’t matter now. Brian’s out of your way.”

Unease crawled down Griff’s spine. “Maybe the book isn’t as important as I thought it was.”

Marcus asked strangely, “What is important?”

Griff didn’t know how to answer. He wished he hadn’t got into this elevator. It was too easy to forget about Marcus, to dismiss him. The fact was, he knew Marcus the least well of any of the Arlingtons. And what he did know was not reassuring. Marcus was an alcoholic. Marcus had been in love with his brother’s wife. Marcus was on the outside of his own family. And at one point Marcus had believed he was entitled to the complete Arlington estate.

“You’re not answering the question,” Marcus said. “What is important?”

Griff told himself he was not afraid. He was a lot younger, stronger, fitter than Marcus, and he was on his guard. If all else he could hit the emergency button. His hand still casually rested on the panel, right next to the red button. But last night someone, most likely one of the Arlingtons, had boldly committed cold-blooded murder, and that person was still on the loose. Marcus was an unknown quantity and there was no question he was behaving oddly.

“Maybe I just needed to prove something to myself,” Griff replied. “Maybe just coming here was the test.”

Marcus’s mouth curved into a smile that was somehow more frightening than his strained and somber expression had been. “Do you think you know who kidnapped Brian?”

Griff remembered Pierce telling him to keep his mouth shut. But he could tell that Marcus knew he did think he had the answer. He said carefully, “I know that a deranged person took Brian that night. I know that the intent was not to harm him or kill him. I don’t know anything more than that. I don’t know if there is anything more to know.”

“A deranged person,” Marcus said thoughtfully.

The elevator reached the bottom floor. The door opened.

“I don’t think it was about money.” Griff stepped out of the elevator with a feeling of relief.

He glanced back at Marcus, but Marcus stood unmoving.

“No,” Marcus said. “Not that time.”

The elevator door closed.

* * *

He tried twice to get Pierce and then, checking his messages, realized he had probably been calling Pierce while Pierce was trying to get through to him.

His phone rang on the drive to Winden House, and Pierce’s number flashed up. Griff answered with, “Do you have access to the Arlingtons’ financial records?”

“Of course.”

“Everybody’s?”

“Well, essentially...yes. It depends on what you’re looking for. I don’t have instant access to every single account and trust fund. Obviously that’s information I can get, and information that the police have already requested. In fact, I’m going through Michaela’s financials now.”

“Who runs Arlington Amalgamated since Jarrett retired?”

“Howard Sand was groomed and trained by Jarrett to take his place as CEO after Matthew’s death.”

“Not Marcus?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Pierce said patiently, “Because Marcus wasn’t interested. Marcus built and ran his own company until it went under nine years ago.”

“What company?”

“Whitewater Yachts. Marcus lost everything when the company went bankrupt.” Pierce’s tone changed. “Griff, never mind that for now. I have to talk to you.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been instrumental in initiating DNA testing on Brian.”

That shocked him. “Without the permission of the family?”

“I convinced Detective Patrick that Brian’s paternity could be crucial to the investigation into his homicide.” Pierce hesitated. “That’s not the difficult part of what I need to tell you.”

“The difficult part?”

“Yes.”

Griff’s heart dropped. He yanked the wheel and skidded to the side of the road, parking on the shoulder. He found his voice at last. “You better not be about to tell me what I think you’re going to tell me.”

“I apologize,” Pierce said equally quietly. “I did it before we were involved. I told myself I was acting to protect my clients, but the fact is, I was acting to protect myself.”

Funny how he had believed he loved Levi and yet nothing Levi had done, including walking out on him, hurt even a fraction as much as hearing this from Pierce.

“I don’t understand you,” Griff said. “Is that why you invited me back to your house that first night? To get a sample of my DNA?”

“Of course not. I invited you back because I wanted to be with you. But the idea did occur to me and I did act on it.”

Griff remembered Pierce’s perfunctory attentions that night and laughed. At least the sound was intended as a laugh.

“Griff.” Pierce sounded like he was in pain.

“I can’t believe it. I came here to research a book. That was all. That was all I ever intended. What the fuck did you think you would discover?”

“Have you ever looked at your birth certificate? I mean really examined it.”

“Of course.” Not. Because who ever really examined those documents? You took them for granted. And the people in the town you grew up in took them for granted too. Because you’d been living there for twenty years and everyone knew you and knew your mother...

“I never had any intention of hurting you. I swear to God. It’s just...the more I learned about you, the more curious I became. Your birthday. Your middle name. The night terrors and anxiety attacks. The fact that you were home schooled until college, that your mother was afraid to take you to a doctor.”

“We’re done,” Griff said. “Don’t call me again.” He clicked off. Then he stared at the black screen, breathing as hard as if he’d had to fight tooth and nail to sever that connection. It was one thing to suspect a thing yourself. It was something else entirely to have someone grab you by the collar and force you to look into the mirror.

His phone rang. Pierce’s number flashed up.

He pressed Talk but before he could say anything, Pierce said, “I don’t know the results of the test. I’m calling you before I know anything for sure. Before I have any proof. I don’t care about the results. I’m calling you because I realize that I’ve violated your trust, and I don’t want to jeopardize what’s happening between us.”