5 Big Bunny Bump Off (8 page)

“I see you’ve met Julia,” Mr.
Ellery said as he walked up behind us, with Zak in tow.

“She was just telling me about her awesome princess castle.”

“Thing’s as big as her room,” Mr. Ellery reported. “Had to move it to one of the guest rooms, but she loves it.”

“Do you want to see it?” Julia asked.

“Sure, I’d love to.”

Unlike Washington’s home
, which featured cold and sharp surfaces, Mr. Ellery’s was warm and inviting, with a pleasant color scheme and furniture you could actually sit on. Julia’s bedroom gave evidence to the fact that her grandfather spoiled her quite lavishly. Not only did she have a princess castle in the spare room adjoining hers, but she had princess everything in her bedroom, including what had to amount to hundreds of dolls. The canopy bed that sat in the center of the room was painted an antique white and was piled high with pink and purple pillows and dozens of stuffed animals in every shape and size. As I followed Julia as she introduced me to every one of her dolls, I couldn’t help but wonder if I might have a little girl of my own someday. I tried to picture what she might look like and wondered if she’d be a girlie girl, like Julia, or a tomboy, like I had been. The possibilities both terrified and intrigued me.

“So?” I asked after Zak and I had said our good-byes and returned to the truck. Our next appointment was with the neighbor on the other side of Truman Washington’s house, but we still had a few minutes.

Zak shrugged. “
Ellery seemed open and more than willing to chat. I didn’t get the feeling that he was hiding anything, but he didn’t say anything that might help us either. In fact, I got the feeling that he was deliberately steering the conversation away from the legal battle between Blakely and Washington. If you want my opinion, he didn’t want to get in the middle of the dispute between the two men.”

“Well
, I learned something interesting from Julia. She told me that Blakely’s daughter, Megan, gave her the princess house on her birthday, which was March 6. Megan came to Ashton Falls at some point prior to that and just left a few days ago. Washington indicated that Blakely’s daughter had most likely never even seen his house. It seems like he must have lied.”

“No
t necessarily. Washington was in Palm Springs until two days ago, and he mentioned that he had been there since just after the first of the year. Julia indicated that Megan left a few days ago. She may have arrived after Washington left and left before Washington returned. He may not even be aware that she was here in his absence.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. S
o what’s the name of neighbor number three?” I asked.

“Dirk Pendleton.”

“
The
Dirk Pendleton?” Dirk Pendleton was a well-known actor, a multimillionaire who lived, I thought, in New York.

“
Actually, this is Dirk Pendleton Junior, and the house is a vacation home, but he happened to be in residence when I called and was happy to talk, so I figured what the heck.”

What the heck? Was he kidding?
Dirk Pendleton was only the most sought-after heartthrob of a generation. He was probably close to my dad’s age, but unlike my dad, who was beginning to show his age, Dirk Pendleton seemed ageless. Of course, I’m certain that private trainers, a personal chef, and tons of cosmetic upgrades were at least partly responsible. But still, the guy had been born with enviable genetics. And his son . . . Well, let’s just say that his son, who to this point in his life had lived off the grid as a bit of a recluse, was rumored to have followed in his father’s footsteps when it came to charm and good looks.

M
y heart was pounding in my chest just like some sort of star-struck teenybopper about to meet her idol for the first time. Normally, I’m not overly impressed with megastars and their spoiled children, but Dirk Pendleton!

I’m certain my chin hit the pavement as an Adonis dressed only in a pair of swim trunks opened the front door. (Don’t judge
; you should see this guy.) He smiled at me, a look of delight on his gorgeous face, before complimenting me on my eyes, kissing me square on the mouth, and inviting us inside. Zak put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to his body. I’m not sure if it was to assert his ownership or simply to keep me from slithering to the ground as my legs turned to jelly. Either way, the gesture was appreciated. I realized at some point that I was supposed to walk forward, but my legs were too shaky to move. Zak, wonderful boyfriend that he is, took pity on me and diverted Dirk’s attention as he took me by the arm and led me into the house.

“Your home is beautiful,” I heard Zak say from what seemed like a million miles away.

“It’s a house.” Dirk shrugged. “I was out by the pool when you arrived. It’s a beautiful day. Would you care to join me?”

“Huh
.” I tried to speak.

“We’d love to,” Zak replied.

Zak led me to the patio while I tried to gather my senses. I knew I was being ridiculous. Dirk Pendleton Junior was just a man, and I already had the best man on the planet for a boyfriend. I really needed to get a grip. Zak scooted his chair close to mine as we sat down. I looked at his amused smile and grinned. He really was the best boyfriend.

“So you wanted to ask me some questions,” Dirk
said after pouring us each a large glass of whiskey without even asking if we wanted some. I don’t particularly like whiskey, but I drank it anyway. Maybe the burn would jolt some sense into what had to be dormant teenage hormones.

“Yes,” Zak answered. “We really appreciate you
r taking the time to help us with our project.”

“You want to know about old Blakely’s murder.”

Even Zak looked surprised. “You figured that out, did you?”

“I had you checked out before you arrived. I check out
everyone who comes onto my property. Do you have any idea how many lamebrain stories I get from paparazzi who want to snap a hundred-thousand-dollar photo of Dirk Pendleton’s elusive offspring?”

“I guess I should have anticipated that,” Zak conceded.

“Let me save you some time,” Dirk began. “I didn’t kill Porter Blakely, nor do I know who did. I don’t have an alibi that I care to share for the time of the murder, but since I’m not in any way involved in his death, I’m not overly concerned about that. I might not have killed him, but I
was
blackmailing him.”

“Come again?” I asked.

“Well, I’m not sure blackmail is the right word. Blakely’s daughter, Megan, asked for my help in getting payback from her dad, and I agreed to do it. The whole thing was really just a big joke, so I’m not sure there will be any legal ramifications, but as a form of payback, it’s priceless.”

“Payback?” Zak asked.

“Blakely was an abusive man. According to Megan, who I have no reason not to believe, her father was so emotionally abusive to her mother that the poor woman killed herself when Megan was a young girl. Megan just recently turned twenty-one and received the money her mother left her. I guess she’d spent the past nine years planning a way to humiliate her dad for the way he’d humiliated her mother.”

“Jack Frost,” I realized.

“Very good.” Adonis smiled at me. I had to blush and grin back. It would have been rude not to.

“Megan came to Ashton Falls shortly after she received the money.
She knew what she wanted to do, but she needed leverage against her father, so she began snooping around in his private files when he wasn’t at home. She stumbled across some records that indicated that Blakely had been instrumental in setting up intentionally bad investments that made him almost as much money as it lost his clients. She used the information to convince Blakely that it was in his best interests to jump through any hoops she might present. We came up with the idea for Jack Frost, the coldest man in literature. I got the costume and we put the plan in motion. It was hilarious.”

Suddenly I felt just a tad annoyed with Dirk and his game. “It
could have totally ruined our play.”

“I
’m sorry about that. I assure you that our intention was simply to humiliate Blakely. It’s a shame he died. Megan had so many other creative ideas in store for the man.”

“I’ve seen Blakely wearing the costume and enacting his part as Jack Frost. He didn’t seem humiliated at all,” I pointed out. “In fact
, he seemed to really be into it.”

“Yes, it was unfortunate that he took to the whole thing the way he did. Megan was disappointed that his horror at the idea seemed to turn to enjoyment after a short amount of time. I guess the man was a lot more twisted than we gave him credit for.”

“You said Megan had other plans for humiliating her father?” I verified.

“She did
, but the guy went and died on her. We talked about leaking photos to the press, in spite of the fact that the guy was no longer around to suffer the consequences of his humiliation, but Megan decided she’d lost interest in the game and left town a few days ago. She wants nothing to do with Ashton Falls, the bank, or the property. She’s going to work out the details so that Washington gets the property he needs and then sell the place. I doubt she’ll be back.”

“And the bank?” I wondered.

Dirk shrugged. “There are other shareholders. I’m sure the attorneys will work it all out.”

“Do you happen to know the names of the customers Blakely scammed?” I asked.

“Not off hand. Megan may have kept a list. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give you her e-mail address.” Zak handed him a pen and a business card, which he scribbled on. “Be forewarned, though, that she’s very bad about getting back to people. She’s been on her own for a long time and isn’t in tune with taking the needs of others into consideration.”

“You
met Megan recently?” I asked.

“We met a lo
ng time ago, when we were kids. Our fathers owned these adjoining properties, and we both had reason to want to keep low profiles, so we hung out a bit.”

“Mr. Washington indicated that he’d never met Megan.”

“Washington didn’t build his house until six years ago, so he might not have met her. Megan used to spend summers here as a kid, but once she was old enough to have input into her own decisions, she stopped coming. I suppose her last visit prior to this one must have been when she was around twelve or thirteen.”

I felt bad for Megan. Sure
, I wasn’t thrilled that her little trick on her dad almost ruined our play, but to grow up with such a cold and uncaring man for a father and to have your mother kill herself as a result of his abuse must have been unbearable. I wondered who raised her after her mother died but figured it wasn’t relevant to the conversation so didn’t ask.

“Okay, thank you for your time
, and thank you for Megan’s contact information,” Zak concluded the conversation.

“No problem. It was lovely to meet you both. And
maybe we can keep the Jack Frost thing between us?”

“Sure, no problem,” I answered.

“So what now?” Zak asked we walked hand in hand back toward his truck. “It seems like we have some random pieces of a larger puzzle. Any suggestions about what to do to try to pull this whole thing together?”

“Dirk suggested that Blakely bilked some of his clients out of a lot of money. I’d be interested
to know who exactly lost money due to his investment advice. I’d also be interested to know who might have a home or business in foreclosure with the bank.”

“You know
, it’s possible Blakely’s death had nothing to do with money,” Zak pointed out.

“Maybe
, but tracking down everyone who has a financial grudge against Blakely is a good place to start.”

“That could be a lot of names. Most people in the area have or have had business dealings of one type or another with the man.”

“I say we limit the search to people who have been hurt by him in the past six months. I don’t suppose you can find your way into the banks records?”

“Not easily
, but I know someone who can.”

“Who?”

“Alice Jackson. She works in the accounting department of the bank. I’m sure she has access to most of the loan and deposit records.”

“You know Alice?”

“I do some of my banking with the community bank, and as the institution’s largest depositor, Alice and I are well acquainted.”

I don’t know why it never occurred to me that Zak might have money in the bank. He was exactly the type of guy to support local business
es, even if he did have plenty of money to spread around to the world’s largest and most secure institutions.

“Do you think she’ll tell us what we want to know?”

“Maybe if I ask real nice.”

“How nice?” Uh
-oh, Zoe the Jealous is about to make an appearance.

“Not that nice.” Zak kissed my nose. “I could be wrong
, but it’s my guess that Alice will be more than willing to talk. My impression is that she’s a nice woman who just happens to work for a bottom-feeder. I’ll go to talk to her tomorrow morning, while you’re at the birthing class with your mom.”