As the officers opened up the doors and made a beeline for a sleek-looking jet, Alex turned around and smiled at her.
“Ever ridden on a private jet before?” he asked.
“Just once,” she said. He raised his eyebrows as if he was waiting for her to elaborate further, but she kept silent. It wasn’t a memory she was prepared to share just yet.
“Well, lucky for you, one of the big guns at the bureau just landed here. He was able to spare the plane for a few hours.”
The two boarded the plane and settling into reclining seats across from each other, near the front of the plane. After she had stashed her bag and got a drink from the bottle of water sitting next to her chair, she immediately reached down to pick up her phone. Alex settled into his seat and sat silently, occasionally glancing over causally to look out the window. She knew better—he was keeping tabs on her phone. She desperately wanted to google anything about Lizzy’s death but didn’t want this to seem suspicious. So she went back into her social media feeds and started responding to her followers. This went on for at least ten minutes, Sydney hunched over her phone scrolling through and commenting on her feed and Alex peeking over her shoulder.
“Can I help you?” she finally said.
“Do you always do that?”
“Do what?” she said innocently, tipping her phone away from him.
“Bury yourself in your phone,” he said, pointing at the device. “You know, now would be a good time for us to get to know each other. Since I am your date.”
“Okay fine,” she said, tucking the phone under her leg. “What would you like to know?”
“Well, I’ve already read your file, so I have the basics. But tell me, what exactly does an influencer do?”
Sydney gave him a tense half smile. She got this question a lot.
“Well, I have a lot of people who follow me on social media, mainly Instagram. I post pictures daily about my life, mostly of what outfit I am wearing or products I am using. People can click on my photos to buy the merchandise I feature in my post.” She fumbled with the edge of her cashmere sweater. Saying this out loud to an FBI agent made it sound a little silly. “I make a commission each time someone buys the products from my photos.”
“So, you’re like a clothing salesperson?”
“It’s called affiliate marketing, actually.”
“Right, well that sounds…interesting.” The way he paused before saying interesting made her think just the opposite. “You seem to be really good at what you do.”
“I am,” she said, feeling self-conscious. This was another reason why Alex didn’t fit the bill as her date. Someone in law enforcement, whose job affected whether people lived or died, would never understand the significance of what she did. Talking about it with him made her feel insignificant.
Jack, on the other hand, had fit the bill in every way. And at first, Jack was completely supportive of her career. He adored her, so every time she asked him to take her picture, he seemed to truly enjoy it. Her career afforded them a string of fabulous vacations for the short time they were together. Paris, Iceland, Fiji. If there was a beautiful destination that offered a unique backdrop for all her photos, they were there. She meticulously planned each trip, working with corporate sponsors to find the perfect backdrops for their product placements. Whether it was showing off a pair of pink Adidas tennis shoes as she trekked around the cobblestone streets of Paris or fending off the cold weather of Iceland in the latest Columbia parka, she always delivered for her sponsors.
At the beginning of her online career, her focus was more general. She shared photos from her daily life, local restaurants, clothing, and salons. But as her Instagram audience grew, she found that there was a tremendous opportunity to be an affiliate sales representative for a multitude of online clothing retailers. Once she tapped into this line of revenue, her monthly income exploded. Like any good entrepreneur, she doubled down on what was working.
With all that success, however, came a lot of pressure. Sydney felt pressure to look perfect all the time. Not just when she was out socializing or shopping. But even for trips to the grocery store or the dentist, she felt the need to have her style on display. This eventually became a point of contention between her and Jack. He said they could never relax and just enjoy wherever they were—it had to be an opportunity to showcase her fashion work. In fact, he had suggested more than once that she scale back because he could take care of them both financially. That hadn’t gone over well with independent-minded Sydney.
She pulled her thoughts back to the present and continued to chat with Alex for the rest of the flight. They had a few things in common: both had grown up in small Midwestern towns, came from semi-normal families, and moved away after college. Just when she was about to ask him about his ex-wife, his phone buzzed.
“Sorry, I’ve got to take this,” he said, ducking into the back of the plane. Sydney peeked over her shoulder to make sure he was out of sight before pulling out her phone from underneath her leg. She popped open the Google app and entered a few phrases. Elizabeth Ortez dead. Marissa Schumacher dead bridesmaid. Schumacher Evans wedding ruined. Nothing was coming up.
It was clear to her the news hadn’t broken yet. That was a relief. Apparently the authorities were keeping things quiet while they conducted their investigation. She continued searching for any updates from blogs and friends’ social feeds, but nothing more came up. A few minutes later when Alex walked back into the room, she reflexively stashed her phone away. She caught the sweet musky scent of his cologne again as he sat down next to her.
“We’ve got something,” he said, roping her in with his steel grey eyes. “A motive.”
“A motive? Whose motive?” she said, her heart beating a little faster.
“It’s Will, her live-in boyfriend. O’Connell ran down his information after you suggested we look into him. It turns out he did have a life insurance policy on Lizzy.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “To the tune of one million dollars. He was the sole beneficiary. Which is clear motive. Nice work.”
Sydney nearly gasped. She felt shocked, horrified, and slightly validated all at the same time. She really didn’t expect her hunch about Will would be right; she was just trying to buy some time for Marissa and Ethan. While she wasn’t a huge fan of Will’s, it still made her sad to think that someone Lizzy cared about so much might betray her like that. Poor Lizzy, she thought.
“Wow,” she said, recovering from the news. “I honestly didn’t expect that.”
“You work cases like this long enough and you will find that people will often surprise you.” He looked to the front of the plane as the seatbelt light came back on. “And not in a good way.”
Sydney was quiet for a moment, taking in the news.
There was a scurrying of activity as a flight attendant appeared and the pilot announced their imminent arrival.
“Well, at least we know one thing,” she said, breaking her silence.
“What’s that?” Alex said, looking back at her.
“We know who we need to talk to first.”
Twelve
Sydney