“Yes, thank you, Maxwell. You are amazing.”
“My pleasure,” he said with his thick Jamaican accent. As he pushed the cart into the room, Sydney stashed the bag in the closet. She turned around and watched Maxwell carefully place the two silver domes and the rest of the breakfast spread onto the small table. She noticed him eyeing Alex, asleep in the corner.
“We, uh, had a fight last night,” Sydney said quickly, gesturing toward Alex. “You know, just a lovers’ quarrel.” She laughed nervously, trying to maneuver between Maxwell and the bed.
“Ah,” Maxwell responded with a wry smile. “Maybe I can help. I could set up a nice couple’s massage for you on the beach later today? To help you both relax?”
“Oh, no, that won’t be necessary,” Sydney said, walking Maxwell to the door. “I’m sure we will talk it out, um, over breakfast.”
“Trust me, I have just the thing,” he said.
“Really, it’s fine,” she said nearly pushing him out of the room. She heard Alex stir behind her and turned to see him sitting up in his makeshift bed.
“Is that coffee I smell?” he said, rubbing fresh stubble on the side of his cheek.
“It is,” she said with a smile. Sydney pulled back the two silver domes to reveal a full suite of breakfast staples including eggs, bacon and fresh croissants. Her stomach grumbled as the steam rose from the plates. She suddenly found her appetite again. “And breakfast. You hungry?”
“Always.” He grabbed a pair of plaid pajama pants heaped next to the sofa. He pulled them on, stretched, and shuffled over to her at the small table, which was now set up for a cozy breakfast for two. Before sitting down, he reached over and carefully poured two cups of coffee from a silver carafe.
The whole setting felt quite intimate, and Sydney grew nervous. She reached for her phone, a welcome distraction to her anxiousness.
“Wait, I want to get a photo,” she said. She quickly pushed a few plates around, folded a napkin and stashed it under a corner of one plate, and rearranged the coffee cups. She made sure to leave Alex’s cup out of the photo. She then pulled the hem of her robe and stood on the chair to get an overhead view of their breakfast spread.
“That looks dangerous,” Alex said, staring up at her curiously.
“I do it all the time.” She took about twenty rapid-fire photos before stepping down onto the floor. “Part of the job, I guess.”
“I see,” he said nodding his chin in her direction. “May I eat now?”
Sydney noted his sarcastic tone and was instantly irritated. She settled back into her seat and glared at him as she picked up a steaming cup of coffee. “You may.”
Alex grabbed a plate of bacon and eggs and pulled it to his side of the table. “Does it ever get old, you know, documenting every moment of your life? Making everything look perfect?”
Sydney narrowed her eyes at him as she took a few sips of her coffee. “I don’t try to make everything look perfect. I just try to make things look, you know, better than they would in everyday life.” She reached for a slice of bacon. “People like to be inspired.”
“I see.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Probably not.”
Sydney sighed and added a few more items to her plate. She had always been a nervous eater and Alex wasn’t helping. He had hit a nerve with her about her life, but she wasn’t quite ready to face it. She decided to redirect the conversation to more urgent matters.
“So clearly Will is not our guy,” she said looking over at Alex as he poured himself another cup of coffee.
“I don’t think so. I spoke to some of my guys last night after you passed out.”
Sydney looked down at her coffee, slightly embarrassed. “Will has done pretty well for himself financially and doesn’t need the money. Not to mention the engagement ring.”
“So now what?” she said, looking over at him.
Alex shrugged. “Well, I’m afraid Marissa and Ethan—”
“No, I know it’s not them,” she said, straightening up in her chair. “There has to be someone we’ve overlooked.”
“Who else knew that Lizzy would be on the plane?”
Sydney went through a mental checklist of everyone in Marissa and Ethan’s entourage. Marissa had a bubbly personal assistant named Evie, but she was young and harmless. Ethan had about fifty employees who worked in his office. He kept most of them at arm’s length, and many hadn’t even been invited to the wedding.
She suddenly remembered that Lizzy had told her she had started a job at his office a few months ago. Sydney had distanced herself from Lizzy a bit after the news; anything that had to do with Ethan and Jack’s company brought with it too much pain. But from what she remembered, Lizzy had been working under Ethan’s secretary.
“Alice,” Sydney said, spilling a bit of her coffee as she set it down on the table.
“The secretary?”
“Yes, Ethan and Alice were very close. She handled all his travel plans, personal details as well as managing their office. She would have had access to their entire itinerary. Plus, she worked with Lizzy.”
Alex cocked his head as she spoke, clearly considering what she had to say.
“Okay, I’ll play along. Why would Alice want to have Lizzy poisoned?”
“Alice was very protective of Ethan and Jack.” She swallowed as she said his name. “When the boys were teenagers, their parents passed away. They had to be placed into foster care for several years before they were old enough to go out on their own.” She pulled her robe on a little tight, feeling the air-conditioning kick on in the room. “Alice was their last foster mom.”
“I see,” said Alex, leaning in. “But that still doesn’t give Alice a motive for murder.”
Sydney pulled a few strands of her hair through her fingers, thinking for a moment. “I remember when Lizzy started working with Alice. They didn’t really get along. She said that Alice was very uptight around her. She was also shooing her out of her office. Lizzy was frustrated because she couldn’t get Alice to let her do anything except organize office supplies and go for coffee. She said she thought Alice was hiding something.”
Alex seemed to perk up at this, setting his own coffee down on the table. “What was she hiding?”
“I don’t know,” Sydney said, staring off toward the window. “We were supposed to get together and catch up before the wedding, but…” She felt her eyes well up with tears. “I guess I was avoiding her. Hearing about her work at Jack’s old company was too painful for me.”
“I get it,” said Alex, nodding.
She brushed her fingertips against the bottom of her eyelids, refusing to let herself fall apart. “But if she found out something she shouldn’t have…” She paused, looking directly at Alex. “Then maybe Alice wanted to keep her quiet. Permanently.”
As she thought about the notion, she felt a sense of anger well up inside of her. Sweet Lizzy, who never would have harmed a fly. How could someone have taken advantage of her like that? If it was possible that Alice had anything to do with her death, Sydney would do everything she could to bring her to justice.