To be perfectly honest, Ryan wasn't sure why he cared what Mariah watched or liked. Maybe because he'd found her so fascinating back then, or perhaps because he'd wanted her to like the same things he did. Her approval had been important to him when he was younger.
"According to Carl, Brad was sleeping with Isla."
Mariah's mouth fell open in shock. "Wait...what? Brad and Isla? How does Carl know? And how didn't you know?"
"Brad and I weren't that close, and personally, I didn't want to hear about his sexual exploits, most of which I assumed were lies. Carl swears it's true, though, and that Brad told him."
"I'm not sure that I believe it."
"Why not?"
"You said it. Brad lied about stuff. I can see him lying about Isla."
Sitting down on the couch, Ryan re-ran Carl's words through his head one more time.
"Carl seemed pretty convinced it was true. I didn't question it but I probably should have. I'm going to have to ask Isla."
Mariah held up her hand in a stop motion. "Why would you ask her? What does it matter?"
"For the same reason it matters that Caroline was sleeping with Trent."
She was shaking her head before he'd finished answering. "No, it matters because Brad would have been jealous if he knew and that might be why they argued."
"Caroline could be jealous, too."
"She might but she knew that Brad ran around all the time. She'd never killed him over it. Past performance is the best predictor of future behavior. If she didn't kill him before, why would she do it now?"
"Maybe Isla was the straw that broke the camel’s back? He was fishing in our friend group pond, so to speak, and she was angry."
"Except that she was sleeping with Trent," Mariah reminded him. "So why would she be mad? She was getting her revenge. She didn't need to kill him."
He'd been thinking about the whole situation. In fact, that was pretty much all he was doing.
When he wasn't thinking about Mariah, that is.
"What if it was a tragic accident? They argued. Things got heated. Maybe Brad took a swing at Caro and she was defending herself? Or he was arguing with Trent and it got physical? It doesn't have to be premeditated cold-blooded murder."
"So you do have theories?"
"I have theories and hardly any evidence, so they don't mean much. At this point I'm just running scenarios through my head to see if they make any sense. Let's face it, anything could have happened. Brad liked to run his mouth when he was drinking and he could have pissed off the wrong person that night."
Mariah sat down next to Ryan. "I know that you know what you're doing with this investigation, but be honest with me. Just what are the chances of you finding out what really happened to Brad that night?"
"The more time has passed from the crime, the harder it is to solve the mystery," Ryan explained. "Memories fade, witnesses disappear or die. Evidence goes missing or degrades. About forty percent of homicides are never solved. Cold cases have the best chance of being solved when there is evidence that can be used with more modern investigative techniques like DNA analysis."
"That's a fancy way of saying that this is a long shot," Mariah replied softly. "You have very little evidence and no motive."
"That we know of. Someone definitely had means and opportunity. My job is to find out all of Brad's secrets. We've already uncovered two. Maybe one of them will lead us to the truth."
Something bad had happened to Brad that night. Ryan was determined to find out what.
And who.
13
The next morning Ryan was standing in Theo Perkins' palatial office. Situated on an upper floor, it had an impressive view of downtown Chicago, which was what Ryan studied while he waited for his old friend to finish a phone call. Theo had gone into his father's law firm, a business that had been in the family for generations.
Hanging up the phone, Theo whirled around in his leather chair and gave Ryan a huge grin.
"Sorry about that. It never ends around here." He jumped up and headed for the office door. "How about a coffee? I could do with one. Cream and sugar?"
Ryan hadn't yet had his first cup today as he'd been anxious to get up and get started on the investigation. He had several items on his to-do list.
"That would be great. Cream and two sugars."
At home he would have had it black but for some reason now that he was back in Chicago, he was drinking it with cream and sugar again.
Theo stuck his head out of the office and asked his assistant to get them two coffees. Instead of going to sit behind his desk, he sat down on the small sofa against the wall and Ryan followed suit. It was a relief that there wasn't going to be any sort of power plays this morning, but then Theo wasn't really the type for that. He'd always been laid back and relaxed.
"So you want to talk about that night?"
"I'm talking to everyone that I can find that was there that night, especially as Mariah and I left the bar early."
It sounded so natural. Mariah and I.
Being friends with her yesterday hadn't been so bad. To be truthful, he'd enjoyed her company. As always, her intelligence and insight impressed him, plus she was easy to be around. Not restful or serene, though. No, she was too challenging for that. But easy in the sense that he always knew where he stood with her. She didn't play head games and that was a relief.
"I'm not sure that I can be much help. That was a long time ago. These days I’m lucky if I can remember that I had for lunch the day before. I’m just so busy these days."
Ryan could completely understand. He’d get so focused on work everything else would fade into the background.
"Let's start at the beginning of the evening. Did Brad say or do anything different than normal? Was he acting strangely?"
Theo shook his head. "No, it was the usual stuff. He was in the mood to cut loose after working so hard the last half of the semester to bring his grades up. His dad had been really on him about that, and Brad had to really buckle down those final weeks. When he came home from school, he'd been on a mission to have some fun so we'd been going out pretty much every single night."
"Was he worried about anything?"
"He wasn't worried about a thing after finals. He was in a great mood."
There was a brief knock and then the door swung open to reveal a young woman holding a tray with two mugs and a basket of pastries.
"Help yourself," Theo said as the assistant placed small plates and napkins on the coffee table in front of them. "There's a bakery about a block down that makes these. They're unbelievably good."
The smell of sugar and vanilla teased Ryan's nostrils and he found himself digging into a still-warm cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting. So far Chicago had him going back to a hell of a lot of bad habits.
Like Mariah, for instance.
Note to self. You need to go for a long run tonight. Stay away from her.
"So tell me more about that night. We were all doing shots and talking about Hawaii. Then Mariah and I left. What happened after that?"
His brows pinched together, Theo didn't answer immediately. "Shit, I'm not sure. Like I said, that was a long time ago. I think I danced with your sister Liza, and then I went to play pool again. Brad and Caro were talking and drinking but then I think she must have left because Brad was talking with someone else. I'd met a girl that wanted me to teach her to play pool and ended up leaving with her right after they announced last call."