“Whose number is it?” I asked.
Emmie checked it in her phone. “No one I know. It is a Harrogate area code, though.”
“Are you all right?” I asked Emmie, tentatively cupping a hand on the back of her head.
“I’m fine.” She nodded.
Zoe was scrolling through the rest of Brooks’s contacts.
“I bet he told Theo who it was,” I said. “He could never resist bragging.”
“This thread is with Theo. Just a lot of misspellings. The literacy levels in this country really have gone to hell.”
“Brooks could never read well,” I interjected.
“You knew him?” Emmie was surprised.
I cursed inwardly. “Just in school. You know, small town. Everyone knows of everyone.”
“Jack-fucking-pot!” Zoe whooped, saving me from more prying questions from Emmie. “Look at that. That is a motive for murder!”
Theo:You’ve been saying for months you’re going to get me my money back.
Brooks:You know I’m good for it.
Theo:Just pay me back.
“Why would Theo kill Brooks if he owed him money? He’d want him to pay it back.”
“Maybe he couldn’t.”
I frowned. “Then you’d think they would get in an argument because Brooks can’t pay and start fighting, and maybe Theo accidentally punches him too hard. This was premeditated. Brooks was poisoned.”
“Theo can make a claim against the estate for unpaid debts if Brooks is dead,” Zoe argued.
“Yeah, but how much money are we talking?” I argued. “No one’s going to plan a murder over a thousand dollars. But a hundred thousand? That’s a different story.”
“Does it say how much money?” Emmie asked.
“Nope.”
“I think,” Emmie said slowly, “we need to go back to my house and look for more clues.”
15
EMMIE
Ipeeped in through the windows. The house was dark. I slowly slid my key into the lock and opened the door as silently as I could. Oakley’s car wasn’t outside, but you could never be too careful.
“If there are any clues, they’ll be upstairs in the study,” I whispered.
“Good luck finding anything in there,” Marius muttered.
“Think positive,” I hissed.
This was closer than I’d been to finding the real killer since Brooks had died. He and Theo having a beef over money? That was a way better motive than my being pissed about him in a new relationship six months after he’d kicked me out of my own house.
We crept up the stairs. Suddenly, there was a loud wail.
