Page 49 of Justice for Daesha

Instead of answering, Ainsley asked, “Wasn’t that a thoughtful gift?”

“Why, yes it was, seeing as how you commissioned it from ReedEvigan.”

Ainsley was smug. “While I lived in Austin. She must’ve worn it proudly.”

Amos took a sip of tea and almost spit it out?it was horrible. When he recovered, he said, “Until whoever murdered her took it off her finger and it disappeared.”

“Well, now, I wouldn’t know anything about that. I wasn’t there,” Ainsley said from inside his cup as he continued to sip.

“Somebody does. And you have no idea who that could be?’

“It most certainly wasn’tme!” Ainsley answered, his voice raised. “Look here, you, I loved Dorinda. We’d been friends our entire lives. Hurting her is something I just couldn’t do. Do I look like the kind who’d kill somebody? Hmmm? I have my assistant kill flies if they get in here, and they rarely do. I most certainly wouldn’t kill my friend.”

“But you have no idea who did it?”

“If I did, wouldn’t I have told the police all that time ago? Of course I would’ve. So no. I don’t know who it was.”

I’ve got to find a place for this mic, Amos told himself, but with cameras watching his every move, it would be difficult. An idea hit him and he rose. “This is a very unusual office you have here.”

“Yes. I designed everything in here myself,” Ainsley said with obvious pride.

“Quite a collection of books you have here too.”

“Indeed. Most of them are first editions or I have the only remaining copy in existence. Did you know that was one of the things Dorinda and I shared? We loved books. As a matter of fact, I bought one for her right before she was killed. Never got to give it to her.”

“Really? What was it?”

“It’s right over here. Let me show you.” Amos followed Ainsley, slipping his hands in his pockets as he went. He palmed one of the mics in his left hand. “This one right here.” Ainsley moved to the middle of one of the shelves, but when he took the book from it, it began to swing.

“Oh!” Amos reached out to steady it by grabbing the cable and when he did, he stuck the mic to the back of the cable. “Scared me a little!”

“They won’t fall. Sometimes I go through and set them all in motion just to watch. It’s beautiful. Here it is. This is the book. It’s a copy ofThree Little Kittensby MarieSimchow Stern. You know, the Little Golden Books?”

“Oh, yes! I remember those from when I was little.”

“Yes, well, this was the first one published.” He stopped for a second, then looked Amos in the eyes. “The. Very. First. One. I paid twenty-eight thousand dollars for this book. It’s a piece of history.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yes. That’s right?holy shit. It was supposed to be a present for Dorinda. Now, would I buy a gift for somebody I was planning to kill?”

Amos desperately wanted to point out that there was no proof it had been for Dorinda and that it was still worth plenty of money to Ainsley when something struck him. Yes, AinsleyKelso had plenty of money, but that wasnotthe kind of gift a man gave a woman who was just a friend. Even though he was dressed weird and acted weird, Amos was pretty sure he wasn’t gay. Something didn’t add up, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. He just answered, “I suppose not.”

“Ofcoursenot. How ridiculous would that be?” He seemed smug about his answer, like he’d just won some kind of game show.

Amos didn’t care anymore. He wanted to get out of there. The place was like some kind of deviated, convoluted fairytale land, and it made his skin crawl. “So business is going well?”

“We’ll be at all the shows of all the big houses this year. It’s going very well. Pretty soon, all those others will be passé and we’ll be the high fashion leader. That’s my goal anyway. So, Mr.Fletcher, I?”

“AgentFletcher.”

“Ummm, yes, AgentFletcher, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes. Were you jealous of your brothers’ relationship with Dorinda?”

“Which one?”

“That’s brothers, plural.”

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