Page 21 of Deadly Sins: Gluttony
“If you and Blake didn’t murder Gideon, then who did?”I asked.
The restaurant door opened, and a woman in a fitted blue pantsuit and a blue floral headscarf walked in.
Dwayne rose and mentioned the woman was his next appointment.Then he added, “Now, about your question—who’s responsible for Gideon’s death?That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”
13
Iwas inside the RV, sitting across from Camille and Martin, updating them about what I’d been doing since I’d taken the case.
When I finished, Camille said, “It doesn’t seem like you have any solid leads yet.”
“I don’t have enough proof of who murdered him yet, but I will.In the meantime, I wanted to speak to you both about Cecilia.I take it you didn’t know your brother was married?”
“We did not.”
“Can’t believe he’d hide something like that from his own family,” Martin said.“It’s like he didn’t want anything to do with us.”
“You’ve both said you weren’t close to Gideon, so I was surprised you hadn’t heard about Cecilia.Then again, keeping to himself always seemed to be the way he lived his life.”
“You’re right,” Camille said.“He’s always kept to himself, even as a kid.I tried to stay in his life over the years, and we kept in touch a bit more after Mom died.But for him to keep his marriage a secret … well, it hurt.”
“He was planning on telling you about Cecilia.”
“That’s what Greg said, but planning to do something isn’t the same as doing it.”
Point taken.
“Now that you’ve met Cecilia, will you try to be part of her life?”I asked.
“Why would we?”Martin said.“They were married all of ten seconds before he died.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Camille said.“I’d like to get to know her better.She seems nice.”
“I heard Gideon revised his trust right after they married,” I said.“Were you aware of that?”
Martin huffed an irritated, “We didn’t know he had a trust—period.Not until Greg told us.The fact he left us money surprises me too.And not just a little …a lot.We’re talking a quarter of a million each.I don’t get it.”
“What don’t you get?”
“He fought us tooth and nail to close the bakery, when all that time, he was sitting on a load of cash.”
“Have you ever considered that his decision to close the bakery might have been about more than just money?”
“I have,” Martin said.“It’s no secret how he felt about the place.”
“I’m going to use a portion of my money to reopen it,” Camille said.“Gideon may not have approved, but it’s no longer his decision.He took his painful memories to the grave.In my opinion, it’s time for a fresh start.”
Camille may have hired me to investigate her brother’s murder, but a small part of me still wondered if it had been a strategic move.She seemed all too happy to get what she wanted in the end—the bakery—and a way to preserve her mother’s legacy.
Then there was Martin who seemed jaded about Gideon and being shut out of Gideon’s life.
Had Martin or Camille murdered their brother?
Or better yet, had they conspired to do it together?
I needed to find out, but before I could say anything more, Martin excused himself to run a few errands, leaving Camille and me to continue our conversation.
“When I spoke to Greg, he told me one of the boys who’d bullied Gideon in school died not long after he graduated from high school,” I said.
