Page 47 of My One
“Are you sleeping?” I whispered.
“No,” he mumbled against his arm.
“I brought you a beer.”
“Thanks.”
I set the bottle on the table. “It’s here if you want it. I’m going to check out the backyard.”
“Okay.”
When I got outside, I realized there was a view of the ocean from a part of the yard. It was amazing. The backyard was even more spectacular than I thought it was from the little I saw through the kitchen window. I loved the landscape, the dry heat hitting my skin, and all the flowers I’d assumed his mother had planted.
I took a few sips of my own beer and took in the view. When I turned around to go back into the house, I realized there was a big rectangular box of dirt—like a large platform for a vegetable garden. I stared at it for a moment, trying to determine if that was it or not. Were there dead bodies buried under the dirt? Denise obviously feared him. Was it there because Doug was some sort of killer? I clearly watched too many true crime TV shows.
Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out my phone to Google what the dirt box could be, but saw that I had a missed text from Brooke:
How’s it going?
I replied back:Met with an attorney today. His mom’s will left him her assets. I’ll call you tomorrow. Avery’s having a hard time right now.
I opened up the browser on my phone and typed in dirt box. Nothing looked like what I was looking at. Most of it was boxes for gardens.
Brooke:We’re thinking about you guys. Please let us know if we can do anything.
Me:I will. Thank you.
Brooke:When’s the funeral?
Me:We haven’t talked about it.
Brooke:Okay. Keep us updated. Jimmy and Jane have been asking.
Me:I will.
Just as I was about to enter the house, a thought came to me, and I quickly searched for what I thought the dirt box might be. I smiled when I realized I was correct. It was a bocce ball court. I’d never known a person to have that in their backyard. Maybe they played to unwind. It made me feel a little better as I got the thought of Avery’s father being a murderer out of my head.
I walked into the living room and heard a soft snore coming from the couch. Letting Avery be, I decided to check out the upstairs since we hadn’t done so earlier. I quietly went up the staircase. The first room I went in seemed to be a guest bedroom. The bedding was white, and again, there were no pictures. If Edna hadn’t come over, I would question if his parents even lived in this house.
The next room was a bathroom. There were two more guest bedrooms and then the master. Every room seemed to have the same décor style: white. White. White. White. I didn’t get it. Curiosity got to me, and I opened the closet. I expected to see more white. Instead, there was every color on the color wheel in various clothing styles. Dresses, tops, and pants filled the huge walk-in closet. It was apparent this was his mother’s closet.
Was looking in a dead woman’s closet snooping? Eventually, we would have to go through everything, so I figured it wasn’t snooping. I wasn’t planning on taking anything like Mr. Slade had said, but I still wanted to look at all the pretty things I would never be able to afford.
I grabbed a few dresses and realized that they were designer brands: Prada, Gucci, Valentino. I had no clue what the dresses were worth, but I recognized the names. I held a few up in front of a full-length mirror, imagining what they would look like on me. They were beautiful. There were diamond earrings, bracelets, necklaces, trays upon trays of stunning jewelry, and the wannabe princess in me understood why Denise stayed with a man like Doug Scott. I didn’t know all the details, or who his mother truly was, but I figured that if you lived a life with that much wealth, it would be hard to leave and start over like Edna had said.
Looking at everything in the closet, I realized all the color didn’t match the rest of the house, and Denise clearly had taste. Even her shoes were designer: Chanel, Prada, Gucci, the infamous Louboutins. Same with the handbags: Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade.
I’d always wanted a Louis Vuitton, and that was what tempted me to open the bag. I opened it, wanting to smell the expensive leather. The satchel appeared to be empty until I opened the inside zipper and found a piece of paper wrapped around a key.
Chase - #273
The key was long and slender. Was it a key to a safety deposit box at a bank? Was Avery’s mother hiding this from his father? I felt like a detective, or like I was about to go on a scavenger hunt.
I decided to put my snooping to rest. Avery should be the one to do it or at least be with me while we went through their stuff. If I’d found a key in his mom’s closet, what might be in his dad’s office?
When I got back downstairs, Avery was still asleep. The sun hadn’t set, but I knew it was getting late because my stomach had started to growl. I didn’t want to wake him up, but it was time to grab dinner and head back to the hotel.
Crouching beside my husband, I shook his arm. “Hey, let’s go grab some dinner.”
