Mick Ballou, puzzled by her reaction, stared for a moment, then resumed. “As I was saying … this morning … around ten, I arrived with Candy to set up a plan.”

The woman in the brown silk top said, “Candace LaGuardia, Bijou Staging.” Low volume, low enthusiasm.

Ballou said, “Anyway … Candy brought a vanful of items but first we had a look. And lo and behold, someone had begun staging the breakfast room. Or so we thought. That made us wonder if our wires had somehow gotten crossed so we called the client but he was out. So we called our secondary number and that turned out to be Marissa here.”

Marissa said, “Daddy didn’t tell me he’d given them my number. I didn’t know what the frick they were talking about.”

Ballou winced. “Anyway … Marissa, here, wanted to come down to see exactly what was going on. That’s when she saw what we saw and got pretty upset.” To Marissa: “I’m sorry but I had no way of knowing.”

Marissa looked at me. “I freaked because I was here yesterday afternoon to make sure Sydney and Jasper were okay and none of that frickin’ shit was here.”

I said, “What time was that?”

“Like two to like six,” she said. “It made me thirsty so I went inside to get some juice so I was definitely in the kitchen and that frickin’ shit wasn’t.”

I said, “Someone got in after six.”

Marissa smirked. “You think?”

“Who has a key?”

“Me, Ashley, and him.” Pointing to Ballou.

Ballou said, “Your father, as well, seeing as he’s the client.”

“Whatever.”

Candace LaGuardia said, “I don’t have a key, this is the first time I’ve been here.”

Marissa said, “I called Ashley and Daddy, both of them thought it was insane. Cooking a meal and leaving it frickin’ here? What the frick is that about? It’s like … perverted. Breaking in and saying this is my place.”

Out of the mouths of babes.

“Then,” said Marissa, “because it was frickin’ weird, I called him.” Her eyes drifted to Milo’s. Everyone else’s eyes tagged along.

Mick Ballou said, “After you said not to touch anything, Lieutenant, obviously everything ground to a halt.” Another look at his watch.

Candace LaGuardia said, “They did a pretty good job décor-wise. Except for the food, you never do that. Food goes bad fast.”

CHAPTER

9

I pretended not to probe for nonverbal tells from Ballou, LaGuardia, or Marissa Corey. All three looked stunned. I nodded at Milo and he said, “Appreciate your patience, we’ll take it from here.” We accompanied Ballou and LaGuardia out of the house, stayed with him at the bronze Jaguar, and let her approach the white Infiniti. Marissa Corey had already raced far ahead of them and was backing the red BMW fast enough to set off a dust storm. Fishtailing, she straightened and sped off toward the gatehouse, tires squealing.