Grave Secret Page 0,90

had anything to do with Victoria's murder, but I thought someone close to her was involved. I found myself wondering why she'd called me. Lizzie Joyce, wealthy beyond imagining, didn't have a BFF to call? Where was the sister, and the boyfriend, and the brother? Why didn't she call all the people she sat on boards with, the people who worked for her, the people who did her hair and polished her nails when she was going somewhere fancy, the people who set up the barrels for her competition practice?

After I'd listened for a minute, I realized Lizzie wanted to talk to someone she didn't have to brief, someone who had known Victoria; and I was the person who fit the bill.

"I guess I'm going to the firm of detectives my granddad's company always uses," she said. "I thought it would be helpful to talk to a woman out on her own, someone who wasn't up on our business, not involved in the family saga. But I think I caused her death. If I'd gone to our usual firm, she'd still be alive."

There was no rebuttal to offer on that. "How come you have a private detective firm on call?" I asked instead.

"Granddaddy started that when he became the head of a big enterprise. More than a rancher. He liked to know who he was hiring, at least for key positions." Lizzie sounded surprised that I needed to ask.

"So why didn't he get them to check out Mariah Parish?"

"Granddaddy had met her when she worked for the Peadens, and when he needed someone, and she was free, it seemed like a natural fit. I guess he felt like he knew her and didn't need to have her investigated. After all, she wasn't going to be writing checks on our account or anything."

He wouldn't have trusted her with his checkbook, but he would trust her to cook his food without poisoning him, and he would trust her to clean his house without stealing his possessions. Even suspicious rich people have their blind side. Given what we'd learned about Mariah from reading her file, I found that ironic.

I hadn't known that Rich Joyce had actually met Mariah before she moved into his house. Drexell hadn't mentioned that at our dinner with Victoria. Maybe Rich had seen a good way to sneak a mistress into his house under his kids' eyes. Maybe his friend who'd first employed Mariah had told Rich he'd been bedding her. Nudge nudge, wink wink. Here's a good woman who can cook, count your pills, and warm up your sheets, Rich. And she can stay right there in the house.

"And you didn't even think about investigating her the way you would any other employee?"

"Well," Lizzie said, clearly uncomfortable, "she and Granddaddy had everything worked out by the time we knew about it. He was sure in his right mind, so we didn't say anything."

All the Joyce grandchildren had been scared of the patriarch. "You didn't have her checked out afterward?"

"Well, he would have known. That was when I should have hired an outside source. I gotta tell you the truth, at the time, I didn't think too much about it. That was years ago. I was younger, and less confident, and of course, I expected Granddaddy to live forever." Lizzie stopped short, probably realizing she'd been oversharing. "Well, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am about your friend. And how's your brother doing? This whole thing just keeps getting messier and messier."

"Do you wish you'd never contacted me?"

A moment of silence. "Truthfully, yes, that's what I wish," she said. "Seems like a lot of people have died and they didn't need to. What's changed? What more do I know? Nothing. My grandfather saw a rattlesnake and died. We don't know if anyone else was there for sure. He's still dead. Mariah's dead, and in my head she's not resting in peace anymore, now that I know she died in childbirth. Where's that baby? Is the baby an aunt or uncle of mine? I still don't know. Maybe I'll never know."

"Someone's sure trying to make sure you don't," I said. "Goodbye, Lizzie." And I hung up.

Manfred stopped in, and I was glad to see him, but I wasn't in a mood for talking. He asked me about the backpack.

"It's my sister's," I said. "She left it the day she vanished."

I turned away to answer Tolliver's call. He'd woken up briefly and asked for a pain pill. He