Gilded Craving - Olivia Jaymes Page 0,75

leave. "Liza and I are going to call you and take you out to lunch soon. If you want to, that is."

Caroline smiled and hugged back. "I'd like nothing more. If you don't call me, I'm going to call you."

Danny walked them to the front door. "So I guess we'll see you at the party tonight. Caroline and I are excited to have an evening out of the house without the kids."

Mariah hadn't even realized that Caroline and Danny were invited, which when she thought about it was kind of stupid. Of course, Liza would have invited them and their parents, too. All their families had been friends for years. That's why their generation had ended up together.

"It's going to be a great party," Ryan remarked. "Liza has party planning down to an art."

She did, and it would be.

Danny's smile fell and he hesitated for a moment. "There's not going to be clowns there, right? Like at your twenty-first?"

Liza had gone behind Ryan's back and ordered a couple of clowns for his twenty-first birthday party. Ryan hated clowns, and Mariah wasn't all that fond of them either. They were a little creepy in her opinion but she realized that some people loved them. She just wasn't one of them.

Anyway, it had been a prank between brother and sister, but it turned out that several people at the party didn't like clowns so Ryan had ordered them to leave, telling them that they'd get paid either way. They'd exited the venue immediately.

"No clowns," Ryan assured Danny. "Mom wasn't happy about that and it's her birthday. I think Liza has learned her lesson."

"It's pink-themed," Mariah said when the three of them were in her car and driving away. "You know...everything is pink. The tablecloths, the champagne, twinkle lights, the cake. She said your mother loves pink."

"My mother does love pink," Ryan replied. "I hope she loves it when everything around her looks like a five-year-old's room exploded."

"I don't think Liza chose a pink that bright. She used the words soft and classic."

"I'm just grateful that she didn't ask all of us to wear pink. That's where I draw the line."

Knox laughed. "Aw, come on. A pink bow tie and a matching pocket square. That could be tasteful. Do you think it's too girly?"

"I'm secure enough to wear pink," Ryan chuckled. "I just don't think it's my color."

Mariah had to ask. She'd been thinking about since Caroline had mentioned it.

"So does what Caroline told you about this guy named Aaron help? Can you do anything with that?"

"We can," Knox replied confidently. "It won't be easy, but if we dig deep we might find something. I'll go back through Brad's phone records and see if any of the numbers belong to an Aaron. We'll also go back through his credit card statements and emails."

"It might not be helpful though," Ryan. "Aaron may just be someone that Brad met at school. He may not have anything to do with what happened to him that night."

"But it's a lead?" Mariah pressed. "It might be helpful?"

"It might," Ryan agreed. "We have to follow every available trail until we've exhausted them all."

"Then we start all over again," Knox added. "We don't give up until there's literally nothing left to go on. We still have leads to follow. Your friend Isla might know something. She's been ducking Ryan's calls and that's sort of suspicious to me."

"She's not going to duck me any longer," Ryan said grimly. "That's where I'm going next. I'm going to talk to her whether she likes it or not."

When Ryan Beck was determined to do something, no one was going to stop him.

Knox went to meet with Theo while Ryan headed to Isla's day spa just outside of Chicago in one of the well-to-do suburbs. She had a whole string of day spas but one call to the downtown location and he was able to find out which one she was at today. It hadn't even been difficult. They'd easily offered him the information. He should have done this two days ago instead of calling Isla directly and leaving messages. He'd thought he was being polite and understanding for an old friend but now he was simply annoyed.

The waiting room of the day spa had a tinkling waterfall on one wall, soft carpet, deep leather couches, and the scent of some sort of potpourri or candle hung in the air. Maybe jasmine? He wasn't an expert. The woman behind the counter welcomed him with a