Page 62 of Hard Evidence
“No, she loved working at Norquist.Uh, you should maybe try talking with the other private investigator.”Sophy covered her face with her hands.“She made me promise not to tell anyone about him, but I guess under the circumstances…”
Ari glanced at me, then turned back to Sophy.“What other PI?”
“There was a thing a few years ago with one of Justin’s roommates?”
“Do you mean the murder of Ruby Costello?”
“I’m not sure of the name, but she died, and a guy went to prison for it.”
“Yes, Levi Sykes.”
“Well, his parents always swore he was innocent, so they hired a PI to prove that, and he gave Amie a hundred bucks a month for information.”Sophy chewed her lip.“Do you have to mention this to Justin?”
“Let me get this straight… A private investigator was paying Amie to dish the dirt on him?”
She’d betrayed Justin?He’d trusted her, and she’d sold his secrets to a stranger?This whole time, I’d been feeling sorry for her, but now I wasn’t sure what to think.
“She was in a real bad financial situation a while back, and that hundred bucks was the difference between her affording food or not.I tried to help, but I was struggling too, and…and… She hated it, okay?She said the idea of Justin being involved in a murder was ridiculous.”
“When did Amie last speak with this investigator?”
“Like, a month ago?”
Ari’s eyes widened.“They’ve been paying her the whole time she’s been working for Justin?”
“Yup.It was weird—she didn’t hear from him for years, but the money kept coming, as if they had an endless supply.And he always contacted her.She couldn’t get in touch to quit.”
“And then suddenly he came back?”
“We were watching a movie when he called.She told him to stop the payments and not to contact her again, but I saw her talking on the phone in the parking lot a couple of days later, and she looked pissed, you know?So it was either Brett or Saige or the sketchy PI guy who called back.She wouldn’t have told him anything much, but if there was a problem at work, maybe she mentioned it to get him off her back?”
“What was his name?”
“Amie never said.I’m not even sure she knew.Don’t you have, like, a PI network you could ask?”
“It doesn’t work that way.Did she seem worried about the investigator?”
“No, just annoyed.Like, he was seriously calling hernow?You don’t think he did anything to her, do you?He’s been there in the background forever, and he only used to ask random questions sometimes.”
“Do you know what those questions were?”
“He mostly just asked what Justin was saying about the dead girl.But Justin hardly ever mentions her.Okay, so he started that foundation with her name on it, which seems kind of extra, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s guilty, right?”
“No, it means he cares.”
“That’s exactly what Amie said.And she only took the money because she really needed it after the Saige thing.Like, she couldn’t even get a credit card.”
“Did Amie ever meet this investigator in person?”
Sophy shrugged.“She never said.Maybe in the beginning?Should I tell the police officers about this?”
“You know what?Let me take a look into it first.If it turns out to be nothing, we don’t want to distract the police from the investigation.”
Sophy bobbed her head in agreement.“But what can I do to help?What can I do to find Amie?”
“We’ll give you some flyers to hand out.”
Back in the car, Ari leaned her head on the steering wheel.“Fuck.Fuck, fuck, fuck.The Costello case is closed.Why is the Sykes family trying to reopen it after all this time?”
