22. Sinclair

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. "Are you serious? Tony is blackmailing Matt? Did Charlie know?"

"I have no idea, but here's what Birdie said." Jayne read from her phone. "She says, ‘Hey, got a match on that partial on the photo from the new prints that popped up in connection with the Charlotte Frett case. The print matches a guy named Anthony Cipriani. Do you know who that is?' So clearly I need to answer her."

"Yes. Tell her we know. And don't forget to thank Commissioner Tyson." I sat down as I processed what Jayne had just told me. Matt wasn't going to believe this. But the worst part was, I now had to wonder if Charlie had been involved. How else would Tony have gotten that photograph? Unless he'd gained access to Matt's house somehow? Maybe he'd tagged along with her on one of her visits?

Could he have used Charlie's pet-sitting business as a way of finding out who was away and easy pickings? But then, why not just steal valuables and be done with it?

That question I could actually answer. Stealing was something he'd get reported for. Blackmailing generally involved information the victim didn't want made public. Matt was proof of that. So in a sense, for Tony, anyway, blackmailing was safer.

What a scumbag.

Jayne's phone buzzed. "Commissioner Tyson again. He said thanks for the help and there are officers headed to pick Tony up for questioning at this moment."

"Good."

She came to sit by me. "You need to talk Matt into telling the police about the blackmail. Then they could arrest Tony. As it stands now, they'll probably interview him and let him go, especially if he has an alibi for the night of Charlie's death. But if the police had evidence of wrongdoing like the blackmail?"

I nodded. "Right. They could hold him. Charge him, even. I'll definitely talk to Matt, but if Tony's working with someone else on this blackmail, that doesn't solve the problem."

"Maybe not, but it's a good start. You don't know, he might give his partner up with the right persuasion. Any idea who that partner might be?"

"No. Just conjecture. But it does have me wondering if Charlie was involved or if she was just a pawn in this dirty game."

Jayne stared at me a moment, then sat back, heaved out a breath, and stared into space.

"What?" I asked.

"Matt and Molly both told us that in the last month or so, Charlie was not herself. That she was jumpy and seemed bothered by something."

"Right."

"That something had to be Tony pressuring her to— Snowballs ."

"What?"

Jayne looked at me. "If Tony was pressuring Charlie to get dirt on Matt, which very well could be how Tony got that photograph, how do we know he wasn't forcing Charlie to look for dirt on her other clients? He could be doing this to multiple people."

"You're right, he might be. We need to talk to Tyson again. We can be vague. Ask him if anyone else has reached out to the police about being blackmailed."

"Might be worth a shot, but won't he want to know why we're asking that?"

"Maybe."

"The hard thing is, generally, someone gets blackmailed because the blackmailer knows something about them they don't want anyone else knowing about. Look at Matt."

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that." I sighed. "This isn't good."

"No, it's not." Jayne frowned. "What if Charlie really did end things because of what Tony was making her do? Maybe it was too much? She was a kindhearted person. Doing something like this would be a heavy burden for her. Even more so if she was being forced to do it."

"How would he force her, though? Tony would have to have something he was using against her as leverage. Charlie wouldn't have done it otherwise. The idea of her being involved in a scheme like this is hard to accept."

"Maybe he did know something about her, because I agree with you. The police have access to her computer. Let's hope they find something that sheds light on this whole situation without us having to get further involved." Jayne inhaled sharply. "I thought of another possibility. Tony killed her because she was going to tell the police everything."

"Not a far stretch to go from blackmailer to murderer." I shook my head. "Poor Charlie."

Suddenly Jayne's mouth came open, and she blinked into space. "Tony. Anthony. It has to be."

"What does?"

"Charlie had a postcard on her bulletin board. You saw it." Jayne was on her phone again. "This makes sense now. Look."

She showed me her screen and the photo of the back of the postcard. I read it out loud. " Be a good girl and next time I'll bring you with me. Love, A. "

"Weird thing to write on a postcard, but if that A stands for Anthony, it makes sense. And it makes me think he took that trip on ill-gotten gains." Jayne shook her head. "No wonder Charlie broke up with him."

"But she also got back together with him, which again makes me think Tony had some kind of leverage against her."

"At the reception, Tony told me he and Charlie were serious. That they had plans. He didn't know who I was or that I was looking into Charlie's death. Also, he was adamant that Charlie hadn't killed herself. If Tony'd had anything to do with her death, he'd want people to think she'd committed suicide."

"Good point." I wasn't sure what to think about Charlie's death now. "I better go tell Matt what I've found out."

"Are you still going to drop the money off in that locker?"

"I think we should. Just to see if Tony had an accomplice or not. If he did, that photo of Matt and Jess could still get shared."

"Right." Jayne frowned.

"I know you don't like staying home, but?—"

"No, I'm okay with that." She put her hand on her belly. "I'd only be in the way. I was thinking that if Tony does have a partner in this, we have no clue who that is. And that partner might be the one behind Charlie's death. I feel like we've taken one step forward and two steps back."

"Well, if someone besides Tony comes to pick that money up, we'll get pictures of him. It's a start at least."

"Be better if you could talk Matt into bringing the police in."

"I agree, but I don't think that's going to happen. Not yet, anyway." I got to my feet. "I'm going to talk to him. We'll be headed to the storage place in about an hour, too."

Jayne tucked her feet up. "You need me for anything, I'll be here. I may not move off this couch at all. Except to get snacks, of course."

Smiling, I leaned down and kissed her. "I'll feel better knowing you're safe at home." Spider jumped up next to her. I gave his head a little scratch. "You watch out for your mama."

"Spider loves Mama."

"I know you do, buddy." I said goodbye and walked over to Matt's house.

He opened the door right after I knocked. "Hey. I got the tracker pinned to the pocket of the bag."

I went inside. "Jayne thinks we should hide a second one in some of the money, in case whoever picks it up puts the cash into a different container."

Matt nodded. "Not a bad idea. If I strip the housing off of it, it'll be fairly flat."

"Sounds good. Listen, I have some news."

"Come in and tell me over a cup of coffee. We might have a long night ahead of us."

"We most likely will." I waited until he'd poured us each a cup. We sat at the counter. "So you know that cup Jayne took from the reception?"

"The one from Tony. What about it?"

"The police were able to get Tony's prints off it. His full name is Anthony Cipriani. Ring any bells? Did Charlie ever mention that name to you in any other capacity? Did you ever hear her talking about him to anyone on the phone?"

Matt narrowed his eyes briefly but shook his head. "No, sorry. I don't think she ever called him by name. Not to me, at least. It was always her boyfriend. Or her ex. What's this all about?"

"Jayne talked to Tony at the reception, and he led her to believe that he and Charlie were serious. That they had plans for the future."

Matt snorted. "I don't think Charlie thought that. She gave me every reason to think they were over."

"Yeah, well, not according to Tony. But there's more. That partial print on the back of the photograph of you and your niece? That belongs to Tony."

Matt's expression turned to one of disbelief. "Charlie's boyfriend is behind the blackmail?"

"Looks that way. Whether or not he's got a partner…"

Matt got up and walked across the kitchen. "I can't believe this. That has to mean that either Charlie took that picture for him or he came with her while she was looking after Slim and he searched through my things and found it. Either way, it's not good." He shoved a hand through his hair. "I can't believe Charlie would do this to me. I thought we were friends. I thought she was a decent person. I trusted her."

"If she was involved, I don't think it was voluntarily. We think Tony was forcing her to do it for reasons we don't yet know. It might be possible Charlie knew nothing about it and that Tony just used her job to figure out who was out of town, then accessed the homes and looked for something he could use."

"No." Matt shook his head. "My security system is tight. I'd have known if there was a break-in."

"Could Tony have gotten the code from her? Maybe without her knowing it?"

Matt sighed. "I guess anything is possible. But any access gets recorded. I'd have known."

"Not that it'll make you feel any better, but you might not be the only one he's blackmailing. Charlie had a lot of clients."

"This is unbelievable."

"I know." My phone vibrated. I checked the screen. "Hang on." I read the message.

I've asked Birdie to look into Tony's finances, see if he's made any large deposits lately. It's not definitive proof of anything, but it could be useful if whoever he's blackmailing speaks up.

I brought my attention back to Matt. "Would you consider telling the police about this now? They sent officers to pick him up and speak to him about Charlie's death, but with that partial print, they could arrest him for extortion. This would all be over."

Matt leaned on the counter. "If I tell them, I have to also show them that photo. I have to turn it over into evidence."

I'd known that was going to be the sticking point. "Julie can tell them that photo was completely innocent."

Matt seemed to think it over. "I'd rather wait and see what happens tonight. If no one shows up for the money, then Tony was working this plan alone, and I'll confront him myself. Take care of things personally. All I have to do is threaten to turn him in. That should end it."

"And if someone else does show up? If Tony isn't working alone?"

Reluctantly, Matt said, "I'll go to the cops."

I couldn't force him to do something he didn't want to. "Okay." I checked the time. "When do you want to leave?"

He shrugged. "If you're ready, we could go. I just need to add another tracker to the money, then grab the bag and the locker key."

While he did that, I texted Jayne that Matt would only go to the cops if someone else was involved. Not much we could do about that.

Twenty minutes later, the money was in the locker, and we were in Matt's car, parked so that we could monitor the storage facility's entrance. There was a back door, and we'd checked, but it was locked and seemed to be for employees only.

I hoped that was accurate. Just like I hoped Tony was acting alone. Did I think he'd had a hand in Charlie's death? I honestly didn't know. Jayne said he'd seemed sincere. But if he could pull off a crime like blackmail, he could probably murder, too.

Matt and I sat in silence, watching and waiting.

About an hour in, Jayne texted me. Ate my po'boy. Just as good as the first. About to have my slice of pie. How's it going?

Nothing's happening so far. How are things there?

Spider and Sugar are sleeping. I'm watching a cooking contest and thinking about those peanut butter Oreo pancakes.

I laughed.

"What?" Matt asked.

I explained about the pie and the pancakes I'd promised to make.

His smile was wistful but quickly turned sad. "I envy you. Great wife, baby on the way … your life seems pretty perfect."

It was, but I kept that to myself. I didn't want to make him feel bad. He'd already said he envied me.

Matt looked out the window. "Do you think I should have tried harder with Isla?"

"Were you in love with her?"

Matt looked at me again. "At best, deep like. Love?" He shrugged. "How do you know the difference?"

"Trust me, when it's love, you know."

"Maybe I wasn't with Isla long enough to know."

I didn't want to disparage her if he was really thinking about getting back together with her, but my gut said he was in a low place and that was why he was even considering it. "What about Slim and Isla being allergic to him?"

Matt took a deep breath. "Yeah, I could never get rid of him for a woman. I guess that's my sign that she's not the right one."

"It's not a bad barometer." He still looked glum. "Listen, love will happen when it's meant to. You can't force that kind of thing."

"No, I suppose not. But I travel so much. I'm not sure how it's going to happen when I'm hardly home."

I stared at the entrance of the facility, wishing whoever was going to show up would do so already. "You know, if Tony was doing this alone and he's still in police custody, we're sitting here for no reason."

"But we don't know that."

"Maybe I can find out from the commissioner." I reached for my phone.

"Won't he ask why you want to know?"

"He might. Doesn't mean I have to tell him."

"Could Jayne do it?" An inkling of a grin bent his mouth. "I'm not saying she knows how to work men, but she's pretty charming."

I snorted. "Are you saying I'm not?"

He smirked. "I'm just saying she's a beautiful woman and you are … not."

Chuckling, I held my hand up. "I get it. I'll call her."

I tapped her icon on my phone. It started ringing. I hoped I wasn't going to wake her up. We'd had a long day, and being pregnant wore her out. After the fifth ring, I hung up. "She's not answering. Probably fell asleep in front of the TV. It happens."

"No worries," Matt said. "You mind if we just hang out for a while longer?"

"That's what I'm here for. I've got nothing but time." Especially if Jayne had crashed. The sleep would be good for her. And when she woke up, she'd see the missed call and get right back to me.