Backfire

When they were all seated around the authentic-looking fake Chippendale dining room table, Molly said, “The red-and-cream walls blend so well with this rich furniture. It makes this room oddly peaceful. Thank you all so much for coming here with us. It makes this all less difficult.”

Sherlock said, “The backyard is fenced in, so the boys will be fine. The owner is sending over a jungle gym for Cal and Gage, said his granddaughter’s outgrown it.”

Savich’s cell phone rang, and he left the room to answer it.

Sherlock said, “We’re hoping for a phone call from Clive Cahill, telling us he’s ready to deal. It’s been nearly an hour since Dillon and Eve talked to them.”

“Not Cindy?” Molly asked.

Sherlock shook her head. “Dillon thinks Clive’s the weak link in this chain, or maybe he’s the more realistic.”

Harry nodded. “Eve said her money’s on him as well. I know she has all her digits crossed. She wanted to be here, but she’s meeting Marshal Maynard, going over plans for Judge Hunt’s protection. Last time I saw she had her cell phone attached to her ear.”

Molly asked, “Do you think the Cahills will talk?”

Sherlock said, “We’ll know soon. We tried to reach Milo Siles, their lawyer, but his secretary told us Milo was in a divorce mediation session with his wife and her lawyer this morning and hasn’t returned to the office yet. She let drop he was probably in a rage and she’d bet he’d turned off his cell until he calmed down. Still, Dillon tried to call him, but it went right to voice mail.”

Molly said, “What do you think is going on?”

Sherlock said, “Since Siles was angry, it could be as simple as his sitting in some bar somewhere sulking.”

When Savich walked back to the dining room it was to tell them it was Cheney, who’d gotten a call from his buddy, Marin County Sheriff Bud Hibbert.

It wasn’t good.

Bel Marin Keys, California

Late Monday afternoon

A chill, thick mist cloaked the golden Marin hills in gray. They hit heavy rush-hour traffic on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. Harry passed Cheney the emergency light bar, and Cheney stuck his arm out of the window and plopped its magnetic base on the roof. Traffic, thankfully, made way for them as best it could. Harry always got a kick out of using a magic blinking light bar, made him feel like Moses parting the Red Sea.

Cheney said, “Let me give you some background on Pixie McCray, some of which I learned from Milo Siles’s secretary. Pixie was divorced, no kids, and she was a legal secretary for Mifflin, LaRochette, and Kent, a firm Milo has litigated against many times over the years. That’s how they met. We don’t yet know how long they’ve been together, but I found out Milo bought Pixie’s house about four and a half years ago. He bought a Sea Ray Sundancer to go with it, a fast luxury yacht that even has a swimming platform. It’s parked right on his own private dock on the lagoon.”

“Pixie—a charming name,” Sherlock said. “And now she’s dead, along with Milo Siles, just because he was visiting her.”

Savich said, “I wonder if Milo’s wife knew about Pixie.”

Cheney said, “Even though his wife was using photos to get more leverage in the divorce settlement, according to Siles’s lawyer, my guess is neither of them cared much about what the other was doing for the past five years or so. That’s from Siles’s divorce lawyer. He said Milo left really mad about his wife’s demands at the mediation session, and that’s the last anyone saw him.”

Sherlock asked, “How did Xu find out about Pixie McCray?”

Cheney cut his eyes to her. “Funny thing is, it wasn’t a big buried secret. The house in Bel Marin Keys is in Milo’s name, and so is the Sea Ray Sundancer, both easy to find out.”

Sherlock said, “I gather this house and boat weren’t part of her demands?”

Harry said matter-of-factly, “Milo Siles’s wife is obviously having an affair, too, maybe even a long-term affair, like her husband, so they seemed to treat it as no harm, no foul.”

Sherlock closed her eyes for a moment. How could anyone live like that? Were Milo Siles and his mistress, Pixie McCray, dead because the Cahills had told him too much about Xu? Had Milo tried to blackmail Xu? Or was it simply because he’d known who Xu was and what he’d done that had signed his death warrant?

She said, “We need to keep checking on whether Siles had any hidden accounts, see if he got himself killed because Xu paid him to keep his mouth shut.”