All Dressed in White Page 7

  Jeff wrapped his arms around her again. She felt safe, like everything would be okay. “Don’t worry about this show,” he said. “We’ll just explain that we never had feelings for each other until . . . after. It’ll be fine. People will understand.”

  It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to explain the timing of their relationship. Her parents. Their friends. The familiar story they told was that their feelings developed after Amanda disappeared. It wasn’t the truth in my case, she thought. I was desperately in love with Jeff. But there was no reason anyone ever needed to know that.

  Meghan could lie just as well as her old friend Amanda.

  22

  When they left Jeff’s apartment, they went directly to the Gotham Bar and Grill. The host greeted Alex with an enthusiastic handshake. “Good evening, Mr. Buckley.”

  Alex introduced the man to Laurie as Joseph. She had been to the restaurant several times, but was not on a first-name basis with the staff and surely would not have been able to get a reservation on ten minutes’ notice with a phone call from the car.

  Once they were seated, a sommelier arrived with three Cabernet selections for Alex to consider. He certainly was a regular. But she already knew that.

  As Alex’s chosen wine was being poured, Laurie checked her cell phone. There was a text message from her father, responding to the one she had sent from the car. Timmy’s thrilled with the pizza we ordered. Stop worrying, and have a good time at dinner.

  She knew that her father was more than happy to spend time with his grandson, but she still felt a pang of guilt. There was no way she’d be home in time to say good night to Timmy.

  “Is everything okay at home?” Alex asked. Of course he would know that’s where her thoughts had drifted.

  “All good. It’s amazing what a pepperoni pizza can do for a nine-year-old boy’s happiness.” Determined not to spend the entire night talking about Timmy, Laurie asked Alex what he thought about Jeff. “Did you notice that he was the one who brought up Amanda’s will?”

  “He struck me as a smart guy, so he knows why people are suspicious.”

  “Tell the truth, you just think he’s smart because Alex Buckley is his idol.”

  “You love to get a rise out of me,” Alex commented with a smirk. “So did you believe him when he said he never wanted Amanda’s money?”

  “I think so, actually. You saw that apartment. It was modest but comfortable. If he wanted more, presumably he could earn it by leaving his public defender job. Or he could have Amanda declared legally dead so he could inherit.” Since speaking with Sandra, Laurie had learned that New York law gave Jeff the option of filing in court to have her declared dead without waiting a full seven years. A judge could evaluate all of the circumstances of the disappearance and conclude that the person is almost certainly dead.

  “He may not know that, Laurie. Criminal defense lawyers don’t know all the ins and outs of wills.”

  Whether Jeff was aware of his ability to seek to inherit Amanda’s trust fund with no body having been found was the kind of detail they’d need to explore before production. Their usual approach was to use a soft touch with the show’s participants at first, as they had in the apartment. Once they finished their research, Alex asked the tough questions on camera.

  “Alex, thank you again for going to Brooklyn with me.”

  “You didn’t even need my help. If anything, Jeff seemed eager to sign on. He sounded confident that he’d be able to persuade his wife, too.”

  “He certainly was right when he said I was surprised. I nearly fell out of my chair.”

  “Was it only because he’s a lawyer that you were expecting him to be so uncooperative? Not all of us are so difficult.” He smiled wryly.

  “Amanda’s mother, Sandra, made him sound like a money-grubbing ladies’ man. Apparently his two best friends are flashy bachelors. Jeff, in contrast, seemed quite sweet and earnest.”

  “I hate to tell you how many guilty clients I’ve had who can put on an act when necessary. I should start handing out Oscars in my office.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. But I have to wonder if Sandra may have jumped to conclusions. This is why I’m very careful about taking cases submitted by the families. It’s too easy to get steered into one person’s opinion.”

  “I know you, Laurie. You always keep an open mind.”

  A waiter appeared and began describing the new additions to the menu. Laurie nodded along, even though she already knew what she wanted. She hoped that Alex was right about her ability to remain neutral. What she hadn’t told him was that something about Jeff reminded her of Greg. She realized the similarity when Jeff mentioned that he’d walked into a press conference wearing two different shoes. Greg had once come home from the hospital sporting mismatched loafers after too many hours on call. But it wasn’t just that one anecdote. From the second he’d tossed his keys out the window, Jeff had struck her as easygoing and warm.

  Could that really be so easily faked? Laurie doubted it.

  But how was he going to react when Alex started pinning him down?

  23

  Twenty-four blocks north, a waiter carried three pounds of rare porterhouse to a table at Keen’s Steakhouse. Nick Young gazed at the perfect char on the outside of the meat and signaled his approval. Once their martini glasses were refilled and the waiter had left, he held up his for yet another toast.

  “Oh, why not?” Austin Pratt agreed.

  “Here’s to ‘yucks’ and yachts!” They both laughed.

  Last year they had both signed with an upscale international boat charter service. From now on in many locations where they might be staying near water, they could request a boat to be delivered for their use to the local dock. Both men really liked small yachts with sleeper cabins, crafts they were licensed to pilot on their own. They had been doing it since the past summer, sometimes together and sometimes separately. They had already taken three boating vacations in the Caribbean.

  Nick had a custom-made sign he put over the railing of whatever boat he chartered. It read LADIES FIRST, and he meant it. More ladies than clients set sail with Nick.

  Austin had found that the boat was a great way to entertain potential clients, inviting them out for a lunch or dinner cruise. When he took clients out, he hired a captain to run the boat and a waitress who passed drinks and prepared the meal. Following Nick’s lead, he created a sign for his boats, too. The name he chose was LONESOME DOVE.

  Austin watched as his old friend downed his martini in one long gulp and signaled for another. Nick’s movie-star looks had obviously attracted the attention of two young ladies seated at the next table. But he worried that Nick was drinking too much.

  There was a time when he never would have questioned Nick’s drinking. But he was no longer the small, shy, nerdy kid who moved in across the street when the two of them were seven years old in Baltimore. Even though they were the same age, Nick had become like a big brother, looking after him in grade school when Austin was smaller and less secure than the other children.

  It was no surprise to anyone when after Nick applied to and chose to attend Colby College, I had done the same, Austin thought. Nick, naturally popular wherever he was, made sure to include me in his activities. The friends Nick made became my friends.

  He did not realize that Nick was eyeing him with some envy.

  • • •

  He looks like a bookkeeper, Nick thought, with those frameless glasses and thinning hair. Where they’d call a woman a “plain Jane,” he’s a “plain Joe.”

  While he used to aspire to be like me, in some ways he’s gone further than I have. I’ve done pretty well financially, but he’s outpaced me. Austin is the one already managing one of the hedge fund industry’s largest biotech-focused portfolios. He has homes in Manhattan, East Hampton, and Colorado. He even flies by private jet. Then Nick comforted himself by thinking, But I’m a lot better looking than he is. I’ll catch up to him. Better yet, I’ll su
rpass him.

  Maybe when the check came, he’d let Austin pick it up.

  They were halfway through the steak before they began to discuss the phone call they had each received from Jeff.

  “I got the impression that Jeff’s mind was made up,” Nick said, his tone grim.

  “Me, too.”

  “I love him like a brother, but I don’t get that guy. Working like a dog for no money at all. Living in that tiny place in Brooklyn. Knowing a lot of people think he murdered Amanda, why would he stick his neck out like this?”

  “He wanted my assurances that I’d sign on to the show if the producer contacted me,” Austin said.

  “Should we try to talk him out of it?”

  Austin shrugged. “You know Jeff better than I do. You said yourself, his decision sounded final.”

  Nick certainly did know Jeff well. We became close friends when we were assigned as roommates our freshman year at Colby, he thought. We were both smart and confident; the girls loved us. But it ended there. Where Jeff was laid back and studious, Nick thought, I never missed a beer bash in four years. After graduation, we went in different directions. While Jeff became a public defender, I went for the money on Wall Street. After law school Jeff started dating the incredibly beautiful Amanda, the girl every guy on campus had been after. Amanda and I had a few dates in college, but it didn’t go anywhere. Nick tried to suppress a smile when he recalled Austin telling him during senior year that he planned to ask Amanda for a date. “Don’t bother, my friend, it’s a lost cause.”

  To this day, Nick thought, I am still constantly playing the game of conquests; once I have her, right away I begin to lose interest.

  But somehow, different as Jeff and I were and are, our friendship has always worked.

  He looked over at Austin. “So are you going to do the show?”

  “Sure, if you are. I mean, do we really have a choice? If there was one lesson to be learned from Jeff’s experience, it’s that people will suspect anyone who appears to be looking out for himself.”

  “You’re the one who told Jeff to lawyer up,” Nick reminded his friend.

  “I was trying to help him. He was so out of his mind worried about Amanda that he didn’t even notice the insinuations coming from the media. Amanda was from an extremely wealthy family, and he was the working-class fiancé. It was only natural that the police were going to suspect him,” Austin said heatedly.

  “Hey, don’t get defensive. I know you were looking out for him.”

  Austin’s intentions were good, Nick thought, but in many ways he was so hard to read. He has always been that way. Still waters run deep.

  Although many had speculated that Jeff had something to do with Amanda’s disappearance, no one had ever suggested the involvement of either of his college friends.

  “You know,” Austin said, “the show’s going to ask us some questions that Jeff might not want us to answer.”

  “You mean what he said that night after a little too much wine.”

  “We never told the police.”

  “They never asked us the right question,” Nick said coyly. “It’s not up to us to do their job for them.”

  When it became clear that Jeff might be a suspect, he had followed Austin’s advice and hired a lawyer. As his friends, both Nick and Austin decided that they would not lie on Jeff’s behalf, but they also weren’t going to volunteer anything that wasn’t specifically asked of them.

  A national television show would probably do a better job than the police had five years earlier. As they knew from when they were questioned, the police investigation could have been much more thorough.

  “So if the producers ask the right question,” Austin was saying, “are we going to tell them the truth?”

  “It’s up to you what you say. I can’t make that decision for you.”

  “Well, we can’t contradict each other.”

  “Are you saying you’ll lie for Jeff if I ask you to?” Nick said.

  “We’ve got a lot at stake, Nick. Investors don’t want to be associated with someone caught lying in an investigation of a missing woman.”

  Nick ate in silence, weighing their options. “It’s really not a big deal. Lots of people have cold feet a few days before they get married. It’s normal. Jeff had every intention of going through with the wedding.”

  The night before Amanda disappeared, Jeff had told Nick and Austin that he wasn’t sure Amanda was the perfect fit for him. It was only one comment, and when Nick told him that it wasn’t too late to back out, Jeff quickly reassured him that he was “just nervous.”

  “So it’s agreed,” Austin said. “We’ll tell the producers about that comment.”

  Nick nodded. “And I’ll make sure Jeff knows that we plan to tell the truth. If he’s going to drag us into this, we need to protect our own reputations, too.”

  “Weird,” Austin said. “We’ll all be together again, just like old times.”

  “It’ll be just like college. We’ll be chatting up two babes at the bar and they’ll both be after me!”

  “Okay, that does it,” Austin announced. “You’re paying for dinner.”

  “Oh, did you know that the Grand Victoria added a dock this past year? I’m going to reserve a boat. I have two clients in Boca I want to meet up with.”

  “Good idea. I’ll reserve one as well. I’m sure we’ll have some downtime when we’re there.”

  As Nick signaled for the check, he did not see the smile that came over Austin’s face.

  24

  By the following afternoon, Laurie, Jerry, and Grace had done enough legwork to start planning production. Jeff had called that morning to confirm that both he and his wife Meghan were willing to do the show. He also promised that his two groomsmen, Nick and Austin, would cooperate and gave Laurie their contact information. And Brett had called her in. As usual, he wanted the show done yesterday. “How soon can you get to Florida?” he asked.

  It was on the tip of Laurie’s tongue to tell him, Yesterday.

  “We’ll go down in one week,” she said. “The camera crew can go a few days earlier. We want to film them against the background of different locations at the hotel. The wedding party had been enjoying the pool and the beach and having drinks on the veranda. We’ll use those as backdrops.”

  Summer in Florida wasn’t ideal, but at least Timmy wouldn’t be in school yet.

  Alex had told her that because time was so short, he could do the preliminary interviews, the ones she called his “warm and fuzzy” questions, on the telephone.

  Now she and Jerry and Grace were in her office preparing to watch the security camera footage that had been taken in the three days before Amanda disappeared.

  “Let’s start by going over the chronology,” Laurie said. “According to Sandra, the bridal party arrived late Wednesday morning and immediately went to the beach and had lunch in the ocean-side dining room. She and Walter had planned to arrive on Friday, in time for the rehearsal dinner. But Thursday was the last night anyone saw Amanda.”

  Laurie had immediately followed up by contacting Jeff’s college friends, Nick Young and Austin Pratt. According to both, Amanda’s brother, Henry, left the restaurant right after the bachelor’s dinner on Thursday. Jeff and the other groomsmen had an after-dinner drink at the restaurant and then had gone to Jeff’s room for a nightcap and were there for about forty minutes. They estimated that they left Jeff’s room shortly before eleven P.M.

  Both Nick and Austin said they were happy to help with the show if that’s what Jeff wanted. They both corroborated Jeff’s account of his whereabouts the night before Amanda was reported missing. More interestingly, though, both Nick and Austin agreed that when they were in Jeff’s room that night, after a little too much to drink, Jeff had said he wasn’t certain that Amanda was the right woman for him. On the other hand, they both construed the comment as harmless, typical of a groom just two nights before the big day.

  If nothing else, Laurie tho
ught, Brett would certainly be happy about the prospect of having two successful, eligible bachelors on the show. Her boss believed that some viewers would only watch shows about wealthy people and their problems.

  “So is that everyone?” Grace asked, peering over Jerry’s shoulder. Other men might be uncomfortable with Grace’s ample and barely covered bosom next to their right ear, but Jerry and Grace were like siblings.

  Jerry had added Nick and Austin to the list he’d been compiling on his notepad. He read the names aloud to make sure they were all on the same page. “Sandra, of course. And I’ve spoken to her ex-husband, Walter. He’s on board, too, but I can tell he thinks we’re tilting at windmills.”

  “Did he say why?” Laurie asked.

  “I got the impression he just wants to keep believing that his daughter might be okay.” Laurie nodded. As much as she had come to depend on Jerry, she was not quite ready to rely entirely on his “impression,” even though this time she thought he was probably right.

  She could not believe how seamlessly this installment was falling into place. Despite having met Sandra for the first time only a few days ago, they had the cooperation of everyone they needed. And so far, everyone had been able to adjust their schedules to go to Palm Beach.

  “Is the video ready?” she asked Jerry.

  The Grand Victoria had sent a zip file containing all of the hotel’s surveillance from the wedding party’s stay at the resort. Shortly after Jerry clicked on play, Laurie saw a beautiful young woman in a sleeveless floral sundress walking quickly through a tiled alcove lined with orange blossoms.

  “We can go back to this one later,” Laurie said. “Let’s look at the footage from the lobby on Thursday night.”

  Jerry moved the video forward until he came across three women who stood clustered outside the elevators of the hotel. By now, Laurie was able to identify them as Amanda, Charlotte, and Meghan. She reached for the mouse and clicked on pause. The date stamp read 10:55 P.M.