35. Solve + Silence

Part 1/2

"It's been over a year and I would still give up my fucking life for some new episodes of Teen Wolf," Presley groans from the floor. Seconds before, she had rolled off my bed in a dramatic display of sadness.

"Pres, if you gave your life up, you wouldn't even be able to watch them," I inform her, readjusting the laptop in the middle of my bed, which had been jostled by Presley's performance.

"You know what I mean," she grumbles as she hoists herself back into my bed in just her bra and underwear.

We'd been having a Teen Wolf marathon all night. Earlier in the week, Presley had claimed that Jayce was the only person I cared about anymore. When I told her she was insane and to stop being jealous, she told me that in order to prove my undying love and friendship to her, we had to spend 24 straight hours watching Teen Wolf. So, after school on Friday, we'd begun our marathon and hadn't stopped for more than 10 minutes. She said if I fell asleep even once, she'd never speak to me again. Of course, I knew she was being dramatic, but I'd still managed to stay awake, thanks to a plethora of energy drinks and sugary snacks.

Though I thought her accusations had been a little extreme, I did understand where she was coming from. We hadn't hung out as much as usual since Jayce and I started dating. It wasn't anything intentional, it just sort of happened. When she brought it up, I realized what a shitty friend I'd been. After all, she got out of a fucking weird-ass relationship just over two months ago, if you would call it that, and I had been off in Jayce-land.

But, I did go to a club with her in the beginning of January, and had helped her find her rebound man. She'd ended up going home with a gorgeous guy called Piers who, apparently, gave her the greatest sex of her life, to date. Granted, she'd been smashed, but still. The best part of it all? He's eighteen. For sure. I'd had her check his ID.

Not that she needed me around, Presley was resilient and resourceful like that, but I definitely should've given her more time and attention. That was the first thing I'd said to her when we got settled in my bed 24 hours ago. I'd apologized. We'd cried. She'd blown her nose in my comforter. It was great.

"So, have you talked to Piers lately?" I ask, secretly hoping she's still seeing him. The more she thought about a new guy, the less she'd think about missing Cole, who she had mentioned, much to my disdain.

"Yeah, yesterday," she giggles, snuggling beneath the comforter. "Well, that is, if you consider sexting talking."

"Oh," I remark, not the least bit surprised by my best friend's behavior. Many have said she's a slut, or a whore, or whatever. I just think she's unashamed about who she is and what she likes, and doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks about her. Which, in my opinion, are noble qualities.

"We have a date tonight, actually," she tells me as she checks her phone. "Holy shit, it's already 6pm," she looks up at me, her mouth a perfect O. "I have to go get ready," she says, springing out of bed and tipping my laptop backward, yet again.

"Alrighty then," I giggle as she races around my room, picking up articles of clothing that she'd strewn about while giving my poor laptop a strip tease during Theo's workout scene. "Have fun."

"Oh, trust me," she giggles as she pulls her shirt over her head, the hem falling to the middle of her ass cheeks. "We will. Thanks for the marathon, babe. I needed it," she kisses me on the cheek before bounding down the stairs, not even bothering to put pants on. I hear the front door swing open and then another voice.

"Um, I think you forgot your pants, Pres," I hear Haven's voice float up from the kitchen.

"Didn't forget them, just don't care," she chortles, then slams the front door shut.

"NICE ASS!" Haven shouts, his voice loud enough for her to hear through the door.

"Haven, what the fuck?!" I screech, slamming my hands on my bed. "Quit being a perv!"

He just lets out a light chuckle as I fume from my bed.

Within seconds, his head is poking around the doorframe. "By the way, J wants us to come over."

"What?" I spit, annoyed by the fact that he just hit on my best friend when he knew I could hear. "Why?"

"I dunno," he shrugs, still smiling and happy as ever. The little shit.

"Why did he tell you and not me?" I fold my arms and narrow my eyes at him.

"Just hurry up and get ready, Tink," Haven chuckles and then gives me a once over. "You might want to have a shower before we go."

"Fuck off," I chuck my pillow at him, which doesn't do much other than make him shake his head and let out another laugh.

He's right though, I haven't showered in almost two days.

Climbing out of bed, I trudge my way into the bathroom and take in my reflection. I'll need to put hella concealer under my eyes to cover the dark circles. I've been awake for 36 hours.

After scorching my body with water that's got a temperature comparable to lava and drenching myself in at least a pound of soap, I blast my hair with a dryer and throw it into a ponytail. I cover my dark circles with concealer and quickly apply a bit of eyeliner and mascara.

I throw on the nearest articles of clothing, which happen to be a tube top, off-the-shoulder sweater and ripped skinnies.

I slip on some warm booties and grab my bag before heading downstairs to meet Haven, who is already waiting in his car. Thankfully, that means it'll be warmed up.

The drive to Jayce's is void of conversation, but it's not awkward. Haven jams out to his newfound favorite band, Greta Van Fleet, while I tap some Party Princess bookings into my calendar and catch up on a couple inquiry messages. I probably had about a thousand typos due to my lack of sleep, but, oh well.

We arrive at the Solis estate and, though we both find it a bit uncomfortable, walk right into the house, as Jayce had told Haven to do.

I half expected to come face-to-face with a glowering Alexei as soon as we opened the front door, but the house seemed empty. We silently move up the steps, heading to Jayce's room.

Haven opens the bedroom door to reveal Jayce, who is shirtless and looks absolutely drool-worthy in his grey sweatpants, Calvins sticking out the top as per usual. He's leaning over his bed, peering down at what appears to be papers strewn all over his comforter.

"What's up, bro?" Haven announces our entry, but Jayce doesn't look up. "You asked us to come?"

A few more seconds pass and Jayce finally rips his gaze from the papers, raising his eyes to take in his visitors.

"Oh, hey!" A smile breaks across his face as his focus returns to reality. "I'm glad you're both here," he gives Haven a bro hug then wraps his arms around me, giving me a long kiss that definitely wakes me up. "Hey, baby," he grins down at me and I return his loving smile.

Jayce leads us to his red couch and motions for Haven and I to sit. We do.

"What's going on?" Haven asks, clearly full of curiosity. I probably would be, too, if I wasn't so damn tired.

"Back in October," Jayce begins, pacing soundlessly back and forth on his plush carpet, "after we talked to Arthur and Madeline at the Founder's Council dinner and they said they thought your dad was framed, I had my family's private investigator, Raul, look into Tom Jeffers."

"Six months ago?" Haven's eyebrows crunch together. "You're just telling us now?"

"Well, Fallon already knew," Jayce says, then continues. "Turns out, Jeffers is very good at dodging surveillance, and exceptional at hiding his history."

"Not surprising," I scoff, crossing my arms and leaning back. "I'd expect a creep like him to be a pro at hiding things."

"Exactly," Jayce nods with an adoring smile, which makes my skin heat up. "That's why it took my guy so long to find anything. He had to, uh... use some strategies that are generally frowned upon by organized government. But finally, yesterday, he called me."

Haven leans forward, pressing his elbows into his knees and lacing his fingers together. "What'd he say?"

"You know the company mentioned in the contract, Rhodes Co.? The one that would receive a fraction of every purchase?"

Haven and I nod.

"Yeah, well, that LLC was started by two men... any guesses?" Jayce asks with a twinkle in his eye.

"Tom Jeffers," Haven and I breathe at the same time.

"Yep," Jayce confirms with a smile, popping the p.

I know Hav's thinking the same thing I am: dad was framed. He's innocent. Relief washes over me and I take a deep breath in and out, my nose prickling as tears pool in my eyes.

He's innocent.

"So, who's the second man?" Haven asks.

"A guy called Louis Duggan," Jayce has returned to his pacing, which is distracting because... abs. "He was my dad's attorney when the contract was being rewritten."

"So, the lawyer and the attorney partnered up to rob the businessman," I theorize, beginning to see where this is going. "Jeffers would write the faulty contract and Duggan would tell Alexei it was good."

Jayce nods.

"Where is this Duggan guy?" Haven asks.

"Dead," Jayce says in a bored tone. "He died shortly after the contract was signed."

"No partner, no fifty-fifty split," Haven connects the dots immediately.

"My thoughts exactly," Jayce nods.

"Let me guess," Haven rolls his eyes. "Duggan died from 'unknown causes'?"

"Heart attack," Jayce's voice is sarcastic. Clearly, he doesn't believe that. "Or, so it would seem. That is, until Raul found traces of aconite, also known as wolf's bane, which is an incredibly deadly plant, pressed between the pages of one of the books in Jeffers' office."

"Well damn, no wonder it took him six months to find anything," Haven mumbles with a little chuckle. "Jeffers' office had hundreds of books."

"Those shelves were stacked with biographies, essays and textbooks. A bunch of boring shit. My guy thought something fictional by Oscar Wilde seemed a little out of place," Jayce picks up a book from the desk and tosses it to Haven. "Ever read it?"

Haven turns the book over in his hands. The title says, 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime And Other Stories.'

"No," Haven replies sassily, sounding almost offended that Jayce thinks he'd read a book.

"It's meant to teach a lesson about the power of suggestion, so of course a lawyer would find it fascinating. But also, in the story, Lord Arthur uses aconite to try to poison a family member. When my guy noticed small, brittle pieces of leaves falling out, he got a hunch. Ran some tests. Turned out to be from an aconite plant that died fourteen years ago."

"But, wait..." I finally manage to get a word in, my head spinning with possibilities. "How does that prove that Jeffers killed Louis Duggan?"

"Turns out, Duggan's widow hasn't gone into his home office since he died. It's completely untouched," Jayce explains. He's really hot when he gets all detective-y. "His wife said that the night he died, Duggan was going over some paperwork while having a glass of whiskey from his private stash, which he kept in his desk. But when Raul searched the room, there were no glasses, and no bottles of whiskey anywhere in the office. All the dust was evenly spread, no circles that would indicate someone moved a bottle or glass any time recently. Whoever took them, took them a long time ago."

"That could've been anyone, though," I point out.

"True," Jayce allows. "But, she also said that the bottle was from Tom Jeffers. A gift for a job well done."

"And the fact that Duggan died the night he drank this supposed 'gift' didn't raised any questions for the police, or his wife?"

"Duggan was a heart attack waiting to happen at nearly 400 pounds," Jayce shrugs. "There was no need for an investigation. Besides, it can take as long as two hours for aconite victims to show any signs of being poisoned. He died in his armchair, watching TV, several hours later. She had no reason to suspect a spiked drink."

"But wouldn't poison have shown up in an autopsy?" Haven asks the exact question in my head.

"Aconite can only be detected by toxicology analysis with sophisticated equipment that wouldn't be found in a small town forensic lab," Jayce's use of big fancy words is kinda turning me on. Damn. "Plus, they would've needed to be looking for it."

"So, Jeffers hatches a plan to rob Alexei, gets Duggan's buy-in to sell the bad contract, and as soon as Alexei signs on the dotted line, Jeffers offs Duggan, keeping all the profit for himself," Hav summarizes.

"That's right," Jayce nods, running his fingers through his curls. "At least, until my dad read the contract for himself several years later, and became convinced that your dad had screwed him over. Which, now we know for sure that he didn't," Jayce beams at me at Haven.

Hav reaches over and squeezes my hand. His eyes communicate the same happiness I feel. Dad is innocent.

"Now, this is where it gets unsettling," Jayce says, marching over to his bed.

"Because none of that was unsettling," I mumble, but I'm still just relieved that my dad isn't everything Alexei Solis said he was.

"All this paper here," Jayce motions to the array of processed tree pulp on his bed, "is the current ownership contract that Duende Vineyards is operating under. The one we found in my dad's safe, Fallon, became void the same day this one," he motions to the bed again, "was signed by both of our dads and became active."

"When was that?" I ask, a bit confused.

"June 12th, 2007."

My heart stops in my chest.

Haven sucks in sharp breath.

"Th... that's the day my dad was murdered," I stammer.

"Now... I don't know if this is even a possibility," Jayce says delicately. "But, do you think that Jeffers could've had anything to do with your fath–"

"–No, dad was killed by a guy he helped put behind bars," Haven bites, not allowing Jayce to finish his sentence.

Even though I know exactly how dad died, or at least, I think I do... I can't help but wonder if Jayce may be on to something. A shiver runs down my spine as I think about the fact that I very well may have shaken hands with my father's killer.

Suddenly, there's a loud popping sound from downstairs, like glass shattering, followed by a sickening thud.

"I don't think anyone else is home," Jayce looks scared, but also ready to smash the skull of whoever is downstairs. He glances at Haven and I. "Stay here," Jayce orders us, grabbing an Xbox controller and bounding through his bedroom door.

I would laugh at his choice of weapon if it weren't for the fact that I could shit my pants in terror right now. Haven, despite Jayce's request, quietly moves out the bedroom door a few seconds later, leaving me all alone and shaking.

I will my ears to hear something, anything.

But there's nothing.

Then suddenly...

"MOM?!" Jayce's voice shouts in a strange, terrified tone. "Mom!"

Without thinking, my body reacts and I sprint downstairs, following the sound of his cries into the kitchen. Rounding the corner I see Celeste's limp body sprawled on the tile floor, while Jayce kneels next to her, shaking her shoulders and shouting her name... and getting total silence in reply.

~~~

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