J. Jance - Web of Evil

Ali nodded. "Yes," she said.

"That would also mean that the killer or killers were still in the general area at the time Paul died. Which, according to the receipts from the gas station and the restaurant in Blythe, would have placed you in the area as well."

Ali nodded again. She liked the way Victor immediately connected the dots even if she didn't like the dots he was connecting. "Yes," she said.

"My guess is they're already going after your phone records then," Victor mused. "Trying to see who all you've contacted recently, to see if they can get a handle on who you might have enlisted as an accomplice."

"My phone records?" Ali demanded. "Isn't that illegal?"

"It's illegal to listen in on your phone calls without a warrant, but it's perfectly legal to look at your billing information to see who you called and who called you, as well as where you were and what cell phone towers were in use when those calls occurred."

"They can look at my phone records until they're blue in the face," Ali said. "They're not going to find anything. They're going to have to look elsewhere."

"If they look elsewhere," Victor responded.

"What do you mean, if?"

"Sims and Taylor have a high-profile case on their hands, one their bosses are going to want cleared in a hell of a hurry. They also have a likely suspectyou. I think there's a good chance that they'll work like crazy to make whatever evidence they have fit what they think happened, rather than looking very hard for what else might have happened or who else might have been involved."

"What other suspects are there?" Ali asked.

"You tell me," Victor returned. "April would have to be dumb as a stump to knock Paul Grayson off without knowing in advance that she was going to inherit."

"What about April's mother?" Ali asked.

"Ms. Ragsdale may bear looking into," Victor conceded.

"I think so, too," Helga agreed. "That woman is a piece of work. The very idea of our agreeing to a postmortem divorce is ridiculous."

A few minutes later, Victor dropped Ali off at her hotel. A glance at her watch told her that, depending on traffic, her mother would probably be arriving within the next hour or so. She went upstairs to await Edie's arrival. While Ali waited, she logged on and found her in-box once again brimming with messages. Before she read any of them, however, she wrote a post of her own.

CUTLOOSEBLOG.COM

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Ali's first instinct was to begin her post with the words "On the advice of my attorney amp;" but then she remembered what Victor had said: "Anything you say can and will be held against you." So she went for something much less descriptive and also, to her way of thinking, much less real.

For the time being commentary from Babe will be suspended due to my involvement in a complex personal matter. As time allows, I will continue to post appropriate or interesting comments from readers. In the meantime, thank you for your loyalty and your interest.

Posted 11:12 A .M., September 17, 2005 by Babe

When she began reading through the e-mails, most of them had to do with the posting from Phyllis in Knoxville. Some correspondents seemed to agree that Phyllis had the right idea.

Dear Babe,

Phyllis is right. Be nice to Twink and be nice to yourself. As ye sow so shall ye reap.

ANNA

Dear Babe,

You suffered a terrible loss, too. More than one. Please know that you're in my thoughts and prayers.

LESLIE IN IOWA

Surprised by the number of people offering their condolences, Ali replied to all of them without necessarily posting them. Not all of the notes were kind, however.

Oh, great. Another Southern California celebrity murder by another "abused" media wife. The gossip columnists will go nuts. No doubt you'll hire yourself some high-priced attorney and get off scot-free. You people all make me sick. I hope you rot in hell.

That one wasn't signed and didn't merit a response.

Dear Babe,

When I read the part about the homicide detectives interviewing you, I couldn't believe it, but then the cops always suspect the spouse, although usually the killer is the husband instead of the wife. Does that mean they think you did it? Are they going to arrest you or are you just a person of interest? If they do arrest you, my nephew, Richard Dahlgood, is an attorney in L.A. I don't know what he charges, but if you want to get in touch with him, let me know and I'll give you his numbers.

VELMA T IN LAGUNA

Ali wanted to tell Velma that she had all the legal assistance she could handle about then. She had no doubt that Velma's nephew was probably far more affordable than the hulking Victor Angeleri. But she was paying the man too much to disregard his advice. She replied to Velma with a carefully noncommittal thank-you.

Dear Velma,

Thank you for your concern. Please don't worry about me. I have the situation well in hand.

BABE

The next e-mail stunned her.

Dear Ms. Reynolds,

Please forgive me for contacting you through your blog. I tried calling your home number in Arizona. I left a message there, but it seems likely you're here in California at the moment. My name is Sheila Rosenburg. I'm a local (L.A.-area) producer for Court TV. We would like to be in touch with you whenever it might be convenient for you regarding a possible interview. My contact information is listed below.

SHEILA ROSENBURG

The very idea that Paul's death had now become fodder for the "true crime" network was nothing short of chilling. If Court TV was on the job, could Fox's Greta Van Susteren be far behind? And in that fanatical crowd, Ali knew producers and commentators could make as much of a story about what wasn't said as they did about what was.

Dear Ms. Rosenburg,

Thank you for your interest. I'm not granting any interviews at this time. Should that change, I'll let you know.

REGARDS,

ALI REYNOLDS

The next one was a stunner.

Hey, Ali,

How's it going. Long time no see. I have a line on a possible job offer for you that'll put you back where you belongon live TV. If you're going to be in L.A. anytime soon, let me know and I'll see what I can do to set up an interview.

JACKY

Jacky was short for Jack Jackson, Ali's agentat least he had been her agent. The words that came to mind now were: more nerve than a bad tooth. In actual fact, Jacky had been Ali's agent for a long timefrom her first on-air job out of college in Milwaukee to her move from Fox News in New York to the L.A. anchor desk. Ali had gotten the L.A. job on her own and without any help from Jacky, but he had been glad to take his cut of the action. Then. But once she'd been let goonce she'd been booted off the air and once she'd made it clear that she wasn't going to take her age-based firing lying downJacky had disappeared off the face of the planet. He had stopped taking Ali's calls, hadn't returned her e-mails, either.

She had understood what was going on well enough. In television circles, network executives counted for something. Paul Grayson had been the eight-hundred-pound gorilla, and no one had wanted to piss him off. No doubt Jacky had read about what was going on and had decided to distance himself, leaving Ali and her stymied career to her own devices. Now, with Paul gone, Jacky must have reached the sudden conclusion that Ali Reynolds was bankable again. No doubt he expected to be welcomed back with open arms. And his assumption that she'd want to have him back rankled worse than anything.

Screw you, Ali thought. No vultures allowed. With that she deleted Jacky's message.

The phone rang a few seconds laterthe room phone. "There's someone down in the lobby who would like to see you, Ms. Reynolds," the smooth voice of the concierge said. "She says she's your mother. Would you like me to send her up?"