After work, Reese met Blaine at the college computer lab. He had left a message earlier telling her that he had found some new information on their case and she was excited to find out what he had uncovered. When she walked into the room, he waved her over to his desk. "What have you found out?" she asked eagerly.
"Lots. Have a seat," he invited. "I decided to look up some info on Barrett's Boardwalk. And both the business and the property are owned by Vanessa Barrett."
"You mean the guy we talked to doesn't own it? His wife does?"
"Yep. But that's not all. Get this. I looked up Vanessa Barrett and it turns out she had her name legally changed," he turned to look at Reese, "from Dorothy McAllistar."
Reese gasped, "This is it. We've really found her!"
Blaine smiled and handed Reese a slip of paper. "And I've got her home address. I say we stop by later tonight when her husband is at the bar."
Reese took the piece of paper. Instead of looking at it, she kept her eyes on Blaine, "You're -" she said, and stopped short with embarrassment. "This is amazing. Good work!"
Cassandra hurried downstairs to answer the door. Eileen was a little early, but since her dad was already out of the house. It didn't really matter. As Cassie opened the door, she realized it wasn't Eileen after all. Two strangers were standing on the porch.
"Hi," Blaine greeted her. "We're looking for Vanessa Barrett."
For a moment Cassandra seemed to space out as she stared at Blaine. When he spoke again, she snapped out of it. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" When Blaine repeated the question, Cassie shook her head, "No, I think she's at the bar. She's probably singing there tonight."
After the pair thanked her, Cassie took a deep breath and watched Blaine leave.
Reese was nervous about returning to the bar, but once she walked in and saw the woman singing on stage, she knew they had made the right decision. "That's her," she said to Blaine as they took a seat at a nearby table. "I can't believe it."
Blaine nodded with a smile before turning to watch Vanessa sing.
Reese and Blaine's arrival didn't go unnoticed. When Sebastian walked into the bar from his office and saw them, he felt panicked. After taking a minute to compose himself, he walked over to their table and sat down. The last thing he wanted was to attract attention by starting a scene.
"What are you two doing back here?" he asked with as much calmness as he could muster. "I told you, you won't find anything here."
"But we already have," Blaine insisted. "I did some research on you and your wife. We know who your wife is and we know her name used to be Dorothy McAllistar before she changed it."
Sebastian was momentarily speechless. He didn't know what angle they were playing, but he did know that he was worried about what else they had found out. "What do you want with her?" he asked suspiciously.
"Her mother died and left her an inheritance," Reese explained. "My law firm handled the will and we just wanted to let her know about it."
"Oh yeah? Why didn't you just say so? Tell you what, why don't you meet with Vanessa in my office, after she finishes this set? I'll get you a drink while you're waiting. On the house."
Reese seemed reluctant and turned to Blaine for his opinion. The young man just smiled and thanked Sebastian for his help. As Sebastian walked away from the table, Blaine turned to Reese and said quietly, "I think the McAllistars were right about him. Mention the prospect of money and his attitude totally changes."
Sebastian grabbed a couple of glasses from the bar and went back to his office. He didn't know what those two were up to, but he didn't believe their story for a moment. The McAllistars practically disowned his wife when she left home to become an actress and then married him. He knew there was no way they would have left her anything. Besides, if Evelyn McAllistar had died, he would have heard about it.
Sebastian set the glasses down on the desk and picked up the phone. As it rang, he searched through his desk until he found a bottle of sleeping medicine he had left there a few months ago when he had been battling insomnia.
As he added some of the medicine to the bottom of both glasses, he impatiently waited for someone to pick up on the other end. When there was no answer, he hung up the phone again and tried a different number. This time someone answered almost immediately.
"Zara, is Cassie there?"
"No."
"Do you know where she is?"
"I have no idea. Is something wrong?" she asked with concern.
"I need you to find your sister. Then I want you to both to go to the house and start packing."
"Dad?" Zara started to ask a question, but was interrupted.
"Just do it. I'll explain later," he ordered and hung up the phone. Sebastian put the sleeping medicine away, then picked up the two glasses and went back to the bar. There was no doubt about it now, they were going to have to leave town tonight.
"There," Cassandra said as she unplugged the telephone. "Now we'll have no distractions. "Ready to do this?"
Eileen nodded. She wasn't sure what to expect exactly, but she was excited. If this psychic session helped her figure out anything about Hector or Lawrence, it would be worth it.
"Do you have anything of Hector's that we can focus on?"
Eileen removed her engagement ring. "Will this work?"
"Probably," Cassandra replied. Then with more confidence added, "We'll try it."
As they sat down on the floor, Cassandra took deep breaths and tried to clear her mind as she concentrated on the engagement ring lying on the floor between them. After a few minutes, she sighed in frustration and stood up. "I can't do it. I'm sorry. There's just too much static in my mind. I can't concentrate."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Eileen asked.
"No," Cassandra shook her head. "I'm just going to get a glass of water. Maybe I can try again in a few minutes."
A moment later, Eileen heard a crash as Cassandra called out. She hurried over to the open bathroom door and peeked her head inside. Cassandra was picking up a drinking glass off the floor. "Are you alright?"
Cassandra stared forward blankly. "Something came to me, just now. That night, at your party, when I almost fainted, Hector brought me a glass of water. I didn't want to touch it. It was almost like it was poisoned."
Eileen was at a loss for words. She stared at the empty glass for a moment before her eyes were drawn to a bottle of aspirin left out of the medicine cabinet. A connection was forming in her mind, but before she could fully understand it herself, Cassie spoke up.
"The hospital," she said. "That's what you're thinking of, aren't you?"
Eileen nodded slowly. She was thinking about how Clifford Stuart had died in the hospital. His water glass had been drugged. She remembered Lucy saying that no one had visited him since the night before. But hadn't Hector said he visited Clifford on the day he died? And why had he questioned that nurse he tried to set up with Lawrence. It just wasn't adding up, unless . . . Eileen gasped, "Hector killed Lucy's father."
"How much longer is this going to take?" Blaine wondered with a yawn. He and Reese had been waiting in Sebastian's office for awhile. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but he was getting really tired. He hoped Vanessa showed up soon.
As he paced the room, trying to stay awake, he hadn't noticed that Reese, who was slumped over in the desk chair, had passed out.
There was a noise at the office door and Blaine turned towards the sound, hopeful that Vanessa had finally arrived, but instead of the doorknob turning, he heard a key turn in the lock. He rushed for the door, but his body felt so heavy. Too tired to call out or struggle with the door, Blaine gave into the drowsiness and collapsed to the floor.
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