Devil's Food Cake (33 page)

“I did,” Josh said, his voice lowering. “But I wanted to make something of myself and I needed a good education to do that. I made a choice—for better or worse.”

Sadie nodded and crossed that question off her internal list. “How about going along with the story that Thom had written
Devilish Details.
Did you ever feel guilty about that?”

“Not at first,” Josh admitted, surprising Sadie with his candor.

But then Sadie remembered that she had been the one who had compared secrets to acid. Purging oneself of the poison of poor choices was often a very liberating experience. She was glad to have remembered that. It made her feel a lot better about the things she’d been doing tonight when she thought of it as helping people.

“When Thom first talked to me about it,” Josh said, “he said how publishing the book would immortalize Damon and allow his story to live on. Damon was so proud of that book.” Josh smiled a little, though it faded quickly. “Mark had explained to Thom that with Damon’s name on it, the book would never be published. Publishers don’t publish books by dead authors who can’t promote their work or write sequels. And even if someone
did
publish it, everyone hated Damon for what he did. With Thom’s name on the cover, though, Thom would be able to quit his job, he’d have a foundation to get his own writing published, and in this one way Damon would live forever.”

“But you and Thom would be the only people who knew Damon was the real author,” Eric pointed out. “How does that immortalize Damon if no one knows?”

Excellent point,
Sadie thought as she nodded her agreement.

“Thom and I were probably the only two people in the world with any positive feelings about Damon,” Josh said. “And we were the only two who could look past what he’d done and see the good that was in him. He was a gifted writer and that mattered to us. As I got older, I was more uncomfortable with the whole thing, and I understood better what exactly Mark and Thom had done, essentially
stealing
Damon’s book. But by then I could see the toll it was taking on Thom too. Sharing my feelings would have made that worse. I was the only friend Thom had left. Thom had thought it would be an easy thing to do—we both did—but the lies were so hard for him to tell over and over again.”

“And you blamed Mr. Ogreski for that,” Sadie prodded.

Josh’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Absolutely,” he said. “He was the one who came to Thom with the idea. And then when Thom started struggling under the weight of the lies, Mark wriggled his way into every corner of Thom’s life, taking over bit by bit until Thom was completely dependent on him. Thom’s drinking got worse, and it was Mark who kept the whisky handy.”

Eric leaned forward. “You blame the agent for Thom’s drinking? That’s a bit of a stretch.”

“No,” Josh snapped, “it isn’t. I’ve watched this for ten years but I still didn’t see the stranglehold Mark had on Thom until the last nine months or so. When I finally went to Mark and asked him to get Thom help, he fed me all kinds of sympathetic comments, promised to see what he could do, and then did nothing at all. The next time I brought it up, he hedged around and passed the phone off to Thom. That’s when I realized Mark couldn’t let Thom get well because that might mean Thom would tell someone the truth. Mark would lose everything if the truth came out, so he simply kept Thom sauced most of the time.” Josh paused. “And you said you already knew Mark killed Diane Veeter. What more proof of a man’s character do you need?”

Sadie nodded, accepting the point he was making. She could still picture Thom in her mind, lining up those mini-bottles. He was in bad shape, and if Mr. Ogreski helped him get to that point, it was horrible. But she wasn’t going to allow Josh to pass the buck quite that easily. “So you knew Mr. Ogreski was allowing Thom to self-medicate with alcohol and—”

“Not allowing,” Josh said, leaning forward again, his blue eyes snapping with anger. “He encouraged it. He supplied every drop. Thom hasn’t been able to drive for years, but Mark’s made sure Thom had enough whisky to drown in.”

“Okay,” Sadie said, letting that one go. “But you
also
knew Mr. Ogreski was responsible for Diane Veeter’s death and said nothing. How do you justify that?”

Chapter 42

Josh’s ire deflated. “I didn’t know about Mrs. Veeter until a few weeks ago,” he said. “And I have racked my brain trying to figure out what to do ever since. The problem was that if I turned in Mark, the police would have to come up with a motive and the motive was protecting the secret about Damon’s book, which would destroy Thom.”

“How did you even find out about Mrs. Veeter in the first place?” Eric cut in.

“When Mark refused to get Thom into treatment, I started suggesting Thom check himself in. The idea paralyzed him, so I had to be careful, but I brought it up as often as possible. I knew that if Thom could get himself away from Mark, he could get well. After awhile, Thom started becoming more open to the idea, but he felt horrible about leaving Mark, even though the relationship was a sick one. Thom was convinced he couldn’t take care of himself.

“When Thom told me he had to go to Mark’s office to sign some papers about the book going out of print, I told him he should try to find his social security card and birth certificate—Mark had taken them for safekeeping a few years ago—all part of his taking control. I told Thom that finding those documents wasn’t a commitment to leave Mark, just a first step in getting some power back over his own life. Thom trusted me, so he did what I’d told him. Only he didn’t find his documents. Instead, he came across a letter Mrs. Veeter had sent to Mark and an article about the accident. Thom hadn’t even known she’d died, but Mark had an article? It wasn’t hard to guess what had happened based on the dates and how paranoid Mark always was about anyone learning the truth.”

“So that was the other murder you were talking about when you told me there had been two murders and you hoped the police would figure out this one?” Sadie asked.

Josh nodded. “For a few minutes tonight I thought it would all work out and I wouldn’t have to be involved at all. So much for that.”

“Did Thom know Mrs. Veeter had helped Damon submit the book?” Eric asked.

Josh shook his head. “I didn’t even know about it. Thom didn’t find out about Damon submitting until months after Damon died, when Mark called to update Damon on how things were going with the book.”

Sadie considered that. It made sense that none of them would have known about Diane. They believed they were the only ones who knew the secret. And with the three of them bound together by their shared guilt, the secret was safe—until Diane sent a letter to Mark Ogreski telling him she knew the truth. He then chose to save himself through drastic measures.

“So Mark called Thom, found out Damon was dead, and said, ‘Hey, let’s just put your name on it,’” Sadie said.

“No,” Josh said. “It didn’t happen like that. Mark was very sympathetic when he learned what Damon had done. He called Thom a few times over the next month or so to see how he was doing. Thom was extremely vulnerable. It was only after they became friends that Mark brought up the idea of publishing the book under Thom’s name.”

“And then Thom found out about Diane’s death and he told you?”

Josh nodded. “Thom was terrified, but I saw an opportunity. With the book going out of print and the rights reverting back to Thom, he could finally be free of Mark forever. Plus, now he had a very good reason to sever all ties. Thom was ready, but he felt he needed to do this library fund-raiser first.”

“He wasn’t worried about coming clean?” Eric offered. “Like you said, getting well might mean telling the truth.”

“But see, that’s the thing,” Josh said, excited now that Eric and Sadie seemed to be seeing the motive behind his involvement. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Thom is flying back to Virginia with me tomorrow afternoon. I paid for his ticket so Mark wouldn’t find out. Monday morning we are going to the police and telling them what we know, then Thom is checking into a treatment center I’ve arranged for him. There will be consequences for what we’ve done, of course, but Thom will get well. And that’s all I wanted in the first place.”

“But then Mr. Ogreski turns up dead days before Thom is supposed to go into treatment,” Sadie reminded him. “Interesting timing.”

“If Thom were afraid of Mr. Ogreski,” Eric mused as he deftly continued the questions, “wouldn’t it be easier for Thom to knock him off himself rather than have the fear of Mr. Ogreski’s revenge hanging over him?”

Josh looked at Eric with confusion. “You weren’t there tonight, were you?”

Eric shook his head and Josh turned to look at Sadie. “You’ve seen him. Do you really think Thom’s capable of masterminding a plot to kill anyone?”

It was an excellent point. Sadie thought back to Jane’s comment about Thom not being able to tie his own shoes. It wasn’t difficult to imagine that was true.

“Not without help, maybe,” Eric threw out. “Someone had to go to great lengths to pull this off. Who else would have a motive as good as Thom’s? Ogreski was his secret keeper, and it was destroying him.”

Josh was shaking his head before Eric finished talking. “I’m sure Thom and I aren’t the only people Mark’s screwed over in his life. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to find out he was involved in something far more sinister than a plagiarized book. Men like Mark Ogreski don’t just make an enemy or two—they have dozens. And Thom couldn’t, and wouldn’t, do this. Mark was still the most important person in Thom’s life even though he knew he had to get away from him.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s kind of like those abused women who finally leave their husbands but still say they love them.”

“But who would kill Mr. Ogreski like
this?
” Sadie questioned. “He was killed with the same kind of gun Damon used, in the same town Thom had lived in when Damon died. Why would someone else make those types of connections? Besides that, whoever did it had to know that the police would pull out all the stops to figure it out and they would see those same connections.”

“Those very things lend credibility to the fact that it wasn’t Thom and it wasn’t me,” Josh said. “We’re both knee-deep in this mess. We’d be the first people the police would look into. Maybe someone set it up to make Thom look guilty.”

“Who?” Sadie and Eric said in tandem.

“I don’t know,” Josh said, sounding discouraged.

“The two of you together could have pulled this off without leaving an obvious trail,” Eric said, leaning back in his chair as he appraised Josh, obviously unwilling to give up the idea that Josh was more involved than he’d admitted thus far. “
And
you’ve lied for each other before. What’s one more deception?”

He put his hands behind his head and Sadie noticed a little tear in the elbow of his shirt. She could mend that in two minutes flat. Another time of course.

Josh looked at Eric and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling; Sadie found it rather remarkable that he wasn’t
more
defensive. “Besides everything else I’ve told you, you think I’m going to work this hard at a future to throw it away on someone like Mark Ogreski?” He snorted and shook his head. “I might not be proud of some of the things I’ve done, and I might have plenty of reasons to
want
Mark dead, but I didn’t kill him. I didn’t need to. His power over Thom was almost over.”

Sadie lined that tidbit up with some of the other details she’d learned tonight. It was like a kaleidoscope, turning it a little bit one way or another presented a totally new picture. “Is there any way Mr. Ogreski knew Thom was leaving?”

“I don’t think so,” Josh said, shaking his head. “Thom was terrified of Mark finding out, so I’m sure he was careful. Why?”

“When you were taking pictures,” Sadie started, “I was looking at a copy of
Devilish Details
that had been left backstage
.
Inside the front cover were the words ‘I’m sorry.’ Gayle, my friend who helped set up the backup microphone, said the book was on the podium when they brought it on stage. She gave the book to Mr. Ogreski to give to Thom right before he came up to the podium.”

“It said, ‘I’m sorry’?” Josh repeated, pulling his eyebrows together. “Who wrote it?”

“I have no idea,” Sadie said with a shrug as she leaned back in the chair. The pain in her shoulder was getting worse, and she tried to find a better position for it but refused to let it throw her off. “But Mr. Ogreski had also set up an appointment to meet with a reporter after the presentation—presumably to tell her the truth. The reporter found a letter Mrs. Veeter wrote before her death claiming to have proof that Thom hadn’t written the book.”