When the DeAngelises arrived, Sergeant Symons relayed his sympathies personally and then led them each to their interviewer. Ryan took Paul to room A. Maris introduced herself to Becca DeAngelis, a shapely woman in her mid-fifties with perfectly placed hair and makeup that was only slightly ruined. She'd cried—red eyes, puffy eyelids. But then she'd pulled herself together, reapplied her mascara and held herself up tall. Her lip quivered as Maris extended her hand.

"If you'd follow me please." She guided Goldie's mother to the same room she'd interrogated Tam in a few hours earlier. This wouldn't be an interrogation though. She had some softballs ready to throw, and a few to the point questions. If she had to watch Becca sob, her own composure would collapse.

Instead of sitting across from Becca, Maris moved a chair over so they could sit side by side. "Let me begin by saying how sorry I am, Mrs. DeAngelis."

Becca nodded. "Everyone is sorry. So very sorry. That's all anyone will ever say to me again. They're sorry. What does that change?"

"It's something people say because they don't know what else to do. And because it's true. It's an acknowledgement of someone else's suffering. Try not to assume they're being trite when they say it."

Becca looked up from her hands for the first time. "You sound as though you're speaking from experience."

A lump formed at the base of her throat. "I've had my fair share of loss."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. "Well, I see what you mean."

"I'd like to talk to you about your daughter. This may be difficult so if you have to take a break at any point, please tell me."

"If I'm being honest, I'd like to take a break from this whole day."

Maris nodded. "Understandable. Can you tell me about Goldie's upcoming makeup line?"

"Lucre? Oh, it was a big deal. Huge. Wonton Cosmetics, can you believe it? It was going to push her through from stardom to super stardom."

"Was she excited about it?"

"Why wouldn't she be? This was the sort of break she needed. Not that she wasn't already successful, but we wanted her to be a household name. This was a major step towards achieving that."

"We wanted her? Who's we?"

"I meant Goldie, of course. It's what she wanted. But Paul and I, naturally we wished to see her have that success."

"And Paul, how long has he been her manager?"

"Since she was about fifteen. They're..." she stopped and cleared her throat. "They were as close as any biological father and daughter. He loved her. So, you can understand how involved he was in helping her with Lucre, and how devastated he is now."

"Right." She could understand. They'd lost a daughter and a multi-million-dollar business deal all in one night. "I'd like the contact information for Goldie's Wonton Cosmetics contacts."

"Paul can provide that. I don't have anything to do with those sorts of things. I never really had a head for business. Yet somehow, I ended up in a family filled with moguls."

"Tell me about your stepson."

"Jasper." She squinted. "What about him?"

"I've heard he was close to your daughter."

"Yes, very close. They got along right from the start. I was almost jealous of her, how easily he took to her when I always struggled to connect with him. I did try. I wanted to be a good stepmother. But what can I say, I'm glad they had each other. He's absolutely crushed, by the way. This has ruined our whole family and for what?"

Becca's eyes began to water. Maris braced herself.

"Why did this have to happen? Who would kill Goldie? It's not right!"

She lowered her head to the table. Maris remained quiet, waiting for her to surface from this wave of grief. There would be more, but hopefully they'd keep until after she was no longer in Maris' presence.

When she did lift her head, Maris was able to assess the level of damage to Becca's heart through the smears of eyeliner and mascara. A heavy heart, a perfect face undone. So much like Goldie.

Becca turned her makeup-streaked face back to Maris. She studied the detective in silence. "I keep trying to place you."

"Place me?"

"You seem familiar."

Maris' heart sped. She patted Becca's shoulder. She could be undone too. Goldie, Goldie's mother, Maris—all were perfect, beautiful, lively, until they weren't. "You frequent Haven Cafe on West 7th?

"Yes?"

"My cousin lives nearby. I'm there all the time. You've probably seen me and didn't even realize it."

"Of course. That's it."

That's it. Maris slipped her hand away from Becca. She'd been relatable and related to Becca, down to their local coffee joint. She forced out her next question. "Was Goldie seeing someone?"

Becca's back straitened. "I should know the answer to that, since I'm her mother, but Goldie didn't tell me such things. She had a private side. But..." A sad smile played at the corner of her lips. "I did see a man picking her up the day before... the day before this happened."

Maris swallowed. Not the news she wanted to hear. "Who was he?"

"He could have been anyone. Maybe the same person she was with at Morinda. Maybe not."

She asked Becca to describe him but anything other than vagueness seemed beyond the grieving woman. He'd been dressed nicely. Tall. Maybe dark hair? She wasn't sure. She'd glimpsed him walking down the street with her daughter at his side and they were out of view before she could take in more information. "I'm forgetful, sorry to say. I don't have a mind for details. I could never do what you do."

"What about her assistant? Did Goldie like her?"

"Tam? I guess. I was surprised Goldie put her in that EpiGold."

"Why's that?"

"She's a beauty. Truly. Yet she still managed to be so awkward. She didn't like being on camera. Can you imagine working for Goldie Finch and not loving the attention?"

"Did that cause conflict between them?"

"If it did, Goldie never mentioned it. But the way I saw it, Tam wasn't a good fit as Goldie's assistant. Don't get me wrong, she worked hard. She wanted to impress Goldie. But something always seemed off about her. I'm sure Goldie saw it too." Becca's brow creased. "Wait, you don't think..."

Maris held her hands up. "We have to understand each connection Goldie had. We aren't making any assumptions until we have all the facts." She smiled to reassure Becca. Ryan would be so proud of her.

"Well, okay, because I don't see that girl as a murderer. But then..." her eyes watered again. "I didn't see any of this happening, did I?"

She began to sob. She'd reached this woman's limit for the day. Probably her own as well. Maris bit the side of her cheek as she ushered Becca out of the room, focusing on that pain. Only that pain.

When both Paul and Becca had left, she compared notes with her partner. Paul, according to Ryan, was a talker, with lots to say about everything. He'd brought up Goldie's mystery man as well but lacked just as many details about him. And then there was Tam Martin.

"Paul saw her running from Goldie's apartment like someone 'trying to outrun a bomb,' is how he put it." Ryan told her. "And here's something else... He says he heard women arguing through the wall their apartments shared earlier that day."

Maris' breath hitched. "Does he know who the voices belonged to?"

"One of them was Goldie and he wasn't sure about the other, but he assumes it was Tam."

"When was this?"

"A bit after five, he thinks. Tam claimed she left work around that time. Maybe she left when the argument became heated."

Or maybe the fight he'd heard happened with someone else right after Tam left.

"What were they fighting about?"

"He only caught a few words. 'I'm not lying.' Everything else was garbled, but it could be that Tam and Goldie fought. Tam went home but Goldie was still angry. She called Tam to come back and finish what they'd started. Things are starting to add up. Looks like you might be right about her."

Maris nodded, biting here cheek again so as not to give away to Ryan that for the first time that day, she wasn't sure about anything.

-----

Becca DeAngelis: Grieving mom... or something more?

Thanks for reading! Next up, Jasper takes us back in time for a glimpse at the DeAngelis family dynamics of days gone by... See you on the pages of Chapter 13!