Keep Them Close(74)

Allison (8:35 p.m.)

Where are you? Gray is at the condo. You were supposed to meet him there at 7, he said.



Finley (8:37 p.m.)

At OSB thinking and no I’m not contemplating jumping in tho its tempting



Allison (8:38 p.m.)

??? Must be 30 degrees outside. Why would you be at beach?



Finley (8:41 p.m.)

You know I like it here and hard to face grayson I’m not proud of what’s happened sometimes I think its better I disappear from all your lives.



Allison (8:44 p.m.)

Don’t talk like that. I know we are splitting but we can all move on from this. You will always have a relationship with Gray. And with me.



Finley (8:45 p.m.)

Not sure I’ll have any relationships after tonight



“So Finley tells Allison he’s at the Ohio Street Beach, he can’t face his son, he’s ashamed, etcetera. And then he drops kind of a doomsday message—he’s not sure he’ll have any relationships after tonight. What does he mean by that?”

Louise smiles. “You’re about to find out,” she says. “Flip the page.”





66


Louise

—Investigation, Day 10—

“Okay, next page,” says Bruce Ghadiali. Louise reads the remainder of the text exchanges between Allison and Finley on the evening of April 1: Allison (8:46 p.m.)

Why what’s happening tonight??



Finley (8:47 p.m.)

He’s back for more $



Allison (8:47 p.m.)

Marlow Luckett?? No Fin! 25K was plenty



Finley (8:48 p.m.)

Don’t worry it’s coming out of my half not yours



Allison (8:49 p.m.)

That’s not the point. I don’t care about money. If you keep paying he will NEVER stop. Go to police



Finley (8:50 p.m.)

LOL if I go to cops he shows them the proof



Allison (8:51 p.m.)

What proof? You took his phone. He’s bluffing.



Finley (8:51 p.m.)

He said it’s on his cloud and if he’s not bluffing then I’m fucked not worth the risk



Allison (8:52 p.m.)

Bluff or not this has to stop. If he goes to police I will defend you. You were acting in self-defense.



Finley (8:53 p.m.)

Easy to say from the cheap seats! You won’t be the one going to prison I’ll figure something out



Finley (11:11 p.m.)

I’m truly sorry for all the pain I caused you. I love you and Grayson more than anything.



Bruce looks up from the page. “Wow. So Finley met with Marlow that night.”

“He sure did,” says Louise. “Cutty, you did the license plate cameras.”

“Sure.” Cutty looks over his notes. “Finley Brice’s car left the underground garage at 432 East Erie at 10:37 p.m. We get about a dozen hits on his license plate, tracking him from downtown Chicago along the interstate to Austin, where he gets off and heads south, turns on Roosevelt into Cicero.”

“His cell phone tracks the same route,” Louise adds. “He drove straight from the condo to Marlow Luckett’s house. We think he got there about ten minutes after eleven. That’s when he sent that last text message to Allison, kind of a goodbye of sorts, like he had some inkling of trouble coming his way. ‘Sorry for the pain I caused you, I love you guys.’?”

“And he stayed there, best estimate, about twenty-five minutes,” says Cutty. “We think that’s when he handed off the money.”

“Okay,” says Bruce. “That’s the fancy bag full of money you found in the woodpile behind his house.”

“Exactly,” says Cutty. “That’s Finley’s bag. He bought it at Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue a week earlier. The damn thing cost four hundred and fifty dollars. Can you imagine? For a gym bag?”

“Anyway,” says Louise. “He hands off the money, and Marlow guts him. Maybe there was an argument first, or Finley said this is the last time or something. Probably a struggle. But that’s where Finley met his maker.”

“No murder weapon?”

“No murder weapon. Not entirely sure of the exact crime scene, even. Doesn’t look like it was inside the house. Maybe the backyard?”

“We think the fight happened while the money was being exchanged,” says Cutty. “There was a decent amount of blood spatter inside the leather bag.”

“My personal theory,” says Louise, “is that Marlow was counting the money and Finley tried to attack him—y’know, catch him off guard. Marlow had a weapon ready and stabbed him. Spattered blood on the money.”

“The blood on the money is Finley’s?”

“We’re running DNA tests,” says Louise, “but if that blood isn’t Finley Brice’s, I’m the queen of England.”

Bruce laughs, then nods for a long time, digesting everything. “That it?”

“No,” says Cutty. “After about thirty minutes, give or take, Finley’s car was on the move again.”

“Ah. Right. He had to dump the body. But he didn’t want to use his own truck. Makes more sense just to use Finley’s Wagoneer.”