Breakfast over, Tilton got up and grabbed his car keys from the hallway dresser.

  “See you, Mom,” said Aisha, waving to her mother, who was trying to put more food into the baby’s mouth than was smeared all around it.

  “Call me if you want me to pick you up, honey,” said Rosa.

  “I’ll be fine,” said Aisha, producing one of those eye rolls she’d become so proficient in.

  In the car, she placed her backpack in the backseat, then took up position next to her stepdad, and soon they were en route.

  “You don’t have to act tougher than you are, sweetie,” said Tilton. “It’s all right if you don’t want to go to school.”

  “It’s fine, Tilton,” said Aisha as she sagged in her seat and put her feet up on the dash.

  Under normal circumstances Tilton would have told her to put her feet down, but these were not normal circumstances, so he didn’t say anything, just put the car in gear and then they were off.

  “And please call me dad,” said Tilton.

  “Fine… Dad,” said Aisha, sounding even more bratty than usual.

  But it was hard on her, of course, losing a brother like that, so Tilton kept his tongue. He and Rosa had agreed to give Aisha all the space she needed, and had even discussed going to a psychologist with the girl. There was a good one they could schedule through the school, and they had the feeling Aisha was probably going to need it.

  It was typical, they’d read after consulting Doctor Google, for kids to appear stronger and more brash than they actually were, to suppress their very real feelings of grief. Sooner or later that grief was bound to express itself, when they realized what had happened, and that the brother they loved and cared for was suddenly gone—ripped from their lives through a cruel twist of fate—or the unseen hand of an as yet unknown force of malice that had reached into their lives and turned it upside down and inside out.

  They arrived at school and Aisha got out, studiously ignored her stepdad, then disappeared through the school gates.

  Tilton glanced back, saw the backpack, and opened the window to yell, “Aisha—your backpack!”

  But it was too late—she had already been swallowed up by the swarming mass of kids.

  Tilton glanced back at that backpack, shrugged and then drove off.

  On his way to work, he passed an abandoned old factory building, and so he steered his car in that direction, underneath the old sign that said that the best wheelbarrows in the world were made there, and swung his car into the old parking lot, which was now rutted and where weeds and tree roots were steadily pushing up the slabs of concrete.

  He reached back and took the backpack, frowning when he opened it and saw the iPad. Todd’s iPad. The one he hadn’t even known existed.

  For a moment, he wondered how to proceed, then he made a decision.

  He had to think about his family, after all. Todd was gone, but Rosa was there, and Aisha, and the baby.

  He simply had to do what needed to be done.

  And so he turned the car around and steered it in the direction of the office.

  He parked the car in his usual spot, reserved for him. He got out, glanced around for a moment, then took out the hammer he’d taken from the toolshed that morning before ushering Aisha into the car, and quickly smashed the side window of his car. The glass splintered easily, and moments later he was already heading into the building, took another look around, and when he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, proceeded in the direction of the bank of elevators, zooming up to the top floor, a smile of relief on his face.

  The smile was quickly wiped from his lips, however, when he walked into his office and found Chase and Odelia Kingsley there waiting for him. Chase was holding up Aisha’s backpack, the one Tilton had dumped in a dumpster around the corner just now, and Odelia was holding up the iPad, which he’d destroyed with a rock.

  You could see the glass spidering where the rock had hit.

  But it was Detective Kingsley’s next words that really set the seal on his mood: “Tilton Bond, I’m arresting you for the murders of Josslyn Aldridge, Willie Dornhauser and Todd Bond. I’m also arresting you for the murders of Janice Schiller and Clive Atcheson. You have the right to remain silent, Tilton—or should I say… Ernest?”

  Epilogue

  “Tilton Bond never made his millions in the internet industry. He made it by robbing the bank he worked for and framing his boss, then murdering him in cold blood,” I said.

  We were in the backyard of the Poole home, where Tex was whipping up some delicious—or not-so-delicious, depending on your culinary taste—treats for us and the rest of the family to gorge on, and where the entire Poole clan had gathered for the feast.

  The four of us were seated on the porch swing, resting peacefully after our copious meal, courtesy of Odelia, and the time had finally come to explain all.

  I was grateful to find a captive audience in my three friends, and after gathering my thoughts, I was ready to explain my reasoning in this most baffling case, and how I’d finally decided that the three murders that had recently been committed—and the two historical ones—were all linked, and had been committed by the same man.

  “So Tilton Bond was a former employee of the bank?” asked Brutus, trying to wrap his head around this surprising fact.

  “Indeed he was,” I said. “His real name is Ernest Sarisky, and he was one of those invisible people you find in every company. It was actually Chase who put me on the right track, when he admitted he didn’t recognize a colleague of his when we were doing those house-to-house interviews the other day. But even invisible people have their hopes and dreams, even if nobody notices them or pays them any attention, and Ernest’s hopes and dreams were one day to be like his boss, Clive Atcheson. He’d long harbored a powerful resentment toward Clive. Or perhaps pathological jealousy would be a better term to describe his feelings toward the bank’s popular branch manager. And it’s not difficult to see why: Clive Atcheson was everything that Ernest was not: he was wealthy, handsome, had a wonderful family, and was well-liked by all. Ernest, on the other hand, was eking out a meager existence on a modest salary, had never been able to attract the attention of a woman, and was a miserable, lonely and bitter man.”

  “Not really a fun guy, was he?” said Dooley.

  “No, Dooley, he certainly was not,” I agreed.

  “He must have felt really bad,” said Harriet, “with nobody noticing him and all. I can imagine how he must have suffered.”

  It was clear she felt for Ernest. Then of course Harriet would also suffer tremendously if no one noticed her, so she could relate to the man’s torment.

  “But that all changed the day he woke up with an exciting idea. He was going to steal Clive’s perfect life: his money, his family—everything. It was a crazy idea, but he was fed up with being a nobody, and put a plan in motion to become a somebody, whatever it took.”

  “And it took a lot of bloodshed,” said Dooley quietly.

  “So Clive Atcheson never escaped to Mexico?” asked Brutus. “With five million?”

  “No, he didn’t,” I said. “We now know that Clive Atcheson, and his secretary Janice Schiller, were killed on the same day the bank was robbed.” Ernest was fully cooperating with the police, and they now had a pretty good idea about what happened. After taking the money from the vault, he forced Clive and Janice Schiller at gunpoint into a boat he’d rented under an alias, and once they were out on the open ocean, he killed them both and dumped their bodies overboard.

  “But what happened to Ernest?” asked Harriet. “How did he explain his sudden disappearance?”

  “After the robbery, justifiably there was a lot of confusion. Ernest simply quit his job, announced that he was moving out of state to be closer to his aging parents, and that was it. Nobody cared and nobody asked any questions. He was the invisible man, remember?”

  “But in actual fact he changed his name and moved to Hampton Cove?”

  “Not immediately. First he needed to wait and see what Rosa would do. He assumed she wouldn’t want to stay in Wilmington, to avoid the scandal and the gossip, and he was right. He’d planted certain evidence to make it look as if Clive and Janice were having an affair—love letters, doctored photos and hotel room bookings—and that they planned to head across the border after the heist. So Rosa changed her identity, moved to Hampton Cove and started a new life.”

  “And then suddenly Tilton Bond entered the scene,” said Harriet.

  “Indeed. Ernest, having assumed a new identity, ‘accidentally’ ran into Rosa in town, and started pursuing her with a vigor that must have left her breathless. And for a woman whose husband had betrayed her as she thought Clive had done, being courted like that must have felt very comforting. She quickly confided in Tilton, and soon he became her confidant. Her rock. Let’s not forget that she was vulnerable after Clive’s alleged betrayal.”

  “A position Tilton had put her in.”

  “But didn’t she recognize him from the bank?” asked Brutus. “They must have met at office parties, right?”

  “Oh, no doubt they had, but like I said, Tilton had been one of those people nobody pays any attention to. He could just as well not have been there. And also, he’d changed his appearance. He used to be a man with a receding hairline and a weak chin, but now he had a full crop of hair and a fashionable beard. He’d been overweight, but now he was athletic, taking full benefit of his gym membership. In other words: a changed man.”

  “A millionaire!” said Dooley.

  “Wealth lends a person a certain aura. And it was this aura that surrounded Tilton.”

  “Okay, so why did he kill that poor woman on the beach?” asked Harriet.

  “Josslyn Aldridge wasn’t just any woman. She was an ex-colleague of his. It hadn’t hit me when I studied the pictures of Rosa and her husband, but when I looked at them again, there he was, Tilton Bond. In the background, hardly noticeable. I thought he was looking at Janice in that picture, but in actual fact he was looking at Rosa. But then I also noticed Josslyn. And when you look closely, you can see that Josslyn has the same look in her eyes that Tilton had. But where Tilton is looking at Rosa, she is actually looking at Tilton.”

  “She was in love with him?” asked Harriet.

  “She was. Even invisible people have people who are in love with them, only they’re too obsessed with the ones they can’t have to notice. But Josslyn wanted him just as much as he wanted Rosa. And so all these many years later, when she bumped into him, she immediately recognized him as her old colleague Ernest. And of course he couldn’t have that. She would have jeopardized everything he’d worked so hard to achieve.”

  “Everything he’d killed to achieve, you mean,” Brutus grunted.

  “So he killed Josslyn? Just like that?” asked Dooley.

  “Yes, he did. He arranged to meet her that evening on the beach, and killed her. Josslyn must have been so happy—so thrilled to finally meet him again—the colleague she’d loved from afar all those years. She didn’t have a clue her fate was sealed the moment he laid eyes on her and saw that she recognized him. He then made it look like a mugging by grabbing her purse, removing her wallet and dumping her purse in the sand.”

  “So what about the blackmailer?” asked Harriet. “Why did he kill him?”

  “Willie Dornhauser had seen Chase’s appeal for witnesses in Josslyn’s mugging, and had googled Josslyn. I think he must have hit on the same picture I saw, and immediately recognized Rosa. He then did some digging, and discovered that Rosa’s husband was actually the infamous Clive Atcheson, who’d absconded with five million dollars, and figured here was an opportunity to make some money.”

  “So he put the squeeze on Rosa,” said Brutus, nodding.

  “Only Tilton realized that if this guy had discovered his wife’s true identity, it was only a matter of time before he put two and two together, and discovered his identity as well. So the night the money was to change hands, Tilton was also in the park, watching and waiting. And when Willie showed up, he followed him home and killed him on the spot.”

  “But why didn’t he take the money?” asked Harriet.

  “I think Edwardo showed up and Tilton had to flee the scene before he could search the house. And in a way, that actually worked out even better for him, since Edwardo took the money, and in the process set himself up as the perfect suspect.”

  “He was very lucky,” said Dooley.

  “He was, until Todd started digging into his past life, and discovering certain things.”

  “Todd found out who he really was?” asked Harriet.

  I nodded. “Todd had also seen Chase’s appeal.”

  “Looks like that appeal made a big difference!” said Dooley.

  “It did. What actually happened was that the Bonds had watched that appeal together, as a family.”

  “Just like we did!”

  “And Rosa recognized Josslyn, and mentioned something about her being an ex-colleague of her husband’s. And Todd being Todd, and always eager to find out anything he could about his real dad, started surfing the web, looking up Josslyn. And that’s when he recognized his stepdad as also being one of his real dad’s colleagues.”

  “That must have been a great shock to him,” said Harriet.

  “Yes, it was. He confronted his stepdad, and accused him of knowing what had happened to his dad, and maybe even lying to protect him. He might have even believed that Tilton and Clive had set up that bank heist together, and split the money.”

  “So he didn’t realize the ugly truth, that his stepdad had killed his real dad.”

  “No, he didn’t. But he was getting close. Too close. He had a big fight with his stepdad, with Todd demanding to know where his dad was, and how he could get in touch with him, and that’s when Todd walked out and went to stay with his best friend Scott.”

  “But he didn’t tell Scott,” said Brutus.

  “Or Layla,” said Harriet.

  “No, I think he was ashamed of what his dad had done, and didn’t want them to know. Also, he wanted to protect the family’s new identity. If it became known that he was the son of an infamous bank robber, their life in Hampton Cove was over. So he kept quiet, but he also kept digging.”

  “So that’s why he was so withdrawn and irritable,” said Harriet.

  “I think he must have reconstructed some sort of theory in his head, and that’s when he set up a meeting with his stepdad, to pressure him into telling him the truth. Though I’m pretty sure that all he wanted was to get in touch with his dad in Mexico.”

  “So he met Tilton that night by the pool? At the Walcotts?”

  “Yes. Todd waited until Scott and Layla had gone to bed, then called Tilton and arranged to meet. And that’s when Tilton killed his stepson, and took his phone and laptop.”

  “But the man is a cold-blooded murderer, Max!” said Dooley.

  “Oh, yes, he is. To protect his secret, he was prepared to do whatever it took, even murdering his stepson.”

  “So that’s the screaming and the splashing Mr. Durain heard?”

  “Yes. And if Lionel Durain would have taken a look through his window, he would have caught Todd’s killer.”

  “Tilton was taking an awfully big risk,” said Harriet.

  “He was. He was getting more and more desperate at this point. And a desperate man is a dangerous man, especially a calculating killer like him.”

  “But how did you get onto him, Max?” asked Dooley. “How did you catch him?”

  “Well, it was actually Scarlett who put me on the right track.”

  “Scarlett? Did she finally manage to talk to you?” asked Brutus with a frown.

  “No, she didn’t. But you’ll remember that she sat down with Gran, and said that Gran didn’t know how lucky she was to have such a great family. And how she wished her own life could have been different. And I don’t know why, but I suddenly flashed back to that picture of Rosa and Clive at that Christmas party, and the wistful glances Tilton kept darting at her. Here was a man who clearly wished he had the life she and Clive were leading. I also remembered Chase’s invisible colleague, and so when I went back to that picture, I suddenly recognized Tilton, and when I looked a little closer, I also saw Josslyn.”

  “Odd that no one had ever bothered to examine that picture,” said Harriet.

  “I hadn’t noticed it either,” I said. “Unless you know what to look for, it’s hard to see. Even Willie Dornhauser hadn’t recognized Tilton.”

  “Todd recognized him.”

  “Yes, but that’s because Todd had been living with Tilton, seeing him every day. And even he didn’t see the truth, even when it was staring him in the face.”

  “Rosa would have known,” said Harriet. “She would have seen through Tilton’s deception.”

  “That’s what Tilton was afraid of,” I said, nodding, “and why Todd had to die. But I’m not so sure. Tilton is a skilled liar. I’m sure he would have come up with a convincing story, and maybe Rosa would have fallen for it. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t have.”

  “So what was this business with the iPad all about?” asked Brutus.

  I smiled. “That’s just something I came up with. Todd never had an iPad. But it was important to make Tilton believe that he had, and that it contained incriminating evidence—like the messages he and his stepson exchanged. So that iPad had to disappear.”

  “And Aisha was in on the plan?”

  “She was—though we never told her what it was all about. Just that she needed to put the iPad we gave her in her backpack and make sure that Tilton saw her do it, then leave her backpack in the car. And then once the bait was placed, all we had to do was see if Tilton took it. And he did. He tried to destroy the iPad and make it look as if thieves had broken into his car and snatched it.”