Free Gem of a Ghost: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery by Sue Ann Jaffarian Page B

back in his chair and crossed one long leg casually over the opposite knee. “But, come on, we all seem to be reasonably intelligent people here. If someone really wanted to kill themselves, they would eat the barrel of a pistol or something irreversible like that.” He raised his glass to make the point. “The first two attempts were clearly daddy rage, and the last was a joke.” He took a long sip of his cool drink. “Who in the hell tries to stab themself?”
    Phil asked dryly, “You’ve never heard of hara-kiri?”
    Lin ignored the comment. “Just spoiled, unbalanced baby divas looking for attention, that’s who does things like that.”
    Emma wasn’t watching Lin. Her eyes were on Joanna’s hands. While she appeared calm, her fingers were fidgeting with the china coffee cup as if it had a paper label that could be peeled off.
    “Did you find that man as insufferable as I did?” While Emma talked, her fingers were flying, typing out a text message to Kelly on her phone.
    At the wheel of Emma’s SUV, Phil chuckled. “He was pretty full of himself, that’s for sure.” He glanced over at Emma. “What are you writing over there, a novel?”
    “I’m asking Kelly if she’s ever met Linwood Reid or if Lainey mentioned him to her.”
    “Remind me to find that Forbes article for you.”
    “I’d love to read it.” Emma finished the text off with xoxox, Mom and put her phone away. “You didn’t tell me you knew who he was.”
    “And you didn’t tell me Joanna was married to Linwood Reid. You only said her last name was now Reid. Being married to him explains that palace of a house, though.”
    “Yes, that was pretty amazing. Both you and I live in lovely, large homes, but next to that, we might as well be living under an overpass of the 405 Freeway. Even that monstrosity I shared with Grant is a shack next to the Reid home.”
    The GPS in Emma’s car directed Phil to turn left off of Sunset at the edge of the UCLA campus. “So who exactly is Linwood Reid?” she asked.
    “He’s some big global money guy. Built a fortune financing a variety of successful high-risk, high-return ventures, anything from treasure hunting to oil expeditions. He’s also a major player in international construction and energy companies.”
    “Like Halliburton?”
    “Not Halliburton, but companies like it. Although here’s a trivia tidbit for ya.” Phil flashed her a grin. “He’s supposedly a close pal of Dick Cheney.”
    “A pal close enough to shoot?”
    Phil laughed and turned left at another intersection, following the next instruction called out by the automated voice of the GPS. They were on their way to Lainey’s condominium to see Keith Goldstein.
    “Where did he make his seed money? You have to have money to start to turn it into money of his present magnitude.”
    “There’s a lot of speculation on that. It’s well known he was one of the pirates in the Enron mess.”
    “One of the executives?”
    “No, one of the initial investors. One who bailed with a boatload of cash just before it all turned to shit.”
    “Just savvy or an inside tip?”
    Phil shrugged. “Who knows. It was never proved he knew anything about the internal finances of the company.” He made another turn onto Wilshire Boulevard. “There were also rumors of him being involved in selling guns overseas.”
    “What?” Emma nearly snapped her neck as she whipped around to stare at Phil.
    “Again, nothing was proved, but the rumors claim he provided financial backing for international gunrunners and made an obscene amount of money.”
    “Wow. I may have traded up, but it seems Joanna didn’t, at least not in character.”
    Phil blew her a loud, sloppy kiss.
    “Speaking of wow.” Phil pulled into a circular drive of a high- rise building on Wilshire Boulevard. “Are you sure this is where Lainey lives?”
    “This is the address she gave me.”
    After the doorman directed them to visitor parking, they made their way into the