Jamie Brodie 02 - Hoarded to Death

last-minute items into boxes. As we worked, I told Kevin about my sleuthing with Eckhoff the previous weekend. “So the last guy we visited is the one the cops suspect of knowing something, but he was the one the art theft unit recommended in the first place. So that’s weird.”
    Kevin grunted. “Sounds like art theft needs a new expert. What’s the guy’s name?”
    “Quentin Brashier.”
    Kevin had been carrying one end of their mattress. When I said Brashier’s name, he suddenly dropped it. “ What did you say?”
    “Quentin Brashier. Why?”
    Kevin stared at me. “ That body we had, back in October, the night I had to leave right after dinner? It was found on the property of a guy named Quentin Brashier.”
    I was temporarily speechless. Pete said, “No shit . There can’t be two guys with that name in LA, can there?”
    “I doubt it. So now we have to figure out whether our body has a connection to your case?”
    My brain kicked back into gear. “Maybe not. Maybe it’s just coincidence. Or maybe someone else dumped the body on Brashier’s property.”
    Kevin shook his head. “If it’s coincidence, it’s a big one. I might buy a body dump, though. But if Brashier is actually your shooter, and not just looking to make big bucks…damn, this is a whole new can of worms.”
    “Did you question him?”
    “ Duh , of course. Extensively. He claimed to know nothing about it, said he’d never heard of the dead guy. Clearly we’re gonna have to talk to him again. I’ll call Tim as soon as we’re done.” He picked the mattress back up, but didn’t move yet. “Does the name Michael Lindsey mean anything to you?”
    “No, why?”
    “That’s the name of the dead guy on Brashier’s property.” He tugged on the mattress and we started down the hall again. “Just covering all the bases.”
    It didn’t take us as long as we thought it might to move everything. We then concentrated on getting all the boxes in the new apartment moved into the rooms where each belonged. We started to help Abby unpack boxes, but she shooed us out. "I want to do this so I'll know where everything is. You guys take a break."
    We didn't argue. Pete decided that he’d go to the grocery store, since that was on our list of things to do today as well, then come back to pick me up. He left. Kevin grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge. He and I found the patio furniture and moved it out to the balcony. It was just the two of us - a perfect time for me to talk to Kevin about Jennifer.
    I nudged him with my foot. "I never told you how surprised I was when I saw Jennifer's apartment. I couldn't imagine you ever living there. Still can't."
    He shook his head. "It wasn't full of crap when I lived there."
    "Well, no, of course not. But even the complex itself. It just...it didn't look like your kind of place."
    " It wasn't. But at the time, it was all we could afford. We couldn't find a place that was actually in West LA in our price range, and it was so convenient to Jennifer's school, it was going to save us a lot of gas money." He shrugged. "It was okay for a temporary thing. If we'd stayed together, we would have moved eventually."
    I hesitated to ask this, but I wanted to know. "When did you know you'd made a mistake?"
    Kevin shot me a look, but didn't comment on it. "After about six months. That's when the spending started."
    "She'd never done that in college?"
    "No. She was living on her parents' money then, and had to account for all of it. Once she was making her own money and had her own credit card, she went nuts with it."
    "I know she grew up poor. Was she making up for lost time?"
    "Yeah, I think that was part of it. Plus she saw her friends having nice stuff, and wanted to keep up."
    "How much debt did she get into?"
    Kevin sighed. "When we got divorced, we owed $68,000 plus on the credit cards that were in our names jointly. She had a couple of other cards in just her name - I assume they were at their limits too."
    " Fuck ." I had no idea it was that much. "How long did it take you to pay all that off?"
    He gave me another look and took a drink before he answered. "I'm still paying it off."
    That upset me. "Oh, Kev ."
    He was grim. "Yeah, I know." He shook his head. "Just proof of the old saying, you never really know someone until you live with them." His face relaxed a little. "Fortunately, Abby's the exact opposite. She doesn't spend a dime without talking to me about it first. I've told her she doesn't