Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Do you know what all they stole?”
Fine. Back to business, then. He wasn’t mine to worry about, but still, I considered Pierce a friend. “Again, they tied us up, so I didn’t get to see much. But they took Depression glass and some Belleek china. I heard one guy brag about finding some hunting knives, and then…I don’t know. They were out of sight for quite a while, and it sounded like they were destructive, as well.” In fact, they’d been almost gleeful while breaking things. At least, it had sounded that way.
“Why were you covered in ink and paint?” Pierce asked, frowning. “Did they throw that on you?”
I looked at my discarded coat in the garbage can. “No. Lisa and I might have had a little bit of an argument when she found out I was representing Nick.”
His eyebrows rose. “She attacked you with paint and ink?”
“Plus a snow globe with glittery water,” I added. “Spices, too.” My right eye still burned.
His chin lifted. “Did you respond in kind or attack her in any way?”
Should I be embarrassed that I hadn’t? “No. I just tried to talk her down, but she kept throwing things at me. The snow globe even broke and smattered me with glittery goop.”
“Do you want to press charges?”
Ah. The woman had committed a battery—possibly an assault and battery, as I’d told her. I had cause, that was for sure. “Do you want me to press charges?”
His eyes gleamed. “I wouldn’t mind.”
“You’ve got it. I’ll press charges.” Then she’d have to talk to him. “She’s got some serious anger issues, Grant. I wouldn’t be surprised if she killed Richard and Imogen.” If she was this angry fifteen years after the fact, who knew how furious she’d been that night upon seeing them leaving? I gave Pierce all the information she’d shared while we’d been tied up.
Pierce nodded. “That’s a good start for me to work on her. Perhaps I can get her to give her DNA.”
“You have DNA from the crime scene where Richard’s and Imogen’s bodies were found, don’t you?” I asked suddenly.
He blinked.
“Come on. Pierce, we’re on the same side here.”
“Actually, we’re not,” he snorted. “But yes, we found DNA on the clothing.”
My breath quickened. “Blood?”
“Yeah. Usually, when you stab somebody that many times, you cut yourself, as well.”
“It wasn’t Nick’s,” I said suddenly.
Pierce didn’t answer.
“Have you checked Wayne Wilson’s DNA?”
“It’s being checked right now,” he said. “Wayne willingly gave us a swab the second I asked.”
I chewed on my lip. “What about Lisa’s dead husband? Ryan?” Pierce just stared at me. “Come on, Grant,” I said again.
“Fine,” he muttered. “Ryan gave up his DNA in an unrelated case when he was still alive.”
“What kind of case?” I asked.
Pierce shut his notebook. “It was a poaching case where the hunter cut himself. Ryan was one of the suspects. It wasn’t him, by the way. It was another guy named Joe, who we’d had poaching trouble with before.”
“Did you run Ryan’s DNA?”
“We did, and it doesn’t match any found at the scene.”
I looked down at the ice covering my bare knee. The two pillows beneath it were soft, and I thought I could take a nap. “You don’t really think Nick committed the killings, do you?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never had anybody punch my mom in the face before,” he admitted.
He wasn’t wrong. It was a good motive. He texted something quickly into his phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Checking on the BOLO for Lenny as well as the warrant to search his house. It hasn’t come in yet. As soon as we get this guy inside an interrogation room, we’ll learn the names of the other two Cupids. I’m very interested in talking to the guy who shot Nick Basanelli with an arrow.”
I settled the blankets better over everything but my raised knee. “So am I.”
“No, you’re a witness. You’re not involved with this. Remember?”
My eyelids were heavy. “After being at two of the robberies, I kind of feel like I’m involved.”
He stared at me for a moment. “That is quite the coincidence. Have you felt like anybody’s following you lately?”
Yeah, I’d already given that some thought. “No, and there was no sense of recognition or familiarity from the other two Cupids at either robbery.”
Heavy footsteps sounded down the hall, and then Aiden strode inside the room. His gaze raked me from head to toe, stopping on my knee and moving to my wrists. “You okay?”
“I’m okay. Honestly. I didn’t even need stitches. Well, okay, I needed a couple,” I amended because he’d find out anyway. “My knee is just slightly twisted. No big injuries.”
He glanced at Pierce. “The Cupids again?”
Pierce nodded.
“This was somewhat amusing a few days ago,” Aiden said. “Not so much anymore.”
“I haven’t been amused at all,” Pierce said, his phone buzzing. “I have to take this. You have a ride?” he asked me.