“It wasn’t his van,” Vienna pointed out. “It was stolen.”
“Could you be mistaken?” Raine asked Shabina. “Maybe he came for takeout. He would only have been there a few minutes. You might not have spoken to him.”
“I have this weird gift,” Shabina admitted. “I don’t forget faces or names. It’s a thing with me. The boy had never been in my café.”
“You often give food away to the dirt baggers when they’re staying near the hot springs,” Zahra reminded. “I’ve helped you. Maybe you took food to him.”
“I haven’t been out to the springs for weeks. Months, even. I’ve been too busy, and once the two university students began leaving the various items from Saudi Arabia, my mind was all over the place. I didn’t even think about taking food to anyone other than my usual customers.”
Harlow rolled her eyes. “I like how you call them customers when they don’t pay for the food you bring them.”
“I think of them as customers,” Shabina defended. “But the tie-in with the victims can’t be my café if the boy, Craig Barker, has never been there.”
“They don’t look alike. They aren’t the same age. They don’thave the same occupations,” Zahra mused. “Maybe they were chosen randomly. The opportunity presented itself, and the murderer took advantage.”
“That’s possible,” Raine said. “But not probable.”
“We know both Lucca and Lawyer,” Vienna pointed out. “What do they have in common?”
“They were friends,” Harlow volunteered. “Both were great with the elderly. Lucca really took good care of his parents and a couple of other families in town. Lawyer fishes, hunts and grows food. He gives most of it away, especially in the winter.”
“Bale despised them both,” Stella added.
Raine agreed. “He couldn’t control either of them. He tried to blackmail them into doing what he wanted them to do.”
“What did he have on Lawyer?” Stella asked.
“Lawyer told us he’d been present when Bale and his friends robbed and beat up their football coach,” Raine answered. “He was a young teen then. Lawyer confessed to him when he was a kid and ended up paying back the money. They became friends, and he looks after the family now that they’re older and can’t get around so well, especially in the winter. It was just a week or so ago that he was interviewed, and he told the interviewer about it. When he did, he praised his former coach. At the same time, he pulled the rug out from under Bale’s attempt to blackmail him.”
“Why was Bale going to blackmail him?” Stella asked.
“Lawyer initially installed the security system at the café for me,” Shabina said. “Rainier just had the cameras replaced with others of his choosing. The same as at my home.”
“Bale thought he could force Lawyer to erase all the evidence showing Bale had graffitied the café and threatened Shabina multiple times,” Raine said. “Lawyer installed the security cameras in most of the businesses in Knightly. Bale wantedeverything from the Grill destroyed because the incidents showed a pattern of harassment.”
“That skunk,” Stella hissed. “I take it Lawyer refused.”
“Lawyer came to me,” Raine said. “He told me the story of his high school coach and that he wanted me to get the information off the security feed immediately, just in case Bale found another way to remove it.”
“We know for certain Bale didn’t like either man,” Harlow said.
“What about the other victims?” Zahra ventured. “The first was Deacon Mulberry. He was interning with Sean for Fish and Wildlife. Would Bale have a grudge against him?”
“The truth is, Bale could have a grudge against anyone,” Stella said. “He’s been that way for as long as I’ve lived here. Do you really think the killer is Bale?”
“He’s capable,” Raine said. “Especially now that he’s lost his hold on Edward and Jason. Sean seems to be sticking with him, but the other two have distanced themselves from him. Once he realized he was no longer protected by his uncle, it’s possible he stepped up the killings because he needs to control something.”
Shabina shook her head. “There might be a tie-in between Bale and the other victims, but unless he has a partner, he can’t be the killer. He wasn’t in Yosemite at the time of the first murder. And he’s being watched by my personal protection team. They know where he is at all times. He was prowling around my café in the early morning hours while I was doing the prep for breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately, my men are his alibi.”
“I wanted it to be him,” Zahra said. “He’s the nastiest man in Knightly. I imagined him in prison and, I have to tell you, the vision was highly satisfying.”
The women laughed. “Sadly,” Harlow said, “you’ll have to let go of that particular dream.”
“I think all of us have that dream,” Vienna said with a sigh. “Moving on from Bale. Who else is a suspect?”
“What about Edward?” Zahra said. “Are all of you really buying that he’s turned over a new leaf and is Mr. Wonderful? Because I find it very difficult to believe. And if you notice, he was in the café, at the hot springs, with the Search and Rescue crew and at the boulders. There was a block of time that he was out of sight. He easily could have bashed Lawyer over the head and then rushed around acting the hero.”
“I can’t see Edward as a suspect,” Vienna protested. “Maybe I don’t want it to be him. I see a man finally standing up and taking charge of his life.”
