“I was at a very public baseball game with thousands of people,” I affirm.
“You’ve got a missing person?”
“Rand Kestrel. He was with me at my 30th class reunion, pretending to be my fiancé,” I explain. “It was during the reunion I discovered several of my former boyfriends were dead. I sayformerbecause it’s not like we broke up or anything. I thought they ghosted me, but it looks like someone targeted guys I dated, killing them right before we…”
“Right before they had Sexy Times,” Wysdom pipes up from her spot at the table.
“Right. Um, what she said.”
“So, we’re dealing with a serial killer,” Detective Janecek states.
“Quite possibly.”
“And it looks like Dash Malum is behind it all,” Celia states.
Tatiana nods. “That would make sense, but he was in jail Friday night.”
“What for?” Luke asks.
“Abusing his now ex-girlfriend. And, if he was locked up, he couldn’t have killed Wendell,” I sink into a chair and prop my head in my hands. “So, if not him, who?”
“Could he be working with someone?” Wysdom offers. “When Claire Rousseau was murdered, the murderer had a partner.”
I perk up. “That’s an idea. Dash’s former girlfriend - the one he was in jail for abusing - said he was in Tampa when Wendell disappeared. I dismissed him as a suspect at that point, but what if they’re working together? What if she’s lying to protect them both?”
“Still wouldn’t explain how they killed Dr. Baumann,” Tatiana points out. “Wasn’t she giving her statement at the time of the murder?”
I deflate faster than a discount store balloon. “True.”
“Well, since he’s back in jail,” Wysdom begins.
Luke frowns. “What do you meanbackin jail?”
“Oh, yeah,” I laugh nervously. “I was getting to that part. Mara, Dash’s ex, might have recanted her testimony, and Dash was out of jail. He followed me to Flamingo Cove, tried to drug my drink, and do god knows what with me.”
The room is suddenly filled with growly Alpha Males, ready to murder Dash.
I hold up my hand. “Thanks to the anti-date-rape-drug straw Rand made, I figured out what Dash was up to and turned the tables on him.”
Wysdom bounces in her seat. “Sheswitchedaround their drinks. And went he went down, she ‘accidentally on purpose’ kicked him in the ribs.”
Luke’s eyes narrow at me. I narrow mine right back.
“As I was saying, since he’s back in jail, all we need to do is talk to Dash, see if he’s a murderer, or working with someone, and get him to confess, right?” Wysdom slaps her hands on the table and stands. “Easy peasy.”
“If only we knew someone in the Flamingo Cove Police Department who owed you a favor,” I tease her.
“For this, I’ll have to go to a higher power,” Wysdom grins.
“Oprah?” Celia asks.
“Nope. Chief Dad,” Wysdom winks.
Chapter 46
“Hello. My name is Carolina Saber. You stole my virginity. Prepare to die. Or, uh, go to prison.”
-Carolina
