“It would be a valid excuse. Frick, it’s smoldering out there.”
Her phone pinged with a text message. “It’s from Liam, and I’ll pass along the highlights.” She read, then summarized. “Rideout’s squeezing the autopsy in now. Prelim is two gunshots to the chest, one to the head… nine mil, fired at a distance of fifteen to twenty feet. No casings in the tarp, but it and the rope have been forwarded to the lab. The tarp and rope appear to be brand new.”
“That’s one novel-length text message.”
“Don’t knock it. I like all the detail.”
“True enough, but if you ask me, it sounds like a hit. All that, and he didn’t confirm ID?”
Three bubbles popped up in the thread, just before a new text showed up. She held the screen so Trent could read along with her.
Sorry that I missed saying vic is female, identified as Christine Lane. Compared driver’s license photo to deceased, and there were business cards in her pocket.
“Just as we feared,” she said to Trent and pecked back to Liam.
TOD?
Bubbles then…
Preliminarily a few days ago.
She showed this to Trent.
“That would place time of death sometime on Friday after her seven PM showing. Now to find out who requested the viewing here.” Trent opened the closet for Christine’s purse.
Amanda was moving slower, but it wasn’t just the heat. Before Liam’s message, a small part of her could cling to denial about the victim’s identity. With one text, that was gone. Now before the day was out, Amanda would be breaking Spencer’s and Riley’s hearts.
ELEVEN
Amanda was still processing Liam’s text. The way Christine had been murdered seemed surreal. And Trent’s words,it sounds like a hit, kept ricochetting in her head. “What if you’re right? That this was a hit or execution?”
“If it is, we need to consider the person who requested the showing may have lured her here to kill her. Even if Dominique Sharp was in town, homeowners step out during showings. If this person made the appointment, they would have wagered they’d have some time to do what they… well, what they did.”
“Sure, but why target her here? And if this was the client, they took the chance she wasn’t going to notify her office.”
“Maybe they didn’t care. They’d be gone before anyone would check on her.”
“True enough.” Amanda put on gloves and went into the closet for Christine’s phone. She found the device right where they left it charging. After turning it on, she handed the phone to Trent. “You want to trace the pattern?”
Trent swiped the screen.
“Thanks.” She looked at the call history firstand saw that Riley had called her mother at 9:44 PM on Friday night. The call lasted a minute, so Christine had answered. It was likely within moments of her death. She shared this finding with Trent. There were also calls that morning from Art Beasley with Best Homes Realty that came in after Amanda spoke with him. He must have wanted to try reaching her himself. Amanda also saw Spencer’s attempts over the weekend.
Next, Amanda called in for the voicemails. She did this on speaker and entered the code of thirty-six twenty-three that Spencer had given them.
“You have twelve new voicemails,” the automated voice greeted them.
Amanda glanced at Trent as they prepared to settle in for a bit.
There were a few messages from Spencer, five from clients requesting showings on various properties or following up, and one from Art Beasley. But four flagged for Amanda. Three were from the same caller and had taken place over the weekend.
“Christine, I need the code for the box and alarm system for Charmed Court. I have an interested client.”
This message was attached to a contact in Christine’s phone, and it was a name Amanda recognized. “Wasn’t Marcy Maxwell the top agent for Best Homes Realty last year?”
“Uh-huh.”
The next message played out from Marcy, sounding more hostile.
