“You killed my brother.” Rocky’s jaw tightened.
“I had each of the food dishes tested at a local lab. Traces of rat poison were found in the fettuccine but not enough to cause heart failure or death.”
Rocky started swearing, his face turning bright red.
All Carlita could think was that her hopes of gleaning clues were fading fast.Confirmed heart failure?
“Rocky.” Dernice interrupted, talking to him in a low, soothing voice. “Carlita had never met your brother until the party. Think about it. What reason could she have for wanting to kill him? It would ruin her business.”
His eyes narrowed. “Then how did he suddenly have heart failure?”
“You bring up an excellent question, one I wish I could answer,” Carlita said. “I believe the police might be getting close to figuring out what happened.”
“We were wondering. I know Sonny…he had lots of girls who were friends,” Dernice said.
“More than one. Had ‘em coming and going out of his place at all hours,” Rocky said. “He and Courtney were hot for a while until Paul threatened to beat the daylights out of him.”
“Maybe it was Paul,” Dernice said. “I believe I heard he visited Sonny at the hospital.”
“I was there right after they brought him in and didn’t see him,” Rocky said. “I don’t get it. My brother was feeling better. How could he suddenly die?”
“Did Sonny have any enemies you know of?” Carlita probed. “Anyone he mentioned who might have wanted to hurt him?”
“Besides his run-in with Paul Maul, I don’t believe so,” Rocky said. “Sonny was a lover, not a fighter.”
“What about hobbies, interests, places he liked to hang out?” Carlita pressed.
The man thought about it. “Working for the city, he occasionally attended functions, mostly mandatory. He loved his motorcycle and riding.”
“Speaking of his motorcycle, there was a member of your biker club, Creed, who attended the party. I recall hearing about an accident. Creed blamed another biker for causing it.”
“Me. Creed thought I caused his crash, but I didn’t. We got into it. Creed didn’t have a beef with Sonny. We got it hashed out. He’s cool,” Rocky said. “Look, I’m not in the mood to talk about this. I thought you said Sonny had borrowed something from you and you needed it back.”
“Yes. Uh…it was a pair of Wiley X sunglasses.”
“Good brand,” Rocky said.
“The best. He borrowed my spare pair during our last ride when his broke. I lost my other pair yesterday. I got some new ones coming but they’re…uh…on back order.”
“Sonny’s got several pairs. I can take you over to his place to let you figure out which ones they are.”
“That’d be great,” Dernice said.
Rocky told them to wait on the steps and left to track down Sonny’s house key.
Dernice grabbed Carlita’s arm and whispered in her ear. “If Sonny had women coming in and out of his place, we need to keep our eyes peeled for clues.”
“That’s the plan. Actually, I have a plan.”
“Plan?”
“You’ll need to distract Rocky.”
“Distraction is my middle name.” Dernice thumped her chest. “Dernice the distracter.”
Chapter 27
Rocky returned, ending Carlita and Dernice’s conversation.
