“But you two used to date?” I pushed.
“Like fifteen years ago,” she snapped. “Old news. I am married to my job, and Reed is married to the water.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t try to paint me like Sasha. I’m not secretly dating Reed.” She waved a hand in the air. “And even if I were, it wouldn’t be scandalous. Neither of us is married…unlike Hunter and Sasha.”
I held up my hands. “I wasn’t implying anything.”
Rayna sighed and picked up a file off her desk. “I’m sorry about Mari, I really am, but I need to get back to work.” She turned her head and looked out over the water. “I meant it. I have no idea who would want to hurt her.” She shrugged. “But I guess if Hunter and Sasha were seeing each other, then one of them did it.”
I wasn’t going to be put off that easily. “Why were you so upset the other day when Eliza Nordic walked by in the alleyway and Mari mentioned befriending her?”
“Excuse me?” she snapped, slamming the file down on her desk. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do,” I said, shrugging off her anger. “You told Mari she was not to befriend her. In fact, you were pretty adamant about it.”
“I don’t know,” Rayna said. “I can’t imagine why I’d say that.”
“But you know Eliza Nordic?” Zane asked.
“Of course. We were in the same graduating class.” She gave us a small smile. “That’s probably it. We didn’t travel in the same circles, and I was probably just reminding Mari of that.”
Zane nodded. “I see. Where were you yesterday from two until five o’clock?”
“I was at city hall until two, and then I was here at the store until three. At three, I went to Bottoms Up to meet with a gentleman for business drinks. He’s wanting me to carry his line of product in my store. So we met around three-fifteen, had a drink, went over my terms, and I left the bar around four.” She opened a drawer in her desk. “Here’s the receipt. Says I paid at 3:51.” She gave us a triumphant smile. “Anything else?”
“Then where did you go?” Zane asked. “After you left Bottoms Up around four, where did you go?”
“I came back to the marina to work on a few things, and then I left around five.”
“Anyone here who can corroborate that?” I asked.
“Herman was here when I came back around four, but he was getting ready to leave for the day. After that, I’m not sure. Maybe if a fisherman or someone hanging on the dock saw me.” She waved a hand in the air. “How am I to know?”
“One last thing,” I said. “Did you receive some kind of valentine recently? Maybe one like Mari received in the mail?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Rayna said.
I arched an eyebrow at her. “I’m pretty sure I heard Mari ask if you received one because she and Hunter had each received one earlier this week.”
Rayna said nothing…just continued to stare me down.
“And then,” I continued, “I thought I heard you say both you and Reed received a valentine and that you guys thought Eliza Nordic had sent them.”
Rayna shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t remember that.” She picked up the file she’d previously slammed on the desk. “Now, I need to get back to work if that’s all the questions you have.”
13
“They are definitely hiding something when it comes to these valentine cards.” I shut the Aston’s door and waited for Zane to slide behind the wheel a few seconds later. “And by denying they have them, it just makes them look guilty.”
“But guilty of what?” Zane asked. “Murdering Mari?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like that they’re lying to us.”
“While we’re still in town,” Zane said, “let’s talk to Eliza Nordic.”
I pulled out my phone and opened the PADA app. “Eliza Nordic. Vampire. Works as a teller at Tidewater Savings and Trust.” I looked up at Zane. “That’s on the corner of Main and Harbor, right?”
Zane nodded and headed toward the bank.
A few minutes later, he parked along the curb and wepushed through the glass doors of Tidewater Savings and Trust.The bank wasn’t very big at all. There was a row of teller windows along the back wall, a small gathering of chairs near a window, and two desks off to the side for personal banking needs.
