Rota pursed her lips. “So Rayna still had an opportunity to murder Mari, right? If TOD was between three-thirty and four-thirty, that would give her time?”
“Definitely,” I said.
“And,” Zane added, “Kara and I both saw she sells jute twine and other ropes and cords inside the marina’s store.”
Rota clicked on another file. “I have Eliza Nordic next. Age, thirty-three. Vampire. Single, no children. Born and raised in Mystic Cove. After graduation, she got a job as a teller at a local bank. She’s been there since. She does tons of volunteer work.She’s an assistant cheerleading coach for middle school, and she also volunteers at the local animal shelter, library, coastal cleanup, food pantry, and hospital. That’s pretty much every volunteer outreach Mystic Cove has. Trust me, as the mayor, I know. Her financials are good, and she has no criminal record.”
Link finished off the liquid in his thimble and patted his stomach. “Motive to kill the lass?”
Zane and I looked at each other.
“There’s really not one,” I said. “Unlessshe discovered the truth about what happened all those years ago. But if that were true, then I’d thinkElizawould have sent the valentines talking about a secret, not Mari. So right now, the only real motive we have is dependent upon whether or not Eliza knows about what that group did to her fifteen years ago.”
“And being the trustee,” Rota said.
I nodded. “Now that we know that information, you’re right.”
Zane shifted slightly to look at me. “I know I’m usually the one who cautions about jumping to conclusions, but what about this? Let’s say after the back alley interaction you saw Thursday, Mari went home that night and thought about it. She calls Eliza and asks to meet to talk. They talk, and Mari admits to what they did all those years ago. And just when Eliza starts to get angry, Mari tells her how she put Eliza in her will…even giving her a stipend. So Eliza goes home, thinks about it, and the next day—Valentine’s Day—as Eliza is at the bank, it’s all festering inside her. The ‘prank’ they pulled on her, her lost scholarship, the pain she’s probably experienced all these years…and then she thinks about being in Mari’s will. The money that would come with that. Not only would she be in charge of Mari’s property and money, butshe’dalso get an income.”
“And what?” I said. “She goes to the cheerleading shed earlier in the day, maybe on her lunch, and steals some rope?”
“Or she bought some at the local craft store or hardware store,” Zane countered. “You saw her running errands in town the day before, right? So we know she goes out on her lunch break from the bank.”
I nodded. “Yes. I think she said something about getting coffee for the girls at the bank. So let’s say she runs to the cheerleading shed during lunch yesterday. That’s when she could have put all the supplies in her car ahead of time, and then after work, she drives to Mari’s house—maybe one of them called the other and said they needed to talk about what had gone on the day before—and Eliza kills Mari and then goes to cheerleading practice.”
For a minute, no one said anything. Of all the different ways I tried to picture how the murder went down, this was pretty spot on.
Zane held up a hand. “I’m just theorizing here. Maybe I’m completely wrong.”
“I think it’s a pretty decent theory,” I said.
“Alibi and opportunity?” Rota asked. “Although you’ve pretty much told us.”
I smiled. “True. Eliza said she left work at three-thirty and went to the school for cheerleading practice. She parked in the teacher’s parking lot because there’s a cheerleading shed where all cheerleading gear and crafts are kept. She said she loaded poster paper and craft items into a buggy and then hauled it up to the middle school. She thinks she got to practice around four-fifteen.”
Rota nodded. “And you’ve already mentioned her accessibility to the murder weapon.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Even if she took the supplies with her, it’s still tight in the timeline. I’ve seen her walk. It takes her a while.”
Rota clicked on another folder and projected it onto the wall. “Next is Sasha Carter. Age, thirty-two. Fairy. Single, no children. Moved to Mystic Cove with her parents when she was twelve. She currently owns Fairy-Kissed Confections, a chocolate store located inside Supernatural Sport Resort. Her personal and business financials are good, but she does have a criminal record for vandalism and trespassing. It’s local, so I pulled it up. The incident stemmed from a bad breakup. Seems she took her anger out on her ex by breaking into his apartment and setting up three glitter bombs throughout his apartment.” She grinned. “Needless to say, the ex-boyfriend pressed charges. According to the report, she was sentenced to a weekend in jail here in Mystic Cove and had to do ten hours of community service at the food pantry and attend a mandatory anger management class.”
“So she has a temper when crossed,” I said.
Link laughed. “A temper she settles with glitter bombs. It’s diabolical.” His wings glowed red and green. “I love it.”
Rota rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Motive to want Mari dead?”
“Could be two-fold,” I said. “Sasha is having an affair with the victim’s husband. We also know she received a valentine in the mail as well. Could be Sasha feared Mari would go to the sheriff with what they’d done fifteen years ago as well. By killing Mari, she’s killing two birds with one stone.”
Link flittered over to the cart and picked up a petit four with both hands before zipping back over to the globe. I couldn’t help but smile as he did his best to tilt his head and bite into the topside of the frosted cake.
“Alibi and opportunity?” Rota asked.
Zane strolled over to the cart and chose more fruit. “Sasha told us she was with Hunter until two that afternoon.”
“That part is true,” I said. “I overheard their little tryst. So we know they were both together. Sasha told us she leftHunter’s office and ran some errands. She did some window shopping, went to the florist, grabbed a coffee, and then went grocery shopping. She was home by three o’clock. She talked to her retired neighbor for a bit, then went inside. She said she stayed there until Hunter called her around six-thirty to tell her what happened and that he was going out to Supernatural Sport Resort to spend a few nights.”
“That’s just wrong in so many ways,” Rota said.
