After all, Luis had loved her, even if he loved Traylor more. Some love in life is better than receiving no love at all—of that I was certain.
I glanced at the controls and found a knob that would reverse the cameras. Zelda’s murder would be on this footage. All I had to do was wind it back and I’d know for sure who had committed the crime.
When I turned the knob, the picture on the screens shrank, getting thick wiggly lines in the very center. A digital time clock was displayed on the panel, and I wound it back until it showed eleven fifty-five. That had to have been about the time that Zelda was murdered.
There she was! Zelda left me in her office and found her way down the hall. But someone was waiting for her. That someone jumped out and sliced into her chest. Zelda looked surprised more than anything. The killer placed a hand over her mouth and shoved her down the hall before skirting away, knife in hand.
That was when Roan and I came out and stumbled into Zelda. She slid down onto the floor and died.
I frowned. I hadn’t been able to get a clear look at the killer, so I backed up the footage again. I played it slower, hoping to get a better view.
In slow motion, the killer stepped out of the shadows and plunged the knife into Zelda. Instead of watching as Zelda stumbled forward, I kept my eye on the killer, staring as they stepped into the light right before disappearing from view.
I sucked in air. I knew who had done it.
That was when a voice sounded from behind me. “I figured you’d be doing some snooping. The doors are about to unlock, but I’m afraid you won’t be leaving with the rest of us.”
I turned around to see Tex standing a few feet away, holding the same knife that he had used to kill Zelda.
Crap. Looked like I was in deep now.
Chapter 23
“So your brilliant plan,” I said sarcastically, “is to stab me and run through the front door as soon as it unlocks, before anyone discovers what you’ve done?”
Tex mopped sweat from his baggy cheeks. “Actually, I planned on going out the back. But first I wanted to check the basement because Alice kept prattling off about the TVs. So here we are.”
I sneered. “So you’re just going to kill me?”
“Only because you found that.” He pointed to the screens. “I’ve been looking for it all night. Zelda said something that made me think she had cameras around, but everyone’s been watching me too closely to be able to sneak out. I’ll destroy them before I go.”
I quirked a brow. “You managed to arrange for a knife to drop from the ceiling. And to shut Roan and me in the attic?”
Tex chuckled. “Guilty as charged. And I almost got you with the knife, huh? I wanted to keep everyone off-balance, make them think it was either Lemon or Luis who had done it. No one would ever suspect little old me, the visitor from Texas.”
It never hurt to keep someone who was holding a knife talking for as long as possible. After all, if Tex was talking, then he wasn’t killing, and I was the one thing in the room that he wanted dead.
My gaze darted around the basement, looking for an escape. Unfortunately he was blocking my path to the stairs. However, I could turn and run in the opposite direction, back into the cavernous crater in the underbelly of the house. But there was no light down that way, and it would put me at a disadvantage.
Keep him talking.“Why’d you do it? Why’d you kill Zelda?”
I mean, might as well find out the truth while I was here waiting for him to make his move with the knife.
“She wanted money from me. She said that Sable had told her that I’d murdered her and if I wanted Zelda to keep quiet about it, then I’d have to fork over more cash. Nobody’s going to blackmail me. Once you start down that path, you don’t stop. Zelda would have kept pumping me for money. She would have bled me dry, and God knows how long it will take to find the jewels. It’s not like Sable gave me any great hints.”
He had a point. She hadn’t wanted to make it easy for him to find any of the treasure.
And while Tex spoke, I was slowly sliding back, away from him. The belly of the house was my best shot of getting out of this.
“Stop moving,” he commanded.
But I didn’t.
“Quit,” he snapped.
That was when I turned and ran. Behind me, Tex roared as I barreled through the tunnel-like basement, doing my best not to trip over any of the furnishings with legs that stuck out like cables on the floor.
It was a labyrinth of open spaces and brick walls that led to more open spaces, with old furniture stuffed into corners—mirrors and old chests that probably predated when Zelda had bought the place.
