Bill didn’t want the gruesome images blasted across the island.
I talked to the maintenance guy, Alberto. “Did you see anyone in the area?”
Alberto shook his head. He was about 5’7” with wavy dark hair and a bushy mustache. In broken English, he said, "I find him like that. I tell Mr. Warren."
"How well did you know Liam?”
Alberto shrugged, "I see him around. He wave.”
"Can you think of anybody who might have wanted to kill him?"
Alberto shook his head.
I dug into my pocket and handed him a card. "Get in touch if you think of anything that might be helpful."
He nodded. "Si.”
With a suspect already in mind, I knew who I wanted to talk to first.
6
“Deputy Wild, what can you tell us?” Paris asked as we left the tennis courts. The camera lens closed in, and a fluffy boom microphone hovered overhead.
I made a call for witnesses to come forward and left it at that.
We stepped out of frame, made our way to the parking lot, and hustled back to the Porsche. I climbed behind the wheel, cranked up the engine, and pulled out of the lot. I called Isabella, my contact at Cobra Company. She had access to intelligence resources the department could only dream of. It wasn't always legal, but it came in handy.
I asked her to see if she could put any cell phones near the tennis court around the time of the murder. I didn't think a killer would be stupid enough to leave his phone on while committing such a heinous act. But it could have been a spontaneous crime of passion. Judging by the number of times the racket hit Liam's face, it was a heated exchange.
It didn't take much digging to learn that Liam had a sister who lived on the island. From what I could tell, she was his onlynext of kin. Jack and I headed across town to make the death notification. Never a pleasant thing.
Lauren Prescott lived in the Delphine. It was an upscale midrise, popular with young professionals. I parked in the visitors’ lot, and we hopped out and hurried to the main entrance. I buzzed her unit from the call box, and she answered a moment later. "Hello?"
"This is Deputy Wild with Coconut County. Can you let us into the building? We need to talk for a moment."
"Talk about what?”
"About your brother Liam.”
"Is he okay? Is he in some kind of trouble?”
"It's better if we speak face-to-face.”
After a pause, she said, “Okay,” then buzzed us in.
We stepped inside and made our way across the lobby, then took the elevator up to the third floor. I knocked on #314, and footsteps padded down the foyer a moment later. Lauren unlatched the deadbolt, then pulled open the door and looked at us with concerned eyes.
She was an attractive woman with wispy blonde hair, azure eyes, and classic features. Both she and her brother had won the looks lottery.
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news," I began, then told her of her brother's demise.
Her eyes filled, and she burst into tears. She grew wobbly, and we helped her into the apartment to the sofa. I grabbed a tissuefrom the coffee table and handed it to her. Lauren blotted her eyes and sniffled.
"Liam was all I had left," she said between sobs. She took a moment and pulled herself together. "How did this happen?”
"Your brother was murdered," I said.
Her eyes rounded. "By whom?”
