Page 21 of Little Twisted Things

“Dahlia, hi.”

She didn’t look good. She was in her robe, and her hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in over a week.

“How are you, Kris?”

“Taking it one day at a time. I thought I was doing okay until the life insurance check came. Just another reminder that my husband isn’t coming back.”

“I’m sorry.” I placed my hand on her arm.

“It’s fine. Let’s go sit in the living room.”

I followed her and sat down on the couch, and she sat in the wingback chair across from me.

“The police are questioning Rachel again,” she said.

“Oh? Why?” My brows furrowed.

“They got a search warrant for her place and took her computer. Apparently, her search history was filled with some murders back in New York. Something about The Widowmaker case.”

“Never heard about those,” I lied. “So the police think Rachel was the one who murdered Kevin?”

She shrugged. “Kind of looks that way. But it doesn’t make sense. Why would she kill him? They were going to New York together?”

“Maybe she wanted him to leave you, and he said no. Or perhaps, he went that night to break it off, and she snapped.”

“I don’t know. The text messages from her that night to him were pretty racy.”

“It might have been a ploy to get him there. I guess we’ll never know.” I stood from the couch. “I just wanted to check in on you.”

She stood from her chair, and we hugged. “Thank you, Dahlia. You are such a good friend.”

I gave her a polite smile and walked out the door. Before I murdered Kevin, I broke into Rachel’s house when she was at the university and searched The Widowmaker cases on her computer, along with “How to kill someone and get away with it.” I planted motive. Anything to keep the police away from me. Did Rachel deserve to be set up? Yes, because she knew Kevin was married and didn’t care.

One Week Later

I awoke with a killer headache again. After getting dressed and taking some Motrin, I headed to work. The morning sun poured through the gallery windows, casting warm shades of gold over the paintings in its path. I arrived at work early to unpack the new shipment of artwork that had come in yesterday. Tess had an appointment first thing this morning and would be late, so she told me to get a head start on the new display.

As I was unwrapping one of the paintings, the bell above the gallery door chimed, and Tess rushed inside carrying two coffees and her phone.

“Dahlia, have you seen the news?”

“No. I haven’t. I got here early to start unwrapping the new artwork. What happened?”

She stepped behind the counter, setting the coffees down with her trembling hands. What on earth happened that had her so shaken?

“It happened again,” she said.

“What happened?”

She grabbed her iPad from under the counter and brought up one of the local news stations.

“Breaking news this morning as the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office investigates the discovery of another young woman found dead in Key West. The victim, whose identity has not yet been released pending family notification, was discovered just before sunrise by a maintenance worker near Higgs Beach. Authorities have confirmed similarities between this homicide and the recent murders of graduate student Beth Richter and university Professor Kevin Hadley.”

“My God. I can’t believe this,” I said. “Did they say how she died?”

“No.” Tess shook her head. “That’s all they’re saying right now. I can’t believe this, Dahlia. I’m frightened.”

“It is unnerving,” I said.