Page 145 of Murder on Charity Lane

“I want the option of displaying this outside. I’m using mural paint, too.”

“So you’re painting a super-realistic hedge to go outside where the real hedge lives.”

“Mm,” Ocean said, as her phone dinged.

“Huh. That sounds very arty.”

She was surprised by the note of approval in Riley’s voice. “What?”

“Yeah, I love it.” Riley grabbed Ocean’s phone and read her text. “Ooooh! Hamilton says the police found CJ’s phone. Some unhoused guy fished it out of a trash can at the train station.”

“Oh, no,” Ocean said, feeling herself deflate.

Riley tapped on her phone instead of responding, sending a text.

“What’re you saying?” she asked.

“‘Oh, no,’ obviously.”

She grabbed her phone back. “Did Hamilton really say ‘unhoused’?”

“No, because he’s a thousand years old.” Riley squinted at her. “So are you … y’know. Heartbroken?”

Ocean scrolled back to read the conversation. “No, we weren’t even … what do you say? ‘Talking’? Or we were talking, but we weren’t a thing?”

“Sure, Oma. What else does Ham say?”

She read aloud. “‘Sunny—guy from the parking lot—bought plasma from college students for his life-extension thing. Their blood solids. For research into longevity, according to his business model, but to inject himself according to the rumors.’”

Riley made a face. “Like a vampire?”

“Yeah, and not the sparkly kind.”

“Great reference.”

“Really?”

“No. I do like that the vampire’s name is Sunny, though. That’s deep.”

Ocean turned back to the phone. “Right. So apparently Frank—he’s the first dead guy—helped Sunny keep a lid on the scandal. Or the criminal charges.”

“So if the first dead guy was part of the cover-up, maybe the same person really did kill them both.”

“Huh. Yeah. How do you know so much?”

“I’m a natural,” Riley said, and headed inside without another word.

Ocean kept reading about the police report, thinking about all that blood. So Wheeler was strangled from behind, from inside the car. That meant he was half-dead before the guy slit his throat. Slit his throat vertically. Why?

Ocean

The killer was trying to

Maximize blood loss.

Hamilton

Do the police know what happened