Chapter 34 #2
“A murky one. Being new to this island, Donald hadn’t made friends. He was going through the process to practice here, but it takes about a year.”
“He wasn’t working, so that gave him plenty of time to follow his wife around.”
“On the day she and Bobby were killed, he made a point of talking on social media about networking at an event being put on by the Palmchat Islands Pharmacists Association that night. Big deal at The Queen Palm hotel in St. Killian with hundreds of attendees.” Everett leaned forward.
“Several people have confirmed seeing him there, but no one can corroborate that he was at the event the entire night.”
“That’s convenient. He could make sure he was noticed, leave, come to St. Basil, kill them, then go back.”
“That’s the theory.”
“And because he doesn’t have many connections here yet, people noticing him once might count for more than it should.”
“Exactly.”
“But wouldn’t there be a trail of him traveling between islands? Camera footage at the ferry or credit card transactions?”
“He owns a small boat. Easy for him to dart between islands without being tracked.”
“He had the means to do what you’re suggesting,” Remi said.
“Working theory is that he found out Lois was going to St. Basil to hook up with Bobby. He intercepted her before she could and killed her. Then returned to show his face at the event.”
“And you think he left the event and planned to what?”
“Plant her body in your house with Bobby in The Bluffs and make it look like Bobby killed her.”
Remi groaned. “But when he got there, he saw Bobby and me arguing. Probably saw me cut him with the machete and changed his plans.”
Bobby’s voice slammed through her mind. Move. Remi, get out of the way.
“Bobby saw him. Recognized him. Knew it was the jilted husband coming to confront him, and he pushed me out of the way to protect me.”
“Donald could’ve easily adjusted his plans once he saw the two of you fighting. He killed Bobby while you were knocked out, then stabbed Lois and set her up in the bedroom?—”
“To make it look like I was the one who snapped and killed them both.” Remi pushed back from the table and stood. “That fucker is framing me!”
“And doing a damn good job of it, too,” Everett said.
He stood, following her until there were only inches separating them.
“Donald has spent the past few days doing interviews with every island outlet willing to put a grieving husband on camera. He’s insisting Lois wasn’t having an affair, that she was only there to deliver legal documents, and that you murdered his innocent wife along with Bobby. ”
A bitter taste filled Remi’s mouth.
“So he’s using me to clean up his wife’s reputation.”
“He’s using the media to keep everyone’s eyes where he wants them.” Everett’s voice stayed calm, but his eyes had gone cold. “The timing bothers me. A grieving spouse might talk to the press. What Donald is doing looks coordinated.”
“You think he’s deflecting.”
“I think he’s building a wall between himself and suspicion.”
Remi let that settle.
“Here’s the final piece of the puzzle that convinced me Donald did all of this,” Everett said.
“He took out an insurance policy on Lois a couple of weeks ago, back in the UK, where he’s from.
Small agency. Not sure how Hunter’s contacts found out, but I’m glad they did.
It’s the kind of thing that would easily get missed by the cops. ”
“How much?”
“Two million.”
Remi whistled. “He wanted to get back at his cheating wife and her lover, then cash in on her death.” Remi wrapped her arms around herself and looked toward the horizon as a deep orange sun dipped quickly below the water. “Is this enough to get the cops to arrest him instead of me?”
“Not exactly,” Everett said, then pulled her into his arms. “Because Bobby had no video surveillance at your house, we can’t definitively place Donald there.
Right now, a case against him is the same as yours, mostly circumstantial.
But with time, police resources, and a Francois detective on the case, they can dig deep and find the proof. ”
“What if they can’t? What if they still want to arrest me?”
“What Donald gives us is a healthy dose of reasonable doubt. Any attorney on the planet would be able to use what we’ve found to get you off?—”
“But not prove I’m innocent.” She tried not to sulk. Now that she knew she wasn’t guilty of killing her husband, she wanted everyone to know the truth. Not just think that the cops couldn’t prove it.
“There’s still the option to leave …”
“I don’t want that either,” she said, and she meant it.
She didn’t want a life with the man she loved, living in the shadows with fake names and new identities.
She wanted the full experience with shared family holidays, birthdays with all their friends, and walking around town without looking over their shoulders. “I want us to stay and clear my name.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” He kissed her on the nose.
She believed him. Maybe not with the certainty she wanted. The cops were still looking for her, Bobby was still dead, and a man named Donald Eastman was walking around in front of cameras pretending to grieve a woman he may have killed.
But she believed him enough to breathe.
Everett brushed his thumb along her cheek.
“What’s our next move?”
“My next move is to take all of this new information to the police,” Everett said. “I’ll drop in on Chief Brown tomorrow and show her what we’ve found. If she sees what I see, she’ll do the heavy lifting with St. Basil P.D. to investigate the new lead.”
“And in the meantime, I need to stay hidden.” She knew there was no other option. There wasn’t much she could do to clear her name. The best thing was to stay out of the way and let Everett and the others do what they do best.
“Yes,” Everett said, as a sexy smile spread across his face. “But we’ll switch up the location.”
“To the new safe house,” Remi said. “Where are we going?”
“The Love Shack.”
“What? You can’t mean the guard house in the Breaklands that we used to sneak off to every summer.” She paused, and the look on his face was the only answer she needed.
Remi shrieked, stretching her arms in the air in triumph.
“Now, that’s something to celebrate!”