“Motive and means.” All that was left was opportunity. “Was she at the hospital the morning he died?”
The line fell silent as Zoe thought about the question. “She came barreling in afterward. That’s when we got into it over the autopsy. I need to ask around about whether she’d been there earlier.” Another silence. “But why would she poison Gina and Abby?”
“Good question. And it brings me to the news I have for you.”
“Oh?”
He told her about the proximity of Loretta’s and Dustin Landis’ offices.
Zoe responded with a long pause, and Pete could picture her puzzling out the implications. When she spoke, her voice was hushed, as if her thoughts were drifting directly from her mind, through the phone, into Pete’s ear. “She had access to the dumpster where the gun was found. She’s tall, broad-shouldered. I could imagine her being mistaken for a man if she was dressed in a black hoodie.”
Exactly what Pete was thinking.
Zoe continued to muse. “But why kill Elizabeth Landis and frame Dustin? Unless…Could she have been another one of his mistresses?”
“I was wondering the same thing.”
“She doesn’t seem like his type. Elizabeth, Gina, and Jenna were all cute girls-next-door. That description does not fit Loretta.”
Pete thought of the woman he’d been heading out to talk to. “Landis didn’t stick strictly to one type. He also had an affair with Elizabeth’s boss, Rebecca Weaver. She’s tall, dark-haired, legs that go on forever.” He winced. Probably should have left that last part off when speaking with his fiancée.
If Zoe caught the slip, she gave him a pass. “Someone needs to ask Loretta if she ever slept with Dustin.”
“I think it might be safer if someone asked Dustin. And by someone, I don’t mean you. In either case.”
“Why Abby though? And why Gina? What’s Loretta’s connection to them?”
Pete mulled over the links between the women. Gina had helped bring Landis to justice, but Abby had no ties to the case except for a failed hunch about a homeless John Doe’s involvement. “We’re missing something,” Pete said, more to himself than to Zoe.
Zoe had to admit Pete was right. They were missing something. Parked in front of Gina’s mother’s house, Zoe contemplated heading right back to the hospital where she expected to find more useful information. But she’d made the trip across town and needed to update Gina’s mom anyway.
Zoe climbed down from her truck’s cab and approached the front door. It opened before she could knock.
“Zoe,” Mrs. Wagner said, her voice hollow. She looked twenty years older than one week ago. Had it really been only a week since Zoe had walked into Gina’s bedroom to find her dead in her chair?
“Mind if I come in for a few minutes?” Zoe asked.
Mrs. Wagner stepped aside. “Not at all. Is there any news about my daughter?” she asked as she led Zoe into the living room.
“That’s why I’m here.” She took a seat on an ottoman facing Mrs. Wagner who’d claimed one end of a sofa. “I need to ask…did Gina have any history of diabetes?”
The question appeared to stun her. “No. I told you. She’s always been very healthy. She’d had her annual wellness exam early in the winter, and her bloodwork came back normal. Why are you asking?”
Zoe hesitated. How much should she reveal? “Her toxicology results showed she was extremely hypoglycemic.” The truth but not all of it.
“Oh, dear. What would cause that?”
“Any number of things,” Zoe said, leaving out the part about having already ruled out most of them. She also left out the part about the insulin. “You wouldn’t happen to be diabetic, would you?”
“No.”
“How about anyone else in the house?”
“No.” Mrs. Wagner shook her head. “Why are you asking about the rest of us? Even I know diabetes isn’t contagious.”
Zoe gave her a smile. “You’re right. Just covering all bases.” She decided to change directions. “I hadn’t realized Gina had testified against Dustin Landis in his trial.”
“Yes. And was supposed to testify again in his new trial. She was so upset about the whole thing.” Mrs. Wagner’s eyes widened. “You don’t suppose that had anything to do with her hypoglycemia, do you? Stress?”
“Stress?” Zoe almost told her no but reconsidered. “Why was she stressed about it?”
Mrs. Wagner fluttered a hand. “Oh, she hated the idea of having to go through all that publicity again. Having her kids hear what their mother had done all those years ago.”
“They’re young. I’m sure they wouldn’t have understood.”
Mrs. Wagner gave a bitter huff. “Instead they have to try to understand why their mom isn’t around anymore.” She grew pensive.
Zoe sat quietly, waiting for her to continue.
“I almost feel sorry for Dustin Landis. Gina was one of the few people he had in his corner.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gina truly believed he was innocent of killing his wife. That doesn’t excuse him from cheating on her and deceiving my daughter. But she was convinced he got a raw deal.”
“He fooled a lot of women.”
“It was more than that. Yes, Gina was in love with a man who didn’t deserve it and may have been viewing him through rose-colored glasses when she said he was incapable of murder. But she also claimed he couldn’t handle a gun. Gina liked to target shoot at the sportsmen’s club and took him with her one time. I remember how she laughed because he didn’t have a clue about how to load a pistol. He didn’t know how to take the safety off or how to aim. She said Dustin Landis was the most inept shooter she’d ever seen.”
“Did she testify to that in court?”
Mrs. Wagner nodded. “The DA turned it all around. He suggested she was the one who taught him how to handle the
