“It could be. Some of the puzzle pieces are still missing. I’m putting Cricket at the top of the list of suspects, along with Stephanie, the romance writer, and Tom Muldoon. I don’t think it was Austin. He’s too young.”
“Unless he’s got a Russian connection.”
“I doubt it,” Mercedes said.
“Always suspect the least suspect,” Carlita said. “What do they always talk about on those detective shows? Motive and opportunity.”
“Yeah,” Mercedes nodded. “Motive would be to silence Jon Luis and opportunity would be me. To set me up, someone Luis was already investigating…with mafia ties no less. I’m gonna read Jon Luis’ draft again. Now that I have more of the background, I might be able to glean a few more clues. Plus, I’m gonna have to keep a close eye on the draft. I told Cricket I had it.”
Carlita glanced at her watch. “I’m gonna run downstairs and check on Paulie, Gina and the kids.” She opened the front door and stepped into the hall. “We better be on our guard and make sure we keep the doors locked. It’s creepy knowin’ this Luis’ killer was in our alley, throwing a murder weapon in our dumpster.”
“If it wasn’t so horrifying, I think it would make a great story for one of my books,” Mercedes said.
After her mother left, Mercedes began re-reading Luis’ draft. Luis outlined his research in detail. She started with George Delmario’s death. Mercedes had heard bits and pieces of the tale, mainly how Delmario had gone into the alley after closing his store, to take out the trash and he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. “Sounds like a hit to me,” Mercedes muttered.
Delmario died of multiple gunshot wounds. The murder weapon was never found, nor was anyone ever named as a suspect in the case. Delmario’s wife, Louise, was questioned extensively, but she claimed she never heard anything, had fallen asleep waiting for her husband and didn’t discover his body until the next morning.
Mercedes always suspected Delmario’s wife had been warned to keep quiet or face the same fate. Instead, she quickly packed up her belongings, closed the business and headed back to New York.
Jon Luis briefly mentioned the property changed hands and was now owned by Carlita Garlucci and her family. He’d even jotted several notes about his plan to question the family to find out how they’d come to own the property since there was no trail of a traditional property sale.
Mercedes suspected that’s where she came in. Jon Luis dangled the carrot, telling her he had info on the Herbert Honeycutt case when, in fact, he planned to meet her to pump her for information.
She finished reading the Delmario information and started reading his research into the Madison Square / Honeycutt murder. His theory was Teresa Honeycutt hired someone to murder her husband, intent on collecting a large insurance policy. He even alluded to the fact Honeycutt believed his wife had faked a fall, she wasn’t wheelchair bound and even interviewed several close family friends.
Luis jotted notes of his planned meeting with Tierney Grant, how he knew the young woman had inherited the Honeycutt home and he hoped he would be able to search the property. Luis also suspected Tierney Grant and Teresa Honeycutt were somehow related.
What if Tierney was Jon Luis’ killer? She knew he was investigating the Honeycutt case. That wouldn’t be reason enough to kill the man, unless she was desperate to stop him.
Mercedes finished reading the part about Warren Paulson’s Russian connection, his boating incident and how his body was never recovered.
“Was Warren Paulson murdered?” Mercedes whispered. She slid her chair back and wandered over to the window, staring out into the courtyard. At first, she thought maybe the killer knew about the book draft from Luis’ publisher, but maybe not.
Luis hid the book draft in his storage unit for a reason. He had the storage unit key with him at the time of his death. What if Jon Luis had lined up two meetings the night of his death…the first one with his killer, and a second with Mercedes?
Mercedes needed to set a trap…but how? Was Cricket a killer? She seemed like such a sweet lady. Maybe she got scared when Luis started snooping around.
Knock. Knock. Mercedes hurried to the front door and peeked through the hole, certain her mother had forgotten her house keys. It was Cool Bones.
She opened the door. “Hi Cool Bones. Ma isn’t here. She’s downstairs.”
“That’s okay. I wanted to stop by on my way to practice. She slipped a note under my door, inviting me to an Italian feast here in the hall tomorrow night so I could meet Paulie’s wife, Gina. She also said something about a going-away party for Elvira.”
“I forgot all about it. Yeah. Ma mentioned it.”
“Where is Elvira going?” Cool Bones asked.
Mercedes glanced over his shoulder at Elvira’s front door. “Ma evicted her.”
“And she’s throwing her a going-away party?” Cool Bones chuckled.
“There’s more to the story. Elvira’s lease was almost up. She was moving anyway, but when the woman set her apartment on fire, it was the last straw.”
“I thought I smelled smoke the other day.” Cool Bones shook his head. “That woman. Once she gets a bee in her bonnet, you never know what she’s gonna do. I wonder where she’s moving to.”
“Across the alley.” Mercedes motioned to the back of the building.
“Our alley?”
“Yep. If you look out your living room window, you’ll be able to see her new place.”
Cool Bones let out a low whistle. “You don’t say. Well, I’ll be here for the dinner.” He patted his stomach. “Your mother makes some mean Italian.”
“Ma is a great cook,” Mercedes said. “I’ll be sure to let her know.”
Cool Bones turned to go and then he stopped. “Oh. I almost forgot to tell you.
