Carlita pointed at the bag. “What are you going to do with those?”
“Turn them into the authorities as evidence. I’ll lay out my theory and ask that they be examined.” Elvira frowned. “I hate to think that Weston was involved.”
“Do you think he could’ve murdered Ava?” Mercedes asked.
Elvira shrugged. “Under the right circumstances, I believe all of us are capable of murder.” She turned to Tori. “Is it all right if I take a look around inside the pool house?”
“Why not?” Tori removed her master key from her pocket and unlocked the door. She held it open and the others stepped inside.
Carlita reached for the doorknob. “Do you mind if I close the door?”
“Yes, please do. All of this rain makes this area a haven for mosquitos. They’ll be dreadful around here for the next few weeks until our next cold snap.”
Carlita motioned for Byron to join them, but he shook his head, so she pulled the door closed.
Since Mercedes and she had already searched the pool house, she stood off to the side and watched Elvira snoop.
Elvira was thorough; Carlita had to give her that. She even climbed on a chair and inspected the light fixtures. In the bathroom, she removed the lid on the toilet tank and looked inside.
“Whatever are you searching for?” Tori asked.
“Drugs.” Elvira replaced the lid. “Toilet tanks are a good spot to hide the baggies, not for long though. The moisture collects quickly.” She finished her search of the pool house and the women gathered near the door. “It’s clean. I guess I didn’t think I would find anything what with the investigators already searching the place.” She waved the bag in front of their faces. “Now this? We may be onto something.”
“Even if you find Ava and someone else’s prints on the cup, it doesn’t mean the other person was the killer,” Mercedes pointed out.
“But it would make them a person of interest,” Elvira said.
“True.” The women waited on the patio while Tori locked the door behind them.
“Thank you for giving me a chance to search the place,” Elvira said. “I know we started off on the wrong foot that time I scaled your fence and your killer dog knocked me down.”
Tori chuckled. “You should never mess with Duke. I think he makes sport of going after intruders.”
“He made sport of me. Not only do I want to get my sister off the hook, I figured I owed you one.”
“And someone died while your company was protecting my premises,” Tori pointed out.
“There’s that.”
The women met up with Byron and he led the way to the outer courtyard.
Elvira peeled off the rubber gloves and extended a hand. “Again, I want to thank you for giving me a chance to look around. With any luck, I’m onto something with these cups. I’ll let you know if I find anything out.”
She turned to Carlita. “You coming home anytime soon? It’s deader than a doornail back at the homestead. I don’t have anyone to spy on.” She winked at Carlita and before she had a chance to reply, Elvira turned on her heel and plodded off into the darkness, whistling a tune as she walked.
“Such an odd woman,” Tori murmured.
“In so many ways,” Carlita agreed.
Tori watched Byron close the gate behind Elvira. “Were you worried about us?”
“A little,” Byron admitted. “There’s still a killer on the loose.”
“Ah, but we might be one step closer to figuring out ‘whodunit,’” Tori said.
“I hope so.” Byron waited for the women to step inside the front hall and then locked the front door behind them. “I’ll shut the pool house and pool lights off now.”
“Thank you Byron.” Tori motioned Carlita and Mercedes to follow her back into the library and closed the door. “I was thinking about what Elvira said, how her sister noticed Ava near the pool house looking anxious. Perhaps she was waiting for someone. What if Elvira’s theory is correct and those two plastic cups belonged to Ava and her killer?”
“That could very well be the case,” Carlita said. “But who was Ava sipping wine with? Weston admitted to giving Ava a business card with his personal cell phone number on the back, yet the police didn’t mention it and we didn’t find it in the trash.”
“It could be in her room,” Mercedes said. “We never thought to search Ava’s trash.”
“The police searched Ava’s room. Do you remember if they looked in the trash?” Carlita asked.
“Yes, they did,” Tori nodded. “But even if they found the EC Security Services’ business card, they wouldn’t have thought much of it. I mean, Dernice was handing them out right and left. There are probably dozens dumped in the trash by guests who didn’t want them.”
“Point taken,” Carlita said. “But would they have noticed or cared about a cell phone number scrawled on the back?”
“Maybe not,” Mercedes said. “I say we go back to Ava’s room in the morning to see if we can find the card Weston wrote his number on.”
“Good idea,” Tori said. “But before we conduct a second search, I would like to meet with Mimi Dykstra. I’ll call her and see if I can arrange a last minute brunch for tomorrow. For all we know, Rick met Ava by the pool house.”
With a plan in place for Tori to try to schedule a brunch date for the following morning, Mercedes and a weary Carlita climbed the stairs to the second floor.
Mercedes paused in front of her bedroom door. “You sure you
