A quizzical look took over her face. “Really?”
I nodded somberly. “Yeah. It’s not easy to take a life, and while you would’ve been justified, I would hate for you to have that weighing on your mind.”
She stared at me while that sank in, and I added, “Would be even harder since you had been married to the fucker.”
Her chin dipped down in a slight nod. “You’re right. I hadn’t even thought about that. Hell, part of me wished I had taken him out, but I keep pushing that thought away.”
With my good arm, I reached out and cupped her cheek. “It’s okay to have those thoughts, too. But, focus on this: what’s done is done. It sounds trite, but the fact is you can’t change what happened or what didn’t happen.”
Her hand covered mine as she turned her lips to kiss my palm. “Thank you, Clint. I don’t know what I would ever do without you.”
I smiled. “Well, you’re damn sure not going to find out anytime soon, comprende?”
She nodded before she lifted up on her toes to kiss me. Then she whispered, “Comprende.”
WHEN I HEARD THE SHOWER start, I dialed Angela’s number from my cell.
She answered before I even heard it ring. “Who’s this?”
“This is your only shot at help, Angela Nailer.”
“Fuck you.”
I spoke over her.
“Trey Garrity’s been shot, arrested, and is in the hospital. He’s going to point every bit of this conspiracy at you. So, if ‘fuck you’ is your response, then you’re gonna be fucked.”
“You’re full of shit, and I don’t even know who you are.”
I grinned. “I’m the man who told you Raegan would call you back. We haven’t met, but I know you’re a grade-A cunt, and if you think I’m not telling you the truth, I’ll hang up.”
“I don’t believe you about Trey.”
“All right. Suit yourself. But Orange County Sheriff’s Department will be in touch, I’m sure. Just a matter of how long Garrity’s in surgery.”
“How could he be shot? He didn’t have a gun.”
“Raegan had to defend herself. Best time I ever spent was teaching her how to shoot.”
“Whatever.”
I sensed she was ready to hang up. “Detectives can’t trace the money for Rae’s abduction and the botched hit which took out Bronwyn. Garrity’s on the hook for paying off Jason Lightner, but he’ll want to avoid a murder rap. Open your eyes. If you used his money to pay for that contract, you need to lawyer up, Nailer.”
After a long moment, she sighed. “Why are you telling me all this?”
I debated telling her anything.
“Because, Garrity should be charged for Bronwyn’s murder. So, should you –and you will– but bottom line, I know he’s a slippery fucker, and he shouldn’t get off easy.”
“I didn’t kill the sister. Carlos did.”
Fuck.
I should have set this up to record, but that wouldn’t be admissible in court – not that that was my problem.
Still. Authorities needed to hear this from her.
“Pretty sure his story will say otherwise,” I lied.
“He’s dead, asshole. I may not know that Trey’s been shot, but Jason gave me an update.”
I suppressed my grin. “Speaking of Jason, has he been hard to get a hold of this evening?”
She didn’t respond.
“Yeah, he’ll be in custody soon, too. Once my boss is done with him.”
“Your boss?”
“Yeah. Rae didn’t tell you? I’m a private detective, we’re cooperating on this case. Time to figure your shit out. Because, my guess, you’ll get a visit any time now from NYPD.”
My phone beeped twice indicating the call had either been dropped or she hung up.
I called Paul and relayed my conversation with Angela.
“Good. And at least you didn’t completely jump the gun. Detective Gaspar called the NYPD ninety minutes ago, so she’ll be taken in soon.”
“Did he tell you how Carlos factored into this? Not to speak ill of the dead, but he couldn’t hold a steady job because he couldn’t find his way out of paper bag with a map.”
Paul made a strange humming noise. “Yeah. Seems Jason saw Carlos beat the shit out of a known member of the Bloods. It was impressive and he recruited Carlos. Information Angela gave Jason was that Raegan would be in town on Tuesday, and that she regularly took Xanax, which is a type of benzodiazepine, just like Valium. So, crushing a high dosage of Valium into a glass of wine would knock her out while she took a bath, and not come back as a red flag on any blood or urine tests.”
My brows knit together, and I remembered how Carlos kept looking at Raegan during dinner on Monday. “Carlos hadn’t ever met Raegan, let alone Bronwyn.”
“Exactly how the mistaken identity happened. He watched the house. Saw a woman in her thirties go into the house carrying a large bag –you mentioned Bronwyn worked at a gym; I’m guessing it was a gym bag– he made assumptions. He broke into the house at the side door, saw the glass of wine, slipped the drugs into it. Hid in the laundry room when Bronwyn came back to get the glass.”
I shook my head. “You’re shitting me? Why wouldn’t Wynnie have taken the glass straight to the bathroom with her?”
“Jason called it a stroke of dumb luck for Carlos. The wine was on ice, so my hunch is that she wanted to give the wine time to chill before taking it back to the bathroom.”
“Jesus,” I hissed. “Rae mentioned she and her mom don’t put the wine in the fridge because they can just as easily pour it over ice.”
“I would say they need to stop that practice, but there shouldn’t be anyone else trying to kill them again.”
I growled, but cut it short.
He chuckled. “Sorry. Things are a little fresh. Anyway, Carlos waited until he figured she’d be asleep, then he pushed her under the water until she had no pulse.”
I closed my eyes while pain built in my chest. With a deep breath, I
