Spring Break Slaying by Jody Holford

Author:Jody Holford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781959988076
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2023-02-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Ryan wouldn’t give them any intel, but Annie was proud of what they’d gathered between them, individually and together.

Claire had written Kimberly on a pink sticky note. They put the suspects in yellow with arrows leading away from the middle. Ashley had insisted they add her name. On each sticky was how that person was connected to the victim and below the name was the motive.

Annie stared at the board, chewing on the end of a whiteboard marker she guessed Claire wouldn’t want back. They had five suspects. Six, technically. She glanced at Ashley’s name. Five. They were just humoring their friend. There was no way Ashley would hurt anyone. The only time she displayed anything close to a temper was when she wasn’t winning on their bi-monthly games nights. She was kind and sweet. She cried easily and thought of others first.

Simon—sister’s boyfriend

Money clip found, police questioned

Jimmy—victim’s boyfriend

Short fuse witnessed more than once

Savannah & Drew—frenemies of the victim?

Overheard arguing with Jimmy who seemed to think they had motive

Savannah was jealous of Kimberly?

Darren—stepdad

Seen chasing victim down the stairs

Ashley—acquaintance of victim

Victim recently attempted to blackmail

“I’m glad this is Ryan’s job and not actually ours because a lot of that, particularly the last one,” Desiree said, “seem like weak motives.” She picked up her herbal tea, settling her hands around the mug like she needed the warmth.

“I agree with you. The most likely suspects are Jimmy and Darren. What do we know about Nicole?” Annie stuck the marker in her pocket.

“She’s pretty quiet. Three years older than Kim and her complete opposite. Doesn’t like being in the spotlight. She’s an accountant at a local firm.” Ashley had taken to making bird-like shapes with her napkins.

Annie bit her lip. She felt like one of them but technically, she was still an outsider. Still.

“I think Nicole’s name should be up there until we’re sure. From what I’ve heard, they weren’t close.”

The lines around Desiree’s mouth scrunched right before she nodded. “I hate to agree. Truly. I’ve known these girls since they were babies. But if we’re putting Ashley up on the board—a ridiculous notion in my opinion—we need to be objective.”

Relief washed over Annie as she hurried forward and wrote out a new sticky to add to the board. Her phone pinged just as she finished. Grabbing it from her back pocket, she felt a flash of disappointment when she saw it was an email from Ryan rather than an update on her parents.

“Oh,” Annie said as she opened the email.

“What is it?” Claire asked, refreshing her drink.

“Ryan sent over pictures for me to look at from the party. Kiera, the photographer, was going to send them to me anyway so I don’t see any harm in us all looking.”

“Why was Ryan sending you pictures of the party?” Margie asked.

“I think just to get a second set of eyes he trusts on it. Not that he doesn’t trust his co-workers obviously.” She really didn’t mean to diminish Ryan, the police department or elevate her own abilities.

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