The Kind to Kill by Tessa Wegert

Author:Tessa Wegert [Wegert, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2022-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SIX

‘Bait and switch, is that what you’re saying?’ asked Tim, his eyebrows tightly knit. ‘Estella Lopez and her brother show up in town claiming they’re here to punish you for your cousin’s crimes, and all the while Barba’s committing atrocities of his own?’

Tim, Bogle, Sol and I had been huddled around a table cluttered with Diet Coke cans and loot from the vending machine for almost an hour, expounding on the hypothesis and throwing around ideas to see what stuck. We were over-caffeinated and jumpy, and I was having a hell of a time quelling the tremors in my hands.

And yet, when I pictured Javier’s face, first red with anger, then stone cold as he told me he’d only come to town for vacation, I felt we might be getting somewhere.

‘It’s a possibility,’ Bogle said, clearing his throat. ‘Based on my research, the timetable fits. We know they were in the area at the time of the murder in Massena on July third, and also last weekend.’

But Tim wasn’t convinced.

‘We’ve got nothing concrete to tie either of them to Rebecca Hearst or Jessica Greenleaf. As for their movements, they came up here for Fourth of July and Pirate Days, just like hundreds of other vacationers. Nothing inherently strange about that. And there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense about their behavior,’ Tim said. ‘If Barba’s our man, why would he assault you in public, Shana? He and his sister walked right up to you and introduced themselves. Dumb move for a killer who’s trying to stay hidden.’

‘He fits the profile, though,’ Bogle replied. ‘He has a record, and trouble controlling his emotions. Maybe he snapped at the restaurant without intending to.’

‘And that face-off outside the Bean-In?’ Tim said. ‘Again, the behavior makes no sense if Barba’s trying to lay low, and if he killed those women, why wouldn’t he be?’

I thought back to my conversation with Estella at the party. ‘Estella said Javier made some bad choices. It’s possible confronting me wasn’t part of the plan.’

‘Anger management issues,’ Bogle put in. ‘That fits the profile, too.’

‘And the sister?’ asked Tim. ‘Where does she come in?’

I said, ‘She could be his cover. An excuse to come up here, in case he accidently called attention to himself.’

‘Well, whoever did this, I don’t like the timing,’ Tim said.

‘Meaning?’

‘It took a long time for us to make the connection between these murders and Bram,’ he said. ‘The perp had us on a wild goose chase looking for a bridge jumper for half the week. As for Greenleaf, the clues were there – her name, the similarity of the kill site to New York – but she wasn’t in our jurisdiction, so we couldn’t put it together until we found Hearst – all of which brings us to this weekend. Now Pirate Days is in full swing, and the killer leaves that creepy message on the tip line. It’s crowded in town, busy. Good time to take another victim if this is about finishing what Bram started.

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