Hothouse Orchid (Holly Barker 6)

“So, his alibi is that he was home with Mom, asleep.”

“I guess that would be it.”

“If Mom corroborates that, then what circumstances would apply?”

“Jimmy has a boat, so he could have dumped one of the corpses in the sea; Jimmy has an unmarked police car at his disposal and a policeman’s uniform and badge, so he’d have no trouble posing as a cop; Jimmy is single and horny, and that’s a kind of motive; Jimmy had opportunity to steal the v-gun from the hospital, but so far we have no way to put him in the room with it; Jimmy had the opportunity to plant the panties and v-gun in Bruno’s bedroom, even if he didn’t kill him.”

“So Jimmy has motive, means and opportunity,” Josh said. “Isn’t that all you need?”

“In theory, but in practice we need corroborating evidence, and we don’t have any: no witnesses, no trace evidence at the crime scenes.”

“I suppose it would help if you could find a couple of women in Jimmy’s past whom he raped, or nearly raped, on a date?”

“Sure, but I’m beginning to wonder if Jimmy has ever had a date. And even if he has, what are we going to do, run an ad in the local paper? ‘Have you ever been raped or nearly raped by this man?’ ”

“Here’s a more pleasant thought,” Josh said. “None of this is your responsibility; you’re not a cop anymore. You’re returning to your day job shortly.”

“Yeah, that’s just great,” Holly said disconsolately. “It’s Hurd’s and Lauren’s baby.”

Teddy and Lauren were having a good breakfast, too.

“Looks like you’ve wrapped up your big case,” Teddy said, holding up the paper.

“How ’bout that!” Lauren said, giving him a big bacon-flavored kiss.

“How ’bout you and I pack up and head for Santa Fe?” Teddy said. “And if you don’t like it there, we’ll try La Jolla; and if you don’t like it there, we’ll find someplace you do like.”

“That’s a breathtaking idea,” Lauren said.

“Have you been thinking about it?”

“Of course, I have.”

“And what is your decision?”

Lauren got up and squeezed herself into his lap, and she put her arms around his neck. “My decision is YES!!!”

Then her cell phone rang.

Lauren picked it up, and Teddy could hear only her side of the conversation.

“Hello? Hi, Hurd. Okay, I’m listening.” Long pause. “Oh, shit. Yes, I see, square one. You want me to come in today? All right, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, and we’ll start over.” She hung up.

“I didn’t like the sound of that,” Teddy said. “What does it all mean?”

Lauren enlightened him at some length.

“So Hurd thinks Jimmy Weathers killed Bruno and all the women?”

“He can’t prove Jimmy did it,” Lauren said, “and he can’t prove he didn’t, either.”

“So you’re back at square one?”

“That’s about the size of it. And, Jack, I can’t walk out on Hurd with the whole thing just hanging like this.”

“I can see that,” Teddy said. “Well, I’ll just have to try to be patient.”

“I would be very grateful if you could,” Lauren said.