Blood of the Demon (Kara Gillian 2)

I shrugged and started scrolling through the call history. “A return on a subpoena for cell-phone records could take weeks. We don’t have that much time.”

“Then I heartily approve of your larceny. I take it we’re heading to the hospital now?” he asked as he pulled out onto the road.

I nodded. “Yeah. But if Rachel Roth really had a panic attack, I’ll eat my badge.”

“It made an easy escape for her.”

I tapped my fingers against my leg. “I wonder if she thinks she’s in the clear now?” I looked over at Ryan. “We don’t have a damn thing on her.”

Ryan grimaced. “The DNA is going to show that Harris slept with Carol and, yes, he probably did accidentally kill her during rough sex.” He shook his head. “It must have taken balls to call his wife and tell her what he’d done.”

“Maybe it wasn’t the first time she had to clean up after him.” I fell silent as I continued to scroll through the swiped cell phone. We neared the front gate, and the sweeping staircase of Davis Sharp’s house came into view just as I reached the records for the pertinent date. “He didn’t!” I exclaimed, feeling a huge piece of the puzzle snap into place.

Ryan frowned at me. “What?”

I laughed. “Harris didn’t have the balls to call his wife. My first theory was right—partly. He called Davis Sharp.” I held up the phone in triumph. “But Davis must not have been alone.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “Keep going.”

“The Cardio Barbie was right. Elena and Harris were having an affair, and Davis found out and kicked her ass out.” I took a breath to get my thoughts organized. Now everything was beginning to make sense. “The maid described the woman with Davis as having light hair. I assumed she meant blond, but now I think she meant highlighted—that brown/blond/ash look that Rachel has. So after Davis kicked Elena out, he then called Rachel up and told her about the affair …”

Ryan gave a snort of amusement. “Ah, the good old revenge fuck.”

I grinned. “Exactly. And while they were busy revenge fucking, Harris was busy accidentally killing his daughter-in-law.” I tapped the cell phone. “He calls Davis in a panic—”

“—and Rachel overhears and knows she needs to clean this mess up.”

“Right,” I said. “Rachel’s smart and tough. She had no intention of divorcing Harris. She’d probably always put up with his affairs because she wanted the power and prestige of being married to a judge. It’s been damn good for her business, that’s for sure, and I’d bet anything that she was working up to running for judge herself fairly soon. If Harris went down for homicide—even negligent—it would drag her down as well.”

“Tough bitch,” Ryan commented.

“No shit! So Rachel had Davis drive her over to Brian’s house.” I paused, trying to fit it all together.

His frown returned. “She convinced Davis to kill Brian?”

I shook my head. “I still think Rachel did it. I don’t think Davis would have supported his buddy to that extent—especially after he’d found out about Harris and Elena. And it would have been easy for dear stepmom Rachel to get close enough to Brian to shoot him and make it look like a suicide.” More pieces started to fall into place. “In fact, I don’t think Davis had any idea that Rachel killed Brian until the next day, when it hit the news.”

Ryan’s mouth twisted. “At which time he proceeded to freak the fuck out.”

“Exactly. He confronted Rachel about it and ended up dead. But before that, I think Davis called Elena and told her what happened. It’s the only thing that would explain Elena’s panic. And I’ll bet you anything that if we check Davis’s phone records, we can confirm it.”

Ryan shook his head as he pulled onto the highway. “So why didn’t Elena spill what she knew to the police? It would have saved her from being a suspect in her husband’s murder.”

I thought for a few seconds. “Elena was never a strong suspect, and she knew it. At first she was afraid that Rachel might have known that Davis had spilled the beans to her, but after I paid Elena a visit, I bet she realized that it would take only one phone call from her to finish Rachel off …”

“More blackmail,” Ryan stated.

I gave a nod. “Yeah, that’s what I think too. But I bet it wasn’t for money.”

Ryan flicked a questioning glance my way. I gave him a thin smile in return. “Elena Sharp loved being a society wife,” I explained. “With Rachel’s cooperation and assistance, Elena could return to Beaulac and play the tragic widow—”

“—and remarry as soon as she found a new sugar daddy.”

Streets whizzed by as Ryan drove, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “So what is Rachel going to do now? We don’t have any evidence to prove she killed Brian, so it’s going to be assumed that Davis did it.”

“Yeah, but you’re forgetting one important detail.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me.