Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,49
good.”
“We only went over to ask a couple of questions, and she was perfectly fine when we left, but if anyone dusts that house for prints, you will see me, Katherine, and Megan all over the place.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Anything else?”
Toni glanced at Henry. “Uh… Whit Fairfield and Marissa were blackmailing Henry?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He glared at her. “When were you going to tell me about this?”
“I only found out about it like three days ago, okay? I haven’t exactly had a lot of time to process.”
Drew rubbed a hand over his face. “Tell me you can alibi the big-ass suspect sleeping next to you, who was being blackmailed by the murder victim and the lady who got beat up tonight.”
“He was cooking pasta in my kitchen when I got back from Marissa’s house last night, and he did not leave my place once until we got the call from Nico about her being in the hospital.”
Drew nodded. “And Nico?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“Okay.” He shook his head. “The neighbor who called the cops said she heard a man and a woman arguing, but she couldn’t hear them clearly. There’s no way she could identify him.”
“Security cameras?”
“We’re pulling the footage, but I can tell you that condo complex doesn’t have a great system. It’s more for show than anything else.”
“Because it’s Moonstone Cove,” Toni said. “Where’s safer than the Cove?”
“Exactly.” He tapped his fingers on his knee. “Dammit, Toni, I really want to get back to my quiet little beach community. You know what I mean?”
“A Big Lebowski reference at” —she looked at her watch— “two in the morning, Detective. That’s impressive.”
“I do what I can.” Drew didn’t crack a smile. “So Fairfield was blackmailing your man here?”
She sighed. “Okay, it’s a long story and it doesn’t exactly make Marissa very sympathetic, which feels wrong to talk about when she’d fighting for her life, but the short version is, Marissa tried something with Henry before she and Nico split, Henry never told Nico about it, Marissa and Fairfield used that incident—and Henry’s failure to tell Nico—as leverage to try to get him to sabotage Nico’s business.”
“And did he?”
Toni shrugged. “Henry passed along some bullshit information, but mostly he kept trying to put Fairfield off. He doesn’t know who was doing the sabotage at the winery like the tractor and stuff.”
“You believe him?”
She nodded. “I do. He’s an honest person, and he kind of spilled his guts. If he’d done anything to Nico, he would have told me.”
“So Fairfield and Marissa were blackmailing Henry, who has an alibi for this attack.”
Toni nodded. “And the reason I went over to talk to Marissa after work yesterday was to find out who else they might be blackmailing.”
“In my admittedly limited experience with blackmailers, it’s a fairly safe bet your man wasn’t the only one.” Drew raised an eyebrow. “But you thought Marissa was just going to tell you?”
Toni shrugged. “I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be, and Marissa isn’t as smart as she thinks she is. She gave me a couple of names. And she said that Fairfield had a safe. Said he kept guns in it and a black book with his contacts.”
“I knew about the firearms. He had them registered. Have not found any book like you’re talking about.”
“The gun that killed Fairfield? Was it his own?”
“Yeah.” Drew nodded.
“Weird and horrible,” she said softly.
Henry shifted and leaned toward her. Toni put her head back on Henry’s shoulder and he rested his head on top of hers.
Drew smiled. “You guys are cute.”
“Don’t get started, okay? This isn’t exactly how I’d planned to introduce him to my crazy family.”
“Ah, he’s a good guy. Cynics like us can tell who the jerks are, and he’s not one of them.”
“I’m not a cynic.”
“Of course you are.” Drew crossed his arms over his chest and yawned. “Names?”
Toni was too tired to argue with him. “Of who? Blackmail targets?”
Drew nodded.
Toni lowered her voice even more. “I’m not positive, but she mentioned Marla Price at the Moonstone Cove Ledger. She mentioned Ruben Montenegro, who—according to Marissa—did not get along as well with his boss as he makes out. And she mentioned his accountant. I can’t remember his name, but it was a guy. And one more person…” She closed her eyes. “Um, the lady at the club. At the country club. The social director?”
“Pamela something? Yeah, I’m pretty sure she had a relationship with Fairfield. That was an affair.