One Foot in the Grave (Carly Moore #3) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,109
twisted to the side. “I don’t know. They could have met literally anywhere to discuss their plans. But you can get arrested for indecent exposure if you fornicate in a public place.”
I laughed. “Fornicate?”
“There are lots of things besides sex that could be construed as a sexual encounter,” he scoffed.
“True…” Sitting this close to Marco, thinking about “fornication” and all the things that would fit that definition, made my cheeks flush.
“We need to be careful about how we’re fitting the puzzle pieces together,” he said, oblivious to my thoughts. “It’s good to make speculations, but not at the expense of ignorin’ other possibilities.”
He had a point. “So what theories do we currently have?”
“We can’t overlook the possibility that Wyatt might have done it,” he said. “He had plenty of motive and no alibi after he left the party.”
“True.” Even though I didn’t believe he’d killed her, I’d acknowledge that he was a suspect until he was proven otherwise.
“We have the theory that Heather was working with someone to extort money from the Drummonds. And below that theory, we have a couple of possible co-conspirators. May. Paul Conrad, although we know of no connection between him and Heather other than our speculation that she might have been working with someone in law enforcement. From what I heard of your conversation with Mitzi, she doesn’t think Paul and Heather knew each other.”
“Yeah,” I admitted grudgingly. “If we take her at her word.”
“Another theory is that the Drummonds had her killed.”
“But that one seems less likely,” I said. “Based on the fact they didn’t move her body when construction began. Sure, Bart could frame Bingham for it, but I’m not sure he’d risk bringing attention down on himself.”
“True,” Marco said, “but we also need to consider where her body was buried. Who had access to that land?”
“Plus, the person who did it would have to be strong enough to carry Heather’s body to her grave site. May would’ve needed help.”
“Unless her grave site was also the site of her execution, and the murder simply had her walk there,” Marco countered.
“And what happened to Heather’s car?”
Marco grimaced. “Is it a coincidence that her body was found on the disputed land of a man who allegedly runs a chop shop?”
“So Bingham’s a suspect again?” I asked.
“Don’t rule anything out until you can prove it,” Marco said.
“I need to ask Bingham if someone sold him her car.”
“You really want to ask him that?” he asked in disbelief.
“Admitting to chopping up her car isn’t the same as saying he killed her. It just means he has a good head for business.”
“Now you’re justifyin’ his career choices?” he asked in disbelief.
“No,” I said, insulted. “But the man is the alleged owner of a chop shop, an illegal venture. Do you really think he has a moral compass when it comes to where he gets his cars? Don’t you think he just takes whatever he’s brought?”
“I don’t like the idea of you goin’ back out there,” he said, staring out the windshield again.
“Does that mean you’re not gonna give me trouble about continuing our investigation?” I asked.
He was quiet for several seconds. “I still think you should sit this out. Paul Conrad has obviously done his homework on you. He used your full name.”
“Because I introduced myself to him when I went to their house.”
“Still… he’s looked into you.” He paused. “If you keep pressing, he could have you arrested for interferin’ with an active investigation. Plus, you know he’s going to pump Mitzi for what you two talked about. Who’s to say that she won’t tell him everything? If she does, it won’t be hard for him to guess we’ll go see May next.” He turned his head to face me again. “He could have a deputy watchin’ to see if we show up.”
“I’m not stopping, Marco. I’m still lookin’ into this.”
“Then maybe we should call May instead of going to her house in Piedmont. See if she can give us some answers over the phone. We won’t be able to see her body language, so it’s far from ideal, but—”
“You want to do it anyway,” I finished.
“Yeah. I kind of do.”
“Okay, but I should be the one to call her.” I pulled my phone out of my purse, realizing my call with Marco had been disconnected. “Did your friend Darren give you a phone number too? Because if not, I can try to get it out of Molly.” Although I doubted Molly would be very cooperative.