Wicked Games (Deadly Cool #3) - Gemma Halliday Page 0,40

dot of sauce sat on his upper lip, and I had the sudden urge to lean over and wipe it with my thumb.

I looked down at the table and focused on a small scratch in the dark wood to stifle the weird grooming instinct. "Well, I think he was angry at Connor."

"Obviously," Chase added.

"Angry enough to kill though?" Sam asked. "That's the question."

"Could be," I said, ripping open a packet of parmesan and sprinkling it on my slice. "He was at the con. He had opportunity."

"You think he's lying about not seeing Connor at the convention?" Sam asked.

I shrugged. "Possibly. I mean, if it were me, I probably would have sought Connor out first thing." I paused. "Plus he has no real alibi."

"Other than Super Mario," Chase said with a grin. He finally licked that sauce off his lip. I tried not to watch his tongue as it darted out, but the scratch in the table could only hold my attention so long.

"You know the same could be said of Phoebe," I pointed out, trying to avert my eyes. "Even if she was clueless that the game was Tyler's creation, she must have been angry at Connor for cheating her out of profits that were rightfully hers." I paused. "Or at least half hers."

"Half of potentially millions in profits is a great motive," Sam agreed.

"She says she was only there to serve him the documents, but what if she actually was there to kill him?" I said.

"I don't know," Chase said. "I mean, she was suing him, and we now know she actually had a good case. Why kill him when she could just get what she wanted in court?"

"Court costs can be expensive," Sam said. "I know. Kevin wanted to sue this company last year, and the lawyer he saw said it would take like a hundred thousand just to get into a courtroom."

"Wow." Chase sipped his coffee. "That's a lot."

"Who was Kevin suing?" I asked.

Sam shrugged. "The maker of his smartphone. He left it too close to his SVO converter and it exploded."

I stifled a laugh. "Poor Kevin."

"Okay, so suing someone is an expensive proposition," Chase said, getting us back on track. "But, if there was potentially millions on the line for Phoebe, a hundred thousand would be a sound investment."

"Okay, so maybe she didn't kill him over the money. Maybe it was more a reaction," I offered. "She serves Connor the papers, and maybe he laughs at her or argues or says something that riles her up. Then she kills him in a sudden burst of rage."

"I could totally see that," Sam said, licking sauce off her fingers. "She seemed pretty mad at you back there, and all you did was ask a few questions."

"Right?" I agreed.

"I don't know," Chase said.

I turned on him, hating how he insisted on defending the cute, successful older woman.

"I still think the person with the most to lose here would be Connor's manager, Jason Pruit," he went on. "I mean, if Connor really was thinking of firing him, that was a lot on the line for Jason."

"But why kill Connor? Doesn't that kill the goose laying his golden eggs?" Sam asked.

"Maybe." Chase nodded. "But, now he'll still get his percentage of everything Connor's estate makes, whereas if Connor had fired him, he'd be cut off with nothing."

"And a witness did see him arguing with Connor," I reminded them.

"I wish we could talk to Pruit," Sam said.

"Agreed." I had little hope Jason would be calling Connor's cousin back. Especially if he'd been the one to murder him.

"Well, here's what I want to know," Chase said, breaking into my thoughts. "How did the killer slip into the VizaSoft booth unnoticed?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there was a long line of people waiting to get into the booth. And the con was packed. If the killer slipped in unnoticed while Sophia was using the restroom, they must have been waiting for the opportunity to catch Connor alone."

"And taken it quickly," Sam agreed.

I nodded. "That's a good point. Okay, so maybe that narrows down our killer. Whose story matches the timeline?"

"Good question," I said.

"Well, we're here—let's reconstruct the scene of the crime," Sam suggested.

I was about to tell her I didn't think that would make any difference, when Chase jumped in. "That's a great idea."

My protest died on my lips.

"If we can physically act the moment out, it might give us a better idea of who is lying about their alibi and where they