Dreaming Death (Krewe of Hunters #32) - Heather Graham Page 0,87

here himself with Raina and one of her pups. She has the one dog that has been her pet forever that she adores, but she’ll bring the German shepherds she’s been working with for the DC police force—she’s working with two dogs she seems to think have something special.”

“Like we have something special?” she asked him dryly.

He smiled. “Dogs already use their instincts better than we do. Anyway, not to worry. We’ll hover close. And they will get here with a warrant—traffic will have died down. It really won’t be long.” He sighed. “Wish we had someone else to keep an eye on the house. We could eat. Sit down in a restaurant with plates, maybe a massive steak or...”

Stacey laughed. “Don’t get started; we have to stay here.”

“For two hours,” he said wearily. “In the car. Well, it’s not like I haven’t done the waiting and watching thing often. I just wish...”

“What?”

“That there was one more of us. We could get that steak.”

“There isn’t one more of us,” Stacey said. “So, we sit. My angle is somewhat blocked by that stand of pines. Can you see the front of the house?”

“I can. I’ll know if he comes or goes. Through the front, at least.”

Stacey leaned back in her seat, as he was doing. He looked relaxed.

She knew his attention was on watching the house.

“If Dr. Lawrence is the killer, it can’t be just him. There was a woman involved, we know that now,” Stacey said. “Well, we’ve known that this can’t be a one-man enterprise, anyway. But...he’s all the way out in the country here. Are any of the women who are connected capable of doing this? Battle-Ax Agnes Merkle, for one, and then, the two wronged wives, Cindy Hardy and Sandra Smith. We can also try talking to Peggy Bronsen again, but the vibe I got when Agnes was talking about her was that the secretary was really jealous of the younger woman. Peggy is very attractive. If Smith is a womanizer, he may well have found her appealing—and asked her into his office more than Agnes.”

“Peggy never said that he assaulted her or ever acted inappropriately.”

“And I doubt that he did. He probably just enjoyed her appearance and her company.” She looked at him worriedly. “She’s still being protected, right?”

“Yes.”

“So...maybe one of these women is working in conjunction with whoever the killer is. Or another woman entirely. Maybe...maybe our instincts are all off! Maybe Tania is really evil, and Jess Marlborough’s roommates are terrible people, posing as desperate girls on the street just trying to get by. Nan could be pretty feisty!”

He gazed over at her. “Please don’t drive yourself crazy, second-guessing your instincts for the next two hours.”

She made a face at him. “You mean I don’t drive you crazy?” she asked.

He smiled. “I don’t think our instincts are that off. Cindy Hardy has been a question mark from the beginning. We still don’t know who she was seeing.”

“Maybe her mystery date is Dr. Henry Lawrence,” Stacey said.

“Maybe.”

“But they can’t have seen each other since the night that Billie Bingham and Lindsey Green were killed. Someone would have seen her come and go. She’s being watched.”

“Burner phones. They can connect, and we have nothing,” Keenan told her. “So, who is your money on?”

“Cindy Hardy,” she said.

“She isn’t very nice,” he agreed.

“I’ll bet you’re thinking that it may well be Sandra Smith.”

Keenan grimaced. “She isn’t very nice, either. And Agnes is a total witch. Thing is, it’s not illegal to be not nice. It’s not even illegal to be downright mean. And we always have to be careful. Some of history’s most heinous murderers have been able to charm people.”

“Oh, true!” Stacey said. She fell thoughtfully silent for a bit. “Keenan, do you think that we’re missing the boat entirely? We know—because of Bram—that there was a female involved. Logic tells us that there is more than one person involved, but only members of the Krewe would understand why we’re convinced at least one of the players is a woman. And we could be wrong because Bram could have been wrong. But say that it is a woman. We’re looking at nasty people. Do you think we could be fooled by that? Maybe Peggy was trying to make Colin Smith look bad, or maybe one of Jess’s roommates sold her out?”

“We don’t know, but they have been watched.” He was quiet a minute. “I believe that Adam—” he made air quotes “—anonymously made sure that their rent