stepsister—and it wasn’t good. “If I recall, she believed her stepmother planned a hit, and then had a change of heart at the last minute, getting her killed, too.”
“How were you involved?” Drew asked.
“I was a detective then. I wasn’t officially on the case, but Detectives Flowers and Rollins asked me to step in. Jennifer Evans was driving them crazy. But they checked out her theory and found nothing.”
Drew nodded. “There was no love lost between her and the victim, who happened to be her stepsister. Her alibi checked out—we talked to the two girlfriends she was with that night at her place, celebrating the delivery of her wedding dress.”
Drew and Toni advised him of Maria Tindal’s association with Bryon Nettles, and the fact that she’d taken a flash drive. “We were able to get a search warrant and confiscated all the cameras around his house, but so far, nothing illegal has been revealed,” Drew said. “We also confiscated his computer. Valerie is in the process of making a copy of the hard drive.”
“Have you looked at the flash drive that Maria Tindal took?” McPherson asked.
“We’ve both watched it several times,” Toni said. “So far, we haven’t found a connection to the murder, although we both believe there is one.”
McPherson shook his head. “Is that the only lead we have to go on so far? There has to be a reason the victim took that flash drive.”
“And we intend to find the reason,” Drew said confidently, glancing over at Toni.
The lieutenant smiled. “Good. Then, I guess you two had better get back to work.”
• • •
Back at their desks, Drew and Toni discussed next steps. They had pulled down their own screen, a miniature version of the one in the Lieutenant’s office, to go over each person of interest again.
“I wonder who threw the party that night. The one Maria Tindal, Byron Nettles, and Fred Tatters all attended. That’s one connection—we know all three people were in the same place at the same time.”
There was only one way to find out...which led them back to Byron Nettles’s doorstep early that afternoon.
The man frowned upon opening the door. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy to see them. “What do you want now?”
“We have more questions for you,” Toni said.
“I don’t feel like answering any more of your questions.”
“Too bad,” Drew said in a curt tone. “We can do things here or we can have a squad car take you downtown. Your choice.”
The man released an angry breath, then, without saying a word, he moved aside to let them in.
“Ask your questions and then leave.”
Drew nodded. “We were wondering about the party that you, Maria Tindal, and Fred Tatters attended. Who hosted it?”
Nettles rubbed the back of his neck. “A woman named Lucy Busch.”
“The Lucy Busch who owns a slew of BMW dealerships across the country?” Drew asked.
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“If I recall,” Drew said. “Lucy Busch’s parties tend to be rather extravagant. Big money people. High rollers.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“How did you wrangle an invitation to one of her parties?” Toni asked.
Nettles frowned. “You think I’m not good enough to mix with people with money, Detective Oliver?”
Toni met his glare. “Based on the annual income you presented on your last tax filing, I’d say, financially, no. But then, people don’t always report their total income to the IRS. It can be a problem. Maybe we should call...”
Drew could tell Toni’s statement hit a nerve. Nettles obviously hadn’t expected them to check him out so thoroughly. “I know Lucy through her late husband, Adam. We went to college together.”
“And where was that?” Andrew asked, although they already knew. Nettles would be surprised to learn just how much they knew about him.
“Ohio State University.”
“When did her husband die?” Toni asked.
“Two years ago.”
“What happened?”
“Drug overdose.”
Neither Toni nor Drew said anything for a moment, acknowledging the waste of a life. Then, Drew continued. “Is that how Tatters got invited to the party? Because you, Tatters and Lucy Busch’s late husband were college chums?”
“That’s right. Tatters and I have a standing invitation to all Lucy’s parties.”
“Do you have any idea how Maria Tindal managed to get invited to the party?” Drew then asked.
“I have no idea. That’s a question you need to ask Lucy.”
Drew gave Nettles a smile he knew didn’t quite reach his eyes. “We will.”
• • •
Toni adjusted her sunglasses as they got into the car. She glanced over at Drew. “He’s a little jumpy, don’t you think? I have a feeling he knows