Then his expression softened. “Believe me, the circumstantial evidence on this one is pretty damning,” he went on. “Pictures, phone messages, that sort of thing. I can’t tell you much, but let’s just say that your buddy Curt had a thing for serial dating mothers and daughters. And I don’t think that Mama Aguilar was too pleased about sharing, if you get my meaning.”
Mothers and daughters?
Abruptly, Darla recalled the last time she’d seen Curt alive. While discussing Tera, he’d made a winking reference to putting the moves on Hilda as well. At the time, she’d dismissed his comments as simply one of Curt’s crude attempts at humor. But if what Reese was saying was correct, then the man’s sly comment about Hilda had actually reflected a previous relationship with the woman. Could jealousy have been Hilda’s motive for murder?
“What about Tera?” Darla asked, more unsettled by Reese’s words than she wanted to let on. “Do you think Hilda . . . that is, could Tera’s own mother actually . . .”
“Do you mean, do I think Mrs. Aguilar killed her daughter, too?” He sighed and scrubbed a weary hand over his face. “I’m not sure. And you might want to remember that we still don’t have any proof one way or the other that the girl is even dead.”
“But what about Tera’s phone that you found in the Dumpster, and the fingernail I found later on? Isn’t that evidence pretty convincing?”
“Just because those two items were in the container, it doesn’t necessarily follow that there isn’t a less sinister explanation,” he replied.
Darla shook her head, recalling how she’d had the identical conversation with Jake just a few hours earlier. Maybe Reese could supply possibility number three.
“So how did the fingernail and the phone get into the Dumpster, then?”
“My best guess at the moment is that Mrs. Aguilar walked in on a little rendezvous between her daughter and Curt there at the brownstone. She’d had it up to there with the two-timer, went ballistic, and offed Curt with the crowbar . . . you know, your typical scorned woman.”
Ignoring Darla’s sharp look at that last sexist observation, Reese went on, “Then she struggles with her daughter—maybe trying to kill her, too, or more likely just trying to calm her down—which is when Tera loses the phone and the fake nail. The girl breaks loose and goes running into the night to escape Mommy Dearest. Hilda spots the phone and fingernail lying on the ground and has the presence of mind to toss them into the trash before she hotfoots it out of there.”
“So you think Tera may still be alive?”
“I hope so, Red.” He glanced at his watch and then gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “I’ve got to head down to the precinct now so I can chat with our suspect some more.”
Then, as Reese headed toward his car, another thought occurred to her. “Wait, what about Barry?” she called after him.
He turned and quirked a brow. “What about your boyfriend?”
Something in his tone made her take on a defensive air as she answered, “Any reason I can’t let my boyfriend know that someone has been arrested for his friend’s murder? You know, common courtesy and all that? He’s headed out to Connecticut tomorrow for the funeral on Monday, and I’m sure he’ll want to update Curt’s family on the situation.”
“You might want to hold off on saying anything,” was Reese’s equally cool reply. “Mrs. Aguilar has been arrested, but she’s not officially charged with anything yet. You never know, some judge might decide there’s not enough of a case against her and dismiss the warrant. No need to get the family’s hopes up yet.”
All of which made sense, Darla decided as she watched Reese drive off into afternoon traffic. Even so, his brusque manner rankled. She could only hope that poor Hilda could hold her own against him. For despite the detective’s claim that the circumstantial evidence was significant, something told her that Reese had arrested the wrong person.
She went back inside Hilda’s shop, locking the door behind her lest an unwitting customer drop in before she could finish closing the place down. Then, realizing that she’d been gone longer than she’d planned, she pulled out her phone and called James.
“An unsettling turn of events,” was his determination once she’d told him about Hilda’s arrest. “I must say, I would not have anticipated this end. Is Detective Reese very sure about