Page 114 of Hard Evidence
“Because the person who stabbed him said, ‘Your girlfriend is sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.’”
“Girlfriend?”
A turn of phrase?Or a Freudian slip?
“I guess ‘paralegal working with the lawyer who represents you’ was too much of a mouthful.”
“Who stabbed him?Did he see?”
“A couple of kids from the El Caminos.New guys.He’d only spoken to them a handful of times.”
“I see.And that’s why he sent the one-percenters to keep an eye on you?”
“He’s concerned for our safety.”
Either that, or he staged the incident, made up the “your girlfriend” story, and sent the Diamondback Devils to make sure the women were doing what he wanted them to.
“What’s Levi’s theory on this?”Ari asked.“You’ve obviously spent a lot of time talking with him.If he didn’t kill Ruby, what does he think happened?”
Serafina glanced at Holtz, but Holtz threw her into the fire with an encouraging smile.Even though Serafina was clearly out of her depth, Holtz still trusted her judgment.Curious.
“Uh, the theory is evolving.Because of the dynamic in the house, he’s always assumed Justin was paid to murder Ruby, but at the time, he had no idea why.”
Ari began making notes the old-fashioned way, pen to paper.“So it’s the motive that’s evolving?”
“Exactly.To start with, he figured it was something to do with his work.Did you know his research partner was killed in a house fire soon after the trial?”
“August Groveland?Yes, we’re aware.”
“So, that was where we started.But we have more visibility over the circumstances of that crime now, and it doesn’t feel right.”
“By ‘visibility,’ you mean…”
“I mean we know who did it, and we have an idea why, but we’ve put that issue on the back burner while we deal with this one.”
“Justin isn’t motivated by money,” Brax said.“He still drives a twenty-year-old pickup, and he lived in the same duplex for a decade until it burned down.”
“Wait, it burned down?”
“Unrelated,” Jez said impatiently.Let’s not get sidetracked.“His neighbour was trying to burn leaves.”
“Out of all the property developers in Virginia, Justin has the worst margins,” Grey told her.“He’s obsessed with craftsmanship, and he gives half his profits to charity.”
“It’s not a terrible approach,” Brax added.“Because he has a reputation for quality, his developments sell out before they’re even completed, but he could make more money if he cut corners the way every other builder does.The point is, Justin isn’t going to murder anyone to make a quick buck.”
“That’s what Levi thought to start with, because he didn’t want to believe Justin was a psycho.But Ruby was killed in her own bed, and now Amie’s dead too…”
“…and Justin was looking for her from the moment he realised.He reported her disappearance to the police, he handed out flyers all over the neighbourhood, he hired Ari to help find her.Those are hardly the actions of a guilty man, and that’s before we get into the alibis.”
“So we’re back to the beginning.”
“And as I said, this began with Ruby,” Ari repeated.“That’s where we need to look.”
Did she think they hadn’t been around in circles over this a thousand times already?Jez had been as shocked as anyone that one of her housemates had murdered Ruby, but the evidence didn’t allow any wiggle room.If an outsider had been guilty, Jez would have hunted them to the ends of the earth and dug their grave herself.
“Maybe you’re right,” Serafina conceded, and there was a hesitation in her words… She knew more, something she wasn’t telling them.
Ari slid a business card across the table.“I’d like to stay in touch.We’re not the enemy, Serafina.”
