Page 37 of 2 Sisters Murder Investigations

CHAPTER40

IT STARTED WITH Asnicker. A snorting, mischievous snicker, the same kind of noise Daisy had made as a teenager in her bedroom, holed up with a bunch of other beautiful blond girls, plotting heartbreak for high-school jocks. Summer Rayburn hadn’t heard that snicker in years, but she heard it again six months ago when Daisy stood in the corner of the kitchen tapping away on her phone and snickering with delight. Troy had been out helping Mark in the yard. Summer asked her daughter what all the secrecy was about, but Daisy came back with some vague stuff about a joke a friend had made. Summer didn’t buy it. And she noticed the phone her daughter was holding wasn’t the same one she’d had when she arrived at the house.

The snickering turned to wistful sighs, and then one afternoon Daisy drove out to Vegas for a visit and wrapped her mother in a big, juicy hug. It was unexpected. Unexplained. But Daisy was happy. Like she was in love.

“Do you know for certain whether Daisy was having an affair?” Mark asked me. He skewered me with a look. “The police won’t tell us anything, and we’ve been advised not to speak to Troy.”

“I can’t confirm anything right now about Daisy’s personal life.” I held my hands up. “I got some new information only a couple of hours ago, before I dropped Troy off at the house. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.”

“I think she was.” Summer’s voice was thin, breathless. “The lottery win confirmed it for me.”

Daisy had been talking about putting a deck on the back of the Glendale house ever since she and Troy bought it. She’d painted vivid pictures of the two of them sitting out there on Adirondack chairs, watching the sunset. She’d do her morning yoga out there. Film her Instagram reels. Plant fragrant jasmine to run around the handrail.

“I was sick of hearing about this damn deck,” Mark said. “I would have built it for her myself if my back weren’t so bad. Then they get that cash. And suddenly I’m listening toTroytrying to convinceDaisyto put the deck in.”

“She blew off every suggestion,” Summer said. “She didn’t want to spend a dime of that money. ‘Just use a little and come to Vegas!’ I told her. ‘Have a big weekend. Don’t go crazy, but celebrate! You’ve won the goddamn lottery!’ ”

“Do you think she was thinking about leaving Troy?” I asked. “And holding on to the money until she had a plan?”

“Maybe.” Summer nodded. Her lip trembled, and she swiped carefully at her eyes. “Or maybe whoever she was with, you know, on the side ... maybe Daisy told him about the money. And he wanted some of it. Or all of it. And got threatening.”

A sharp rap on the office’s glass door behind the Rayburns made us all jump. I stood and opened it to find Dave Summerly standing in the hall. He slapped a sheet of paper into my palm.

“Hello, Rhonda.” He smiled tightly. “Mind if I come in?”

“What is this?” I unfolded the paper. The wordWARRANTscreamed off the page.

“This is a raid,” Summerly said.

CHAPTER41

DAVE SUMMERLY LEANED AGAINSTthe wall in the hall with his arms folded in that smug and superior and undeniably sexy way while I made my excuses to Mark and Summer Rayburn and promised we’d talk again tomorrow. They left and I let Summerly in but only as far as the guest chairs, which I blocked so he couldn’t sit down.

“What theactual hell,Dave?”

He lifted his hands in mock helplessness. “You tell me, Rhonda. You tell me why I have to play dirty like this. Because I don’t want to. I want us to help each other out here. But you want to play cat-and-mouse games. So I’ve had to cook up some bullshit to come over here and turn your life upside down.”

“What reason could you possibly have to enter these premises?”

“I got a dead guy on my hands,” Summerly said. “Martin Rosco. The Cable-Tie King. Remember him? You killed him in your house. Now I’ve got to put that case to bed. I gotta decide whether I’m going to file it under self-defense or homicide.”

“You’re not going to charge me with homicide.” I leveled a fierce gaze at him. “You might be trying to piss me off, but you’re not that big of a time-waster.”

“I told the judge I’d feel better about calling it self-defense if I could just get a look at your files. I need to find out which case Martin Rosco was trying to dissuade you from working on.” Summerly smiled. “Clever, right?”

“What baloney. That judge must have owed you a huge favor to sign such a garbage warrant.”

“He did. I looked the other way on his nephew’s possession charge a few years back.”

“Dave, you’re not going to touch a single sheet of paper inside this office,” I said. I lifted a finger in warning. “You’re not going to unstick a single Post-it note or open a single manila folder. I’ve been clearing my dad’s stuff out of this place for months. Everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be and it’s staying there.”

“Rhonda,” Summerly growled, his eyes locked on mine. He took a step toward me. “I am going to absolutely trash this office. I’m gonna make it look like a hurricane swept through here. And I’d just love for you to try and stop me.”

He took another step forward. I refused to be backed into my desk. I stood with my arms folded until he was within reach.

Then I grabbed him and kissed him hard.

CHAPTER42

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