Page 36 of A Rose of Steel
“And who do you think the evidence is going to lead you to?” she asked.
“Well, I’ve been thinking,” I said. “I came up with three people who in my mind are persons of interests.”
“There you go using Pogue’s term. Isn’t that what he called his suspects on the last murder we solved? Persons of interest?” She shook her head. “Just call them what they are, suspects.”
“Okay,” I said. “These are the people that made it to my suspect list,” I glanced over at her. “Ready?”
“Shoot.”
“Okay. Bonnie Alvarez. Piper Alvarez. And the best man. I haven’t found out his name yet.”
“Chase Turner,” Auntie said. “I had to know it for the program.”
“Chase Turner,” I murmured, committing his name to memory. “Do you know him? Did he play football with Bumper?”
“No, he didn’t play ball for Roble. He was older than Bumper. I’d seen him around before, but he left and went to the military.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Why those three?” Auntie asked.
“Because they all disappeared at the wedding, which gave them the opportunity to poison him. I never saw Bonnie Alvarez before or after the incident. I wouldn’t have known she was there except Mr. Alvarez said she was.”
“You said Bonnie had a ‘shotgun’ pointing at Bumper and that was the reason he was getting married,” Auntie said. “If she wanted him to marry her daughter why would she kill him?”
“I also said Bumper was marrying Jorianne because she was pregnant. But I’ve changed my mind.”
“I heard Bonnie and Piper talking in the room while we were waiting on the ambulance where the girls were getting changed,” Auntie Zanne said. “I’d gone in to get the guns.”
“You heard them?”
“Yes, I did. And they sounded pretty suspicious to me.”
“What did they say?”
“Bonnie and Piper agreed this marriage wasn’t good for Jorianne. That she was rushing into things, and she needed to learn to be more independent.”
“That’s what Piper said when she was at the Hacketts’ place.”
“I know,” Auntie said. “That’s why I asked about the caterer. I thought since they hired the caterer, they might have been able to get him, unwittingly, to serve Bumper something that was poisonous.”
I looked over at her. “You suspected it was foul play when we were at the Hacketts?”
“I suspected it as soon as I saw your Chief-of-Staff’s lips.”
“Can we just call him Alex? Please.”
Auntie laughed. “Okay, we can. I just thought you liked to call him that. So,” she turned to me, “when did you first suspect it was murder?”
“It wasn’t then,” I said. “Not that soon. But after we got back from seeing Mrs. Hackett, I started thinking about it.”
“Something how we thought the same thing.”
“Yes, it is.” I took my eyes off the road momentarily to smile at her. “So, did your questions about the caterer help your case any?”
“It does in a way.” Auntie rubbed her fingers across her temple. “If they’re all are in cahoots—”
“Who?” I asked, interrupting.
