Page 110 of The Fighter
I turned to Khan. “Remember I asked you if you’d called Dina after the wedding?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t trying to lie about it, I had just forgotten.”
“Nevertheless, it makes you a suspect too. After all, you had the most to lose if Dina spread the news that you weren’t the legitimate heir to the Northlands.”
“You think I killed Dina?” Khan scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I’m not saying that you did, but a detective can’t rule out anything. With your attempts to call Dina, I figured that you were either trying to warn her about your dad’s plans or you wanted to threaten her into silence. That’s why I asked you to spar with me.”
“I don’t recall you asking me. I offered.” Khan’s brow was low and he looked down at me with an intense stare. “Are you saying you planned it to interview me?”
“Kind of. And the point is that you told me about overhearing Mr. Zobel and your dad arguing.”
“We just established that he wasn’t my dad.”
“Right, but you said that Marcus and Zobel were discussing an issue with someone blackmailing him.”
Khan pointed to Marcus’ wristband. “And now we know who that someone was. They were obviously discussing Dina.”
“Most likely.” I nodded. “And that would explain why your father was hesitant over Mr. Zobel’s suggestion of killing the blackmailer.”
“Fuck, I hate that creep.” Magni growled low and looked at Khan. “Did you hear him encourage Dad to kill Dina?”
Khan shook his head. “Not in those words. No names were mentioned. I’m not sure Zobel understood that the blackmailer was Dina or that he knew how Marcus had stolen her bride money.” He looked down. “The worst part is that I always thought it was the blackmailer who killed Dina. In fact, I blamed our dad for letting it happen.”
“But, honey, I thought you said that you didn’t know who killed your sister.”
Khan nodded to Pearl. “Because I never knew the identity of the blackmailer until now.”
Pearl threw her hands up. “All the evidence I’ve heard so far leads to Marcus. We know he was ruthless, an awful father, and pressed for money. It must be him.”
“Except, Marcus was here when it happened,” I pointed out.
Magni growled. “My dad could have sent some of his soldiers to do his dirty job. He did that all the time.”
“He could have, but Michael called me today and when I told him I’d stopped investigating, he shared something with me that raised another question.” I projected the image of the blue feather for all of us to see.
“What is that?” Khan asked.
From Magni’s bed came an annoyed sigh. “It’s a bloody feather. Everyone can see that.”
“Yes, I can see it’s a feather, but what does it have to do with anything?”
“Michael told me he found it on the staircase the same day that Dina had died. He kept it as a memory of her since she was the only woman he ever knew.”
They were all looking at me, waiting for me to continue, but I was unsure how to.
“I told you, Raven, he can keep that feather.” Erika gave an annoyed sigh. “No need to waste our time on insignificant details like that.” She moved to the edge of her seat. “I’ve heard enough. It’s all clues going nowhere. Dina has been gone for more than thirty years and it only brings sadness to keep talking about it.”
“I’m sorry that it brings sadness.” While talking, I pulled out the picture from Dina’s wedding and handed it to Khan.
“I’ve seen this before. That’s the man she married.” He tapped his finger on the photo and Pearl leaned in to see.
“His name was Henry Hudson, but since you mentioned that you and Pearl are good with details, let me ask you if anything catches your eye in this picture.”
They both stared at it.
“Let me see. I’m good with details too.” Magni reached out his hand, indicating that he wanted them to hand him the photo.
