Page 154 of Triggered By Love
“Let’s go back to the apartment. Kerry’s back, and she can go over what she saw.”
“Okay, you drive while I work on my checklist.”
“I ain’t used to driving in city traffic,” Finn said, putting on his turn signal, which was exactly the wrong thing to do in New York where other drivers sped up to prevent someone from merging in.
“This is the classic locked room of suspects: Ivanna, Saul, Trent, Blade, Mrs. Bonet, and Kerry.” Jason ticked off the list.
“Kerry shouldn’t be included.”
“I don’t think she did it, but for now, we need to keep an open mind and go through each person,” Jason said.
“Then you have to add Avery,” Finn said. “She was in the elevator.”
“I’ve already thought of her, but she had no motive to kill Brando.”
“The two crimes don’t necessarily have to be connected,” Finn said. “Everything you did, changing the venue, changing out the fireworks show, removing the animal effects, changing out the repeat models, and adding me and Kerry, as well as relying on Secret Service knocked out whatever was planned. Avery is the only person who knew what we were doing.”
“She didn’t know about the removal of the porcupine quills. She wouldn’t have poisoned the quills, knowing how dangerous they would have been if I bumped into anyone.” Plus, he hated to think of her wanting to die and meet Brando on the anniversary of his death.
“True, but she could have collected one of the quills for a souvenir and accidentally stuck herself.”
“That’s too much of a stretch. You might as well blame Mrs. Bonet for feeling sick and asking to go home early. We should focus on likely suspects and not wild conspiracy theories.”
“Which is why Kerry is not a suspect,” Finn defended his woman hotly.
Jason took what he hoped was a calming breath that sounded more like a snort. “Motive, means, opportunity. They all had opportunity, being in the elevator, so let’s start with means, the people who had access and knowledge of porcupine quills.”
“That would be Ivanna, for sure, and Saul if she stayed with him in hiding. Where were they hiding?”
“At Trent’s apartment,” Jason said. “So let’s add him in. Kerry and Mrs. Bonet had no knowledge of porcupine quills, so they’re off the hook. Neither did Blade.”
“Narrows it down, doesn’t it?”
“It’s the motive that troubles me with those three,” Jason said. “Ivanna works for Avery, and Avery has agreed to bring her on as co-designer—at least that’s what Ivanna claims. Her career is better served hitching her star to Avery than starting from scratch.”
“She could be working for someone else.”
“Agreed. We’ll get to that in a moment. Making the case for Saul, he has the vengeance angle for his brother’s death. He could blame Avery for using Garm as a model.”
“That’s a stretch,” Finn said. “Avery uses many models and most of them don’t end up dead. Just the guys in that Brooklyn Babes group. It has to do with them.”
“And Ernesto.” Jason flipped through his notes. “Saul told us about the mischief they were perpetrating against Alida, the pranks and Ernesto’s supposed fake gun, which hasn’t been located yet.”
“Either that, or he and Ivanna concocted that story to deflect suspicion.”
“Why volunteer it when Ernesto was identified as the shooter? The gun is still being held as evidence. Ballistics checked out.”
“What kind of gun was it?” Finn asked.
“Smith & Wesson M&P Shield semiautomatic.” Even as he said the words, Jason realized this was the first time anyone wondered about Ernesto’s gun.
“Did anyone trace where he got it?”
“Bought it off the street, serial numbers filed off,” Jason said.
“Where’s the serial number located?” Finn asked, as if an Army Ranger didn’t know. “My Glock has serial numbers in three places, frame toward the front, barrel at the ejection port, and the slide under the ejection port.”
“I carry one,” Jason said. “It’s on the frame only.”
