Page 6 of Deadly Sins: Envy

He reached down, lifted an envelope out of the pocket in the door, and tossed it onto my lap. I peeked inside, surprised to find a stack of hundred-dollar bills.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Your fee.”

“Why? I haven’t asked you for anything.”

“Don’t care. I told you not to come and you did anyway. If you’re here, seems I have no choice except to hire you. Not because I want to, though. You’re like a gnat. Doesn’t matter how many times I swat at you—you’ll keep coming back.”

He may have been right, but he didn’t get to dictate the terms. I bent the envelope and stuck it inside the cup holder in the center console.

“I don’t want your money,” I said.

“You’re not tagging along for free. If you expect me to talk, take the money.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

I grabbed the envelope and stuffed it inside my backpack. I’d find a way to return it to him later.

“So, talk,” I said.

“When Willow left the bar last night, she didn’t tell us where she was going. We assumed she headed home, until this morning when her purse and cell phone were found inside Dean Watson’s house. He’s Willow’s ex-boyfriend.”

“Have you questioned him yet?”

Coop shook his head. “At some point last night, Dean was shot twice, first in the thigh and then in the chest. The chest wound did a lot of damage. Right now, he’s in surgery.”

“Will he be all right?”

“Dunno yet.”

“What else can you tell me?” I asked.

“About two hours after Willow left the bar, the New Orleans Police Department received a frantic call from a man named Jaxon Marshall. He said he’d been on the phone with his fiancée, Blake Gillette. She’d heard some commotion coming from the living room. She told Jaxon it sounded like someone had broken in. She put the phone down to see what was going on and never returned to it.”

“Why was Blake at Dean’s house? Is she a friend or Dean’s new girlfriend?”

“According to Jaxon, Blake had been living there, but not for long.”

“Where’s Blake now?” I asked.

“She was shot once in the head. She didn’t survive.”

“Any idea why Willow was kidnapped?”

“I told you what the note said. The perp wants money.”

At the moment, the motiveappearedto be money.

I wondered if there was more to it.

“Who asks for a mere ten thousand dollars, though?” I asked.

“An idiot. He could be living on the street for all we know. Ten thousand to him might be more like one hundred thousand to us.”

“It’s an easy amount to get together. I assume your brother has it?”