Then, he wiped his eyes and found some strength to go back to his job.
“Can I get back to work?” he asked. “Any longer, and my kid is going to be suspicious.”
Together, they nodded.
“I meant what I said. If you need my DNA, you can have it.”
What he needed was to do that, but he didn’t have a kit in his pocket. Oh, but he had something that would work.
Gene slid a napkin toward him.
“Put your gum on that napkin and fold it in half,” he said, giving the man the opportunity to prove he was on the up and up. So far, he wasn’t detecting any lies, but he wanted to make sure.
Mitch didn’t hesitate.
When he finished, Gene slipped the napkin with the DNA-ridden gum into his other pocket.
“Thanks.”
He was to the point.
“Find who hurt her,” he said. “She mattered to all of us. She was family.”
Yeah, they could see that.
The man headed off, but toward the back of the restaurant. When he left, a waitress came over, and they ordered their food.
They asked her a few questions regarding Megan, but it wasn’t eventful. Kiki hadn’t noticed anything that night, or anything any other night.
Well, at least they knocked that interview off the list.
When they were getting their food, Ethan shared what he was thinking.
“I’m going to run Megan,” he admitted. “When we get back to the hotel.”
Gene cut into his steak and started eating it.
“Okay, what are you looking for? We ran everyone, and nothing popped. Her social media was clean. Clearly, she wanted to keep her relationship with the older man on the DL.”
Ethan was to the point.
“Her hesitancy with men, and being gay, triggered something for me. I want to run police reports to see if her name pops up. It’s covering our bases.”
Gene was curious.
“It would make sense if someone in her past hurt her, and she’s scared, but how does it tie to the other women?”
Ethan was tapping his finger on the table.
“I don’t know. We do have all three women being tied to this place, but Phylis because of the husband. That’s the second connection they have. They all went to the same school, and now they seem to have all been here. On top of that. Ivey was younger than her boss. Maybe there’s some daddy issues lurking,” he admitted.
Gene was to the point.
“Possibly, but Mitch runs a successful business, and that could be a lure to a woman.”
Ethan shrugged.
“Yeah, except they were banging each other in secret for six years? That’s someone afraid of commitment, and it might not have been Mitch who had cold feet.”
