She’d been in prison? For killing someone? Like me.
“Still young?” I blurted. “How fucking old are you?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be killing again?” I asked.
She laughed. “What assumptions did you make?”
“That you just got out of prison.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve been out for seven years.”
“She was fourteen when she killed her uncle,” Biscuit added.
Whisker cleared his throat. “We can discuss her first murder after we’re finished getting the details of her current one.”
“Thank you for not assuming, but this is my second murder,” Kalani said.
Two knocks sounded on the door, followed by, “Pie.”
Cookie got up to open the door, and Pie stepped inside with a concerned look on his face. “Sorry to interrupt, Prez. We’ve got a problem with the flood barrier at Charli’s.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
As soon as Pie left, Whisker looked directly at Kalani. “Tell me everything I need to know about Matthew Heinz and the transaction involving his niece. Who knew about it? Who might come looking for him? Can anyone connect you to him? Can your devices connect you to him?”
“I can only tell you who I know knew about the sale, and that is Matthew Heinz, Ashley Mitchell, and Trenton Pritchard. I didn’t tell anyone after I found out until your boy over here interrupted my departure, but I have no idea who they might have told.”
Whisker nodded. “Keep going.”
“I’d assume his sister will start looking for him when he doesn’t show up to babysit Hannah,” Kalani continued. “He wasn’t married, but he could have a girlfriend. I don’t know. I wasn’t looking for his relationship status.”
“Anyone else?”
“I mean, Trenton will probably look for him when he doesn’t show up with Hannah, but I don’t know how hard he’ll look. Other than him and Ashley, I don’t know. I didn’t need to dig that deep.”
“And your connection to him?”
“Like I said, I was at Hannah’s birthday party with a friend from work. Ashley and Matthew saw me and spoke to me. I don’t know if they knew my name, but it wouldn’t be hard for either to find out.”
“Wait,” I interrupted as I remembered something Kalani had said. “You were a mermaid.”
Kalani tilted her head back and groaned. “Fine. Yes. I was at the party as a mermaid. My friend from work asked me if I could fill in because the girl who was supposed to do it got sick. It’s not really my thing, but it paid more than I usually make in a night.”
“Were you wearing a costume?” I asked.
“Yes,” Kalani admitted, scrunching her nose. “Why?”
I didn’t like the way she was looking at me, but I ignored it. “Do you think they would be able to recognize you?”
“Oh,” she said. “I don’t know. I was wearing a blue wig and had on a lot of makeup. Plus the mermaid tail.”
“Do you have any tattoos or distinctive markings?” Biscuit asked.
Kalani grinned. “Yes, but everything was covered with waterproof makeup. We couldn’t have any tattoos or excessive scarring visible.”
“What about your devices?” Whisker asked.
