Page 114 of XO Karma

He sighs, eyes finding mine. “I promise it’s more for your safety than theirs that I can’t tell you.”

“Do I know them?”

He pauses, and my gut churns. “I can’t tell you that either.”

Ignoring my disappointment and curiosity, I choose not to dwell on the fact he doesn’t entirely trust me yet and return to the task at hand. “So, let’s say you’re right. If Kodak is more of a contract killer than a serial killer, who’s calling the shots and why?” Aster cocks a brow, waving the piece of paper at me. “The Westerfords?”

“They do love theatrics.”

We spend the next several hours marking each victim with a suspected crime, determining if or why someone might have wanted them dead and trying to establish if they had ties to either Vetrel or the Westerfords.

And we find a very interesting pattern.

“So all the victims up till Violet,” Aster says, pointing at a chronological chart he made, “while they seem to have criminal ties, only a few of them had ties to Vetrel or the Westerfords.” They seem to have criminal ties… Violet, what were you into?

“And after?” I ask.

“The kills are more sporadic. Harder to explain. Some of them are criminally tied, and some of them just seem like normal people who may have crossed paths with the Westerfords at some point.” So maybe she only crossed paths with them. Wrong place, wrong time.

“And Karolyn Heinzel.” I point to her photo. “She knew Vetrel and the Westerfords.” I gesture to the photos from the Kodak Killer, tapping my finger on the graffiti above her corpse. “Thief.” “Was she taken out because she stole from someone?”

“Jude said Vetrel was greedy and that they wouldn’t likely be able to trust him again. And then mentioned they’d killed ‘her’ but kept him alive since he was still useful.”

“Maybe they both stole from the Westerfords?” I say, brain spinning as pieces click together.

“Vetrel and Karolyn were familiar. And they seemed stressed at the gala. Maybe Jude found out about whatever they were doing and decided to kill Karolyn as an example?”

“In his office Vetrel said he told ‘him’ he was getting the money together…” My eyes meet Aster’s. “Maybe he assumed I was there on behalf of Jude? He wanted Vetrel to pay back the money he owed, and that’s why Vetrel raised the rent?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“Vetrel did look surprised when I told him to stop messing with the small businesses. I thought it was because of the gun I had pointed at his dick, but maybe it’s because he realized that I wasn’t there for Jude.”

Aster runs a hand through his hair. “So if all that’s true and the Westerfords had Karolyn offed, why? To send a message?”

“Maybe to get Vetrel in line?”

“He’s not an easy man to replace,” Aster says. “I guess that’s why they wouldn’t have been super happy about his death even if he’d double-crossed them.”

“And there is another much bigger piece of evidence to be considered as well,” I point out.

“And that is?”

“Vetrel’s body being at the Westerford estate when it was supposed to be at a morgue. Or being prepared for a funeral at the very least. Last time I checked, random civilians can’t just claim remains of offed mob bosses.”

“I’ll see if my contact at the station can check for us,” Aster says, pulling out his phone. After a minute of assumed bribery, he’s got it on speaker. I don’t recognize the voice, but it is a big precinct.

“Can you check where Frederick Vetrel was sent after being released from the morgue?” Aster asks him, and there’s clattering on a keyboard.

“Looks like…” the man says, continuing to tap around. “He was sent to Charon’s Crematorium.”

“Isn’t the investigation ongoing? Why would they release it?”

“It was ruled a suicide.”

“What?!” Aster all but shrieks. “Why?”

“According to the file, he was having some financial troubles, and yep. That’s all she wrote.”