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?“I really don’t understand,” I admitted. “Didn’t we already deduce that Candy helped the killer?”
?“But that doesn’t explain the fact that Candy was found undressed,” she said. “Why would the killer sneak in with a gun, undress her, and then shoot her?”
?My mouth fell open. “He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t want to risk her seeing the gun.”
?“But what if the killer had a partner? That partner could distract her with a rendezvous, leaving the killer to finish off Randall, and then come to the hotel
to take care of her.”
?“If so, perhaps Candy wasn’t there when Randall was actually murdered,” I hypothesized.
?“That could be why they had to eliminate her—” Sheryl snapped her fingers. “Because once she found out that Randall was dead—”
?“She would go to the police and ruin the entire plan!”
?“Brilliant, Watkins.”
?“Astounding, Homes.”
?“So we are looking for a team—”
?“Perhaps not! Homes, this could explain why Jon Kane was killed.”
?Her eyes brightened as she also made the realization. “Because he was the partner—either the killer or the seducer.”
?“If he was the seducer, the timeline fits,” I said. “He was caught on camera going up to the 12th floor at 1:15 AM. Candy arrived back at the hotel at 1:30.”
?“So Jon could be waiting for Candy to ‘celebrate’ their new-found wealth.”
?“And Candy didn’t know that the other partner was smothering Randall at the same time.”
?Sheryl stared up at the ceiling, the gears turning in her mind.
?I felt a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities. The days of little sleep, repeated arrests, and the tension as I tried to absorb the data necessary to figure the case out had severely limited my ability to think clearly.
?Not to mention the emotional upheaval as I discovered my feelings for Sheryl.
?I thought about the different possible suspects: Charles Nederlander had a copy of my pipe and could've worked with Jon Kane. But why would he need to? He was Randall’s partner and could’ve just demanded the information. And why involve Jon Kane?
?Winsley Cunningham certainly didn’t seem strong enough to carry me to a different room, but with Candy and Jon’s help? Could she have been the shooter? Not likely. But how did her cameo end up in Candy’s room?
?Then there was Norm and Cliff—and Norm was on Randall’s list. Could either or both of them have worked with Jon? Then again, John Stewart’s partner, Hypno, gave me the pipe with the financial data and told Jon that I had it. And how did our mugger know where’d we be to get the pipe? Only Stewart or Hypno could know what was in it.
?John Stewart seemed too damaged by his stroke to be involved, but with the powerful Hypno, she could’ve been his leg man—uh—person.
?Add to the mess, Allen might just be insane enough to do this just to discredit me. What if he found out that Randall cheated him out of money, could that have been an inciting event to push him over the edge?
?By this point, my brain felt like it was about to short-circuit.
?Sheryl turned to me. “I need a place where I can rent a computer and printer.”
?I stirred from my reverie. “There’s an office place on Seventh Avenue, not far from here. What are you going to—”
?“I have a plan,” she said.
?I swallowed hard. “So far our plans have not worked out very well.”
?“This one will,” she said. “We need a place to assemble the suspects!”
