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Caro shot him a frown. “Hey, no cracks about my show.”
“Sorry.”
“I have two sources,” Gwen continued, ignoring their spat. “Both were secondhand, both saying they knew someone else who’d paid Miss Hester off either with money or favors. One of them was a teenage girl who said her boyfriend had been under Miss Hester’s thumb for months.”
Caro just shook her head, unable to believe someone would stoop low enough to blackmailing a kid. This murder victim sounded less and less like a poor innocent.
Mick, Gwen and Caro stared at each other for a minute in the silent kitchen, thinking over the ramifications. Before they could discuss it further, Jared walked in, interrupting the charged moment. Gwen got up, put her arms around him and repeated what she’d learned.
“So,” he said when she’d finished, “Miss Hester has a history of collecting secrets. She had the gun. She’d touched at least one note mentioning a strange woman’s name and giving a time and place for a meeting.” Jared looked at them all expectantly, waiting for them to catch up.
Caro finally put the pieces together. So did Mick. They looked at each other and said, in unison, “Miss Hester was killed by someone she was blackmailing.”
Gwen looked disappointed that they’d beat her to the conclusion as Jared nodded in approval. “I believe so. And it’s very possible the person she was targeting was someone she knew in California back in the early seventies. My P.I. says Hester Esmerelda Tomlinson Devane was somehow involved in show business, but he doesn’t yet know how.”
Mick narrowed his eyes, muttering, “Esmerelda. Esmerelda…” Then he sucked in a shocked breath. He shot to his feet, pushing his chair back so hard it fell to the floor with a crash. “Son of a bitch!”
Caro, Jared and Gwen gave him their full attention.
“Esmerelda Devane and Victoria Lynn. I’ve finally remembered why the names sound so familiar.” He grabbed Caro’s hand and dragged her toward the door. “Come on, I need your help.”
“Hey, what about us?” Gwen said.
“I’ll let you know if my hunch is right,” Mick said over his shoulder. “Jared, keep your guy in California nosing around until I get back. Caroline and I are going to be busy for a few hours.”
“Busy doing what?” Caroline asked.
But he didn’t reply. She sensed that he kept silent because she wasn’t going to like the answer. When they arrived back at his house, he beelined right for the TV room and the cabinet where he kept his stash of movies.
“Tell me.”
“It’ll sound too crazy.”
“Crazier than a blackmailing church matron found dead in a bathtub on the set of a reality show?”
He laughed out loud, and she did too, both of them badly needing the levity. She didn’t know quite how much she’d be needing the lightened moment, until she saw exactly which movies he was sorting through. “You must be kidding.”
Caro stared at Mick, not believing what she saw. He was kneeling in front of his entertainment center, digging through piles of videos.Thosevideos.
“I’m not kidding.”
“Mick, this is no time for us to watch dirty movies! Remember what happened the last time?”
He looked up and gave her a decidedly lascivious look. “Oh, yeah, I remember.”
Heat rose to her cheeks. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that night.”
“I bought you a present to make up for it.”
“You did?”
He nodded. The evil look in his eye should have warned her. “It’s a vibrating dildo.”
She grabbed a pillow from the sofa and hurled it at his head. He easily deflected it, laughter on his lips. Then he returned to his task.
Finally, just when Caro thought she couldn’t stand the suspense anymore, she heard him make a satisfied sound.
“What?” she asked, almost afraid to know.
