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“No one does,” Dominic agreed.
Since he’d sort of brought up the killings, I pressed forward. “The second victim is Jerard Blackwell. Is that Willy’s boyfriend?”
Dom lips thinned. “Yes. Poor bastard.”
“Agreed. Really awful.”
“He was a delegate from Kansas.” He shook his head. “I hate to be a dick about the dead, but the guy was an ass.”
“It must be awful for Willy and her brother Hans.” I still couldn’t get a read on the broody, moody Hans Fisk.
Dom’s mouth tugged up at the corner. “Willy will bounce back. She’s not the kind of woman to let flies gather.”
Oh, right. Randy Lowry had told me Willy and Dom had a history. “Did she break up with you?”
He looked at me, his stare assessing. “Not exactly.”
“I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject.”
“I’ve been over her a long time. She might shift into a mountain lion, but she can be a raging hellcat.”
His summation took her to the top of my suspect list. But why would she have killed Mike? And why leave him behind Sunny’s Outlook? And why the hell would she skin them? “What did her brother think of Jerry?”
“I don’t think Hans liked Jerry, but I also don’t think it had much to do with his relationship with Willy. Hans and Jerry were business partners in a modular home scheme. I heard through the grapevine they had a falling out.” He glanced at Willy’s table then back to me. “Hans is a general contractor. Worked his way up from journeyman to build his business.”
I could feel Billy Bob’s eyes burning a hole in my back. I tried to ignore him and his date. It was next to impossible. I couldn’t stop looking. I was super proud of myself for not running over and yanking every blonde hair from Bethany’s perky head.
I am the model of civility and restraint.
“Did Mike Wares have any enemies?” Dom asked.
It was a fair question, considering I’d just grilled him about Jerry Blackwell. “There were lots of people in town he rubbed the wrong way, but I don’t know about enemies. Frankly, I’d be sick to think anyone I knew and liked could have anything to do with the killings.”
“Was there anything odd about the body when you found it?”
Tiny alarm bells rang in my head. This was an unusual question to ask. Was Dom making small talk, was he fishing for answers for the council, or did he know more about these murders than he should? I decided to tell a half-truth. “I smelled sassafras. Billy Bob said Blackwell’s body had a similar scent.”
Dom steepled his fingers, his pale green eyes darkening with interest. “Really? Anything else?”
You mean, like the eight-point star in my windbreaker?I raised a brow. “No. At least nothing I saw that night.” Again, a half-truth. I hadn’t known about the star at that time.
He frowned.
Dakota Thompson, Ruth’s oldest daughter, stopped at our table. She wore an apron and held a pad and pen in her hands. “Can I get your order?”
“I’ll take the salmon,” Dom said. “Slightly rare.”
“Sides?”
“Pilaf and broccoli.”
“That’s a healthy meal,” I said. “I’ll take the double bacon cheeseburger with Blonde Bear Secret sauce and all the fixings.” I handed her our menus. “Oh, rare on the burger and an order of fries and onion rings for sides.”
Her brown eyes twinkled as she fixed her gaze on me. “You got it, Chav.”
Dom laughed. “I may have to sneak some of your fries.”
I heard a growl behind me that warmed my entire body. “Probably not a good idea.”
