“Just what she could sell the real estate for.”
“Wow,” I said.
“How much money does she inherit from her own father?” Edward asked.
“Under three million,” Newman said, “and that’s tied up in investments mostly.”
“Which means it’s not real money,” Edward said, “and if the investments tank, she could lose most or all of it.”
“Her mother’s estate-trust-fund thingie?” I asked.
“Two million.”
“Real money?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Two million versus two billion,” Edward said.
“That’s a motive,” I said.
“The two million that Ray’s sister and her husband get sounds small in comparison, but it’s still two million more than they’ll get if Bobby lives,” Newman said.
“So we have our motives.”
“Muriel and Todd don’t even have good alibis,” Newman said.
“We need to know if the girl has a solid alibi or if she could have done it,” Edward said.
“We need a murder weapon, besides Bobby’s leopard,” I said.
“We need to see the body and examine the wounds,” Olaf said.
I knew instantly that I wasn’t going to be the only other marshal in the room when Olaf looked at the body. I’d played that game with him before, and he always managed to make it creepy as fuck.
“You and Ted go to the morgue,” I said. “Newman and I will go to the strip club and see if we can get a handle on the alibi.”
“What if I prefer to go with you to the strip club?” Olaf asked.
I was glad I was still wearing my sunglasses so he couldn’t see my eyes, because I could feel the twitch beside one eye that would have given me away. I could control the rest of my face just fine. “Your expertise on cutting up bodies may be our only hope to be able to figure out what was used to kill the victim.” That was actually true.
“What if the dancer lies to protect the alibi?”
“If Newman and I don’t think the dancer is telling us everything she knows, then you and Edward can have a crack at her.”
“If there is a need to speak with the dancer later, I would prefer that you and I do it,” Olaf said.
In my head I thought, Hell no, but Edward saved me from saying it.
“Come on, Otto. You know what weapons can do to a human body, but Anita knows strippers.”
“I am engaged to two of them,” I said. I might have protested the teasing, but Edward was giving me an out with the big guy, and I was going to take it.
Olaf nodded. “Then each of us to our expertise.”
“Yeah, that,” I said, and then I started walking toward Newman’s Jeep like I had a purpose. We were trying to save a life after all. The fact that it also got me farther away from Olaf and all his strangeness was just a bonus.
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