Page 136 of Arran's Obsession

I pulled back. “Alisha? Why the hell would you suspect her?”

“I don’t, really. Except she would’ve been pissed off at the scene in the club, oh, and she’s in love with you.”

“No, she isn’t.” I rejected that out of hand.

Gen shrugged. “What if she followed when you visited my flat on the night Cherry was killed? Jealousy is a motive.”

Shade answered. “She wasn’t there. I trailed Arran as backup. I even saw Cherry in the churchyard.”

I stared at him. “You followed me? I didn’t know,” I added quickly to Gen. On that evening, Gen had asked me if I’d come alone. I hadn’t lied. It also didn’t surprise me that Shade had fucking stalked me.

Gen paled. “Did you talk to her?”

“No, I watched her, but she didn’t even know I was there. She was alone the whole while.”

“Did you see Don’s car?” I asked.

“It passed me. I saw Genevieve react but couldn’t make out the occupants. It didn’t return. I gave the plate to Convict, but he couldn’t trace it, and Don still hasn’t been found.” Shade paced the room, his gaze distancing.

I sat back. We were no closer to working this problem out.

“Add Chief Constable Kenney to your list,” I instructed Cassie. “He drove out to find me to warn me off messing with the councillors. He could’ve been acting on their behalf with Cherry. I’m less sure about Natasha. He was at the station with me then came straight from there to respond to our call.”

Cassie jotted his name. “Was there technically enough time for him to do it?”

My brief consideration of the timeline worked. “Possibly.”

“Then he’s on the list. Does anyone have anything else to add? Because this is a hot mess full of assumptions and maybes.”

“Then ye know what we do? We pick a fucking direction,” Shade suddenly said. “Technically, everyone on our list could beguilty, but that’s going to get us nowhere. Occam’s razor says the more assumptions you make, the less likely it is. Ergo, the most obvious answer is the truth. Everyone, simplest solution, now.”

He pointed at Jamieson who stretched. “The gangster. He was right there at the church when Cherry died.”

Cassie peered at her sheet and ticked a name. “Two votes for knifey Don.”

Shade swung to Gen, and she slowly gave the same name.

“From the start, I thought it was him,” she said.

I shrugged.

“Choose a fucking side,” Shade ordered.

“Then I’ll go with Don,” I agreed. “Cherry feared the councillor’s friend, but all those men use my brothel, and none have ever hurt or scared a woman here. Who’s to say she told anyone about her pregnancy? Or even knew herself.”

Shade rubbed his hands together, doing what he did best. Deciding on a death sentence. “All roads lead to Don. Gang affiliated, known to be violent, wanted Gen and saw her with another man so had a trigger to go into a murderous rage. Think about it, he tracked ye down, Gen. That shows purpose. Killing Cherry was an outlet.”

Gen shivered, curling in on herself.

I hugged her. “Plausible, but how about the murder method and the link to Audrey’s death?”

“Either he heard about that from elsewhere and emulated it, or it was a coincidence. One of the main factors we considered was the fact Cherry and Audrey were both sex workers. If we put Cherry at wrong place, wrong time, that reduces it down to a typical for-show killing method.”

Cassie made more notes. “And tonight’s murder?”

Shade continued pacing, working out his thoughts. “The timing is interesting as the two of ye are public now. Fuck, that’s it. His gang now knows—they had confirmation tonight. Hefollowed Genevieve’s brother and his girlfriend here and picked another target to show Arran his anger. It fits that he’d use the same method and the woman he grabbed resembled Genevieve. It has to be him. All we need to know is if it’s possible.” He turned to Gen. “The one person who’ll know more is your brother. Good for me to question him?”

Gen climbed up. “If I’m in the room, sure.”

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