Her face pinched with pain. “Yes. He hacked into my account. He took pictures of my clients’ profiles. Some are well-known people. He wants to out them. He thinks they’re perverts, but they’re not. They’re simply lonely.” Tears pooled in her eyes. Tegan handed her a tissue. She took it. “I’ve decided to pay off Upton to make him bury his story. And I’ll quit the business. I can get by on less money. But before I do, I wanted to tell you about the client I was befriending on the Saturday morning Marigold died.”
Befriending. What a curious word.
“Saturday morning seems like an odd time to be talking to . . . clients,” I murmured.
“It was the only time he had available. He’s a workaholic.” Katrina licked her lips and took another sip of water. “If he’ll talk to the police, that should help me, right? That’ll prove I didn’t kill Marigold.”
Not if our theory about the bottled water lying in wait for Marigold was correct, but for now, that was only a conjecture, and Katrina seemed so earnest that I wanted to believe her.
“Could this client see you?” I asked.
“He saw me, all right. I was dressed like a schoolmarm in glasses and a high-necked blouse. That’s what he asked for. It wasn’t kinky. He said he would take instruction better if I didn’t look sexy. Many of my clients ask me to dress up. It’s no big deal.”
I said, “Katrina—”
“Katty,” she cut in. “They know me as Katty. It’s a nickname for Katrina.”
I could’ve palm slapped my forehead. Wallis told Zach and me that Marigold had said to Katrina, “Don’t be catty,” and that was when Katrina threatened her. “Marigold knew what you were doing,” I said. “She knew your secret identity.”
Katrina nodded glumly.
“How did she find out?”
“She caught me. Behind the Brewery. Having a session. I was in my car on my cell phone. I hadn’t driven away. I was . . .” Katrina toyed with a tendril of hair. “I was in a nun’s habit.”
Katty the nun.I couldn’t picture it.
“The next day”—Katrina’s shoulders rose and fell with defeat—“Marigold approached me and begged me to stop. She told me to reenroll in school and get my degree so I could become—”
“A real psychiatrist.”
“Yes, but that takes a lot of cash, which I didn’t have. She offered to pay my way. I told her no.” She wadded the tissue in the hand that was clinging to her key ring. “My pride wouldn’t let me. I had to earn the money myself.”
Aha!That was why Marigold had wanted Oly to sort out Katrina’s pride.
“Will you help me smooth things over with the police?” Katrina asked. “I’ve written down all the dates I’ve met with people online.”
The word “dates” joggled something in my mind. “Katrina, you mentioned that you’d learned the ropes when you were dating online, and you were about to say something more, but I interrupted after you said ‘dates and places.’ Marigold had a contact in her directory for something named Dates and Places. Is it a business?”
She nodded. “It’s a dating app. It’s why I finally grasped how to interact with guys—what to do and what not to do.”
Tegan said, “Allie, do you think Auntie decided to look for love again after all these years?”
“It’s feasible.”
“She asked me about it,” Katrina said. “I told her I hadn’t had any success. After a few encounters, I realized I didn’t want to get involved with anyone.”
Not in the romantic way,I mused.
“But it was that experience that made me figure out I could make money listening to guys like them, so I created my website KattyTalks, and then I touched base with a few previous dates to spread the word, and voilà.”
Aha.I hadn’t found any social networking presence for her when I’d researched her online because I hadn’t known her alias.
Katrina lifted the hand holding the wadded tissue and key chain. “See this fob?” It was red and curved, with a jagged edge. “Dates and Places gives them to its clients. It’s half of a heart. It’s what you show someone when you’re meeting them on a blind date. The app owner says it’s like getting the license plate of your Uber driver to make sure you climb into the right car.”
Tegan pointed at the key chain. “Hold on. Rick has that same fob. I saw him twirling his keys the other day. The red thingy caught my eye. He is cheating on my mother, Allie. I told you !”
I remembered seeing the fob and thinking it reminded me of something on a dog’s collar.