Page 89 of Wild Justice

Her gaze was still on the calendar, trying to figure out why in the hell she couldn’t stop looking at it. What was it? She should have been figuring out how to throw Ray Ramsey out of her house, but instead, she was mesmerized by an advertising photo.

It was such a shitty, smug grin in the picture, too. Like Ramsey knew the secrets of the universe, and he’d tell you about them if you’d just hire him to help buy or sell your home. And you could trust him because he was wearing a blue suit with a fun, brightly colored handkerchief in the pocket.

His clothes said that he was a good businessman, but he didn’t take himselftooseriously. He was funandprofessional, all at the same time. He’d be awesome to work with because he wasn’t a stick in the mud, but he knew his way around a sales contract, too.

That stupid handkerchief…

Lulu kept staring at it, not able to pull her gaze from it. Something in the back of her mind was bugging her, not letting it go but not revealing as to why. It was just a handkerchief. Ugly and loud. The blue-on-blue checked pattern looked like it belonged with a picnic basket, not with a professional business suit.

Blue-on-blue.

Yes. Right. That was it. She’d seen that pattern before. It had been wrapped around the pipe the forensic team had found in Allie Baker’s apartment.

If it was the same - and how many people wore pocket squares in Harper that looked like that - there was only one way it could have got there.

Ray Ramsey had wrapped his handkerchief around the murder weapon when he hid it in Allie’s closet. He would have had a key to her apartment becausehe owned the building. He was also married with kids, and he would have had a hell of a lot to lose if he’d been seeing Dana on the sly and she got pregnant. And he was strong enough to have moved the body from the house to the lake.

It all made sense now.

His preoccupation with the investigation, wanting to know how it was going all the time. He’d never cared about any of that before. Sure, it could be because she wasn’t her father, or it could be because he wanted to make sure that no one pointed to him. Guilty parties often inserted themselves into a law enforcement investigation. Sometimes to try and control, and sometimes because they simply got off on it.

If Ray and Dana had been lovers and the baby was his, then he had motive. He wouldn’t want anyone, including his wife and family, to figure out he wasn’t the pillar of the community that he pretended to be.

Whether he had means and opportunity, as well, she couldn’t say. But then he hadn’t been a suspect until this moment.

Did you kill her? Did you?Did you murder Dana in cold blood?

Lulu quickly schooled her features, hoping her thoughts weren’t written on her too-expressive face. She’d always admired those poker-faced people in her life, but she wasn’t one of them. She’d never get rich in Vegas, but she just might be able to pretend that she didn’t think the man standing only a few feet from her was a killer.

Her phone on the counter rang, but she ignored it. She didn’t want to turn her back on Ramsey.

“Maybe we could talk about this over a beer?” Lulu offered. “I’m supposed to meet Kai at the sports bar in town. How about you come with me, and we can chat about this? You can talk to him yourself, and we can figure something out.”

Friendly. Open. Pals. Keep it light.

She wasn’t afraid of Ray Ramsey, but she probably should be. He wasn’t a small man, and he might not make it easy if it came down to it. He could fight or run.

She’d studied self-defense, but he had a good six inches and about fifty pounds on her. Her class instructor had told her that with a strength deficit like that, she should think about outrunning them if possible. She wasn’t exactly in the perfect outfit for that.

Lulu couldn’t yet say for sure he was a murderer, but he needed to be questioned and investigated. She had the law on her side and pretty much nothing else. The odds were not in her favor. If she had to fight him to get him out of her house, things might not go well. It would be better to finesse him out of the door.

Later, she could officially bring him in for questioning.

Lulu had been trying to keep her face bland and her tone normal and even. She didn’t want Ramsey to pick up on any weird vibes that might be out there between them.

She must not have done so well, however, because his gaze was sharp and skeptical when he heard her request.

“You want me to have a drink with you?”

“Sure, why not? You can talk to Henry about maybe buying a house.”

“According to your friend, he doesn’t want a house.”

“I’m supposed to meet them in a few minutes,” she reminded him. “Let’s go join them. Otherwise, they’ll worry and come looking for me.”

“I think you’re lying,” he replied softly. “I don’t think anyone is waiting for you.”

The Ray Ramsey standing in front of her bore no resemblance to the smooth-talking realtor this town knew well. Any scrap of charm and friendliness was gone, leaving him cold and remote. There was a darkness in his eyes that she’d never seen before, but she’d heard it described. Brianna had talked about Jake Bryson’s dark, empty eyes when he’d been about to kill her. She’d said there was nothing behind those eyes except evil.

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