Page 24 of The Perfect Betrayal

“Not as long,” he said. “He joined the club about three years ago and we kind of became chummy after a few months. Why?”

“Because he was murdered last night,” she said flatly. “Can you shed any light on that?”

She stopped talking and watched his reaction. He looked appropriately stunned. Normally, she'd trust that her conclusion about his response was genuine. But with the medication still in her system and clouding her mind, she couldn't be sure that she was reading him right. Was he truly stunned about Boyce's death, or was this the practiced reaction of someone who knew he was going to be asked that question?

“Taye is dead?’ he asked disbelieving.

“He is,” she answered, not giving him time to sit with the information. “Why do you think someone would have done that?”

“I have no idea,” he said, his voice rising in something close to panic.

“He and Daran were buddies,” she noted. “Did they piss someone off? Get in a barfight with some bikers? Make a pass at the girlfriend of a dude with an anger management problem?” She didn’t mention that they strongly suspected a woman of these crimes.

Dwyer put his head in his hands. Jessie didn't love that. She couldn't see his facial expression, which, even in her diminished capacity right now, could prove insightful.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, barely audible. “They’re just regular guys. I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt either of them.”

“Look at me, Mr. Dwyer,” she said.

He lifted his head, and she saw that his eyes were red. Whether that was due to being upset or simply rubbing themwith his palms, she didn't know. She decided to put a little pressure on him and maybe put some fear in him, too, even if it wasn't based on any proof.

"I don't know why they were killed," she told him. "But I do know that two members of your yacht club friend group are dead now. Who's to say if their deaths are just about the two of them or something larger? If the latter is the case, then you might be at risk too. So, if there's anything you're not sharing that might be relevant to this investigation, now's the time to come clean. I can you help you now but not so much once you're dead."

He stared at her open-mouthed. After blinking a few times, he gulped hard. That seemed to steady him a little bit.

“I don’t know why they were killed,” he said, sitting up straighter as his voice grew cold. “Maybe someone just doesn’t like young, rich guys. Maybe some psycho thinks that our vessels are ruining the bay. I’ve heard that one before. It could be anything. But I do know that if thisdoeshave something to do with all of us, then it's your job to protect us. So maybe you should spend less time interrogating me and more time out there hunting this person down. I expect that this situation will be handled promptly, and I'm quite sure my father will feel the same way."

“Is that really how you want to approach this situation, Mr. Dwyer?” Jessie asked. “Because being combative with the people who are trying to help you seems like a bad move.”

"Well, it's the move I'm making," he said, standing up. "And the other move I'm making is to call my lawyer. So you can address any further questions to him. In the meantime, unless I'm under arrest, I'm leaving."

Then he headed for the door. Jessie wanted to say something, but her brain offered no suggestions. All she could do was watch him storm out. Somehow, a petty, whiny daddy's boy had outmaneuvered her.

She really needed her mind back at full strength, and fast.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“So he just walked out?” Riddell demanded.

Jessie had just shared (a version of) the conversation she'd had with Jackson Dwyer and he sounded as annoyed as she'd felt. On the plus side, at least she hadn't wanted to kill Dwyer for the way he acted. Maybe that was the meds, or maybe he was just too pathetic to generate that kind of emotion.

“Yes,” she repeated. “There wasn’t much I could do under the circumstances. Did you have more luck?”

"Even less," he conceded. "Crittendon was belligerent the whole time, and all his answers were non-responsive. I only got about three questions in before he demanded to speak to his lawyer. I told him that this was just an interview, not an interrogation. But he basically clammed up after that, so I cut him loose."

Jessie was about to comment on how odd she found the reactions of both men when Riddell continued.

"There's more. While you were with Dwyer, I checked my messages. I got a voicemail from Robert Chandler and a text from Joel Cisco," he said, referring to the other two men that Oliver Stanton had told them were in the friend group.

“That doesn’t sound promising,” Jessie said.

"Because it's not," he replied. "Both of them said essentially the same thing. They're devastated over the loss of their friends and direct any questions to their lawyers. So if, we want to talk to them, we're going to have to jump through some hoops first."

Jessie posed the question that was percolating in her head.

“Do you find it as strange as I do that these guys seem so blasé about the murders of their friends?” she asked. “Or that they haven’t asked for protection? Or even how the case is going?If I belonged to a club where two of my friends had been killed on consecutive nights, I’d be pretty scared.”

“I’d love to ask them about that if we ever get the chance,” Riddell said.

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