Page 52 of It's a Wonderful Knife
Hermina gawked at me. “But that means for now… we’re on our own?”
“Yes, but there are a lot of us and only one killer, right?”
Hermina gave a small nod. “I hope.”
“If we stick together, we’ll be fine,” I said firmly. “We need to keep calm, and help will be here before we know it.” I was faking my confidence, but what I said was true. Eventually, phone service would return. Help would arrive in the form of forensic teams and other law enforcement.
“But what do we do rightnow?” Gianna wailed. “We’re just sitting ducks.”
“We’re going to stay in groups. If someone has to go to the bathroom, bring a buddy. From this point on, no one should be alone. Okay?”
“Oh, God.” Gianna clutched her throat, her face pale. “But I am here alone.”
Hermina moved toward her. “So am I. You… you can be with me and Mary Puppins.”
Nodding, Gianna whispered, “Thank you.”
I glanced at Mona. “If you don’t mind, I’ll hang on to your phone so I can keep checking for a signal.”
“No problem.” Mona nodded.
“I’ll also need to use your office to question people.” If I could identify who the killer was, I could at least restrain them to keep the others safe.
“Of course,” Mona said.
“Wait.” Penelope widened her eyes. “You need to question all of us? You think one of us killed Santiago?”
Lucas frowned. “We’re the only ones here, right? Who else could have done it?”
“But… why would we kill Santiago? I… I didn’t even talk to him.” Penelope leaned on Gerald as if on the verge of fainting.
Grimacing, I said, “I’m not accusing any of you. But I need to rule everybody out, right?”
Penelope frowned. “I suppose that’s true.”
“Oh, come on, Sheriff. We know who it was,” muttered Amelia, glaring at Gianna. “I don’t know why we’re all pretending we don’t.”
Gianna lifted her brows. “What? You… you think I killed Santiago?”
“You were harassing him. You wouldn’t leave him alone,” Amelia said shrilly. “And when he rejected you, you killed him in cold blood.”
“No.” Gianna shook her head. “No, I didn’t hurt him. I really liked him. I… I couldn’t kill anybody.”
“Liar,” shrieked Amelia. “He didn’t want you, and so you murdered him.”
“No. You’re wrong.” Gianna pressed her lips tight.
I had to give her credit for not blurting out just how much Santiagohadwanted her. Of course, perhaps that was to cover herself. She didn’t know I knew she’d had sex with the victim. Maybe she was trying to distance herself from Santiago.
“Amelia, everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” I said. “Don’t throw around accusations. It doesn’t do anyone any good.”
Hermina nodded. “Yes. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Amelia narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”
Pink tinted Hermina’s cheeks, and she hugged her dog tighter. “It just means that it was no secret you and Santiago were fighting constantly. We… we could just as easily cast aspersions on you.”
“She’s right.” Richard gave a humorless laugh. “Isn’t it almost always the spouse or the significant other who murders the victim? Seems to me you had more of a reason to murder Santiago than Gianna did. He was cheating on you.”
