Page 28 of Wild Wolf
I nodded. "He claims to have an alibi.”
Scout scoffed. "Who? That little floozy he's been seeing?”
I said nothing.
"I can think of a lot of people with a motive, but none better than Grant. He's going to get full custody of the kids now, which is what he wanted. Plus, he doesn’t have to pay child support anymore. Hannah was going after him for more money. It became this big deal. I don't know why she kept pressing the issue—she was getting enough as it was, butHannah could never just let things go. Half the fun for her was getting under someone’s skin. Tell you the truth, I think that's why she slept with Chance. Just because she knew it would piss me off.”
"Why would she do that if you two were friends?”
“I don't know if Hannah was capable of real friendship. It was always a competition. She always had to have the edge on somebody.” Scout paused. "Me, I don't have the bandwidth for that kind of drama. It's exhausting. Hannah seemed to thrive on it.”
"Who else had a reason to kill her?”
Scout thought about it for a moment. "I'm sure you've talked to Sutton?”
I nodded.
"Do you know about Loretta?”
I nodded again. “But I'm more than willing to listen to whatever you want to add.”
Scout pretty much told us what we already knew.
I asked about Dalton Riggs and the other judges. She confirmed that Hannah had blackmailed them all.
"Weren't you concerned that Hannah might try to blackmail you at some point?”
"Like I said, I thought Hannah was my friend. But it seems like the only thing of mine she wanted was Chance. And she didn’t need to blackmail me to get him.”
I gave her a card, thanked her for the information, and toldher to get in touch if she thought of anything useful. She texted me contact information for her friend Julie.
I called her after we left and verified Scout's whereabouts at the time of the murder. I took Julie’s statement with a grain of salt.
JD and I hopped into the Porsche and drove a few blocks to Trent Carter’s house. I rang the bell, but he didn’t answer.
I called Isabella and got his cell number and asked her to track the device. With a few keystrokes, she told me the phone was in Stuttgart and had been for the past several days. That told me he probably didn’t see the crime. I called and left a voicemail anyway, then JD and I cruised across the island to find Dalton Riggs.
The Florida sun beamed through the open sunroof, and classic rock blasted from the speakers. Wind swirled around through the open windows. It was a momentary escape from the chaos of the case.
I looked up Blair Bishop’s alter ego online and got an eye full. I can't say that I was surprised. But let's just say for $19.95 a month, you could see a lot more of Blair. Or, at least you could have before she deactivated her Lexi Luscious profile. Of course, for nothing at all, you could still find images and video clips of Blair on leaked websites. Blair had certain talents, and I’m sure the $19.95 was worth the money. But her fiancé wouldn't be thrilled. Especially if he saw the video clip of her taking on four guys in a cheap hotel room. Let's just say they weren’t playing Twister. More like hide and seek, and they hid it everywhere.
The Internet is forever, and all the money in the world can’t make it go away.
It only took a few minutes to drive from Stingray Bay to the Platinum Dunes. It was another upscale neighborhood with cookie-cutter mansions and lots of social drama.
Jack parked at the curb at 712 Windswept Court. We hopped out and strolled the walkway past a 1968 Shelby GT500 convertible. With fire engine red paint, a black leather interior, and polished chrome rims, the classic muscle car had an aggressive stance. A ride in that condition didn't come cheap.
I rang the video doorbell, and we admired the muscle car while we waited.
Dalton Riggs came to the door a few moments later and poked his head out. "She's not for sale, if that's what you're inquiring about?”
I got the impression the car drew frequent offers from passersby.
I flashed my badge. "Actually, we’d like to talk to you about Hannah Quinn.”
His face went long, and he swallowed hard. "What do you want to talk about?”
"I'm sure you've heard the news,” I said.
