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It took me a second to catch up with her line of thought. I was trying to picture Trevor with a bikini model. He was nice-looking for an old guy, but I never understood why smart, beautiful women married guys old enough to be their fathers. Except for the obvious financial motivation.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe. She’s smarter than she sometimes acts. Would it matter if she knew he was married?”
“Well,yeah, if Trevor killed Diana.”
“That’s a big leap, and a weak motive,” I said.
“Adultery is a great motive,” Brie countered.
“Even if she does know, I suppose he wouldn’t want his wife to find out,” I guessed. “Did you learn anything else about him?”
She shrugged. “He lives part-time in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Dallas, Texas. He’s some big land developer, Lance& Wong Development. Travels a lot—there were a lot of business articles about him doing this and that. I didn’t read them in detail.”
That was something I could do. If Dianawasblackmailing Trevor, it might not be about his extramarital affair. Based on what CeeCee overheard, I wondered if Diana had known more about his business than Trevor wanted her to know. Diana had drawn little houses next to one of her comments about someone having an affair. If that commentwasabout Trevor and CeeCee, it would give me one more clue in deciphering her code.
“I’ll look into his business,” I said, but Brie wasn’t listening.
“Gino Garmon,” Brie said. “He’s the one.Hekilled Diana.”
I almost choked on my champagne. I looked around the edge of the canopy to make sure no one heard Brie; the closest people were fifteen feet away. I couldn’t hear them, so I hoped they couldn’t hear us.
“Shh,” I admonished. “Why would you say that?”
“You’re right. Gino was a cop. Eight years in Miami. There was an investigation into him skimming money from busts. He resigned, but I think he wasforcedto resign. Maybe they couldn’t prove it, or they didn’t want a big trial, or whatever. But the crime blog I read was pretty convincing that he was stealing.”
“And they couldn’t prove it?”
“Maybe he used it to buy drugs. Maybe he was keeping a woman in a fancy apartment, bought a Tesla, I don’t know. But if he was stealing, maybe Diana knew about it.”
That seemed far-fetched. “That information would have come to light before he was hired as head of security,” I said.
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “It’s still suspicious.”
I didn’t see how something that was already known would make Garmon subject to blackmail.
“Do you know when he started working here?”
Brie thought on that. “He introduced himself to my dad when we were checking in four years ago.”
“Anything else?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“The information is public, and he probably explained it away or passed the background check because there was no evidence, or maybe his boss gave him a good recommendation. That’s not enough to blackmail him. Wait—” An idea formed.
“What?” Brie leaned forward.
“If the police in Miami didn’t have evidence that he skimmed the money, but he resigned anyway, there may have beenanotherreason. Did he come straight here from Miami?”
“No—there’s a two-year gap.”
“What did he do those two years?”
“Oooh, good question. I’ll ask—”
“No. Don’t ask anyone. He’s investigating Diana’s death.”
“Which makes him doubly suspicious.”