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“So you watched her?”
“Yeah.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know. Ten minutes.”
“Then what?”
“Then I took off when the lights came on outside.”
So, he was the man she’d caught on video that night.
“And then you came back and took pictures of her?”
“Yeah. She was running on the beach and talking to some guy and his dog.”
“What did you do with the pictures?”
“I sent them to her and told her I wanted a million dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money for a couple of pictures.”
“I didn’t figure she wanted people knowing she was here. I figured it was a small price to pay for my silence.”
Oliver almost laughed aloud. Small price, indeed. He wanted to grab this guy and shake him. But something felt off.
“What then?” Carmen asked.
“What do you mean?”
“How did you plan to get the money?” she asked.
“I guess I didn’t have a plan for that yet. I just wanted to send a message.”
“Did you send any other messages?” Oliver asked.
“No.”
“None?”
“Oh, yeah. I sent her flowers.”
“Did you order them locally?”
“Yeah, I got them from that place downtown. I can’t remember the name right now.”
“Any special instructions for that delivery?”
“I told them the address.”
“Any specific time?”
He opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it again as if he was thinking about his answer. “I just wanted them delivered that day.”
Carmen had learned from the flower shop that they had been given instructions to stop at the gate, wait for the cleaning service employees who were set to arrive at the house, and ask them to bring the flowers inside. This guy didn’t seem to know anything about that.
“Was there a card in the flowers?”