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But after the photos last night, I was really beginning to realize my mom had a whole life I knew almost nothing about.
“I was so sorry to hear about what happened to them.” The woman leaned on the doorframe. “You must be so sad.”
I forced a smile. “Thank you. It’s been difficult.” That was the truth. I didn’t need to see my mother daily to miss her now. I’d loved her. That was why her death hurt so much, not because we’d lived in each other’s pockets.
The woman crossed her arms beneath her barely covered boobs. I wondered how she wasn’t freezing to death and figured I’d better get on with it before she turned blue.
“I only came over to see if I could borrow an egg. I’m baking. I didn’t mean to keep you from…whatever you were doing.”
“Oh! Sorry, I should have grabbed a coverup when I heard you knock, but I’m on my way to the hot tub out back. She winked at me. “Got a guy waiting for me. But quick, come in and grab an egg.” She smiled over her shoulder at me. “I’m Sasha by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Sasha.”
I followed her through the house and into the kitchen where she pulled open the refrigerator.
“Do you live here alone?” I asked curiously. I was assuming the guy in the hot tub didn’t because of the way she’d introduced him.
“Yep. My parents died in a car crash a couple years back, and now it’s mine.”
“Oh gosh. I’m so sorry.”
She smiled, taking out an egg carton and handing it over the countertop to me. “Take as many as you need. You can come over here for eggs anytime. Kathleen is a bit of an old biddy. She loves Kian, of course, because every time he waves at her she practically swoons at his feet. Completely different person to me. She isn’t one for the ladies.”
“Thanks for the heads-up and the eggs.”
She leaned her elbows on the countertop. “Before you go… Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. I owe you for the eggs.”
She gazed at me with awestruck eyes. “Do they have any suspects in your mom and Bart’s murders? I know it’s poor form to ask, but I love true crime and I’m so interested. I have so many theories.”
I frowned at that. “You do?”
She nodded, and her long dark waves bounced around her face. “Oh, yeah. I mean obviously, Bart’s son. Never met the guy, but the heir to the throne who never bothers to visit and the one time he does, his dad kicks the bucket? So suspicious. Then there’s Bart’s business partner. Also a dick from what I’ve seen of him at parties. The first wife, of course. Her husband. And don’t tell him I said this, but Kian is also on my list.”
“Really?” I’d been the one to put Kian on the suspect list in the first place, but I hadn’t really been serious. My conversation with Vaughn last night had really only confirmed that Kian was what you saw. He was all sunshine and smiles and golden retriever energy.
He didn’t have a dark bone in his body.
But I could humor Sasha.
Her eyes lit up, like she’d just been waiting for someone to discuss all of this with. “Well first, he had means, motive, and opportunity.”
I held my hands up. “Slow down. Why does he have means?”
“Oxyanedride was the main substance found in their bodies, right?”
Warning bells rang in the back of my mind. “Where did you hear that?”
“Nowhere reliable, which is why I’m trying to confirm it with you.”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen the autopsy report.”
“You should be able to get that now. My sources say they found a copy online.”
“You have sources?” I blinked at the woman, half in awe, half in disbelief. She couldn’t have been older than twenty-one.
She ignored my questions and went on. “Anyway, Oxyanedride is found in pool chemicals. In concentrated form, it can be lethal. Kian does clean that big-ass pool over there. My guess is he has access to it.”