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“Tenneson? Please. Haven’t seen him since I was about three. So that’s doubtful.”
“He should still go on the list. Along with your mom’s exes. Jealousy is a big motive for murder.”
She started writing. “Give me a minute. There’s a few.”
I waited while she wrote down a list of names.
Fang peered over her shoulder. “Ugh, Linden Whitchel? I hate that guy.”
“Yeah, me too.” Rebel put an asterisk next to his name. “She could pick ’em.”
“I’ll try not to be insulted on my father’s behalf,” I muttered.
They both ignored me, and eventually Rebel got to the end of her mother’s little black book.
“Guess your dad didn’t have any other exes?”
I shook my head. “One and done.”
“Aw, like father, like son,” Fang mocked.
I was really beginning to hate that guy.
Rebel ignored him. “Give me someone else who would have benefited from your dad being dead?”
I mused on that for a moment. “My wife, I guess. If I get money, so does she, since we’re still legally married.”
Rebel asked me how to spell her name, and I gave her the letters so she could write them down. “His business partner too. Harold Coker.”
Rebel scribbled that across the page too. “This is good. The list is getting long.”
“I think you need to think outside their immediate circles too. Who else had opportunity? The judge?”
Rebel peered at me. “I don’t remember her name.”
I didn’t either, but I was sure I could find it. “Just put judge for now. She’s a bit of a long shot anyway, but we can look it up if need be. Hotel staff would have also had opportunity. Dad and Miranda both stayed in the hotel for two nights before the ceremony.”
“Friends of your mom’s?”
“She didn’t have many.” Rebel cleared her throat. “Speaking of friends, though… Kian.”
I frowned. “That’s as stupid as accusing me.”
“Is it? He was close to your dad. People are more likely to be murdered by someone close to them than some random hotel employee.”
“I’ve known Kian since I was a kid. He didn’t do it.”
It really freaking irked me Rebel wrote his name down on the list anyway.
My leg bounced like it had a mind of its own. I didn’t know what had come over me last night. Rebel was the pain in my ass I’d first assumed her to be. “I think that list is pretty comprehensive. I’m sure the cops will be grateful for it.”
Rebel and Fang both gave me that, “Oh, he’s so sweet and innocent” look.
I was getting really sick of them doing that. “What?” I demanded.
“You’re such a Providence boy at heart, aren’t you? Must be nice to assume the cops will actually do their job, just because you’re a rich white guy. We aren’t all as lucky as you, with the ability to just pay them off.” Rebel put the lid back on the marker and sat back, reading over the names she’d added to the paper. “We aren’t making this list to hand over to them, Vaughn. We’re investigating it ourselves. You going to help? Make use of all those Law and Order episodes you used to watch?”
My wife’s threats rang in the back of my head. If the cops had taken me off their suspect list, then I needed to get back to Cali. As much as I didn’t want to be married to Brooke, I didn’t want her dead either. We’d been together since we were nineteen. There was no forgiving the way she’d lied and cheated. She’d ruined everything good between us. But every day I stayed here was another day she was alone, just waiting for an ambush. That didn’t sit right with me.