Page 125 of Dead Man's List

She leaned over to read the nine names along with Connor. To her disappointment, Christopher Drummond was not on the list.

But several of the names she did recognize, either from news coverage on them or their companies or from Munro’s list of campaign donors. Six men and three women. All movers and shakers, as Ronald Tasker had claimed.

And, lo and behold, both Juanita Young and Estelle White were two of the three women. They’d been the women who, according to Connor’s mother, had slept with Monroe. They’d also been the women who’d either slammed their door in the detectives’ faces or denied everything when they’d been interviewed.

They’re going to have to talk to us now.

“Do you know any of them?” she asked Connor, knowing he’d recognized at least the two women’s names.

“I’ve personally met six of them. All are members of the country club.” Connor looked up at Daly. “How did this transpire? How did this group come together?”

Daly exhaled quietly. “It was after Earl killed himself. We were shaken, all of us. But we didn’t know about each other then. We suspected, of course, that Munro had several of us on his blackmail list, but we didn’t know who. It’s not something you shout out loud, like ‘Bingo.’ ”

Kit thought of her father saying that they didn’t tack a postcard on a bulletin board but somehow had communicated. “Then how did you find out about each other?”

“It was Hugh Smith.” Daly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow. “He was paying attention at Earl’s funeral when the rest of us were not. Hugh heard Earl’s wife tell his wife that there was no money left, that Earl had drained their accounts. She was all but penniless and was going to have to move in with her sister. Maybe even get a job.”

Oh, the horror,Kit thought, then gave herself a mental smack. Earl O’Hanlon’s widow was nearly Betsy’s age. Starting over at that stage of life would be terrifying. Especially for a woman who’d never worked outside her home.

“So what did Hugh do?” she asked.

“He investigated because he had a hunch that Earl was also paying Munro. We never knew for sure, but it certainly looked like it. Hugh got his hands on Earl’s bank statements and saw that he was withdrawing forty thousand dollars every month. Out of everyone on the list, that was the highest amount. That anyone was willing to admit, anyway.”

“Do you know what any of the others did?” Connor asked.

Daly shook his head. “All we knew was that we were being blackmailed. It seemed Munro was hunting his victims at our club.”

Munro had been a member of three country clubs. Kit wondered how many victims he had at the other clubs, then filed the thought away for later. “Did Hugh Smith bring you all together?”

“Yes. He started checking out our finances. He’s the head of security for one of the military contractors at the naval base at Coronado. I guess he had the means to get our account statements and portfolios.”

“When did you first meet?” Kit asked. “And where?”

“The first meeting was one week after Earl’s funeral. We gathered in Hugh’s home office. He said it was bug-free and soundproofed, so no one would hear us.”

“Did you know why you were meeting?” Connor asked.

“No. We were all…stunned. At first, we were furious with Hugh. I’m still furious, if I’m being honest. But after he let us speak our piece, he said that together we could bring Munro down. Of course no one wanted to go to the police.”

“Of course not,” Kit said dryly. “So what did you decide to do?”

“To kill him,” Daly said with no inflection whatsoever.

“Butyoudidn’t,” Connor said. “If you didn’t, who did?”

“I don’t know. I attended only two meetings. After we decided that we’d kill him in that first meeting, we met again because Hugh had contacted a hit man.”

Ah.This was closer to what Kit had expected. She didn’t think that a group of rich people would get their own hands dirty. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Hugh said he got a creepy feeling about the guy, so he didn’t press him for a contract.”

A creepy feeling about a hit man. Imagine that.

“Do you think Hugh talked to the hit man personally?”Connor asked. “Because that sounds riskier than I can see Hugh Smith being.”

One side of Daly’s mouth lifted in a sardonic smile. “I thought the same thing, that Hugh had an underling talk to the hit man, but I don’t know for sure. I left after that. I wanted no part in their scheme.”

“They just let you…leave?” Kit asked, making sure her disbelief fully registered.