Page 77 of Dead Man's List

“I was standing in line, thinking about this,” Connor said as he put Kit’s coffee in front of her. “I kept thinking that if they had a criminal past, wouldn’t that have shown up in background checks when Munro ran for city council, so I called one of my contacts at city hall. They don’t do full police checks on the candidates. And we didn’t run fingerprints on Munro after he died because all his fingers were gone. The ME used dental records for the ID.”

Kit inhaled the aroma of the dark roast, with cream and sugar the way she liked it. “Thank you. Yeah, I thought the same thing but haven’t made the call yet because I hit pay dirt. I called Mary Cowen back and she confirmed that Monroe Brookman was also in the foster system.”

“So Sam was right.”

“He was. Cowen couldn’t help me discover how their paths intersected, so I did criminal background checks. Bonnie and Clyde, a.k.a. Viola and Monroe, started their lives of crime about two years after their wedding. Or at least that was the first time they got caught. He did some time in a county jail for theft. Shewas picked up a few years later for grand theft. She stole a gold bracelet.”

“I wonder if it was the one she left in the Ferrari.”

“Maybe. I doubt that anything her mother gave her would have lasted thirteen years in the foster system and time in and out of jail. I could be wrong, but…” Kit shrugged. “They went on to do more crimes over the next ten years. Then they just up and disappeared twenty years ago. The last thing on Monroe Brookman’s record is jumping bail on an arrest for swindling.”

“And they became Veronica Fitzgerald and Brooks Munro. They must have paid someone a lot of cash for their new identities. No one has even questioned them up until now.”

“That we’re aware of,” Kit said. “If they’re involved in the murder of Weaver’s PI, who knows what else they’ve done to protect themselves? And maybe that’s what Weaver’s PI found out.”

“Maybe.” Connor frowned at the whiteboard. “Still, nobody noticed when he ran for city council? His face was all over the TV and the internet.”

“He was a small-time crook in another state. Maybe no one was looking for him.” Kit brought up one of Monroe Brookman’s mug shots. “Plus, he’s changed a lot. Had some work done.”

“You’re right. He’s changed enough that facial recognition software wouldn’t have picked him out. What about the PI?” Connor asked. “Munro’s PI, I mean, not Weaver’s dead PI. Are there any criminal cohorts that Munro could have been pals with back then?”

“I don’t know. Let’s place a few calls to the law enforcement agencies who arrested them over the years. We could get lucky and find out that someone got arrested along with them.”

“Veronica would have known the PI’s name, then.”

“Yeah. I didn’t think she was telling the truth about that,” Kit said.

“Neither did I. But something else is puzzling me. The house in the Caymans.”

Kit set her laptop aside. “I’m listening.”

“She’s crazy in love with Brooks Munro, they’re tearing up the sheets and have a love for the ages.”

Kit huffed. “I didn’t need the tearing-up-the-sheets mental image, so thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome. Why would she buy a house in the Caymans with her share of the take if Munro was always here?”

“He couldn’t have expected to stay married to Wilhelmina forever,” Kit reasoned. “Maybe he planned to join Veronica in paradise after the inevitable divorce.”

Connor raised a brow. “Orwhat if Veronica was doing the PI on the side because Munro was married and that pissed her off? Maybe the PI planned to join her in paradise. She did tell him that they had to get away. It sounded like she meant together.”

“Huh. I never even considered that.”

“It might not be true. But I didn’t believe she didn’t know the guy’s name.”

“The pilot said he flew her alone,” Kit said.

“What if the pilot lied? She was paying him for his discretion.”

“Maybe,” Kit allowed. “Or he could be afraid the PI would come after him.”

“More likely,” Connor agreed.

“Do weknowthat Brooks Munro never traveled with her?”

Connor shook his head. “No, we don’t, but we only checked his current alias. Let’s find out if Monroe Brookman’s passport has been to the Caymans.”

Kit made a call to one of her contacts at the State Department, just as she’d done for Veronica’s passport the day before. “Hey, Richard. It’s Kit McKittrick again.”