Page 60 of It's a Wonderful Knife

Ignoring his protests, Royce followed Mona down the hallway. When we reached her office, Mona unlocked the door and waved us inside.

“Hang on a minute, I need to talk to Max.” Royce pulled me aside.

“Oh, sure. I’ll just… wait in the office with Richard.” Mona gave a weak smile and disappeared into the office.

I frowned. “What’s up?”

Royce glanced around. “The knife was missing when I got back to the body.”

“Missing?”

He nodded. “From Santiago’s chest.”

I widened my eyes. “What? The knife wasgone?”

He winced. “Shhh.”

“Jesus.” I blinked at him. “So the killer came back for the weapon? Is that normal?”

“No. Not in my experience.” He shook his head. “Maybe it was someone else who took the knife.”

“You think someone just happened by and decided to take the knife out of a dead man’schest?”

“They might if they thought they were protecting someone.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

He blew out a long, tired breath. “Odds are it was the killer though. So who the hell was moving about freely during that time, without drawing suspicion?”

“Other than you and Leo, I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone leave. But to be fair, there are a lot of people to keep track of.”

“Yeah.” Royce raked a hand through his damp hair. “Leo didn’t want to go in the reindeer barn.”

“Well, I can’t blame him.”

“No, me neither.”

“So, what do we do now?”

He sighed. “I’ll talk to anyone who gives me a weird feeling. I need to talk to Amelia and Gianna, obviously.”

“Why did you start with Richard?”

“There’s just something about him that makes me suspicious. His reason for being here feels made-up. This is the last place a guy like Richard would come for a vacation.”

“I agree. He belongs here about as much as I do.”

“Difference is you’re here becauseIbrought you. What brought him here? That’s what I need to figure out because it sure as heck wasn’t holiday cheer.” He moved to the door. “We’d better get in there. I have a lot of people to talk to.”

“Okay.”

When we entered the room, Mona smiled nervously. “There’s a pad and paper in the top drawer, Maxwell, for taking notes. Plus, I might have an old tape recorder I gave to Dakota. Should I see if he knows where it is, Royce?”

“Uh, sure.” Royce nodded.

“There are a few folding chairs in the closet where the safe is,” Mona said. “Help yourself to those.”

“Thanks.” Royce nodded again, and she left the room.