Page 48 of Killer Honeymoon

“Oh, yes,” Chandra Kilpatrick said after they exchanged pleasantries. “I’ve squared off with Patrick Chesterfield plenty of times. I promise to do my best for your friend.” She cycled Sawyer through a series of questions about the timeline of events as he understood them. “Chesterfield isn’t wholly incompetent, so I think I can make this all go away if we can obtain a solid alibi for Frank Benjamin.”

“I’ll make it my top priority today,” Sawyer said. He snagged the pen from Royce and wrote a note in the heading above Royce’s columns.Find Frank’s alibi.He handed the pen back to his scowling husband after he finished.

“In the meantime, I’ll call the police department and demand to speak to Frank. We’ll do a verbal agreement for representation until I can get there by ferry or helicopter. I reserve the latter for emergencies. I’ll be better positioned to assess the situation after speaking to Frank and the chief.”

Sawyer thanked Chandra for her help before they disconnected.

“You didn’t say goodbye,” Royce said absently.

“Yeah, well, we’re not in Savannah anymore, Toto.”

Royce slid the notebook over so Sawyer could read his handiwork. “Let’s recap,” he began. “We know Lester Moore hired Evan and his friends to torment Frank, then reneged on his deal. Evan took off to confront him sometime yesterday afternoon. He had motive and opportunity.”

Sawyer drew his finger down the page to the next name. “We don’t know much about Gary’s motive. It sounded like Lester was holding something over Gary’s head to keep him in line.”

“Yep,” Royce agreed. “Blackmail or strongarming is a powerful motive.”

“Agreed. We just don’t know if Gary had the opportunity. We’ll have to find out where he was yesterday.”

Royce pointed to the next name. “We know the captain slash bodyguard was pissed about getting fired and threatened Moore.”

“We don’t know this to be true, but it’s the scuttlebutt on the island at least,” Sawyer said. “We also don’t know if he made it off the island before ferry service was suspended.”

“True,” Royce said, “but we know of at least one of his favorite watering holes on the island. We can ask around once the power comes back on.”

Sawyer snorted. “Do you honestly think the bars don’t have generators? There’s no way in hell they’d miss out on the opportunity to make money. There are people stranded on this island with nothing to do except drink and party. Talk about a captive audience.”

“That brings us to Frank,” Royce said. “We need to find out where he was.”

Sawyer chuckled when he recalled the attorney’s remark about the chief. “Chandra said Chesterfield isn’t wholly incompetent.”

“Wow,” Royce replied dryly. “A ringing endorsement if ever I heard one.”

“Chandra feels a solid alibi will make this go away for Frank.”

“So we’ll start with that,” Royce said.

Sawyer stroked his jaw and thought about the situation. “I think we should multitask a bit. Try to build a timeline for Frank through witness statements. Maybe one of them knows who Frank is seeing and will let it slip.”

“You know who we should talk to?” Royce asked. “The lady at the general store.”

Sawyer nodded. “Loretta. She knows everything and everyone. If she doesn’t know, her friend Estelle does.”

“My concern is witnesses sailing off before we can speak to them,” Royce replied. “Without access to the investigation file, we won’t have contact numbers for them.”

“Gary and Frank aren’t going anywhere for the time being,” Sawyer said. “One is in jail, and the other is probably besieged by owners and renters who need assistance.”

Royce nodded. “Let’s start with Evan out of sheer proximity and head down to the docks.”

“Want to bring your little notebook?” Sawyer teased.

Royce tapped his temple. “Steal trap.”

They heard arguing coming from the rental house as soon as they stepped outside. It sounded like all four of them were yelling at once.

“That’s not good,” Sawyer said as they stepped up their pace.

The bickering inside came to a sudden stop when Royce knocked on the front door. When no one answered, he knocked louder. “It’s Royce and Sawyer,” Royce called out. “We know you’re in there because we heard the shouting over at our place. Someone better open this damn door before I kick it in.”