“Seems a little thin, right?” Meg brightened. “He also had a loan from Meade, but that got written off, so yeah, still a little thin.”
“Well, let’s dig a little deeper and see what we can find out to prove he didn’t kill Meade. If we get him off the list, we’ll need more suspects, but so will your uncle. There are a few reasons someone would kill someone else. One, they’re crazy. Two, love.”
“Three, hate,” Meg added.
Natasha nodded, touching the third finger on her outstretched hand. “And four, money.”
“Is that it?” Meg tried to think of more reasons. “I guess survival is another one, but that’s an extreme, Donner Party situation.”
“So five. And we can take off survival, unless it was to save a secret. But that has to have another component. Like money or love, right?”
“Keeping a secret? I’d put that under survival. Especially if the secret would blow your normal life up.” Meg stood and grabbed a notebook from the counter. She wrote down all the reasons to commit murder that they had come up with. “These will make a great chapter for my book.”
“That’s amazing, and I’m glad to help, but let’s get back to Nate. He was cheating on Violet, but he’s already let that cat out of the bag. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more than one person. Nate’s never been good at monogamy.”
Meg snorted. “That’s probably because Violet’s dad is the mayor. He doesn’t want to be arrested.”
“Okay, so it wasn’t a secret from Violet, but maybe the other person didn’t want the secret being let out.” Natasha tapped her finger on the table. The fries had gone cold, and she tucked them back in the bag. Then she held her hand over Meg’s. “Are you done? Watson’s drooling over there, and I think he’s going to pounce.”
“Food’s a strong motivator for anyone,” Dalton observed as he walked into the bookstore. “What did I miss?”
CHAPTER23
Sometimes the Fates put you on the exact path where you need to be.
“You missed dinner, for one.” Meg pointed to the now empty bag. “And a visit from Jolene.”
Dalton groaned as he sat down. “I know. She called me. Three times before I was able to take a break and call her back. She’s bringing over an NDA tomorrow to my house, so I won’t tell anyone what Lilly said about Josh.”
“Do I know what Lilly said about Josh? If not, you need to tell me now, before you sign. Are they paying you money?” Natasha leaned forward, interested in the gossip.
“She told me she has to pay me to make the NDA valid, so I told her I’d take the money. She’s giving me five thousand. Don’t judge. It’s going into my home-repair fund. I might be able to refinish the living room this year. If the furnace doesn’t go out before I spend the money.”
Meg whistled. “I should have told her the info wasn’t covered under my NDA, but they’re paying me well, anyway. I shouldn’t be greedy.”
“You still didn’t tell me what Lilly said,” Natasha prodded. “Hurry, before Jolene rushes in here and forces the money on you.”
Dalton grinned. “You already know. Lilly has an alibi. She’s having an affair with Josh, and she was with him at the time of the murder.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have put that on the murder board.” Meg pressed her lips together. “I need to read that NDA I signed.”
“Okay, so Josh wasn’t in love with Tabitha. And she was coming over here at weird times without him. And Nate was sleeping with someone besides Violet.” Natasha stared at the three names she’d written down on the notebook in front of her. “Is anyone else seeing lines of attachments?”
“Just because Nate was sleeping with someone besides Violet, that doesn’t mean it’s Tabitha. I mean, seriously, how would he even meet her?” Meg shook her head. “I bet it was one of the bonfire girls.”
“You make them sound like a club.” Dalton held up a hand. “Besides, I can answer that. I saw Nate hitting on a blonde with a Southern accent a few months ago at Island Diner. Junior and I were having dinner. I walked through the bar on the way to the head. Nate hangs out there when he’s not working, which is a lot of the time. You said Tabitha looks like a Miss Georgia?”
“Yeah. Hold up. I have a picture.” Meg flipped through her photos and then handed Dalton the phone. “That’s her.”
He stared at the picture. “I felt bad for Violet. This woman’s a knockout, and it shows even with her dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Violet’s pretty but not beautiful. This was the woman. Nate must have thought he won the lottery. She’s way out of his league.”
“I bet he’d do almost anything for her,” Meg said as the three of them exchanged glances.
“Love. Our motive is love?” Natasha finally asked, breaking the silence. “You are putting these motive ideas in your book, right? It makes everything clearer when you look at it through that filter.”
“I think on both ends. Tabitha was mad at Josh for using her as a cover for the affair. And Nate was so in lust with Tabitha that he’d do anything for her. The only question is, why kill Robert Meade rather than Josh or Lilly?” Meg rubbed her face. “I’m tired, and my head is pounding.”
“And it’s ten. Let’s clean up and get out of here. Natasha, don’t leave. We’ll drop you off on the way to Meg’s apartment. I’ll grab the trash.” He grabbed the bag from Proper Fish and stuffed napkins into it before heading out to throw it away.
