His face flushed red. “Then I’m glad he’s dead.”
A chill went through me. “So, no remorse?”
“Fuck no. Liam betrayed me. It was one thing for Angela to stray. She was like an alley cat. But Liam? He wasmyfriend. We were warriors together. He was supposed to have my back. Instead? He stabbed me in the back, that’s what he did.”
“Angela had plenty of affairs. Why was this one worth killing your friend over?”
His face hardened even more. “Angela was actually going to leave me.”
“She’d never threatened that before?”
“No.” He smirked. “Do you think I’d have put half of my corporations in her name if I thought she’d leave?” He shook his head. “I’ve been buying property for the last decade. I bought up half of the commercial properties around here the last few years. I was going to change Rainy Dale. I was going to get us on the map.You think I was going to let that bitch and my traitor buddy just waltz off into the sunset with my money?”
“So it was about money?”
“It was about pride and money. No one takes what I made. No one.” He raked a hand through his spikey silver hair. “That Kyle kid was an idiot. Did he really think I’d just hand over the votes? I mean, how would I even do that?”
“If it wouldn’t work, why kill him?”
“Because he was so stupid he didn’t believe me. He was going to trash-talk us to the paper. He had an interview all lined up.” He shook his head. “Dumbass punk. I even called him threatening him to back off, but nope.”
“How did you kill him? Pervis didn’t see you anywhere near them at the event.”
He laughed. “Those two brothers were so nervous they didn’t notice shit. I put on a baseball cap and bulky jacket, and I walked by them handing out waters. They didn’t even look at me. I just had to be sure I got the right bottle to Kyle.”
His dismissive tone was sickening. I couldn’t believe he’d poisoned Kyle without any hesitation. Maybe Kyle had been dumb to poke at a man like Michael Raiden, but he hadn’t deserved to die.
“You’re a piece of work, Michael,” I couldn’t help saying.
He shrugged. “Whatever. It had you stumped.”
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to calm down. “Not entirely. I know why you killed Lincoln.”
He looked up, surprised. “You think so?”
“Yeah. He saw you returning to the Rotary hall. I assume that’s when you killed Liam. But poor Lincoln saw you coming back, so your alibi was blown.”
He gave a slow clap, his face smug. “Good job, Sheriff. You’re not as dumb as you look.”
“You’re dumb though. How you thought you could just murder Lincoln and get away with it, I’ll never know.”
He scowled. “I almost did get away with it.”
“Almost isn’t success.”
“Screw you.”
I just laughed.
He was quiet for a bit, and then he muttered, “Killing Lincoln, that one wasn’t fun.”
The others were?
“I mean,” he continued, “Kyle was no big deal. Even snapping Liam’s neck wasn’t as hard as killing Lincoln. Liam had betrayed me. He had to be taken out. It hurt, but…” He winced. “I mean, yeah, that did hurt.” He stopped again and stared at the table for a minute. Then he said, “But he betrayed a brother. There are consequences.”
I shivered inwardly at his matter-of-fact tone.
He glanced up. “Lincoln though—shit, he was a nice guy. I mean, he really didn’t deserve to die like that.”
