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“But why did you lie?”

“Because I wanted to make you jealous, all right? I don’t like this arrangement, Kimmy. I know we said we’d keep our marriage open, and that we could still see other people, but I don’t want to see other people, and I don’t want you to see other people either.” She was looking at her wife piteously, with tears in her eyes now.

“Oh, honey,” said Kimmy, her voice soft now, and her expression tender. “I don’t want to see other people either. I just thought you wanted that.”

“No, I don’t!”

“I’m glad,” said Kimmy, and then they hugged.

“So sweet,” said Odelia as she watched the women return to their room and close the door.

“Yeah, very sweet,” Chase agreed. “Almost as sweet as locking up Kirk’s killers. Though I still don’t understand why they killed the guy.”

“Well, that’s for you to find out,” said Odelia.

Chapter 36

It was the craziest story Chase had heard in a while. As he sat in the interview room, along with Chief Alec, and listened to the man’s confession, he thought it sounded more like something fit for60 Minutes orCops.

“Kirk contacted me last month,” said Jack, who seemed to be the brains of the operation. He was a contract killer and this was clearly not his first rodeo. “He told me he was in big trouble and was about to go belly-up. He was up to his eyeballs in debt, and his wife was divorcing him and soon the whole house of cards would come crashing down. So he’d gotten this great idea that he wanted to disappear. Fake his own death and pocket the insurance money. So he hired me and told me to fake-kill him and help him set up the scene.”

“He was going to fake his own death?” asked the Chief.

“Yeah, he’d seen someLifetime movie and thought it sounded like a great idea. A way for him to leave all his troubles behind. He’d pocket the insurance money through a middle man and escape to Mexico to start a new life. Maybe a little plastic surgery, since he was a TV personality and people might recognize him, buy himself a nice big villa in Tulum or wherever, and maybe even start a new career as a cat whisperer in Mexico.”

“So what went wrong?” asked Chase. “Cause as far as I know, Kirk is really dead.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Jack, looking a little embarrassed. “Problem was that Kirk had decided that Tuesday was the day. Only I had a last-minute job in Reno that I couldn’t get out of, so I contacted Harlan, one of my associates, and told him to take my place. Only Harlan must have misunderstood, cause instead of fake-killing the client, he killed him for real.”

“Oops,” said the Chief, sharing a look of consternation with his deputy.

“Yeah, oops—you got that right. When I heard I went ballistic. Cause no client, no payment, and probably a lot of tough questions.”

“There would have been tough questions regardless,” said Chase. “At least if the intention was to fake the man’s death.”

“How did Kirk think he’d get away with it?” asked Alec.

“First off, there was going to be a lot of blood. He’d been saving it for a couple of weeks, planning the whole thing. And then there would be the murder weapon, of course. The knife, which would be at the scene. And also, he’d planned for a witness—Mia Gray. He wanted her to see the body, and pass out. I was supposed to help her with the passing-out part by hitting her over the head the moment she came across the body.”

“But don’t you think people would have wondered what happened to the body?” asked Chase.

Jack shrugged.“There would be blood, a murder weapon, and a witness. Who cares what the killer did with the body, or why? The insurance would have plenty to go on and decide the dude was dead and pay out. As far as the cops were concerned, I just had to make sure I didn’t leave any evidence. And I wouldn’thave, if that moron Harlan hadn’t screwed everything up by killing the client for real.”

It was an amazing story, and Chase couldn’t help but wonder why the men had decided to stay in town. If they hadn’t, and if Max hadn’t happened to overhear them, they’d have gotten away with murder.

“We figured we better lay low for a while, and Harlan wanted to visit the Hamptons.” He sighed. “Last time I listen to that idiot.” He looked up. “Now can I ask you a question? How the hell did you find us?”

“My niece was visiting a friend in the room next to yours,” Alec explained. “And she happened to overhear you talking to your associate on the balcony, discussing the murder. So she immediately called me.”

Jack hung his head.“What a disaster. What an absolute mess.”

“You can say that again,” said Alec with a smile.

“So how about Burt?” asked Chase.

“Who?”

“Burt Scofield. Kirk’s business associate. Was he involved in the scheme?”

Jack didn’t speak for a moment, then finally said, “If I tell you, what’s in it for me?”

“Nothing is in it for you, sonny boy,” said Alec sternly. “Now answer the question.”