All Dressed in White (Under Suspicion #2)(68)

“Ladies First,” she said. “Why does that sound so familiar?”

Jeff was looking over her shoulder. “That’s Nick’s sign,” he shouted. “He hangs it on every boat he charters. Meghan’s with Nick? But he’s in Boca with a client.”

“No, he’s not,” Laurie said. “He was here, at least until this picture was taken.”

“He texted me during dinner. He left hours ago.”

“Then he never really left or must have come back,” Laurie said. “Jeremy, are you certain Meghan got on that boat voluntarily?”

His brow wrinkled in confusion. “I can’t be sure. I’m good at reading body language and facial expressions, but in the dark, from that distance? I just assumed—” He looked at Jeff, almost apologetically. He simply assumed Meghan was meeting up with another man, a guy with an impressive boat.

“I don’t understand,” Jeff said. “Nick’s my friend.”

“Or, he’s not,” Laurie said. She could feel all the pieces falling into place. She had been so focused on Jeff and Meghan, because they were the ones with a motive to kill Amanda. Jeff, for money. And Meghan, to be with Jeff. She was assuming that whoever killed Amanda—and Carly before her—was actually after them. But Laurie, of all people, should have realized that not all killers go after their actual targets. Some killers are willing to target people just to hurt someone else. A sociopath uses victims as pawns in a game no one else is playing.

Greg’s killer had had nothing against Greg. He murdered him, and would have killed Laurie and Timmy, all for a personal vendetta against someone else.

She thought about Grace saying that Nick was much more appealing than Austin. But Jeff, unlike his friends, didn’t even have to try. When Laurie first met Jeff, she’d thought of Greg. He’d had a natural ease that couldn’t be learned or bought.

“He’s doing this because he hates you, Jeff. He’s jealous. You’ve found happiness with women who love you. All Nick has is loneliness and rage. Don’t you see? Nick finds comfort around Austin, because he doesn’t think Austin is as good as he is. But you’re different. You’re a threat. He wants what you have but he can’t. Was Nick interested in Carly Romano at Colby?”


The mention of Carly’s name seemed to spark a memory. “As I said, she was one of the prettiest girls on campus. We were all interested. But no, there’s no way Nick would do that. And a second ago, you acted as though Meghan was guilty.”

“I don’t think she is,” Laurie said. “She’s innocent, and she’s in danger. Detective Henson, how can we find that boat? Nick told me it was the most impressive charter in the region.”





71





Nick felt at home with his hands on the wheel, the ocean’s air blowing against his face. He found himself smiling. LADIES FIRST. Normally that sign referred to his many female boating guests. He laughed out loud. Neither Carly nor Amanda had ever been at sea with him. Meghan would be the first.

Three different women, all distinct, but they all had one thing in common: they’d all rejected Nick’s advances and fallen for that phony Jeff Hunter.

Taking Meghan had been much easier than forcing Carly into his car as she walked home from that party, or luring Amanda away from the hotel. One email from an untraceable, anonymous account, purporting to be from Kate, had done the trick.

With Amanda, he hadn’t claimed to be someone else. He should have known she wouldn’t want to talk to him alone. She was just like Carly. Women like them always raised their noses at him, like he was just a joke, a temporary flirtation. Amanda had rolled her eyes at him and Austin the entire trip at the Grand Victoria until he told her that Jeff was seeing another woman behind her back. That sure did get her attention! Suddenly he was the one in charge.

He took a look at Meghan splayed out on the cushions next to him. If only he’d known about the drug ketamine back in college. He could have jabbed Carly in the neck with a needle. She had not gone into his car willingly.

He cut the engine on the boat. They were in deep water. Meghan was now conscious but, thanks to that injection, completely immobile. Based on what he’d read, she’d be in a dreamlike state, essentially paralyzed and living in an alternative universe. Soon, she’d be weighted down in the water, and he’d show up at his client’s house, no one the wiser.

“How you doing over there, Meghan?”

She blinked, but he knew it was involuntary. She had no control over anything that was happening to her.

“I have to say, between Jeff’s two great loves, I’ve always liked you better. Amanda was two-faced. She pretended to like me, but I could see the truth. I even heard her say to Jeff, ‘I don’t see how anybody who is as unlike you as Nick could be your best friend.’ You should have seen her expression when I told her Jeff was seeing someone else. She immediately asked if it was you, by the way. Some friend, right? She was dying to know the details, no pun intended, but I made her wait.”

He’d hinted that it was one of the girls in her bridal party, just to watch her squirm. He wanted to make sure everyone else had gone to bed before making his move. He told her to pick up her car after the dinner party and meet him at the turnoff at the end of the long driveway in front of the hotel. They could have a drink at the steak house across the street.