Detective White bobbed his head, the whole time searching the shadowed garden with his eyes. “I told your assistant the reason girls are being killed and dumped here is because the security cameras don’t pick it up back here. It’s pretty much your only blind spot for the cameras. Did you know that?”

I sighed. “Yes. This is my grandma’s garden. I like her to maintain some of her privacy.”

He leaned his head to the side. “Is that all? I’m going to need all the information I can get because the killer appears to know more than me. From what I’ve gathered, you’re a thorough man. Everything you do has a precise reason for why it’s done. A blind spot like this would never happen with you in charge unless there was more going on. Why do you like to give your grandmother privacy?” He gestured to Elle. “Perhaps, you want to discuss this in private.”

“No. That’s unnecessary.” I combed my fingers through my hair. “My grandma practices an old type of belief. It’s one that’s outlawed in most countries that deal with the religion. It’s corazón muerto. It means dead heart. A lot of the vegetables and herbs in this garden are for her enchantments and spells. She also . . . does sacrifices out here.”

“Animal ones?”

“Yes. For anything else I have deliveries made. I’ll show you the reports and have you talk to that source. Regardless, this is why I don’t have the cameras recording her. My assistant will give you everything and discuss those sacrifices with you further. I would like to change the questioning back to the matter of the dead girls.”

Elle knew Grandma was a bit off, but she’d had no idea how deep the craziness went. I didn’t plan on having Elle remain here much longer, but I did intend on trying to see her again. If that was at all possible, I didn’t want the taint of my grandma and her playing with dead human parts to be a problem.

Detective White got the hint and moved on. “Who else knows about the blind spot?”

“My director of security. I just fired him today, but I have all of his information.”

“Why did you fire him?”

“He turned a camera off in the attic where his wife worked as a nurse.” Reece had explained Dayanara to Detective White before, along with the huge predicament of why I kept her in the attic. He understood the fragility of the situation. This was a topic he knew not to bring up around anyone but Reece and me. “My assistant can explain more about that later.”

“Can I go up to Dayanara’s room and check it out, make sure no one has left?”

“Of course.”

A wrinkle formed in Elle’s forehead as confusion etched the outline of her eyes. She had to wonder why a nurse was in the attic or what the significance of it was, but being the wise woman that she was, she remained quiet and listened, taking it all in to decipher later.

“Okay. So your director of security knew about the blind spot. Who else?” Detective White asked. “I’ll need every name. Just because they know doesn’t mean they’re suspects, but they very well could have told someone about it. Especially with the strangeness of why there was a blind spot. News about a famous artist’s grandmother doing sacrifices in a garden could be that one interesting thing a drunken guy tells a girl at a party to impress her.”

“Okay. Besides the director of security, Reece of course knew. Grandma and Hex. The person who installed the cameras may have known that one didn’t aim in this direction. I can’t think of anyone else.”

“If anyone else comes to mind, please let me know. Do you think your grandma or Hex would’ve told anybody?”

“Not my grandma, but Hex may have let it slip, though the possibility is low. He likes to talk about himself, not anybody else.”

“Okay.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Are you going to look at the body with me or would you like to stay here?”

“I’m coming.”

“Me too. I’m Elle, by the way.” Elle grabbed my hand with shaking fingers. I didn’t want her to come along, but as I’d learned tonight, there was nothing I could do if she made her mind up.

“How much am I able to say around Miss Elle?” Detective White asked.

“I’ll let you know when I want you to stop so we don’t upset her, but don’t think you have to guard too many details.”

He pulled out gloves from his jogging pants’ pockets and put them on as we walked through the rows of herbs and rounded to where the eggplants began. A purse blinked on and off with light. Lots of tiny little rainbow lights covered it.

No wonder Patricia’s friend found the body. The pocket book looks like a damn Christmas tree.

Tags: Kenya Wright Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net