Arson Takes a Dare: The Third Marisa Adair Mystery Adventure (Marisa Adair Mysteries Book 3) by Jada Ryker

admitted.
    “Not just her agenda.” Tara leaped to her feet and slapped the desk top. “What if the family of her victim is on her trail? He or she is determined to exact bloody vengeance. When he catches up with Elizabeth, he’ll kill her in a particularly bloody and painful way! He’ll torture Elizabeth. Perhaps he’ll cut off her feet and end her dancing days forever—” 
    “Tara!” Marisa wasn’t sure if her friend’s theory was funny or appalling, or both.
    “Our search and the criminal background check didn’t show a thing,” Tara said. “What if Elizabeth is using someone else’s identity?”
    Marisa frowned, trying to keep up with her friend’s conversational leapfrog. “Do you mean Elizabeth Furlong isn’t her real name?” She shook her head in defeat. “How could we prove it?”
    “Easy! We get her fingerprints and her DNA. Then, I use my womanly wiles on my police lieutenant boyfriend.” Tara batted her eyelashes.
    “Dreamus runs it through the national database. And then we know Elizabeth’s secret identity!” Marisa wracked her brain. She brightened. “On television and books, people give the suspect a water bottle, and then take it back with her fingerprints and her DNA from her saliva.”
    “The best way is to get her fingerprints and her DNA voluntarily, with a fingerprint kit and a DNA kit. I’ll order one online.” Tara’s fingers flew over Marisa’s computer.
    “She’s already tried to blackmail us,” Marisa said. “She’s smart, savvy, and would know what we’re up to. She’d never agree.”
    Tara pumped a fist. “That’s why we have to trick her! We’ll find someone to pose as a representative of the television show Prancing with the Stars . In order to get her on the show, the representative must have her fingerprints and DNA sample.”
    “There’s a fatal flaw in your plan, Tara. If she does have a sinister past, she’d never risk revealing it. Millions of obsessed viewers would dig into her past like determined terriers.”
    “That’s the beauty of the plan.” Tara laughed. “Elizabeth needs something to differentiate her from the other contestants. Her checkered past is an asset and would draw viewers to her. She’d use it as her own coin of the realm to gather votes.”
    “There is no television show and no viewers!” Marisa threw up her hands.
    “ She won’t know that.” Tara snapped her fingers. “We’ll convince your friends Clara and Fred to pose as employees of the show. We’ll outfit them with fingerprint kits and a DNA swab kit.”
    “Tara, you’ve lost your mind. They won’t agree to help. Clara was the lunch lady at my elementary school. She’s enjoying her retirement. Fred is a bus driver, and Clara’s boyfriend.”
    Tara shook Marisa. “And Fred is a member of your addiction support group.”
    Marisa narrowed her eyes.
    “Don’t take that attitude with me. No one’s confidentiality or anonymity was violated. Remember, Fred rallied the area support groups to your rescue when you were investigating Jonah’s murder. He announced his membership in the group to everyone that chaotic night when he delivered a bus load of addiction support group members to the nursing home to save your ass.”
    When Marisa stubbornly shook her head, Tara frowned in thought. “Anyway, I think Elizabeth has to deal with a more imminent threat.”
    Marisa rubbed her forehead, her mind reeling with Tara’s colorful changes of subject. “Imminent threat? What do you mean?”
    “Andrea!” Tara reminded Marisa. “She was furious with Elizabeth today. I wouldn’t be surprised if Andrea kills Elizabeth—”
    “Tara, I don’t think Andrea would murder someone because she compared her to a badger. And the original parallel was drawn by Andrea’s former employee.”
    “We still have a bitch on the loose with major holes in her past.” Tara crossed her arms.
    Marisa bit her lip. “What if she paid a hacker to scrub her online persona?” She