Elizabeth C. Main - Jane Serrano 02 - No Rest for the Wicked by Elizabeth C. Main Page A

mentioned it before this if she did.
    “ That would clear everything up. ” Bianca brightened at the thought. “ He was killed the night before he was found, or maybe early that evening? And you saw him at … ? ”
    “ About three, give or take. From what I read, he died about six or seven that night. ” Alix spread her hands wide, palms up, in a helpless gesture. “ I was at the Wedding Belle. No appointments, no phone calls, not even Wendell. I was upset after seeing him, so I wasn’t looking for company. Bad choice. ”
    “ If you knew this creep was prowling around Juniper, why didn’t you warn anyone? ” Bianca voiced the question I’d been about to ask. “ You actually could identify someone you knew was a criminal, maybe save someone from losing his life savings, so— ”
    “ Why didn’t I? ” Alix flushed and spoke harshly. “ Don’t you think I thought of it? Sure, I thought of it a lot, but . . . ” She covered her face with her hands.
    Bianca’s voice was thick with scorn. “ But what? You chickened out because you were embarrassed. You didn’t want to ruin your image. That’s … that’s— ”
    “ —human, ” I finished.
    Bianca was still young enough to be judgmental, certain that she would always do the brave thing, the right thing. I’d been around long enough to know that as people age, they sometimes blur what were once bright lines in order to make it through tricky situations. Suddenly , I remembered a recent conversation at the book club the night we discussed Sue Grafton’ s T is for Trespass , which centered on elder abuse. The usually cool Alix had been uncharacteristically vehement in her comments about it.
    “ It was you who suggested the SOS group. In fact, you practically insisted on it, but you stepped back from organizing it. Now I see why. ”
    “ Well, I don’t. ” Bianca stood with arms crossed, still disgusted.
    “ You’re right, Bianca. ” Alix intertwined her long fingers in front of her on the table like a penitent schoolgirl, her embarrassment emblazoned across her cheeks. “ I knew it all along. I should’ve told someone, but I just … just couldn’t face having that man investigated here, where I live. I hoped to learn where he was headed and contact the police in the next town he targeted, but, obviously, I never got the chance. ”
    “ So starting the SOS group was your way of warning the people around Juniper without exposing yourself, ” I interjected. “ Pretty smart. ”
    “ With Bianca and Minnie’s activist track record, I knew that once they got fired up about elder abuse, it’d generate a ton of local attention, which it has. I had him outfoxed temporarily. Thought the publicity would move him out of here fast. ”
    Bianca was softening fast, her naturally tender heart overtaking her initial shock. “ Well, I guess that makes sense. Too bad somebody killed him before he left though. ”
    “ Sure is, ” Alix said. “ Could have saved everyone a lot of trouble. I don’t know who killed him, but late last night I had one idea. You won’t believe it when I describe a game he used to play, but it’s the best lead I can come up with. ”

Chapter 9
    The more Alix told us about her ex-husband, the less I wondered at her sour attitude toward men. Bianca and I listened, incredulous, as Alix described Hunter’s game. He’d make an appointment with a female real estate agent to look at an expensive house and then seduce her during the tour. To make the contest interesting, he looked for agent s who were attractive, married, and under the age of forty.
    “ How did you find out about this … this game? ” Bianca wanted to know.
    “ He couldn’t wait to tell me about it when he saw I was really going to leave him. Wanted me to know what a big hit he was with other women. Told you he was a creep. ”
    “ You think he might have tried that here? ” I might be a generation older than Bianca, but I was just as na i ve about the