Craving Vengeance by Valerie J. Clarizio Page B

he’s got a bunch of mumbo jumbo on there about grams and
milligrams and different kinds of cyanide. The only thing I can
tell for sure is that if ingested, you’d better have your affairs
in order.”
    “I think I may have found something here,”
Marsh interrupted as he pointed to some paperwork lying on his
desk.
    Spinelli leaned over his shoulder to get a
better look. “What is it?”
    “I had the IT Department print out Chad
Williams’ Internet records for the past week and there isn’t much
activity except for him logging onto the Wisconsin Department of
Safety and Professional Services website. But on a couple of
occasions he logged onto backpage dot com .”
    “So?”
    “Well, the IT Department has a program that
can track keystrokes, and they found this,” he said as he pointed
to a line in the middle of the text-filled page. “Judging from
this, it looks like he logged into his hotmail account and answered
a backpage ad for a male entertainer.” Marsh slid his finger
down to the next line of text. “It seems he planned to meet someone
going by the name of Lady Lily. He agreed to meet her at the Morgan
Bank building at 5:00 a.m. today.”
    Marsh paused and looked up at Spinelli and
Walker. “The flower of death.”
    “Doesn’t the orchid symbolize death?” Walker
asked.
    “No, I’m pretty sure it’s the lily. I think I
read that somewhere once.”
    The two debated the issue for a moment before
Spinelli cut in, “For crissake, shut up about the damn flowers
already.” His gaze locked in on Marsh. “Have you found anything
like this on Rosso’s or Carter’s computers?”
    Marsh shook his head. “Not really, but just
think about Rosso. According to his financial records, apartment,
and the personal belongings we saw, he’s living way beyond the
means of a bartender. Maybe this guy was a male entertainer on the
side, you know, maybe he’s got himself a couple of rich, old, sugar
mommas.”
    They stood in silence for a moment. Spinelli
suspected Walker and Marsh were of like mind. It seemed to fit.
    “And just look at Mike Carter’s bank
statement. The guy lost his job over six months ago and has been
living with his sister since he ran out of cash. Then suddenly,
bam, a $2,000 deposit was made into his bank account about a week
ago. Maybe it was a payment for services rendered.”
    Walker shook his head. “I hear what you’re
saying, but this all seems just a bit far-fetched. How in the hell
would someone be able to specifically contact four of Shannon’s
ex-boyfriends through a general ad on backpage ? I mean,
really, a shit-load of guys could have answered that ad. How would
the killer even possibly begin to devise a way to reach these four
specific guys? I’ve never been on backpage a day in my life.
How would anyone know these guys would be?”
    “I didn’t get that far yet. I’m just saying
we’ve got proof one of the vics answered an ad for a male
entertainer, one of the vics was living a lifestyle above and
beyond what his job could support, and one of the vics was
unemployed and received an unaccounted for lump sum payment into
his bank account,” Marsh recapped.
    “What about Meyers? He just got back into the
country today,” Walker commented.
    “What, the Internet doesn’t reach Nicaragua?”
Marsh asked sarcastically.
    Spinelli sighed. There were times he just
wanted to smack the shit out of Marsh, and this was one of those
times. He sucked in a deep breath to calm his temper. He thought
for a moment. He massaged his pounding temples. On top of
everything else, now he had a headache. “How could they possibly be
connected?”
    Walker and Marsh’s eyes shifted to Shannon
who sat silent, listening to their entire exchange.
    Spinelli cocked his head to the side. “Other
than the obvious. Maybe we need to talk to Sonny Tomes again. See
if Carter and Williams frequented his bar.”
    Spinelli dialed Tomes’ cell number. He
answered on the third ring. Music blared in the