Jenn Vakey - Rilynne Evans 07 - Revenge with Murder by Jenn Vakey Page A

of place you see in movies, but you don’t actually think they could really exist.  I don’t think you could have found a better place for us to come.  It even beat my idea of traveling around Ireland, although I definitely still want to do that.”
    “I’m just glad it didn’t rain the entire time.  I was looking at the weather before we left and it was a definite possibility,” he said.  He opened both bottles before handing one back to Rilynne.  “I’d have been pretty upset if that had been the case.  We would have ended up extending it until the weather calmed.  There are a few things I really want to do while we’re here, and we aren’t leaving without doing them.”
    Rilynne laughed and leaned back against the railing.  “And you still won’t tell me what’s left on that list?  I know we’ve had to have knocked out most of them by now.”
    Ben shook his head with an amused grin before taking a swig of his beer.  “There’s a thing or two still left to do, and no, I’m not going to give you any details.”
    “Not even if I’m really good?” she asked, crossing the deck to sit on the swing.
    “Just how good are we talking?” he grinned.  Rilynne shrugged, emptying half of her bottle in one drink.  “Are we talking no more middle of the night runs, or are you going to let Sergeant Perez handle the rest of the investigation?”
    Rilynne groaned and let her head fall back.  “Fine.  I guess I can just wait.”
    “That’s what I thought,” he laughed.  “In the mean time, let’s get this case wrapped up so we actually have time to do what I have planned.”
    “Where do we start?”
    “I know what we can do,” Ben said, sitting down next to her on the swing.  “We could play the game.  That way you will know exactly what questions to ask when you talk to the victim’s family tomorrow.  With any luck, one of them will reveal something that will tell you exactly who did it and we can get back to our honeymoon.”
    Ignoring his final remark, she took another sip and began running through everything they knew.  After a few moments, she started.  “There were visible stains on her clothes from the blood when we found her.  If those injuries had happened just before she was put in the water, they would have rinsed away without setting in.”
    “That means there was enough time between when those wounds were inflicted and when she went into the water for the blood to dry on her clothes.  She was already dead when the stab wounds and gunshot took place, so there wouldn’t have been much blood in the first place.  If it were only partially dry, I don’t think there would have been as much present.  I would have to run some tests to be sure, but I’m pretty confident saying the blood was completely dry on her clothing before she was dropped into the ocean.”
    Rilynne nodded in agreement.  “Call Summers and see if he can verify that, but it makes sense.  I know she was close enough to the shore when the killer inflicted those wounds that I could hear the waves crashing, but it still looked like a pretty secluded area.  Assuming the killer didn’t just have a refrigerator handy to chain her to, he or she would have needed enough time to obtain one.”
    “Perez checked into the refrigerator,” Ben said.  “It was one that had been left near the docks to be shipped out and disposed of.  Anyone would have had access to it.  The killer probably grabbed in while in the process of loading the victim onto a boat.”
    Rilynne looked out at the stars covering the sky and thought over everything she had seen.  “Although a good amount of planning went into the post-mortem wounds, the rage that I felt when she was being drowned makes me think the initial act was a heat of the moment kind of thing.  Either that or she angered someone enough that they still had a high level of rage coursing through them.”
    “Sadly, we both know that it doesn’t take much for people to