Shortcake*

Chapter 29: Crazy Fans

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

Hargrove and D'Agosta let Cleo and Link look over the files and discussed the few questions they had regarding the investigations. Then Link went to the car, got his tablet and showed them the files they received. After reading through everything and listening to their concerns, Link asked them for their opinions.

D'Agosta sat back and ran his hand through his white blonde crew cut as he thought. "The thing I think you need to focus on to figure this out is the why. Why does someone want Cleo to know her parents were murdered and her husband's death was most likely a suicide? Why do they want her to know about Link's past?" He glanced at Hargrove. "Why do they want her to know that someone or they are watching her? The timing of Mr. Costa and his boyfriend's relationship ending and all this being brought to your attention is suspicious. If this were my case, I would want to talk to the boyfriend."

"I'd also be looking into the Flight Attendant a little closer," Hargrove added. "Was she hired to cause a fight? To prove Link hasn't changed? Is she the person doing the research? That's suspicious." He leaned forward and rested his elbow on his knees as he thought for a minute. "Who do you have as suspects at this point?"

Link glanced at Cleo. "I don't want to call them suspects right away, but they're people we think have the means and motive." He held up his hand. "Nico, his ex, Frankie, my ex, Jerrica -"

"Yeah, let's look at her for a minute." D'Agosta jumped in. "Would you recognize her if you saw her now?"

"I think so?" Link frowned. "But then, I haven't seen her since her sentencing fourteen years ago."

"And your dad says she moved to Clarksville?"

"Yeah, she met a guy and moved up there with him." Link explained. The dog had laid down on his feet and was snoring again, and Link leaned down to rub his head. "She moved there five months ago."

"So right after you and Cleo announced your relationship publicly." Hargrove mused. "Is there a chance the flight attendant was Jerrica?"

Link slowly straightened up, squinting his eyes as he tried to remember. "I wasn't paying enough attention to her to notice what she looked like. She was tall, blonde and leggy, and so was Jerrica. Her hair was more platinum though... Jerrica had honey blonde hair."

"Well, she's forty and spent ten years in prison, which ages you. A lot of blondes start going platinum as their hair starts to grey." D'Agosta said quietly. "Personally, I'm leaning toward a partnership here. There's too much for one person to pull off, especially if the Flight Attendant followed you to Canada and you received a package from Georgia within a week. They could do it, but either the information was handed to them, or they had a lot of it." He tapped the tablet screen. "A lot of this would only be available from a lawyer or a police officer involved in the case."

Hargrove sighed and pulled out his phone. "I really think you need a law enforcement officer to look into things. The fact that this has crossed state lines, California, New York and Georgia and international borders and involves a murder means this is an FBI affair."

"Will they take it seriously though? There hasn't been a threat on our lives or anything." Cleo was chewing her lower lip, and Link reached up and gently pulled it free of her teeth.

"I agree with Vinnie." D'Agosta said firmly. "Can you send me this? I have a contact in the Behavioural Analyst Unit I've worked with a few times on a couple of cases. I'll send him all the information and explain our concerns. He can decide if this is something that needs to be looked into more, but I think he will. I would also recommend caution because whoever is doing this is clearly getting their information from someone close to you both, whether it's without their knowledge or with it, I don't know."