The Present
Georgia unzipped her jacket. The icehouse was actually kind of warm. Or maybe it was the heat of discovery. This was the breakthrough she’d hoped for. She leaned forward. “So Beef Jerky recruited Scott to kill Dena Baldwin.”
“I didn’t say that,” Kitty said.
“But that’s exactly how Dena’s assassination went down. Where can I find Beef Jerky? What was his real name?”
“You can’t, and I don’t know.”
“What’s that mean?”
“He’s dead.” Kitty’s voice was flat.
Georgia felt as if someone had plunged her into the icy water below Sand Lake. “How?”
“An OD. Opioids.”
“Laced with fentanyl?” When Kitty nodded, Georgia asked, “When?”
“A couple of weeks after Scott died.”
Georgia calculated the timing. “So about seven, eight weeks ago.”
“End of January.”
“I still don’t get it. The way Dena Baldwin died was identical to that Perfect Kill thing.”
Kitty sneaked a glance at Purdy. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“Complicated how? What are you not telling me?”
Kitty hesitated. “First of all, I still don’t believe Scott had it in him. He was always a sweet guy. I could see traces of it even after he came home. But he was gullible. And Beef Jerky did a number on him, that’s for sure. Actually, I had hoped Scott would meet a nice girl. I even called some friends to fix him up. I thought that might help. And it did. For a while.”
“Scott had a girlfriend?”