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I FELT MY PHONE PULSE, dug it out, and read Faye’s text. Woman in fll del van visited OFarwell abt 2 wks back.
When I called Rory and read him the message, he made a low whistle. “I’ll drive out to Oscar’s right now.”
“Call when you know something.”
Two hours later he reported, “Lila Beale went to Oscar’s house and asked him to kill Steve Deline.”
“Just like that? Knock on the door and propose murder?”
“It was actually pretty slick. She never said who she was. She told Oscar he didn’t have to do the killing, but he would move the body so she had time to establish an alibi. She also didn’t say why she wanted Deline dead; she just talked about it being mutually beneficial to have him out of the picture.”
“He agreed to that?”
“Oscar claims he turned her down flat and eventually she gave up. She mentioned she had someone else who’d help if he wouldn’t.”
“Why didn’t Oscar call the police and tell them, or at least mention it when Deline turned up dead?”
“He claims we wouldn’t have believed him, and he might be right. It’s a pretty weird story.”
“Weird. That’s what Retta says Lila’s friend called her.”
“If only we could predict when weird goes on to homicidal.”
“I guess you’re on your way to Ward River as we speak.”
Rory chuckled. “You don’t even get points for figuring that out. I called the sheriff. He’s going to meet me, and we’ll visit the flower shop together. I’m betting Ms. Beale ends up under arrest.”
“Then you have to figure out who did move Deline’s body and provide her alibi.”
“Right. Oscar didn’t give us much to go on. Lila apparently said ‘he’ would help because of an old grudge.”
“Willy Gunther?”
“My first thought too. We’ll talk to him right after we take Lila into custody. I’ll call when I know something.”
