Gilda walked away from the school without coffee or breakfast. Her hands shook, and her knees were weak. The shaking was partially from the workout and mostly from the mere thought of Mick and Thayer teaming up to catch a killer. At least Fabio would keep them focused on practical ideas for a trap, because if their ideas didn't work…
Lost behind a veil of tears, she wasn't even aware of the car next to her until Gary called out to her. "Gilda. Wait up. We need to talk."
She gulped, startled out of her reverie. "No. I just talked to Mick and Thayer. I'm done talking. I'm going home to eat, pack, and move in with my mother."
"You don't mean that," he said.
"Even more now than I did a minute ago." She swiped one arm across her face. "I'm done, Gary. I'd rather move in with her than live here with people dropping dead around me."
He got out and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry you feel that way, because I think I have something that would help. I think I have a motive for the murders."
"Yeah, I do too. Yoshida's greed."
"I've got a better one." He shook his head. "Come for a drive with me. I promise this will make your day."
Reluctantly, she got into the passenger seat and remained as close to the door as possible. "Where are we going?"
"Walter's house."
"Walter's dead." She pretended to wipe an eyelash from her eye, which brimmed with tears. "It's Jade's house now."
"Yeah, but his widow isn't dead, and she has a secret." He refused to say more until they pulled onto Walter's street and parked across from the mansion with the three-car garage. "I have friends in high places who tell me our prim-and-proper widow is expecting a small package. In about six months."
Gilda groaned. "Why do I care what Walter's widow is expecting? Just take me home." She paused then turned to Gary, wide-eyed. "Wait. Jade's pregnant? Who told you that?"
He lit a cigarette, drew in a lungful of smoke, then held the cigarette outside the window. "Let's just say we have a mutual friend in the medical profession who wants to see justice done."
"Doc?" Her mouth dropped open. "Doesn't that violate his doctor-patient confidentiality?"
"Jade isn't his patient," Gary said. "He saw her buy a pregnancy test in the hospital pharmacy. Considering he'd just done the autopsy on her husband and had to wait for her to identify the body, that kind of seemed odd."
"So, she and Walter were expecting." Gilda shrugged. "That's not so strange."
He took a drag on the cigarette and met her gaze. "It wouldn't be, except Walter had a vasectomy seven years ago. Doc went back in his records to confirm it. The lovely widow was sleeping around."
Yoshida walked out the front door of Jade's house into the sunshine then got in his car.
"That's old news. Aside from the pregnancy, you're not telling me anything I didn't already know from Mick and Razi."
"Oh, he's not why we're here." Gary held up a hand to silence her. After several seconds passed, he pointed out the windshield. "We're here because of that one."
When a familiar figure emerged from the hedge and strode up the sidewalk, Gilda gasped. "Razi? What's he doing here?"
With a quick glance over one shoulder, Razi tapped on the front door. Jade stuck her head out and spoke to him, her face pinched and angry, then handed him a paper bag. Clearly not satisfied, Razi pushed past her into the house.
"Gary, I don't understand. What does Razi have to do with everything?"
"My connections all came up with dead ends. I think that's something you need to ask the man himself." Gary butted his cigarette. "From what I assume, it has something to do with his stint in the army and the fact he and the merry widow have a past. A past they might want hidden from a number of people."
"Like the other black belts," she said. "Oh wow."