Inspector Rames

Chapter 63

We said nothing on our way back to the station, but the second we were in our office and the door had shut, Alex turned to me. "The cake knife. That's what we were losing sight of."

"Yes." I shrugged my coat off and started pacing again. A small box marked JADE had been put on my desk, but I ignored it. "It makes such perfect sense now. The rest of the weapons link to their victims: the bridal shoes for Iberia and the wedding cake knife for Jade. Ruby was also stabbed with a cake knife -- yet it had nothing to do with any role she'd taken on for the wedding."

"So the knife was meant for Jade," Alex said.

"Yes. The murderer made a mistake and repeated their method when they found Jade at the cake shop. But they didn't go prepared that time. They had to take a knife from the display behind the counter." I stopped pacing. "I don't even know if my theory is right. We don't know anything new. We have no evidence. But my gut believes it's the truth."

"Are we going to question Levi again?"

"Not yet. I want to connect the dots with Ethan first and see where that leads us." I went back to my desk. "While we wait for the warrant, let's have a look through Jade's tabphone."

Alex glanced at his. "It's lunchtime already."

"Was that an offer?" I sat down and dug through the bagged evidence in the box. It was all stuff that had been on Jade's person when she'd died, and there wasn't much of it. My fingers closed around her tabphone. "I could do with some coffee while you're in the cafeteria. And a chocolate bar."

My sergeant grumbled something about me being bossy, but by the time I looked up, he'd gone.

***

The last messages that Jade and Ethan had exchanged were dated from the week before. Ethan had asked Jade if they could meet at Coffee Glitch. She had agreed. They'd arranged a time.

That had been the end of that. There was nothing flirty in their messages...nothing even remotely warm, in fact. Whatever had gone on between them, I was sure it wasn't what Levi had suspected.

Ethan's arrest warrant came through as we were finishing our lunch, so we finally went to ask the man some questions.

We rode a tram to his flat without tracking him, certain that he would be at home with his twin sister and her son. But when I rang the doorbell, it only asked Danielle if we could come in.

She answered the door herself, her face pale. "I saw on Xplora...Jade's gone?"

"Yes," I said. "She was stabbed at her shop this morning. I'm sorry. I know it's a shock. Where's Ethan?"

"Buying pizza bases for dinner. He won't be long." She stepped back, slipping her hands into her pockets and lowering her head. "Come in."

We followed her through the hallway into the large living room. Benjamin was sitting on the fluffy rug again, playing quietly with an action figure.

Danielle stopped beside him and turned to face us. "Can I...can I get you something to drink? Tea? Coffee?"

I glanced at Alex. He shook his head.

"No, thank you," I said.

"Right." She sat down on the sofa and rubbed her eyes. "Well, then..."

I settled opposite her. "Where was Ethan last night, Danielle? Say around ten-thirty."

"Here." Her gaze darted between us quickly.

"Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrows. "You'd testify to that in court?"