Page 75 of Falling For You

I gathered every file and walked it to Zeus Alexander's office.

Zeus had Dunne transported from Clark County Detention Center to the precinct. Within the hour, he was in an interrogation room.

I stood behind the glass. Zeus sat across from Dunne and his lawyer and laid out what I'd brought him. Three burglaries with the same signature. Dunne's prints in all three homes. Those three men connected to two more men who were both dead.

Dunne's lawyer leaned in and whispered something. Dunne stared at the table.

Zeus leaned back. "Counselor, your client's prints are in the homes of men who are being murdered. I've got three bodies, a pattern, and one man who was inside. If your client has something to say, now is the time."

Dunne talked after his lawyer secured a proffer agreement with the DA's office.

He confessed to all five jobs: Mendelson, Stasio, Puno, McCarthy, and Lockwood. I'd only known about three. Mendelson's break-in had been handled by a different patrol team. He never made it inside Puno's apartment. Puno arrived just as Dunne was about to enter. Dunne panicked, landed a blow to the back of Puno's head, and staged his death to look like he'd fallen down the stairs.

"I didn't kill Mendelson. That was done by an accomplice. Jensen Alridge."

The other man from the bar.

"My job was to break into their homes, gather intelligence, and intimidate them." Dunne shifted in his seat. "I was working for a woman named Daphne Alistair. She runs the flower shop off West Ashmont."

The ground shifted under me.

Daphne.

The woman who ran the shop where Birdie bought bouquets. The woman who gave me a flower when we first met. The woman who brought flowers to Gus's bar every week. The woman who was inconsolable at his funeral.

Daphne was the woman responsible for Gus's death.

"And what was Ms. Alistair's motive for organizing all of this?"

"Those five men drugged, raped, and killed her sister. Her name was Sydney."

Dunne rubbed his face with both hands.

"Sydney moved to Las Vegas to work. She wanted to be a flight attendant. She was saving money, building her resume in hospitality. She and Daphne talked every few weeks. When Sydney started missing calls, Daphne chalked it up to work at first. Sydney tended to go quiet when things got busy.

"But weeks passed. No texts, no calls, nothing. Daphne flew to Las Vegas. Sydney's landlord told her the apartment was empty. He'd assumed Sydney had skipped on the lease, so he packed her things into a box. Her manager said she'd stopped showing up for shifts weeks ago. Nobody knew where she was. Daphne filed a missing person's report. It went nowhere.

"She couldn't accept that her sister had just disappeared. So she called Alridge. He'd been in love with Sydney for years. Daphne trusted that he'd do whatever it took to help her find out what happened. They found out. But by the time they did, it was too late. Sydney was already dead."

Zeus shook his head. He was still for a moment. Then he closed his folder, stood, and thanked Dunne and his lawyer for their cooperation.

He stepped out and found me behind the glass.

"I'm going to arrange an arrest warrant for Daphne Alistair tonight. Two of her targets are still alive. We can't sit on this."

He looked at me.

"Walsh, when the warrant comes through, it's yours."

CHAPTER 30

Punched

ANDY

I called Jeremy from the hallway outside the interrogation room.

"We have an arrest warrant coming for Daphne Alistair."