Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [165]
“We’ve ruled out Travis Dillard, unless he hired someone to do the killing for him,” Maleah said. “He’s too old and sick to be our guy. Kyle Richey hasn’t left Mexico since we interviewed him, so that rules out one of the cameramen. And Jeff Misner was the other one. Who does that leave? Grant Leroy and Casey Lloyd.”
“From the files I’ve read on those two, I’d pick Casey Lloyd over Grant Leroy,” Griff said. “Leroy’s life is better now than it’s ever been. If anything, his past in the porno business has helped him more than it’s hurt him. He uses himself as an example of how even the wickedest sinner can be redeemed. But Casey Lloyd, on the other hand, has hit rock bottom. He could blame the porno business and the actors from Midnight Masquerade in particular for his failures.”
“If I had to choose between those two, I agree that it would be Casey,” Derek said. “So, let’s say he’s one of our major suspects.”
“But we also have your other scenario,” Maleah reminded him.
“So we do.” Derek grinned. “Want to name those suspects and rule out any of them?”
He could see that she had taken his request as a challenge. So like Maleah. She was a prickly pear, her sharp needles always on the defensive.
“I’d pretty much rule out boyfriends right off the bat. At the time the movie was made, most of the actors were dating one another or at the very least sleeping with one another. I don’t recall that we found any evidence that anyone was in a long-term relationship with someone outside the business.” Maleah thought for a moment. “Do we happen to know how many fathers are still alive?”
“Actually, I did my research,” Derek said. “Of all the actors and Starlight Productions personnel who worked on the movie, only three have a father living now—Lorie Hammonds, whose father hasn’t left the state of Alabama in three years; Casey Lloyd, whose father was injured in a car wreck a few years back and is confined to a wheelchair; and Charlene Strickland, whose dad retired from the army and has been living in Hawaii for the past eight years.”
“Okay, we’ve ruled out boyfriends and fathers,” Maleah said. “That leaves husbands and sons. In the husband category, I’d put Ransom Owens at the top of the list. That guy is strange. And sons…hmmm…Heath Leroy and Tyler Owens, although I hate to think of anyone as gorgeous as Tyler Owens being a murderer.”
Derek snorted. “Pretty boys can be deadly. Despite your finding him oh so attractive, he’s still a suspect. That gives us four—Casey Lloyd, Ransom Owens, Tyler Owens, and Heath Leroy.”
“Then those are the four we should keep close tabs on starting immediately,” Nic said.
“Have we been able to get any info on their comings and goings the past few months, and do we know their whereabouts right now?” Maleah looked from Derek to Griff.
“Nailing down specifics is difficult when you’re playing catch-up,” Nic said. “Hicks Wainwright has shared bits and pieces of information with us, but he may well know things we don’t. On the other hand, we’ve shared everything we know with him. Phone records, airline records, and credit card records are not impossible for us to get, but it takes time. And although the FBI could access all of that for each of our suspects, they can’t do it without some type of evidence against the suspects, which they don’t have. And neither do we.”
“What are the odds that all four men just happened to be out of town and unaccounted for when the Misners were murdered? Reports have been coming in the past few days with updates on their conspicuous absences from home.” Derek tapped his notebook. “Casey Lloyd disappeared several days ago and just showed back up in Fayetteville today. We have no idea where he’s been.”
“We believed he was penniless, but it seems we were wrong. Some deep digging resulted in our discovering,