Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) by Alyse Carlson

champagne. The only other vehicles in the back that night, where they were out of view and off camera, belonged to the country club and had so much DNA it would be impossible to sort.”
    “But those vehicles are probably how it was done—either that or a car off in another area that wasn’t actually seen.”
    “That last is what they fear. And I think they will go through the other vehicles. They were just starting with those two.”
    “But you know Nick and Petunia didn’t do this.”
    “I know. I’m not going to get on the other side of that argument again.” Rob had once been convinced Nick was guilty of murder, and it had created a lot of problems for Rob and Cam.
    “Good,” Cam said.
    “I’m hoping it just eliminates them once and for all.”
    “Well it should, since they didn’t kidnap anyone.”
    “And then I know Jake has a list of all the investors who lost at least a hundred thousand dollars in the last year because of Windermere’s shenanigans.”
    “Oh, that sounds promising!”
    “Yes and no. I haven’t had a chance to look at it. He’s holding it close. But it’s long—a lot of names.”
    “So a lot of murder suspects.”
    Cam wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Unlike the past murders she’d learned about, no one she cared for this time was accused of the crime. It was nice in a way, just helping Rob for the sake of it and for her own curiosity. But unlike before, just throwing up a lot of doubt about who did it didn’t help. What they needed were specific clues that might also point to a murderer, or more urgently, a kidnapper.
    “Have they been looking at the kidnapping?”
    “Station is pretty tight-lipped there. Like Jake said, they don’t want it out for Senator Schulz’s safety. I think they are waiting for a ransom call. Most kidnappers that are actually kidnappers do it for money. They should call within forty-eight hours and demand that.”
    “But that’s bad. They haven’t called,” Cam said.
    “Not that we
know of,
no.”
    “Are you suggesting they called Elle and she didn’t go to the police?”
    “Maybe. It would explain her refusal to leave home if they ordered it. But the police will have thought of that. They’ve got an eye on her,” Rob said. “He’s a public figure, after all.”
    Cam wondered just how many bugs Elle had on her right now. The thought made her itchy.

CHAPTER 7
    “C am!” The urgent whispered yell woke Cam. She had to remove Rob’s arm to slide out of bed, but she didn’t hesitate. If Annie could be this frantic at this hour, when she was undoubtedly hungover, Cam could respond appropriately. She put on a robe and shut her door.
“What is it?”
    “I need you to scan this. Fast!” Annie held a paper-clipped printout. It looked like a spreadsheet file.
    “Why couldn’t you . . .”
    “I couldn’t risk waking Jake. I can’t have this!”
    “Got it.”
    Cam turned on her laptop and plugged in the cable to her scanner, then scanned the pages. It took about three minutes, and Annie left without saying anything, hustling back up to her own apartment to return the contraband.
    Cam, wide awake after the strange encounter, opened the first page of the document. Names and numbers. In dollars. All in the negative.
    “Holy crap! Annie, you’re a genius!”
    “Why’s she a genius?” Rob yawned, coming out of her room and wiping his face with a washcloth.
    He leaned over her shoulder to see the list of people for whom Windermere had lost a lot of money.
    “That little minx!” His smile was huge.
    “I know, right? Bonus points for Annie!”
    “We could stay busy with that all day!”
    “I wish,” Cam complained. She had a phone interview with the Richmond paper to discuss the press release she’d sent the day before. They had a political reporter very curious about the senate race, and she wanted a lot more details about the mood and content of the evening. Cam had some research to do, as she hadn’t formerly understood