All In by Lily Gardner

Author:Lily Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2018-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

It was nine at night. Fog pressed against Lennox’s windows. Now that Gretchen was living with Lennox, Kline had taken to meeting at Lennox’s place and Lennox had taken to stocking Kline’s scotch.

After they settled in, Gretchen leapt next to her on the sofa, turned in a tight circle three times, and then flopped against her with a grunt.

“The two of you seem to be getting along,” Kline said.

Lennox patted Gretchen’s flank, traced her red eyebrows with a finger. Daddy, Mommy, and baby bear. The three of them sat companionably for a few minutes. This was how families were together. Maybe. Not like her folks Al and Aurora and Baby Lennox.

“It’s nice here.” Kline pointed a toe towards the fireplace. Lennox had wondered if building a fire was sending the wrong message. Like she was trying to make their having a drink together and talking about the case romantic or something. When did she start overthinking every stupid thing?

Kline broke the silence to ask her what she had for him.

“Ito,” she said. And re-focused. “Mostly Ito and his girlfriend. I interviewed Jeff again. You’d have a field day with this guy. His alibi is a bunch of hooey, which means hers is as well. He can’t remember if he left the house at one, two or four. He finally landed on one o’clock. His newest alibi is a lady bartender at Lucky Larry’s.”

“A drinking man’s alibi.” Kline tapped his pencil against the legal pad. “You’ve talked to the bartender?”

“Chelsea Bennett. She verified she’d seen Jeff on the night of October 9, but when I asked her what day of the week that was, she was unclear. Turned out Ito stayed after hours one night maybe two, three weeks ago, maybe a month, she didn’t remember. But say he was there the night of October 9, that still leaves Cathy Dunlap. Believe me, that woman would’ve drowned Hadley in a heartbeat.”

“So tell me the story,” he said.

“Starting with Ito. There were plenty of reasons to be mad at Hadley. Chiefly because she got him in dutch with Cathy, calling him and begging for money.”

Kline swallowed a mouthful of scotch and jotted notes, his pencil scratching across a legal pad. The fire found a pocket of pitch and snapped.

“He drove home from the bar,” she continued. “Having consumed four drinks according to Chelsea. Found Hadley loaded and naked in his hot tub. She had trashed the living room, found his secret hidey hole for vodka. He was fed up with her, he’d never get her out of his life, so he drowned her.”

“His motive for murder is he’s fed up?” Kline shook his head in disbelief. “That’s weak.”

“What about jealousy?”

Lennox elaborated how Cathy had gone from loving fiancée to shoot ’em up crazy lady.

“She shot your house?” Kline set down his scotch. His ears went bright red. “With Gretchen here?”

The way he leaned on Gretchen’s name, she wondered who he was more concerned about. She asked him.

“Both of you. Of course. I just don’t know why these things keep happening to you.

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