Burned in Broken Hearts Junction by Meg Muldoon

Author:Meg Muldoon [Muldoon, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00TM9IVFQ
Publisher: Vacant Lot Publishing
Published: 2015-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 40

I fixed us up a couple mugs of tea. Though I would have much rather gone for something a little harder, I didn’t think it was a good idea. I didn’t want him getting the wrong impression about what this was about. And besides, drink only seemed to bring out his temper.

“Thank you,” he said, taking the mug of peppermint tea from me and setting it on the coffee table. I sat down across from him in my rocking chair, purposefully not sitting on the sofa with him. Hank came over and stretched out at my feet. He rested his head on the ground, but he kept one eye glued on Raymond.

He didn’t much care for him. Hank had seen him when he got angry and raised his voice at me, and Hank had jumped up on him a couple of times during those episodes.

“So, uh, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Dale,” I said, warming my hands on the mug.

Raymond straightened up in his seat.

“I know that, uh, that it wasn’t an accident,” I continued. “Not like everyone’s been saying. I know that there’s more to it.”

He rubbed his face.

“There’s not a lot I can tell you about it,” he said. “It’s an open investigation.”

“Which sounds like it wasn’t an accident,” I said.

“I can’t talk about it, Loretta,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

I bit my lip and nodded.

“Well, say that Dale had been murdered, who could have done it?” I asked.

He massaged his temples as he spoke.

“Well, hypothetically, looking at what Dale did for a living and the way he carried his person, I might be overwhelmed by the many motives.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Really?”

“You know how the man liked to gamble?” he said. “Problem is, he wasn’t very good at it.”

He took a sip of his tea and made a bitter face.

“Was he in deep?” I asked.

“Deep enough,” he said. “But the gambling’s only one possibility. There are others.”

“Like what?”

He shrugged.

“Well, there’s Courtney,” he said. “And you know, the boys at the station say you could have done it.”

I nearly spit out my tea.

“They think I…?”

He started laughing.

“Relax, Loretta,” he said. “I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now if we really thought you might be a suspect. The only reason they’re saying that is because you found the body. Plus, you’ve got motive that others don’t.”

“You mean because Dale fired me?” I asked.

“Well, everyone knows how much you care about that bar. Some of the boys say you could’ve snapped.”

I leaned back and crossed my arms.

“Well, you tell the boys that they can go to hell,” I said. “Where do they get off making such groundless accusations in the first place?”

Raymond chuckled.

“Okay, I’ll tell them you said that.”

He leaned forward, putting the mug back down on the table.

“Hey, I thought I was here tonight to talk about something else,” he said, looking across at me with a serious expression.

My stomach started knotting up when he looked at me like that.

“Okay, fine,” I said. “Tell me what you came here to tell me.

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