DEAD AS a DOORNAIL by Tonya Kappes

Author:Tonya Kappes [Kappes, Tonya]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: murder mystery series;paranormal mystery;Southern fiction
Publisher: Henery Press
Published: 2018-04-05T19:34:21+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“On what basis, Kenni?” Wally Lamb paced back and forth in front of the only cell we had in the department.

Tina was all sprawled out on the small cot eating a catfish special from Cowboy’s out of the Styrofoam carryout container, not paying any attention to her lawyer or me.

“Wally, she won’t tell me where she was on the night of the murder during the period Max has estimated as time of death. Not that she had to be there, because the murder weapon was the nail polish she made. The ingredients were broken down by Tom Geary’s lab over in Clay’s Ferry. The report is right here. All the ingredients, including the cyanide, were found in her salon.”

After I’d brought Tina back to the department, I sent Finn over to the salon to see if I’d overlooked anything and clear the scene. He took more photos but didn’t find anything else.

“Not to mention what she said after Lucy Ellen left her shop the other day in front of me.” It was something I just couldn’t forget.

Wally stopped and looked at Tina through the bars. He raised his hand and dragged it through his slicked-back blond hair. He let out a deep breath through a small opening in his lips. I couldn’t tell if he was frustrated with me or with Tina. Regardless, his stress was showing on his face.

“There are no other suspects?” He finally turned around to me.

“I can’t tell you everything. I can say that the evidence is piled against Tina.” My eyes shifted between him and Tina.

Betty wasn’t fooling anyone. She was acting like she was doing some filing work, but she had one eye on the cabinet and one eye on our conversation.

“Where is this polish that you claim to be the murder weapon?” he asked.

I cringed.

“I don’t know.” I bit the edge of my lip and prepared myself for his wrath.

“You mean to tell me that you accuse my client of making deadly fingernail polish after she had gossiped in her hair salon, because we know that there’s no gossiping going on in a hair salon.” He mocked me. “Then you think she polished the deceased’s fingernails with it, but you can’t find the actual polish to test, just the fingernail of the deceased?”

“The fingernail is really all we need to prove it was tainted. I’d like for your client to hand over the bottle so we can have a murder weapon. If she can provide that, I’m sure we can come up with some sort of deal with the prosecutor.” I was laying all my cards out on the table. He and I both knew the fingernail was enough, but I knew the actual bottle the polish came from would help me seal the case.

“Besides, Tina was heard and seen making threats about Lucy,” I reminded him.

“So did half the other people in the salon that day according to you and everyone else I interviewed. I also talked to Art Baskin and he said that the alarm would only go off if someone had broken in,” he said flatly.

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