Death By Association: The Desert Pines Mystery Series Book One by Julie Titterington

Author:Julie Titterington [Titterington, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

An Open Secret

After Karen had left, Joe sat silently, fingering the business card.

“She’s a born saleswoman, I’ll say that for her.”

“She doesn’t like me very much,” Jane trying to laugh off the sting of it.

“So what?”

Jane was trying to figure out how to answer that question when Kowalski returned, bringing Howard with him. The older man slumped down in the chair next to his granddaughter and gave her head a gentle pat.

“I just ran into Travis Blake,” he told Joe. “He said you let him out on bail.”

“Yep. I’m holding off on a murder charge for now. He’ll still be there if we change our minds. He’s too smart to try to jump bail and leave town.”

“He’s a shell of a man. Could barely speak when I saw him.”

“Good,” Joe replied, crisply. “I’m going to let him simmer away like that this morning and stop by to ask him more questions this afternoon.”

“You’re a cold son of a gun, Joe Connor.”

“Sometimes it helps to let people stew in their own juices. Promotes a little more honesty, in the long run. Speaking of cold, how’s our corpse?”

“Nicely chilled. Kowalski and I tuned into the radio on the way over here and we heard that they’re making progress on the wildfire containment. They expect to clear the highway to Bend within the hour. I put in a call to Esther Nguyen earlier today and she knows what to expect when she gets here.”

“It’ll be a relief to get the body off our hands. I’m eager to get the labs back, too. This case just keeps getting more complicated. Let me ask you this, Doc,” said Joe, chewing on his pencil. “Did you know Chad Perenna and Audrey Rodriguez were having an affair?”

“Everyone knows that,” Howard said, dismissively.

Kowalski, who had wandered into the back of the station, reappeared and said, “Everyone knows what?”

“Did you know that Chad Perenna was having an affair with a married woman?”

“You mean, other than Audrey Rodriguez?”

“Well I’ll be darned,” Joe said, smiling ruefully. “An open secret. The detective’s worst nightmare. I sure wish someone had mentioned it before now. It gives at least three people a very tidy motive for murder.”

“I just assumed you knew,” Kowalski said, putting his feet up on his desk. “And if you’re including Vanessa in that, you’re wrong. She knew about the affair just like everyone else. Didn’t care at all.”

“I can’t exactly take your word for that, Dan.”

Jane perked her ears. She had never heard Joe call his fellow officer by his first name. Funnily enough, there was a disconcerting formality to it. Kowalski thought so too. He took his feet off his desk, one at a time, and turned his chair to face Joe.

“I’d stake my badge that Vanessa didn’t do this.”

“I hope you won’t have to. But you clearly know Vanessa Perenna better than you’re admitting to. I need you to be impartial and objective. If you can’t do that, tell me now and I’ll take you off the investigation.”

Kowalski reddened and Joe stared at him, cooly.

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