Death of a Mad Hatter (A Hat Shop Mystery Book 2) by Jenn McKinlay

Author:Jenn McKinlay [McKinlay, Jenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2014-05-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked as I blew on my cup of tea. “It seemed perfectly understandable to me. Someone poisoned Geoffrey Grisby. Traces of the poison were found on his hat, so the police had to do a thorough search of our shop to make sure we aren’t the point of origin.”

Viv was staring at me. It went without saying that she felt I should mention the whole Tina-Geoffrey situation, but I refused. I didn’t want Harrison’s opinion on the matter; in fact, I didn’t really want him here at all. He confused things.

Harrison frowned. “Fee, help me out. What are these two hiding about Tina Grisby?”

Fee looked from me to Viv and back. Whatever she saw there must have convinced her to keep her trap shut.

“No idea,” she said.

Harrison lifted an eyebrow at her and then sipped his tea.

“I really don’t see any cause for concern,” I said. “Finchley isn’t going to find any poison in our shop, so there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll be in the clear as soon as they run the tests.”

“I still say you should have told him what you overheard between Geoffrey and Tina when they were here looking at hats,” Viv said. “It might have gotten us out of the hot seat a lot faster.”

“Maybe, but he still would have searched the shop for poison,” I said. “So what’s the difference?”

“The difference is that Tina is the most likely person to have murdered Geoffrey,” Viv said. “She’s his wife and he was cheating on her with his secretary while putting incredible pressure upon her to get pregnant.”

Harrison and Fee both looked at me for confirmation. I sighed.

“Well, I guess you don’t have to badger us for the information anymore,” I said to them. “Consider yourselves in the loop.”

“Thanks,” Harrison said. He looked puzzled.

“What?” I asked.

“Why don’t you want to tell the police about this?” he asked.

“Because I like Tina and I don’t think she did it,” I said. “I mean, it’s not like I’m keeping a big secret. He was nasty to her, just awful, actually, and I’m sure others will divulge that, and they were trying to have a baby, which seemed very stressful for them.”

“Denial,” Viv said. “You’re obviously in a state of denial. The fact that she asked you not to tell anyone about the altercation makes it suspicious.”

“No, I’m not. It just doesn’t make sense given the circumstance of the Grisby estate,” I argued. “Without Geoffrey, Tina gets nothing. I would think a more likely candidate would be Daphne or her sons, as they stand to inherit it all with Geoffrey dead.”

“You can’t mean that,” Viv said. “Liam would never harm his uncle.”

“How could you possibly know that?” I asked. “You barely know him. He could be a cold-blooded killer beneath all of his charm and good looks.”

“He’s not,” Viv said. She picked up a crisp and nibbled on it.

“Talk about denial,” I said. “So, you do like him?”

Yes, I was fishing for information. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

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