Feta and Foul Play: A Deliciously Suspenseful Cozy Mystery by Joy Patrick

Author:Joy Patrick [Patrick, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mermaid Sisters Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-09-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Rebecca returned and slid back into her chair in the onlooker’s section. Lucille had taken a commanding lead. She appeared to intimidate everyone else with her horde of chips and brought William Clinton to the edge of elimination when he called on what he thought was a bluff.

The longer the game went on, the more Ream appeared to become enraged, and the more JJ was convinced that he killed Tara Vardanyan. But she needed evidence. And the answer to the bigger question: why. What if they were lovers, and he found out about Jason and went crazy?

JJ met his eye and smiled. “So, what do you do when you’re not playing poker, Tim Dream?”

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and smiled a devious smile. “Why do you ask?”

JJ shrugged. “Just curious.”

He hesitated. “I’m a semi-professional wrestler.”

“Do you mean like athletic wrestling? Like at the Olympics?”

He frowned. “More like in the WWE.”

JJ nodded. “I see. Have you wrestled anyone I might know?”

He bristled at that and raised his chin. “Doubt it. Not in the ring, at least.”

The pause before he’d answered was tiny, but it was a useful clue. That slight hesitation hinted that Tim Ream was hiding something.

“What did you mean, not in the ring?” JJ asked.

He leaned forward and spoke in a low voice, his breath thick with the stench of whiskey.

“No wrestling of the sporting kind, but plenty of the between-the-sheets kind.”

JJ jerked back and wrinkled her face in disgust.

Tim Ream’s eyes rolled in glazed, drunken excitement. “That girl,” he said, “the one who used to play here.”

JJ feigned surprise. “Tara Vardanyan?”

His drunk smile widened as he leaned close to JJ’s face. “A bunch of times.”

JJ felt her stomach turn at the casual indifference and lasciviousness of his words. Her face was tight as she spoke. “Did you tell the police?”

He jerked back and gave her a confused look. “Why would I do that?”

JJ shrugged. “To make sure they don’t suspect you.”

“Telling them would do the exact opposite.”

She shook her head. “Not if you volunteer the information. Then it’s clear you don’t have anything to hide.”

“I have a lot to hide. But if the cops come for me, I have a rock-solid alibi.”

“Which is?” JJ asked as casually as she could muster.

“I was wrestling that night. Down in Allentown. About four hundred people watching who could confirm that.”

JJ felt a little dizzy. He has an alibi. Crap!

“Anyone here who was there that day?” JJ asked.

Tim Ream scowled, and he leaned back from her. “What are you? A cop?”

JJ shook her head desperately, trying to make light of her question. “Just curious.”

“I know what you’re trying to do.” Ream put his face close to JJ and spoke in a low, gravelly voice. “You want to pin that murder on me to get your brother off the hook.”

JJ raised her hand to complain. “No, I’m—”

“I wasn’t there that late. Was in Allentown until midnight.”

JJ felt her heart start to pound her chest. It was him. She cleared her throat.

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