Poised to Quill by Morgan W. Silver

Author:Morgan W. Silver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy, cozy mystery, cosy, cosy mystery, female sleuth, female sleuths, English village, murder mystery, murder, funny, romance
Publisher: Morgan W. Silver
Published: 2020-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

As we headed in the direction of the B&B, we spotted Wendy crossing the street. We stopped and watched her buy a muffin. When she sat down on a bench in the shade, we made our way over. The muscles in her neck and shoulders tensed as soon as we made eye contact.

I sat down next to her while Alistair remained standing.

“What is it now?” she asked.

Alistair took a picture out of his breast pocket. It was a printed screenshot of the text message she’d sent Carl.

She turned red. “So what? I had a desperate moment. It happens to the best of us.”

I almost snorted.

“It gives you a motive,” Alistair said. “And I don’t like being lied to when conducting a murder investigation.”

She sighed and looked deflated. Some of her hostility had apparently been let out along with her breath. “I’m sorry. It was just embarrassing to admit, especially in front of Gregor. It was supposed to be a fling, which is what I kept telling myself, but I found that Carl’s sweet lies were getting to me. I liked hearing I was beautiful, sexy, and somewhere along the line I started craving the feeling that Carl gave me. The feeling that I mattered. I know it was all pretend for him, which is why it was so stupid. He turned me into a pathetic excuse of a woman.” She sighed. “It would be easy to blame Gregor, but we’ve both been bad communicators.”

“Did Carl ever respond to your text messages?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not if you include him very obviously flirting with other women in front of me. I was a nuisance to him, I’m sure. And I can’t blame him. Men like him want the chase, they don’t like it when women make it too easy.”

I said nothing, certain she was right. About Carl, anyway.

“Did you go and see him that night?” Alistair asked.

Wendy looked up and shook her head. “I took my sleeping tablets. It took me a while to find them. My insomnia had gotten worse ever since Carl broke up with me. Gregor saw me take them.”

“She could have spat them out later,” Detective Black said. “It doesn’t rule her out completely.”

Or Gregor, I thought.

“And did Gregor go to bed at the same time as you?” Alistair asked, knowing the answer already.

“No, but I can’t be certain how long he stayed up. Look, DS Ashworth. I really think you’re barking up the wrong tree. Gregor would never do such a thing, nor I.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t take your word for it. People who are capable of murder are also very capable of lying.” He flipped his notebook shut. “Thanks for your time, Miss Cohen.”

We left her with her muffin that was dangerously close to falling out of her hand. She didn’t even seem to notice, as she stared off in the distance.

“If she took those sleeping tablets, it means that Gregor doesn’t have an alibi. Then again, she could have pretended to take the tablets and that means she doesn’t have an alibi either,” I said.

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