A Taste of Murder by Virginia Smith

Author:Virginia Smith [Smith, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian, Love Inspired Suspense, Romance, Suspense, Fiction, Religious
ISBN: 9780373443116
Google: OznWjl_Y0YkC
Amazon: 0373443110
Publisher: Steeple Hill Books
Published: 2008-09-15T12:34:39.769000+00:00

FIFTEEN

Poor Emmy was staring at Jazzy like she was about to faint. “What should I do? Somebody needs to know about this.”

“Don’t worry,” Jazzy assured the girl. “I’m going to call Sheriff Maguire right now. He’ll probably want to talk to you.”

Jazzy grabbed Derrick’s arm and tugged him out of the way of the next person waiting in line.

“Let’s go talk to that deputy right now,” Derrick said.

They started across the lobby, but a familiar voice stopped them.

“Miss Delaney!”

She turned to see Bradley scooting across the lobby toward them, both hands extended. He grabbed Jazzy’s and squeezed.

“Hello, Bradley. I wondered if you all would be back from the VFW yet.”

Jazzy caught a small frown as it crossed Derrick’s face. He was staring at their clasped hands. She hid a smile. Was he the tiniest bit jealous?

“Your friends are back in the suite, safe and sound.” Bradley lifted his eyes dramatically toward the ceiling. “But the meeting was a fiasco.”

“Oh, no! What happened?” Jazzy asked.

Bradley’s glance darted around the lobby. The place wasn’t as crowded as this morning, but a good number of people loitered about.

“Come to my office.” He let go of one hand and tugged her forward by the other. “I’d rather not talk about it out here.”

Jazzy raised an eyebrow in Derrick’s direction. Should they let Bradley in on their discovery? Since he was the manager of this hotel, she thought he should know. Derrick apparently agreed.

He gave a slight nod. “And we have something important to tell you, too.”

Bradley’s forehead creased as he looked up at Derrick. “That doesn’t sound good. Come on in here.”

Jazzy extracted her hand, and Derrick seemed to relax. They followed the manager past the front desk to a door marked Employees Only. He pushed through, and Derrick lunged forward to hold the door open for Jazzy. They entered a long, hall-like storage area. Wheeled racks for folding chairs took up a good bit of the space. Most of them empty. The chairs were probably all in use for the festival pageants. Against the back wall stood dozens of round tables. Jazzy had sat at similar tables during lunch meetings in other hotels. Wide double doors in the opposite corner must open onto the hallway right across from the International Ballroom. An old-fashioned punch clock hung on the wall to their right, and a time-card rack had been mounted beside it.

Someone had hand-lettered “Manager’s Office” in white paint on a door beside the punch clock. The jingle of the keys Bradley extracted from his pocket echoed hollowly in the storage room as he unlocked the door and preceded them into the office.

He rounded a cluttered desk and collapsed dramatically into the chair on the other side. “Oh, you should have been there. It was terrible.”

One visitor’s chair was positioned across from Bradley, and Derrick nodded for Jazzy to take it. She sat, leaving Derrick to lean against a long credenza on the side wall.

“We pulled into the parking lot the same time as Mr.

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