Backwater Diva (Kurt Hunter Mysteries Book 9) by Steven Becker

Author:Steven Becker [Becker, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The White Marlin Press
Published: 2021-01-04T16:00:00+00:00

19

Suzanne was charismatic, intelligent, and obnoxious at the same time. After our initial failures and the threat of a visit to the station, Grace seemed to have better luck than I did, so I sat back and watched. This tactic allowed me to distance myself from the questioning and observe. It was an interesting perspective. Within a few minutes, I decided that she was capable of planning the murder, and that she and Rico were involved in some way. With every question, she glanced at him before answering. I couldn’t establish any kind of communication system between them other than the personal connection which was strange as I remember Rico saying that he barely knew her.

Grace started by establishing that Suzanne had been with the group around the fallen star. She moved Suzanne backwards in time, trying to establish why and how she came to be there. Suzanne answered that she had approached Alex with suggestions for the act. After observing her pushy personality, I could believe it. Monika clearly could have taken offense and acted rashly.

The interview provided some background information that needed checking. When we were finished, all I got out of it was that I liked Rico and disliked Suzanne. My instincts were usually good, but I knew this personal reaction was a form of arrogance that led to mistakes.

Grace and I were alone again. Her phone rang and she stepped aside. I picked up mine to see if Justine had discovered anything about the piece of glass we had found. I was surprised to see no notifications. I had gotten so used to Martinez’s continuous flurry of messages that seeing nothing actually worried me, so I texted Justine while I waited.

Grace came back and I could tell from her expression that something was wrong. She sat down and released her breath. “Bad news?”

She shook her head and placed it in her hands. I averted my gaze to give her some space.

Finally she turned to me. “Monte’s been in an accident.”

“What happened?”

She explained something had happened at the arena.

“That’s not your fault.” I tried to comfort her.

“Glad you think so, but there’s more. They’ve assigned an Internal Affairs investigator.”

I wondered if it was because of my mishandling of Chico. “But we had nothing to hold him on, or any reason to believe anything.”

“I don’t know, Kurt. I’ve accumulated some enemies since my promotion.”

That I understood. One of my main beefs with the Miami-Dade power structure was the people at the top had climbed the ladder while backstabbing and throwing others to the sharks. Grace deserved every promotion she had gotten. She worked hard and had the respect of her troops. But I had always suspected that her recent promotion had benefited those above her more than Grace herself. By hiring a Latino woman, they had checked two boxes on the social justice card.

It was pretty common practice, though most of the women did deserve the promotions. The power structure was often an old boys network, and they didn’t want a woman to infringe on their power.

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