Bird, Bath, and Beyond_An Agent to the Paws Mystery by E. J. Copperman

Author:E. J. Copperman [Copperman, E. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B079DW43S9
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2018-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As it turned out, we all went back to Patty’s house, but I drove alone and Jamie made sure Patty rode with him. He didn’t want to miss anything.

But it was clear when we arrived that she hadn’t said anything more about her rather stunning claim. Jamie looked at me and said, “We’ve been waiting until we were all together,” before we walked into Patty’s house and sat down.

I had explained where Barney was staying before, but Patty seemed distracted (imagine!) and asked me again. I said he was with Consuelo, whom Patty knows, and she appeared to be pleased with that, but kept looking at Jamie as if he were going to execute her if she gave the wrong answer. He was on her side. And he hadn’t even asked any questions yet.

She offered us pound cake, but we both declined. Patty was coughing less and seemed to be largely recovered as she sat on the sofa, just as she had at the police station. Which was odd, since she’d told me this morning that she was not feeling a lot better yet. I mentioned that to her.

“I guess the adrenaline rush from being arrested sped me along,” she said. “It’s a new experience, and not one I’d like to repeat if possible.” She looked at Jamie. “How do we do that?”

“We start by you answering everything I ask you completely and honestly, no matter how it sounds,” Jamie answered. He had a yellow legal pad (which seemed appropriate) that he had taken out of his briefcase (see previous parenthetical comment) and held poised on his lap awaiting the notes to be taken.

“I’ll try,” she told him quietly.

“There is no try. Do or do not,” Jamie answered in a relatively awful impression of Yoda. Patty looked a bit puzzled as if he had somehow insulted her. “Sorry. Bad joke. Let’s start with this: Were you in Dray Mattone’s trailer the day he died?”

“No,” Patty said. “I was sick in bed.” She turned toward me. “You remember, Kay. I asked you to come take Barney because I couldn’t get out of bed that day.”

Jamie did not look at me for my confirmation of Patty’s statement. He wasn’t interested in things he already knew; he was just getting her ready for the rest of the questions and gauging how honest Patty was going to be. I admired his technique.

“Okay,” he said. “Now, you said before that the police had a letter you’d written to Dray informing him that you are pregnant with his child. Is that right?”

Patty nodded and bit her lip. “Yes. That’s what the officer told me, that they’d found the letter in the trailer after Dray was shot.”

Jamie shook his head. “That’s not the part I was asking about. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.” He was being kind and observant of his client’s state of mind. I’d called Jamie because I remembered him from law school. Now I was finding out just how good he was, and he was good.

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