Creative Matchmaker (The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont Book 6) by Sarah Noffke & Michael Anderle

Author:Sarah Noffke & Michael Anderle [Noffke, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sort4
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2021-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Five

“How did you know the victim?” Paris sat across the train car from Ronald Whittaker, the second suspect for them to question.

Unlike the countess, Ronald seemed much more at ease, lounging back in a chair, his tan loafer resting on his knee. “That old chap and I’ve been business partners for the last year.”

“Business partners?” Rudolf questioned, standing and striding back and forth in the train car much as Jessabelle had done. However, his demeanor was scrutinizing as he worked out the clues.

“We’d started a company together,” Ronald answered. “A real estate venture. We both had a fifty percent stake in the investment, and it was doing quite well thanks to my genius decision making.”

King Rudolf glanced at Paris with a calculating expression. She thought she knew what he was thinking right then. However, he could as easily be deciding that he wanted a peanut butter sandwich. It was hard to tell with the fae.

“With Thomas dead, the company will now be one hundred percent yours?” Paris guessed.

Ronald nodded. “Naturally. That was the agreement we had set up.”

“So you benefit from Thomas’s death,” King Rudolf accused, pointing at Ronald, who didn’t appear flustered.

“Oh, I bet that’s what Countess Fairweather said, didn’t she?” he asked, annoyance on his face. “You can’t believe a thing that woman says.” He laughed rudely. “Fairweather is the perfect name for her because when she wants something, she’ll be all nice to you. As soon as she gets what she wants, she’ll cut your throat and not think twice about it.”

What Ronald was saying didn’t sound far off from the truth, Paris thought. Jessabelle had admitted to keeping her friends close and her enemies closer. It seemed that she was using Thomas.

“What motive would the countess have for killing Thomas?” Paris asked. “They didn’t appear to like each other very much, but that seems to be common rivalry.”

Another chuckle popped out of Ronald’s mouth. He still seemed inebriated from earlier. “People kill others for a lot less than a common rivalry, but that’s putting it mildly. The countess hated Thomas Cheetah. He was always outbidding her at art auctions, knowing that she couldn’t pay the high prices he could. I mean, despite some of his faulty decisions, our company was starting to rake in the dough. However, Thomas’ considerable family inheritance gave him a rather large spending budget for silly artwork.”

Ronald shook his head. “I mean, really. Two seemingly reasonable people wasting their money on art. It’s absurd.”

“Do you think the countess murdered Thomas out of anger and tired of being humiliated at auctions and losing to him?” Rudolf speculated.

“No, chap, I don’t,” Ronald answered at once. “I think she murdered him for that frilly Rococo painting she was obsessed with.”

“Yes, but Thomas won the bid at auction,” Paris countered.

He narrowed his judgmental eyes at her. “Oh, have you never been to an art auction and don’t know how it works?”

“Shockingly, I haven’t spent much time hobnobbing with snobs at art auctions,” Paris said dryly, not sure if she disliked Ronald or Jessabelle more.

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