Deceptions and Decisions in Las Vegas: A Tiffany Black Mystery (Tiffany Black Mysteries Book 17) by A.R. Winters

Author:A.R. Winters [Winters, A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

We got to the Tremont early and walked along the edge of the casino floor to the café.

It was a huge structure in an annex to the main building. Unlike the casino, it was full of windows that let in the bright daylight, and up in the high ceilings were dozens of bright lights that would be switched on at night to make sure it never got too dozy inside.

The tables were made of a light-colored wood, with four chairs around each one, and scattered among them were a range of tropical plants and trees in giant pots.

We were half an hour early, but I scanned the room to see if Patrick was there before we chose a seat. The café wasn’t busy, with about two dozen customers spread out around the spacious interior. I hadn’t been expecting to see Patrick, so when I did see him waving from the far corner I was mildly surprised.

“Over there.”

Ian had calmed down from his panic about the day trading on the way over, and had become intrigued about the case. As usual I’d asked him to let me do most of the talking, though I hoped he might slip in one or two of his extra-blunt questions, just so I could see how Patrick would react.

“Hello, Patrick.” I was trying to be formal instead of friendly. I hadn’t spoken to him again since Renee had told me she suspected he might have murdered his own mother.

He stood up at our approach, and his eyes flicked back and forth between Ian and me. He hadn’t expected me to bring company.

“Hi, Tiffany, and…?”

“I’m Ian. I’m Tiffany’s partner.”

“We work together,” I clarified.

“I see. Right. Okay. Do you want me to get you some drinks?”

“No, we won’t keep you long.”

There was a muttered complaint from Ian.

“Constance said you came over earlier. She said she’d filled you in on some of the, uh, details we forgot at the first meeting.”

“Some details you deliberately didn’t tell me.”

Patrick looked down at the table as he nodded. I wondered whose decision it had been to not tell me about all the evidence at that first meeting. When we were all seated, I began to question him.

“So, Patrick, could you tell me what your relationship was like with your mother?”

A soft, sad smile appeared on his lips. “Great. Really… great. She was a fantastic mom. The best.”

“You didn’t have any disagreements?”

Patrick leaned back in his chair, the same smile still on his lips. “Not really. Like any mother and son, we argued from time to time, but we were close.”

“Patrick, I heard that your mother deliberately tried to break up several of your past relationships.”

He sucked in air between his teeth before replying. “I guess? I mean, technically that’s true, but that was just because she was being a good mom. She was a great judge of character, you know? It was for the best. She could spot a bad person a mile away—like Velma, she knew she was no good from the start—and she protected me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.