Kick the Bouquet by Kate Collins

Author:Kate Collins [Collins, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-26T18:35:50+00:00

☙ ❧

When I walked into Down the Hatch that evening, I saw Devona sitting across from Marco at the last booth sipping a beer. She had on a light blue sweatshirt with a white sports logo on the front, and she’d left her long, curly black hair loose on her shoulders instead of pulled back. She saw me and smiled, displaying bright pink lipstick.

“Here she is,” Marco said, standing up to let me into the booth. “I told Devona you’d be joining us. What’ll you have to drink?”

“A merlot,” I answered.

He lifted one eyebrow. “Not your usual cabernet?”

I winked at him. “I’m branching out.”

As Marco walked up to the bar to get my wine, I said to Devona, “I hear that Detective Corbison questioned you.”

“He did.” She shuddered and rubbed her arms. “The way he studied me made me nervous, like I was some sort of lab specimen.”

“I was also a suspect in a murder investigation, so I know what you mean.”

Her eyes widened. “You were a suspect?”

“I was the main suspect. Fortunately, Marco and I found the real murderer and cleared my name. That’s what we want to do for you now.”

Marco set my glass of merlot in front of me and slid in beside me.

“I was just telling Devona about the time I was accused of murder,” I said. “We agree that Corbison can be very intense.”

“What kinds of questions was he asking you?” Marco asked Devona.

“Well, he knew about our tenants’ meeting, so basically, he wanted to know what I did after the meeting. I told him I walked to the drug store and then went up to my apartment because I had to get up early for work the next day.”

I pulled out my small notebook and a pen. “Where do you work?”

“You’re going to take notes?” she asked.

“We talk to a lot of people,” I said. “I have a hard time keeping all the information straight.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, then proceeded to watch as I wrote down her answer. “I work in the lab at the hospital.”

“After you left the tenants’ meeting,” Marco said, “did you see anyone hanging around outside the realty office?”

“Not that I can remember.”

“Do you know of anyone who would’ve wanted to harm Arthur?”

Devona took a sip of beer, contemplating the question. “I honestly don’t know. People say he’s a cutthroat, but he didn’t seem that way to me. He was a good person who made a lot of mistakes.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Going back on his word. Breaking deals. Kicking us out of our apartments with no warning.” She looked at Marco. “We both know that didn’t resonate well with Kenton.”

“What kind of deals did Arthur break?” Marco asked.

She stuttered. “I – I don’t know. I was just . . .”

“Did he break a deal with you?”

Devona looked down at her glass, not wanting to meet our gazes as she answered, “Not personally. I just meant that he kicked us out of our apartments.”

I shifted the notebook so Devona couldn’t see my notes.

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