Murder in Santa Monica: A Gabriella Hunt Cozy Mystery (Gabriella Hunt Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) by Dianne Harman & Andrew Thomas

Author:Dianne Harman & Andrew Thomas [Harman, Dianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2022-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

It was a little before nine o’clock that night when Matt walked into the motel room he and Luke were sharing. Ella and Luke had eaten at a nearby roadside diner, and Ella was in her room making calls to Fiona to check up on Boris the bulldog, and other hotel-related business.

“You eaten, buddy?” Luke asked.

“Pizza with the homicide team.”

“Any more joy with our case, then?” Luke asked as Matt threw his daypack on his bed and headed straight to the shower. Luke noticed the scar from his gunshot wound that was still clearly visible. It looked like an oversized thumb had pressed down into Matt’s thigh, smudging his skin pigmentation until it was a raw pink color.

Matt’s limp was just about gone, but it was still there, forcing Matt to sway slightly, especially in the cold. Matt may not be the best-suited cop for police pursuits or violent situations, but Luke was always grateful when his friend was helping him out on a case. He knew the intelligence supplied to him would be as solid as it could be, or Matt would let him know otherwise.

“We all nearly missed a really important aspect of this case, which may or may not be very important,” Matt shouted from the steaming bathroom.

Luke sat up suddenly from the bed where he’d been reading through a few of Matt’s notes. “What did we miss?”

Matt walked back into the bedroom, stopped, and looked at Luke. “The brother.” He dried himself off, changed into some casual wear, and when he’d finished getting ready, went over to his daypack and pulled out a thin binder he’d put together. Matt looked over at Luke, who was getting more impatient by the second, waiting for the rest of the story. Matt just chuckled under his breath.

“What brother?” Luke said as he tried to snatch the binder from Matt. But Matt was too quick and flicked his arm up and out of Luke’s reach before he could grab the binder from Matt, who laughed at Luke. Then he handed it to Luke and started to explain his theory.

“Sasha Gordon. She has a brother, Alexei Semonov, who owns a late-night bar in downtown Medford. All his known details are in there, and to sum it up, on paper, he’s legit. No problems with the police. He pays his taxes and has no debt.”

“Okay, I’m surprised Sasha never mentioned him, but so what? It’s not illegal to have a brother or to fail to mention him to the police, even if she was deliberately misleading us. He might be in the country illegally. Who knows?”

“And yet he outright owns a late-night bar, and a pretty successful one at that. So going back to what I first said... no debt. No debt after buying and starting up a bar from scratch, making it really popular in under two years. No debt... do you know how expensive it is to start up and establish a new bar in this country?”

“No idea, but I bet Ella does.

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