Sleeping With Anemone by Kate Collins

Author:Kate Collins [Collins, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Mystery
ISBN: 9781410424327
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2009-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

As soon as we were in the shop, Marco left to park the Vette and Lottie locked the door behind us; then the women sat me down in the parlor to hear the news about Dwayne Hudge. Afterward, they both assured me that the man behind the kidnappings would be crazy to come after me now, knowing he was being sought by both city and county police. I agreed with them, and we all breathed sighs of relief. We weren’t fooling anyone, of course, but none of us wanted to say so.

Marco was just putting away his cell phone when Lottie let him in the front door. He strode into the parlor and sat down with us at a table. “I’ve made arrangements to be here with you all day. My head bartender is back on duty, so that frees me up.”

“I’m so sorry to put you through this, Marco,” I said. “I’m sure you have things you’d rather be doing than hanging out here all day.”

“No problem, babe. I’ll keep busy. Ladies, if I get underfoot, let me know. I’ll be as unobtrusive as possible.”

Lottie patted his hand. “Don’t you worry about that. We just want our Abby to feel safe.”

“Coffee?” Grace asked, holding up the pot.

“Sure.” He turned a chair around to straddle it, sampled the coffee, pronounced it delicious. “I’ve been thinking,” he said to me. “If Nils Raand is arrested, as Reilly believes will happen soon, Raand will use Uniworld’s local counsel—Chinn, Knowles, and Brown. Dave Hammond won’t be involved.”

“Which means you won’t, either,” I said glumly. And since Marco had nixed Reilly and Morgan, that left one source—Charlotte’s sister. But there was no way Marco would let me help search for her now.

“Speaking of Chinn,” Lottie said, “we’ve got flowers to be delivered to Peter.”

“Is he still in hospital?” Grace asked.

“Yep,” Lottie said, “and no one’s saying how bad his condition is.”

“Poor man,” Grace said. “He must have suffered quite a concussion. He’s rather a large fellow, isn’t he? Probably none too firm on ice. What a shame.”

“Something’s been bugging me all morning,” Lottie said to Marco. “Nils Raand knows the cops are watching him, right? Especially after Tara was found at Uniworld. It sure doesn’t seem to me that he’d be foolish enough to sneak into the jail and stab Hudge. Does it to you?”

“Or that he’d sit on a bench in full view of everyone on the town square to goad Abby,” Grace pointed out.

“You’re right,” Marco said. “It doesn’t make sense. But I doubt Raand would have killed Hudge himself. He’d most likely hire someone. In any case, you have to view this from a prosecutor’s perspective. If the DA is convinced Raand masterminded the kidnappings, and then the remaining kidnapper is murdered, that would only reinforce his case against Raand. Remember, the DA is looking for a quick conviction. As Abby and I have learned, a determined prosecutor doesn’t need much more than a motive to go after someone.”

“Not that I’m

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