Whispers of Sin (Touch of Evil Book 9) by Kennedy Layne

Author:Kennedy Layne [Layne, Kennedy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kennedy Layne Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Theo Neville

December 2023

Thursday — 1:47pm

Theo pushed open the door to the small coffee shop. The soft chiming of the bell overhead announced his arrival. A few stares were directed at him, but he wasn’t sure if that was due to a stranger entering their hometown domain or if it was due to his black eyepatch. Either way, it took a few seconds before the patrons went back to their previous conversations.

The male subject who Theo had returned to the coffee shop to speak to was standing behind the counter. Discovering that Emily had handed in her resignation had been somewhat of a surprise. Fortunately, one of the baristas had mentioned Rudy Papadakis. The young man happened to be Emily’s friend.

Rudy was slender with brown hair that was parted to the side, allowing some of the strands to fall over his forehead in true 1950s style. The barista had described him as tall, boyish, and sporting a dimple in his right cheek.

Theo joined the short line behind two women and an older gentleman.

He’d spent the better part of the morning attempting to locate Emily Park. After the barista on shift had explained that Emily had submitted her resignation, the logical place was to drive over to the young woman’s apartment. Only she hadn’t been home, her car hadn’t been parked in the lot, and none of her neighbors had any clue as to where she might have gone. It wasn’t until he received a call from Brook that he’d gotten an answer—Martin Kingston had offered Emily something that she hadn’t been able to turn down.

“Coffee, please,” Theo ordered after the older gentleman had moved to the side. Theo reached for his wallet and took out his corporate credit card. With one swipe, he slipped the plastic card back into its designated slot. “You’re Rudy, right?”

“I am,” Rudy replied as he turned around to take one of the cups off the stack next to the large carafe of coffee. The barista behind him was making some type of latte. “Do I know you?”

“No, but I was hoping that you could take a five-minute break.” Theo held up his credentials, which managed to draw quite a bit of attention. “My name is Theo Neville, and my firm has been hired to look into Bella Kadel’s murder.”

Rudy stared back in interest as he secured the white lid onto the cup. He slid it over before nodding toward an empty table in the back.

“Let me clear this line, and then I’ll take a break.”

“I appreciate it.”

Theo snagged a sleeve for his cup before proceeding toward the empty table. He took a seat in the chair facing the door, which also allowed him to monitor the other patrons. A few of them made no effort to conceal their interest in him, while some didn’t seem interested at all. It wasn’t long before Rudy was walking out from behind the counter, wiping his hands on a small towel.

“I’m not sure that I can help you,” Rudy said as he took a seat.

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