Murder Has a Sweet Tooth - By Miranda Bliss Page 0,5
stopped for a moment and listened. “What’s that?”
It wasn’t so much what he said as the tone of his voice that sent a shiver through me. I held my breath and waited to hear more.
“We’ll come. Of course we’ll come,” Jim said. “Right now.”
He flipped his phone closed, but in spite of his promise to Alex, he didn’t move a muscle. In fact, he stood as still as if he’d been encased in the same ice water that washed through my veins.
Automatically, I reached for Jim’s hand “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He swallowed hard. “It’s Alex,” he said. His voice was hollow, his face was suddenly ashen. “He’s at the Arlington police station. He’s . . .” Jim drew in a long breath and when he let it out, it wobbled over the emotion he could barely control. “Alex has been arrested in connection with a murder.”
Two
I WAS NEVER SO HAPPY TO SEE ANYONE AS I WAS to run into Tyler Cooper the moment we were inside the doors of the Arlington Police Department headquarters. Even though Tyler was dating Eve again, he wasn’t exactly what I’d call a friend. He was, however, a contact—an official police contact. That was exactly what we needed if we were going to find out what was going on.
I closed in on him before he had a chance to duck and run. “What’s going on?” I demanded. “Tyler, what happened?”
He looked from me to Jim, and apparently Tyler decided that Jim was his better bet. Little did he know that Jim loved Alex like a brother. If Tyler was counting on Jim to be either coolheaded or objective, he was in for a surprise. “Your cousin called you?”
“No, we’re psychic.” Too antsy to keep still and sure poor Alex had been caught up in some red-tape mix-up, I stepped between Jim and Tyler. “Of course Alex called us. How else would we know that you’re holding him on some trumped-up charge? Why else would we be here? It’s a bureaucratic snafu of epic proportions. It must be. What else would explain it? And what in the world—”
It was Jim’s turn to step in front of me, and though I didn’t appreciate it, I knew he was justified. I am usually calm and levelheaded, remember. The fact that I was spouting off like that silver-plated champagne fountain Eve wanted at the wedding said something about how much I liked Alex, and how worried I was that he was mixed up in some ugly misunderstanding he needed our help to get out of.
Unlike me, Jim kept his voice low, but still, there was no mistaking the look in his eyes. Another couple minutes of not knowing what was going on, and Jim’s head was going to pop. Yeah, like a champagne cork. “Ye’ve got the wrong man,” he told Tyler.
In spite of all the times I claimed otherwise, I know that deep down inside, Tyler really does have a heart. Eve wouldn’t love him otherwise. He does not, however, like to show it. Especially in public. Most especially when the public place we were in was the place he worked, and his colleagues were coming and going all around us. After all, Tyler had his reputation as a ruthless jerk to uphold.
Without a word, he turned and walked down a corridor that was less crowded than the main entrance where we’d run into him. It wasn’t until we were well out of range of any eavesdroppers that Tyler stopped. He sucked on his lower lip and shook his head sadly. “Your cousin’s in a pack of trouble.”
“But, Tyler, you know him!” I should have left the talking to Jim. As Alex’s contact in the States, it was Jim’s responsibility to deal with the authorities in case of a screwup like this. But I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. No matter how hard I tried. And I wasn’t trying very hard. I knew how quiet Jim had been on the ride over. I saw how stiff his shoulders were, how his jaw was steady and tight. The worry was eating him up, and, seeing Jim worried, I reacted as only a fiancée can. I went on the attack. “You’ve met Alex. You and Eve and me and Jim and Alex, we all just had dinner together last week. He’s fun and he’s friendly and—”
“Fun and friendly have nothing to do with this.” For a moment, Tyler’s expression flashed from sympathetic to stony and I saw the side