If Hooks Could Kill - By Betty Hechtman Page 0,105
Let’s keep it as just friends,” I said. “I understand that you want to keep your family separate. It’s just uncomfortable for me.”
Mason’s cell phone rang and he excused himself while he answered it. When he’d finished the call, he came back. “Sunshine, I have to go. I’m already late for an appointment. But this isn’t over.” He hugged me and then headed for the door.
“You’re still here?” Adele said when she came out of the kids’ department. “It must be a dull day for you. You haven’t gotten arrested or led the cops on a wild-goose chase.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“Look who’s here,” she said, nodding toward the door. Dan had just come into the store. He had the usual energetic walk and cheerful expression.
He came up to us. “My kids are coming back tomorrow,” he said. “It’s been a bad time for all of us. I wanted to get them something. Maybe there are some books you could recommend.” His glance went between us.
“Pink, can help you. I’m meeting my boyfriend.” Adele pointed toward the café and Eric waved from a table. Adele was wearing rosy pink overalls over a pink and white striped shirt. She had her hair pulled into a tiny ponytail. I wasn’t sure if the outfit had something to do with story time or she’d chosen it for no reason.
Dan turned to me. “My kids are eight-year-old twins.”
I began pulling out books. I noticed I was getting angrier and angrier as I did. Kelly was dead. Her future was gone. Her kids had no mother now. And Dan was just picking out books for his kids as if nothing had happened.
The time had come to confront Dan. After all, what did I have to lose?
“It’s obvious you’re going to get away with killing Kelly, but don’t you feel any remorse?”
Dan stopped and looked at me. “You think I killed her, too?” He looked down and shook his head. “Why would I kill Kelly? I loved her. We had our differences, partly because we had both been married before. She had a hard time trusting and needed to have her own life, her own business. I admit I had trouble with that, but kill her?” His expression sank to the floor.
“I know all about the storage locker. How you moved it. I’ve already contacted the cops about it.” I left it hanging.
“That detective asked me about a storage locker, too. She didn’t seem that surprised when I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t understand what she meant, but she said something about she should have known it was a wild-goose chase.” Dan was beginning to get annoyed. I should have figured he wasn’t going to confess. “I can’t take the suspicion anymore. And you aren’t the only one. I’m glad my brother-in-law is leaving. From the moment he called, no matter what I told him, I could tell he thought I’d done it.” The cheerful look was gone. “Are you going to help me find some books, or just keep grilling me?”
CHAPTER 33
I finished my day at the bookstore with no interruptions. For once, none of the Hookers came in and I didn’t hear from Dinah all day. I really wanted someone to talk to about finding what I thought was the new location of Kelly’s storage unit and whether there was any point to checking it out.
I went home to a quiet house and hungry animals. There was a message from Mason. He really wanted to see me and discuss our relationship some more, but now that they’d locked in a location for the wedding, he was tied up with making arrangements. There were a lot of “I’m sorry”s about the previous night and promises to make it up to me. Perhaps a trip to Carmel after the wedding. Had he even heard what I said about keeping our relationship as is?
I was glad when Samuel came home, but he’d only come home to change his clothes. And I tried calling Dinah, but she was tied up with Commander Blaine. They were chaperoning a dinner cruise excursion.
I made myself a cup of tea and took it out into the yard. The sky was dark and velvety. Cosmo and Blondie came out and sat with me, but it wasn’t the same as a person. I hated to admit it, but I missed Barry’s company. All that peace was like a vacuum longing to be filled and my mind went into overdrive.