what I can find out.” He squeezed my hand and let go. When I looked up, I was surprised to see the good humor had drained from his face.
“What’s the matter?” I said. He started to say “Nothing,” and then stopped himself.
“Old habits die hard,” he said. “I’m still getting used to the idea of talking about things, instead of just dealing with them.” He paused and took a breath. “It’s the wedding disaster and my ex-wife.” The words came out with a rush of air as though they’d escaped. He shook his head with dismay. “At least if she’d told me right away about the problem, I might have been able to do something.” Now that he’d begun, the words flowed and the frustration was clear in his tone. “You don’t know her, but it’s her typical MO. She’s going to take care of something, but only makes a mess of it. I can’t trust her to do anything on her own.”
“I know a little about event planning,” I said. “Maybe I can help.” Mason grinned at my comment and we both rolled our eyes. My events often ended up a little offbeat. They were always successful but there might be a police raid or the fire department could show up.
Not exactly what you’d want for a wedding
“Thank you for listening—and for getting me to talk.” His eyes were warm and I felt closer to him than I ever had. “All of this just reminds me of why we got a divorce. I think I’d rather talk about your murder,” he said. “The robbery gone bad thing is a common cover-up. It probably was her husband, the Dollar King. So I don’t think you have to worry about someone going after Dinah.”
“Okay,” I said, but I couldn’t help wondering. What if it wasn’t him? I thought back to the conversation of the two prop guys. They clearly knew Kelly and they certainly had access to her place. Could they have killed her? But why?
CHAPTER 10
“Oh, dear,” CeeCee said in a distressed voice as she took her seat at the head of the worktable in the bookstore’s yarn department. She had arrived late and Sheila, Rhoda, Elise, Eduardo, Dinah and I were already working on our crochet projects. We all followed CeeCee’s gaze to see what had inspired her comment. Detective Heather and a uniform had just come into the bookstore.
“I’m afraid she’s looking at you, Molly,” CeeCee said. “That woman is relentless.” CeeCee knew that firsthand from some past dealings she’d had with the attractive homicide detective.
“Try to ignore her,” Elise said in her wispy voice. The small woman waved her hook at me to try to divert my attention as if not looking at the detective would make me invisible. Sure.
Dinah leaned in to me. “You could tell her you know North Adams,” she said with a smile. My friend had heard all about my weird encounter with the TV star and was as curious as I was about the whole episode. But my son Peter had simply refused to answer any questions.
A few days had passed since Kelly’s murder. The cops had finished processing the crime scene and had released the Donahue house, and allowed the L.A. 911 production to get back to work. Though the delay had caused the production people to redo their shooting schedule. Under the circumstances, they’d decided to wait until after the funeral to shoot the scene in the Donahue’s backyard. I hated to admit it, but all the information had come from Adele or as she had anointed herself—the new sleuth on the block. She insisted she’d been offering important insights on the case to her motor cop boyfriend who was still working security on the set. She was sure he’d been passing them on to the right people.
Not looking at Detective Heather didn’t work and a few moments later I sensed someone standing next to my chair. “Mrs. Pink, I wonder if I could speak to you,” she said in her formal police voice. Calling me Mrs. Pink bordered on the ridiculous. How many times had she questioned me? How many times had I ended up actually helping her? How many times had she hoped Barry would dump me and choose her? Well, she had a better shot at that part now. I was one hundred percent out of the way, even if he was still living at my house.