Truth, Lies, and Second Dates - MaryJanice Davidson Page 0,20

cracker!” in his deep voice, and she had to bite her lip, hard, so as not to laugh), and within half an hour she was reacquainting herself with the hotel room bed. She was short on sleep and wanted to be fresh for breakfast, plus leave time for a trip to the drugstore, because though she’d had it less than a day, she’d already lost her moisturizer somewhere.

And she needed it, because even though she hadn’t touched Danielle’s ashes, she couldn’t seem to stop washing her hands.

Thirteen

Tom Baker realized he was nearing a full-on sprint and forced himself to slow down. It wouldn’t do to burst through the door of the Black Dog Café rushed and wheezing, then try to radiate calm disinterest while he had coffee with a possible murderess whose mouth and lush curves were sin personified.

It is deeply frigged that I am excited about this. And dammit, I am allowed to swear in the privacy of my own thoughts!

And there she was, Ava Capp, staring pensively out the window onto the street, either because she was pensive or because she was a sociopath who could mimic pensive, and he had no idea which it was.

He walked past the long counter and sun-splashed tables to where she was sitting in the back, though he could have picked her out from farther away. The mass of shaggy dark blond waves, the olive complexion, the eyes, and the elegant lines of her body were unmistakable. Not that he could see her eyes from this distance, but he remembered them: gray and remarkable. He was so intent on reaching her he hardly felt it when his hip slammed into the corner of the counter.

But she’d looked around at the sound and his muffled curse (“Heckfire!”) and winced in what appeared to be perfect sympathy. She greeted him with, “How do you not have a limp? I’ve seen you do that three times in twenty hours.”

“Irrelevant,” he said, sliding into the seat across from her.

“Listen, I didn’t say so earlier, but I wanted to thank you for giving my alibi to the cops.”

“I didn’t.”

“You didn’t?”

“I could only alibi you until 1:50 A.M. I didn’t see you return to your room, though I assumed you had. And you weren’t inebriated.”

“No, Dennis drank enough for both of us,” she said dryly. “Well, thanks for speaking up anyway. Besides, surely the funeral home has security videos.”

“Not for the parking lot or the public area. Just the prep room.”

“Prep—”

“Embalming area.”

“They have cameras there? But hardly anywhere else? Do I want to know why? I don’t want to know why.” She sighed. “Too bad about the videos, though. Too easy, right?”

“So it would seem.” Tom had no idea if Ava had caused the considerable damage to the funeral home, but he wouldn’t rule her out as a suspect. Not last night, and not ten years ago. Though it would not do to let her know that just yet. “I would prefer to discuss your deceased friend now.”

“Uh. Okay.”

Darn it all to heck and back. A new record. “I apologize and will try to be less blunt.”

“Please don’t. It’s refreshing. People have been tip-toeing around this for a decade. Understandably, but it gets old.” She pushed her curls back with a sigh. “Also, now that I hear myself, there’s just no way to say that without sounding like a heinous wretch. So I’m just gonna own it.”

He waited long enough to confirm it was his turn to speak, then said, “Danielle was stabbed repeatedly and died of exsanguination. She would have been in extreme distress before she bled out.”

“Distress. Yeah. One way to put it.”

“And ten years later, someone attacked her memorial and flung her ashes everywhere.”

“Here’s your salmon scramble!” As the waitress set the plate before Ava, she glanced at it, seemed to think about it for a few seconds, then picked up her fork. This made much sense to him; regardless of the topic of conversation, fuel was necessary. “And for you, sir?”

Breakfast? Or briefing? Breakfast briefing? Yes. More efficient. “Lox and bagel, please. And coffee. Lots.”

As the waitress headed off, Ava said, “You must be exhausted. Up half the night, um, with me, and now here with me again.”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“I don’t require much sleep.”

“Okay.”

“Tell me about the memorial.”

“Besides the fact that it was a mistake?”

“Yes, besides that.”

“I ran into Dennis on my flight. He knew I’d be at MSP and invited me. I was on the spot and didn’t think about faking scurvy until it