Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
He gifted her with his lopsided smile. Her favorite one. A real sense destroyer. “I may have Daisy’s private number and permission to call anytime I have an order.”
What! “How?” Jane demanded. No one had Daisy’s private number. Maybe not even Daisy herself!
“Dr. Hotchkins was her cousin, and she wanted to thank me for finding his killer.”
“Uh, I found the killer. And I live in town. We’re neighbors. Kind of.” But dang it! How could Jane have forgotten about the familial connection?
His smile widened, as if such a detail were unimportant. “When I called and explained I was planning a special date for the infamous Jane Ladling, she told me she’d handle it.”
Special date. With her. Warmth spread in her chest.
He finished off the meal prep by pouring peach tea into wine glasses that had been nestled in the lid of the picnic basket.
“Thank you. For everything,” she said. “This is truly wonderful.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He opened his bag of chips. “Gotta admit, I’m eager to try one of these now.”
“Prepare for transport to Heaven.” She stole one and popped it into her mouth before he could protest. Magnificent taste bombs burst on her tongue, and she moaned.
He watched her, his whisky eyes darkening. Then he sampled a chip—and shrugged. “Not bad.”
Not bad? Not bad! She snatched the bag from him. “You don’t deserve these!”
He snatched it back and mock growled, “Mine.”
“All right. Now that’s more like it.” And thank goodness. Otherwise she’d have to question his intelligence. But either way, this was already, hands down, the single best night of Jane’s entire life.
Oh no! That thought. Danger, danger! Won’t fall for him. Absolutely, positively will not.
“Um, you promised me some information,” she reminded him. Yes. Focus on the case rather than the delightful picnic he’d planned. “Which surprises me. I mean, I know you said your insistence that I keep my brilliance out of your work did you no good, but wow. Just wow.”
“I did promise, and I was insistent, yes. I’m trying something new.” Conrad shifted in his seat, now in full-on agent of the law mode. “I can’t tell you everything. But. You may ask me questions, and we’ll go from there.”
Meaning, she could ask, but he might not answer? “Let’s get started then. So which came first, the drug or the beating?”
“Which do you think?”
“The beating?” Tony had been universally disliked, so there was a good chance the killer wanted him to hurt before dying.
Conrad bopped the tip of her nose. “Guess who won her honorary detective’s badge?”
She’d gotten it right? Jane fluffed her hair. “Well. That isn’t a surprise. I’m not just a cutie, Officer Inspector Detective Special Agent Ryan. I’m a smarty, too.”
“That you are. But when did I become an inspector on top of everything else?”
“Today. I gave you a promotion in my mind.” Okay, on to the next question, before he charmed her silly. “Did GBH find fingerprints on the syringe? I’m guessing no.”
“Then you’ve lost your brand-new detective’s badge.”
Well, drats. But whose fingerprints had they found? “If there are fingerprints, why hasn’t an arrest been made?”
“That, you’ll have to answer on your own.”
Jane popped another chip into her mouth and washed it down with peach tea while racking her brain. Many of her guests had worn gloves to ward off the night’s chill. Wait. Had the prints belonged to Tony himself? Had he been conscious after his strike to the head? Had he fought his attacker?
“My turn to ask you a question,” he said. “Other than Emma, are you still considering a certain medical professional as a top suspect?”
“I am. At the party, Dr. Price did an awful lot of slinking through the darkness.” Before she asked her next question, she took Conrad’s earlier advice and batted her baby blues at him. “Do you still consider Dr. Price a suspect?”
He moaned and said, “I can tell you he isn’t a person of interest at this time.”
Oh. Hmm. Well. Poor Conrad and his by the book investigating. He missed so much. “What about Dr. Garcia?”
“This is public knowledge currently posted on the Headliner, so I’m free to share. Some of your guests claimed he fell ill. That he was searching for a bathroom he couldn’t find when Fiona screamed.”
“Wait.” Jane paused with the sandwich halfway to her mouth. “Are you telling me he used my bushes to…?”
“No. He told us his stomach calmed before it came to that.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” But also super convenient. And majorly suspicious! Garcia had just offered such embarrassing information to anyone who would listen? Up the list he went, earning a top spot beside Emma, Hagger and Belfry. “So, uh–”
Conrad’s phone rang, interrupting her. He grimaced as he slid the device out of his pocket. “I’ve got to take this. My cell is on ‘do not disturb’ for every number but Hightower’s. We’ve been waiting for a specific bit of information.”