Death in Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn't help it.
    "I could keep you here," he said. His cool, unblinking stare was faintly reptilian.
    "Of course you could. I'm hoping you won't." I tried to smile but my face, battered by Rory's fists, and my disposition, battered by the whole morning, wouldn't cooperate. The result, reflected in the mirror across the room, was tentative and pathetic.
    He snapped his notebook shut and looked pointedly at his watch. "How long?"
    "Hour. Hour and a half."
    "Ten o'clock. Back here. You're mine." Not in a million years am I yours, buddy, I thought. "Deal," I said. "Now, if you don't mind, I could use a few minutes by myself."
    He stood up, turned toward the door. A crisp, military turn. Turned back, slightly less crisp. "You okay?" he asked.
    I tend, with cops, to be stand-offish and stoic, but I know they like you better if you act like a proper victim, so I told the truth. "I'm not sure. I feel shaky... and... uh... battered."
    "I'll bet she was a handful," he said. "Why you?" I shrugged. My shoulder hurt. And time was rushing past so fast I could feel the seconds slip away. "I'm everyone's mother, I guess."
    The heavy features lifted in something like a smile. "Some mother," he said. "Catch you later."
    Five minutes to speech time. Oh, well. I could be a little late to breakfast. Nothing ever starts on time. I might just make it—if I didn't eat but spent the time reading. I didn't feel very hungry. And anyway, wasn't I the one who said life was no fun without challenges?

 
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    Chapter 3

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    Breakfast went well. We tiptoed adeptly through a minefield and emerged without getting blown up thanks to Jolene's calm grace, Shannon's hearty bonhomie, and Zannah's surprisingly moving eulogy. We compromised with Rob Greene and attributed Martina's demise to "mysterious circumstances under investigation." I tap-danced briskly through my part, internally thanking my demanding lawyer father and a brutal college speech teacher for giving me the tools to think on my feet. Good mentoring and seven years in the field were beginning to pay off. I might not have been the world's most eloquent speaker, but the subject was familiar enough so I didn't have to read it word for word, and people didn't fiddle and chat or get that bored, glassy-eyed look speakers recognize as the kiss of death.
    Afterward, I was mobbed with people who had questions, or wanted copies of the speech, or wanted to get together for some follow-up. Shannon waded through the crowd to command my presence at a lunch meeting, claiming she and Jolene and Zannah needed to talk further about damage control. Several people handed me business cards with scribbled messages on the back. Others tried to get me to give them the inside scoop on what had happened. I was relieved that things had gone well and wished I could have stayed and talked, but I was late for my date with the detective, and getting nervous about keeping him waiting. He hadn't struck me as the understanding type.
    I was making a beeline for the door when someone grabbed my arm. I don't like being grabbed under any circumstances and this was particularly unpleasant as the grabber managed to hit several spots already bruised in my wrestling match with Rory. I turned to find that the hand belonged to Lewis Broder. "Thea," he whispered, "we need to talk."
    "Not now, Lewis. I'm late for a meeting."
    "With the cops, right?" I nodded. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I know you saw me last night. With Martina?" I nodded again. "Don't tell them about it, okay?"
    Obviously Lewis hadn't seen my inquisitor and didn't know what I was up against. "I won't volunteer it, but if they ask a direct question, I won't lie to them, Lewis."
    The hand gripped tighter. "Thea... you've got to... you know how it is... I'm a married man. Besides, nothing happened...."
    I shook him off and took a step backward. "If nothing happened, you've got nothing to worry about. Look, I've got to go."
    He must have missed