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is. Do you have any idea who might have killed him?”
    “No, of course not. I barely knew him.” Her voice quavered , and she fished her brush out of her purse and redid her messy bun. “But poor Lisa.”
    “Yeah.” I thought again how lucky Lisa was to have Debbie for a friend. Most people in Lake View probably wouldn’t have too much sympathy for the spoiled princess. “Do you know why he was here?”
    She shrugged. “How would I know? Maybe he was coming to the grand opening.” Her voice broke. “But he didn’t make it.” She began sobbing again.
    I patted her shoulder. “Debbie, why don’t you go ahead and go home? Marco and I can handle the rest of the lunch crowd.” It would be easier if we knew she was gone than if she kept disappearing to cry. I hoped Carly wouldn’t care that I was sending her most seasoned waitress home during the busiest part of the day. “If you feel like it , you can come back in later.”
    “I don’t want to go home.”
    “Then maybe you should visit Lisa. I’m sure she’s having a hard time with this.”
    She nodded. “I heard they made her go down to the station this morning and have fingerprints,” she whispered.
    Her unique way of phrasing that procedure made me fight a smile. “Really? They think she killed him?”
    Her eyes widened. “Do you think? They said it’s just a formality because she rode in his car a lot. So they can figure out what fingerprints might be there that aren’t supposed to be.”
    I quickly backtracked. The last thing I wanted to do was add to the overworked rumor mill. “No, no, I’m sure she’s not a suspect. Eliminating fingerprints that belong there sounds right. And anyway, why would she kill her new boyfriend?”
    Debbie’s eyes filled with tears again. “Relationships can be hard.”
    “Yeah, I know. But even though ‘breaking up is hard to do ,’ don’t you think it would be harder to kill him?”
    She pulled a tissue from the holder on the counter and loudly blew her nose again instead of answering. Should I have mentioned that was a rhetorical question?
    I patted her on the shoulder. My mother and Carly were so much better than I was at sympathy and advice. Why did I always end up in these situations? “I’ll tell Carly that you’re taking the rest of the day off.”
    “Thanks.” She gave a wan smile and left.
    I hurried back to the dining room. From the corner of my eye, I saw Harvey directing a couple toward one of my tables. I grabbed two menus and headed over to take their orders. As I neared the table, I recognized Seth’s partner, Ricky , and Tiffany Stanton, the mayor’s daughter . Tiffany had moved back to Lake View only a few months ago to take a job as editor of her aunt’s newspaper , and Ricky hadn’t wasted any time in getting to know her. When the tall cop wasn’t on duty, you could always count on seeing them together.
    Since her parents, Amelia and Byron , sent her to boarding school instead of Lake View High, I hadn’t known Tiffany well when we were growing up. But I’d always thought of her as the Anti-Amelia. She had pretty features, but it almost seemed like she did everything she could to hide them. Her naturally curly hair frizzed around her bare face , and she usually wore shapeless clothes or men ’ s jeans that did nothing to flatter her figure.
    Today, even though she hadn’t changed a thing, she looked as radiant as a bride. “What’ll you have to drink?” My standard opening line.
    “What are you having, Ricky?” She leaned toward him. “Sweet tea with lemon?”
    He grinned. “You know me too well.”
    She beamed at me. “I’ll have the same.” She waved her hand in the air , and I could tell she was showing off the huge rock on her engagement finger.
    When I brought the drinks back, they thanked me.
    I pulled out my order pad. “Congratulations on your engagement. Your ring is beautiful. Is the wedding soon?”
    “Yes.” Tiffany flashed Ricky a coy look. “We