Murder! (Parker & Knight Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

about quitting the babysitting job, but she was really attached to the little girl and kept going there. Then, the dude tricked her into being alone with him, and that’s when his wife caught them together, but Tiff was there to babysit. She didn’t know the kid wasn’t coming home.”
    “What’s your opinion of her brother?”
    A smile burst through the tears.
    “Steve, I like Steve, but he doesn’t give me the time of day. I have seen him over at the Kent’s though; he’s got a thing for Mandy Kent. God knows why, the woman could be his mother.”
    “Was Tiffany afraid of Mr. or Mrs. Kent?”
    “Afraid? No, she thought Kent was a creep and that Mandy was a bad mother who drank too much, but she wasn’t scared of them. Why, do you think one of them killed her?”
    “We’re just investigating at this point. How did Tiffany get along with Steve?”
    “Tiff loved her big brother, but... she didn’t like Steve sniffing around Mrs. Kent, Mandy. I was over there one day when she freaked because she learned that he had been spending time there when Mr. Kent wasn’t home. I think it was right after that when she began babysitting.”
    “She was protective of her brother?”
    “Ah, more like worried that he’d get into trouble. It’s not cool to be messing with a married woman. I don’t know why he likes Mandy so much. I’ve hit on him twice and he turned me down both times.”
    Parker studied the girl and felt his pulse quicken again.
    “Ms. Jones, can you tell us where you were between one and three p.m.?” He asked.
    “Am I a suspect?”
    “No, it’s just a routine question. We’ve asked it of everyone.”
    “Oh, well I was here watching TV and studying. I don’t have work or classes today.”
    “What sort of work do you do?”
    “I’m a waitress at Taggart’s ; you know the big bar in the handle?”
    “I know it,” Parker said.
    The town of Washington was roughly the shape of a frying pan, and Taggart’s Bar & Grill sat on land in what could be called the handle, and was called such by the town’s natives.
    Heather looked Parker over and sent a shy smile his way.
    “I work afternoons and evenings most days, stop by sometimes,”
    Parker nodded, before taking out a card and passing it to her.
    “Please give us a call if you think of anything that might help, okay?”
    “I will, and shit, I can’t believe she’s dead, poor Tiff,”
    ***
    A fter leaving Heather Jones, Parker and Knight went to a diner near the municipal building that housed the police station.
    They discussed the case over coffee and pie, while learning a little about each other.
    “How old?” Parker said.
    “Twenty-two, my daughter is twenty-two.”
    “You started really young,”
    “I was fourteen and stupid. The boy was fifteen and he and his parents took no responsibility. My mother, God bless her, she kept my father from going insane and helped me to raise my baby.”
    “What happened to the father?”
    “He and his family moved away and I never saw him again. He’s forgotten, by me and my daughter.”
    “A lot of girls would have given the baby up for adoption, did you ever consider it?”
    “No, I was stupid to have gotten pregnant so young, but I wanted her, wanted to be a mother, and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
    “I’d like to meet her someday.”
    Jo smiled. “We’ll make a point of it, but what about you, any kids?”
    “No, and I’m in the middle of a divorce. You’ll hear the gossip around the station so I might as well tell you myself. She cheated on me, twice, but, at least it was with the same guy.”
    “Sorry Rick, that must have hurt,”
    “Yeah, but life goes on, now tell me, what are your thoughts on the case?”
    “Not much until we get the autopsy results, but it’s a fair guess that one of the Kents killed her. I mean, she died in their home.”
    “The house has an alarm too. The Kents told the first cop on the scene that the alarm had been disarmed and