“I get that you’re angry”—she started, but I didn’t let her finish the sentence.
“I’m not angry. I’m just not playing Sherry’s game. If Greg wants to go back to that situation, that’s his call, not mine. And until he tells me our relationship is over, I’m believing him.”
“Good. I’m glad to see you’re growing a backbone.” Pat smiled at my confused look. “Sherry’s my best friend, but she can be a steamroller. I just wanted to apologize for asking you to get in the middle of this. I should have set boundaries.”
I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. “At least Sherry’s not a suspect anymore.”
“Greg does hold his cards tight.” Pat laughed. “So you haven’t heard?”
I shook my head, not liking where this was going.
Pat stepped carefully off the step and onto my walkway’s first paving stone. “Conner finally alibied out for the day of the murder. He was in San Diego with his girlfriend, and he has the receipts and pictures to prove it.”
When I went into the house, I set aside the book I’d been planning on reading, and instead pulled out my list of clues. I hadn’t been updating my notebook since Conner had been arrested, thinking the mystery was solved. Now I had to review the information I’d found out, including the fact that only two people in South Cove owned the poison dart frog. Or I only knew about two people. Maybe you could find the poison online, already packaged up in a nice little box ready to kill someone.
Okay, it was a long shot, but as I booted up my computer, I knew that Sherry hadn’t killed Kent. All I had to do was convince my boyfriend.
My alarm woke me out of a dreamless sleep, and as I went about my morning getting ready for work, Kent’s murder kept running through my head. As I ran Emma, I thought about the mysterious redhead in the car. With all the women Pat had given me as Kent’s conquests, no one had the curly flame-red hair that I’d seen when I witnessed their make-out session in the car that afternoon. I knew it wasn’t a wig, not the way they were going at it. I’d worn a wig for Halloween one year, and I never could keep the thing straight on my head.
No, the redhead was the key. I quickly showered and power-walked down to the shop. Today I was alone, since the morning shift got next to no traffic on a Tuesday. Sasha and Toby would relieve me at noon. If I hadn’t been able to talk to Greg by then, I’d stop by the station on my way home.
My plan set, I opened the shop and set up for the day. By ten, I’d done the prep, updated the book order list, paid invoices, and set up payroll. I opened my laptop and started searching for Kent’s name to see if he’d ever dated a redhead that showed up on Facebook or Google, when the bell over the door chimed.
Anne and Leslie marched into the shop. I flipped the cover of the laptop closed. Anne immediately sat at a table away from the window while Leslie headed for the counter. “Two black coffees, large.” She took a ten from her wallet and threw it at me. “Bring them to the table.”
No chitchat, no please, no banter. Something was up or they were trying to sneak a quick break from the bank. I hurried and poured the coffees and walked them over to the table. “I put these into to-go cups in case you want to take them back to work. Just let me know and I’ll do a refill when you’re ready to go.”
“She fired me.” Anne took the cup from me and set it in front of her. “That creep kept all the loan transactions but made it look like I was getting all the money, not him.”
“Anne”—Leslie shot a warning look at her friend—“maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here?”
“I don’t care who knows. Kent set me up. He said he loved me and we’d never get caught.” Anne started crying. “We were a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, then someone went and killed him. Now I’m the patsy.”
“Look, maybe you should be telling this to a lawyer. I can get you a name from my old firm.” Leslie was right, Anne needed to be quiet or all this would be fair game when she was on trial.
“They’re not charging me. That would be too big of a scandal for the bank. All they’re doing is ruining my life.” Anne traced the CBM logo on the cup. “How am I supposed to get a job without a reference? Who would hire a crook?”
“Honey, we’ll figure all this out. You just have to have faith.” Leslie put her hand on her friend’s arm.