Read Online Engaged in Death (A Wedding Planner Mystery) by Stephanie Blackmoore - Free Book Online Page A

first smile of the day, a real Cheshire special.
    Crap. A trickle of sweat ran down my back. Stupid, stupid. You always shut up, and you always get a criminal defense attorney when you talk to the police . Though I didn’t practice criminal law, I’d had a few occasions to advise my clients to clam up in the event authorities questioned them. And I had watched The Wire. And here I was, digging myself a bigger hole, thanks to my teeny-tiny lie of omission. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them I’d shoved Shane Hartley hours before he was murdered. It was time to shut up for real, even though Rachel and I hadn’t done anything.
    “He wouldn’t leave.” Rachel pushed back from the table. “Honest. He was threatening us, not the other way around.”
    I nodded, my lips pursed. I’d Krazy Glue my mouth shut if I had to.
    Then I quickly abandoned my internal promise to stay quiet in less than a nanosecond. “He said something was wrong with the way Sylvia left me the house and that it would be Helene and Keith Pierce’s property soon enough.”
    That revelation raised two sets of eyebrows. Ultimately, Truman and Faith said nothing. They stuck to their previously successful tactic of waiting for me to stick my foot firmly into my yapping mouth. I chewed on my lower lip to keep from talking. Rachel stirred her spoon around in her cup, the metal making a grating noise against the bone china, her coffee long gone.
    “We also heard about an altercation you had with the Pierces after Sylvia’s funeral.” Faith smirked. “Do you have a problem controlling your temper, Mallory?”
    I managed a sip of water, trying to play it cool. It took every ounce of control to keep my hand from shaking. I used the time my drink bought me to wonder how they’d found out so quickly. Did gossip really spread this fast in a small town?
    “So what?” I finally ventured. The truth should be good enough. “Helene Pierce is crazy.”
    “We know,” Faith said, surprising me. “I’d just like to hear your side.”
    It was possible they’d heard about these incidents before Hartley’s death had even been called in to the police. I was impressed and worried, but I was no murderer. Then it dawned on me. Faith and Truman had popped up from the table several times during our interrogation to field phone calls. Their colleagues must have been gathering intel and relaying the information to them.
    “He had no business being back here while it was dark. I told him to buzz off, and I meant it. I admit I pushed him, but he deserved it. He threatened me. It wasn’t like he came back here in the middle of the night to strike a business deal.”
    Faith glanced at Chief Truman, wordlessly asking for permission. “Actually, that’s precisely why he came back here.”
    “How do you know that? It’s not like you can ask him now.” The words left my lips before I realized how insensitive I sounded.
    “Because he drew up an offer letter for this property. Not to lease it, but to buy it outright. A pretty big offer based on the number of zeros. He was probably going to slip it in the mail slot since you’d rebuffed him. Let the money talk for him.”
    “How much?” Rachel’s eyes were shining. She’d been quiet for a while, a much savvier suspect than I was. But at the mention of money, she perked right up and leaned toward the cops, abandoning her nervous ritual with the spoon and cup.
    “We can’t tell exactly. The note was soaked with blood. Some of the ink smeared, but we’re talking high six figures.”
    I gulped. Good thing I hadn’t had a Pop-Tart after all.
    “The surveyors who were with Shane Hartley told our colleagues at the station the same version of events as you did, and that’s what matters for now,” Chief Truman said. “That is, I don’t have enough information to take you for a little ride downtown. We’re done here. Thank you for the coffee.”
    Truman and Faith stood to go.
    I faded back into my chair with