Read Online Finders Keepers Losers Die by Carolyn Scott - Free Book Online

Maybe even an accident in his Camaro. But
murdered? Holy crap.
    "In his apartment," she said.
    An unsettling thought struck me—if I'd been
listening in to the transmitter I planted in his apartment, I could
have heard the killer. I might have been able to prevent his
death.
    "He wasn't at Valerie's last night?"
    Roberta wiped her damp cheeks with the back
of her hand. "Apparently not."
    "Who would kill him?"
    "You mean apart from me?" She shrugged. "I
have no idea."
    I nearly choked on my latté. "You didn't did
you?"
    "No!"
    Phew. It would be just my luck that my first
client turned out to be a murderer.
    "I thought he was clean after coming out of
jail," she said. "As far as I know, he hadn’t been in any
trouble."
    "Actually he’s been associating with some
shady characters lately. Ex-cons, that sort of thing."
    She raised her unruly eyebrows. "Really?"
But she didn’t sound overly surprised. I guess that’s what happens
when you live with a pig for so long—you get used to the flies.
"Maybe one of them killed him."
    "I’m sure the police will find out who did
it."
    She nodded. "So what are we going to
do?"
    "Do?" I shrugged, palms up. "Nothing. He
won't lead us to the jewels now."
    "But you can't give up! They're mine!" She
placed her palms on the table and leaned forward. Her eyes narrowed
and her lips thinned. "I spent fifteen miserable years as his wife.
He pulled me down when he was alive. He's not going to do it now
he's dead. I want what's mine."
    She had a point but I still wasn't convinced
it was a feasible idea. I mean, where to start? Will and Carl would
know but I couldn't ask them. I needed to do it on my own.
    At least there was a plus to Lou being
dead—I didn't have to worry about my safety anymore.
    "I'm still his legal wife," Roberta said.
"So technically they're still my jewels."
    "Okay."
    Her face lit up and you wouldn't have
guessed she'd just cried bucket-loads. But then she touched her
fingers to her mouth as fresh tears welled. "I can't thank you
enough. I know you're not doing this for the money. I have this
feeling about you. You're honest. You believe in justice. I knew as
soon as I met you. I felt it in my bones."
    Not the bones again. "It's no problem."
    "I want this wrapped up quickly," she added.
"His family will fight me in court for his assets. You have to go
through his apartment and car before they stop you."
    I paid for the coffees and saw Roberta off.
I headed back to the office, thinking through my next move. One
thing became clear. I had to talk to the police. Not only was I
curious to find out the details of Lou's murder, but I probably
should tell them about the listening device. Honesty is the best
policy, but only if it stops you getting in worse trouble.
    Carl poked his head round his door when I
got back to the office. "She gone?"
    "Yes." I frowned and looked closer at his
face. "What happened to your lip?”
    He fingered the swollen cut on his lower
lip. I hadn't noticed it earlier because he'd scuttled into his
office like a frightened tortoise and I was more interested in
Roberta.
    "I walked into a closed door," he said.
    "What are you, blind?"
    "It was glass."
    "Were you drunk?"
    "Not enough to dull the pain."
    I cringed. I'm not good with pain, even
someone else's.
    "So what did she want?" he asked.
    "I thought you weren't interested. We don’t
do domestics, remember?"
    "That hasn’t stopped you from taking on her
case."
    "Exactly. I’ve taken it on, not
Knight Investigations." Although that didn’t preclude me from using
the company's resources.
    "Will won’t be happy," he sang
childishly.
    "Will won’t find out," I sang back.
    He looked at me like I was stupid. "He’ll
find out. He always finds out in the end."
    "The end is fine. It won’t matter then. Look
how long it took him to catch Tanya's embezzling."
    He shook his head, dismayed. "I can’t
believe she’d do something like that to Will. And they were dating
at the time!" He shook his head again.