Read Online Fry Another Day by J. J. Cook - Free Book Online

smiled and didn’t seem to take it the wrong way.
    I really liked his smile. His eyes were such a perfect shade of brown—sort of like chocolate, but sexier.
Very nice.
    â€œI notice you
all
the time, Zoe. I can’t imagine a man who wouldn’t.”
    My heart beat fast.
Is that good? It sounds good.
    Or was he saying I flirted a lot? I did flirt a
little
, but not so much.
    After that, I tried to keep the mood going. I brought up all kinds of subjects—except the one I
really
wanted to ask about.
    He responded and admitted all kinds of crazy stuff about himself—really opening up for once. We laughed about the floats at carnival last year. It was great. It felt natural to be there with him. I hoped he felt the same.
    There were several accidents on the road and police everywhere as we were leaving North Carolina. I decided it would be a good time to get out my cell phone and start making my shopping list since Miguel was going to have to concentrate more on the road.
    Uncle Saul had already left me a few voice mails about food ideas.
    Even though we weren’t talking, I was thinking about Miguel and the death of his wife and child ten years ago. It had happened around the same time that he was framed for falsifying evidence when he’d run for district attorney in Mobile.
    It was as though his life had stopped then. He’d quit the DA’s office and opened up his own legal practice. Everyone in the city now knew him as a street lawyer who would help anyone in a jam. That’s how I’d met him. He’d been Ollie’s lawyer.
    I knew Miguel was still getting over that tragedy—if anyone could ever really get over something like that. From what I could find out—and I had investigated
extensively
—he’d never even dated during the last ten years.
    It didn’t matter to me. I was willing to wait for the butterfly to emerge from the cocoon. I wanted to be the one he thought about when it was the right time for him.
    I just hoped the mystery woman in Charlotte wasn’t in line before me.
    My cell phone rang as I was making my list. It startled me, and I dropped it on the floor. It was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
    â€œMiss Zoe Chase?” the unfamiliar voice asked. “We’re gonna need to talk to you again.”

SEVEN

    Miguel and I were less than thirty minutes outside of Charlotte. We turned around and drove back to police headquarters.
    The man on the phone had been vague. It wasn’t Detective McSwain, and yet the caller had said it was
about
him.
    â€œI gave Detective McSwain my business card after I talked to him about Alex Pardini and Reggie,” I explained to Miguel. “He said he might need me to testify about hearing the argument and the phone conversation. This seems too soon for that.”
    Miguel didn’t like it. “They need to work on the investigation. They shouldn’t call you for more information every few minutes.”
    I knew he was trying to protect me, and I felt good about that.
    I couldn’t afford to pay him. I could hardly ask him to act as my legal counsel if I needed one.
    My father had paid my legal fees with him last year when I’d been investigated for murder. I wasn’t involved in the same way this time—although Reggie had been part of what had happened last year, too.
    I didn’t have much money of my own—everything I had was sunk into the business. I could offer him food. That was about it.
    We parked the car and went inside the police station. I asked for Detective McSwain. The officer at the desk looked at me a little strangely and then asked us to wait. He said someone would come and talk to us right away.
    A few minutes later, Detective Macey Helms came out and shook our hands. She was an attractive, heavyset black woman with braided hair. Her deep purple suit was very nice. I complimented her on it.
    â€œThanks.” Her voice said she