Read Online If the Shoe Kills by Lynn Cahoon - Free Book Online Page A

instead. He told Matt that she was very, very grateful, if he knew what he meant.”
    â€œWait, you think Ted was involved sexually with his charges?” I sighed. It wasn’t uncommon for men who craved power to seek out positions where they held all the cards and others held none.
    â€œI don’t think, I know. Apparently there was an incident with a girl a year ago just over legal age. I think Ted’s parents bought her silence. I heard she took care of the problem and moved north, probably Oregon.” Darla drained the last of her coffee and stood. “So the people working here either were male, too old for Ted’s tastes, or had shut him down. I heard Sasha gave him a piece of her mind.”
    â€œNow I’m beginning to understand Ted’s death a little more.” I shook my head.
    â€œI don’t. Someone who’s that egocentric doesn’t commit suicide.” Darla studied me, her newshound radar going off. “Greg is saying that Ted committed suicide, right?”
    Greg had warned me that the DA didn’t want the cause of death released before they had a chance to do some investigation. I tried to blow it off. “As far as I know.” I paused. “Did you know about his family ties? Are you working on the story for this week’s Examiner ?”
    Darla shook her head. “Tom didn’t think it would be good for South Cove’s business community to be highlighting a bloody death in a car on Main Street along with the new holiday festival committee chair.”
    I grimaced. “How are you doing with that? I know you put a lot of your own time into the project each year.” I’d wanted to avoid this topic, but it was better than slipping up and mentioning “murder.”
    â€œI’m upset, who wouldn’t be?” Darla’s phone chirped, and she glanced down at the display. “Although the woman doesn’t know what she stepped into and she’s calling me every hour to ask some other stupid question.”
    Darla held up her phone to show a picture of Tina Baylor, the mayor’s wife. She tossed the phone back into her purse. “She can wait. I told her I’d be glad to take over again and let her shadow me, but that seems like giving up to her. And she said her mother was a Daughters of the American Revolution member and her family never surrendered.”
    â€œYou can take her call.” I watched as a customer entered the store, heading over to the new selections area. “Looks like I need to get back to work anyway.”
    â€œDon’t worry about it. She’ll call back every ten minutes until I answer. I’ve already tested it up to an hour.” Darla grinned as I gasped. “What can I say? Revenge is best served cold, and the girl is getting her share. Although I still don’t think she knows why I’m mad.”
    â€œI hate to see the festival suffer.” I tried to act like the liaison for the city council.
    Darla started walking to the door. “Slow your roll, Jill. I won’t let South Cove down, even if that’s exactly what the town did to me. Maybe if it’s a little bit of work, she’ll give up and go back to being a housewife and giving huge parties.”
    I’d forgotten one of Tina’s favorite pastimes was entertaining for her husband’s political career. “I could ask Tina if she knows of a good guidebook for entertaining.”
    Darla paused at the door and laughed. “Are you kidding? People like her are born knowing how to set a formal table and what side dishes to serve with what wine. I’m pretty sure that’s what she studied in college, not marketing.”
    I watched Darla disappear through the door. The customer stepped to the counter with three beach reads and ordered a large frozen mocha and a tall black coffee to go.
    â€œMy driver loves your coffee. He’s been coming by every morning to get our supply, even