Read Online Kissing Arizona by Elizabeth Gunn - Free Book Online Page B

if you don’t keep your staff trained?’
    â€˜No, I’m afraid I—’
    â€˜Or how hard it is to get everybody who works in two big stores to say the same thing about granite countertops? And about the time we’d get granite moving smoothly, Frank would waltz in with a new salesman and say, “Enough about that, come and look at these samples of slate.”’ She stopped suddenly and favored Sarah with an intensely sincere look. ‘Please don’t think I’m complaining. I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead.’
    â€˜I understand. You’re saying he could be quite demanding.’
    She chewed her lip a few seconds and said, ‘I’m saying he was just a remarkably energetic guy.’
    â€˜OK. And the business prospered from all that energy?’
    â€˜Oh, you bet.’
    â€˜Did the relationship prosper too?’
    â€˜Well, it wasn’t always . . .’ She stopped, took out a tissue, and wiped sweat off her upper lip. She looked as if she’d just had an alarming thought. Sarah waited, but after a couple of seconds Phyllis took a deep breath finally and said, calmly, ‘Naturally, with two people as different as Frank and Lois . . . they didn’t always agree.’
    â€˜Nicole told me her parents fought a lot.’
    â€˜Fought is maybe a little . . . harsh. They argued.’ She thought about it and added, ‘More lately, of course. Because of the proposed expansion.’
    â€˜You mean the Phoenix store?’
    â€˜Yes. Frank wanted it badly and Lois was determined to stop him.’
    â€˜How did you feel about it?’
    She shrugged. ‘Ready to swing with whatever they decided, of course. But I was hoping it would fly because I was slated to manage it.’
    â€˜Would you be surprised to learn Frank Cooper killed his wife?’
    â€˜What? Of course I’d be surprised.’ Phyllis sat up straight, staring. ‘Is that what you’re thinking? I haven’t heard this before!’
    â€˜It’s one possible theory.’
    â€˜My God! You’re suggesting Frank killed – really? What makes you think . . . well, I suppose you can’t tell me.’
    â€˜If he did kill her, would you expect him to commit suicide?’
    â€˜I wouldn’t expect any of this, it all sounds crazy to me. I thought you were going to tell me something was stolen from the house. Have you looked into that? I thought you’d ask me . . . you know . . . who I thought might have been in their house when they came home and . . . have you checked all that? Are any of the locks . . . ?’
    â€˜We haven’t found any evidence of forced entry. Is there somebody you’re suspicious about?’
    â€˜Well, no . . . nobody in particular. But this is Tucson, after all, aren’t we always reading about break-ins? And the drug thing, you know, people who . . . but you haven’t finished your investigation yet, have you?’
    â€˜No. It’s still in the preliminary stage. And there could have been someone else in the house. Who else had keys besides the family?’
    â€˜The housekeeper. Rosa something? I don’t know who besides her, why don’t you ask the kids?’ It was the second time she’d called them that. Her attitude would need a little retooling if she was going to be working for them.
    â€˜You never got a key? To water the plants when they travelled or . . . ?’
    â€˜Didn’t water any plants, didn’t feed any cats. Don’t do windows. I was a clerk and then a manager – I was never a servant.’
    Ooh, touchy. Who hasn’t been giving this woman enough respect?
    â€˜Apart from the business, was there any other reason he’d want to kill her?’
    â€˜Well, I wouldn’t know anything about that .’
    â€˜You didn’t share any