Read Online Murder of the Cat's Meow: A Scumble River Mystery by Denise Swanson - Free Book Online

rather than the police radio to notify the officers when a serious crime was suspected.
    Happy that his orders had apparently been followed even though he wasn’t in town, Skye left church and drove to the bowling alley. When she arrived at a little after one, the county techs had been and gone.
    Anthony, a part-time officer who worked the shifts no one else wanted, stood outside the glass doors. He tipped his hat and moved the yellow crime scene tape so Skye could enter.
    “Anyone else still here?” she asked.
    “Just me and Zelda.” Anthony jerked his thumb toward the interior.
    Zelda Martinez was both the youngest and the most recent hire on the Scumble River police force, and thus she was usually assigned all the boring duties. She was also the only female.
    “Anything new on the case?” Skye asked Anthony before stepping over the threshold.
    “Nah.” He straightened his police hat. “We took names, addresses, and phone numbers as the folks arrived, then told them they couldn’t come inside.”
    “Any problem with that?” Skye wondered how the contestants had taken the abrupt end of their weekend. “Did any of them get mad?”
    “A couple started to demand their money back, but Miss Bunny held a speeded-up version of the final round in the parking lot. Good thing it warmed up some today and stopped raining.” Anthony grinned. “There sure were some odd-looking cats. One didn’t have any fur at all.”
    “What did Bunny do about the awards ceremony?” Skye asked, sure the clever redhead had come up with something. “It was supposed to have been a brunch.”
    “Miss Bunny called some guys and they brought tables and set them up in her garage. Sarge let her take out the food that had been stored in the grill, and she and Frannie cooked it in her apartment kitchen. The servers brought the meal down Bunny’s outside staircase to the garage.”
    Skye wondered how they had navigated the rickety wooden steps.
    As she walked inside, she said over her shoulder, “I’m glad it all worked out.”
    She found Bunny, Frannie, and Justin seated in the lounge. Justin was entering data into his laptop and Frannie was counting money. Bunny had her feet up, a cold compress over her eyes, and she clutched a half-empty martini glass to her chest.
    After turning down Bunny’s offer of a drink, Skye sat and pulled a yellow legal pad and pen from her tote bag. “You all ready to discuss who Alexis might have stayed behind with and/or who wanted her dead?”
    “I don’t think anyone could have talked Alexis into having a tryst in the basement,” Bunny said, smirking. “She would have insisted on the Drake in Chicago, or at least the Hilton in Oak Brook. The only time she was hot for a man’s company was when he owned it.”
    Frannie snickered, nodding her agreement.
    “Definitely.” Justin sneered. “That’s why she liked the guy she got in speed dating. She ranked all the men by income, and he owns most of the businesses in Brooklyn.”
    “What’s his name?” Skye asked, unable to recall meeting him during the show. “Maybe he persuaded Alexis it would be worth her while to take a walk on the wild side with him in the basement.”
    “Ivan Quigley,” Bunny answered. “But he stormed out of here before the party really got started.”
    “Did Alexis go with him?” Skye asked. Maybe the beautiful judge had been killed elsewhere and then planted in the basement.
    “Nope.” Bunny drained her martini glass. “And Alexis was ticked off because her date deserted her. She started hitting on other men.”
    “Anyone hit back?” Skye knew an angry woman was often an easy target.
    “Uh-uh.” Bunny shook her head. “Everyone was already paired up.”
    “Were the women whose dates she was flirting with upset?” Skye asked.
    “Not exactly angry, since the guys didn’t respond, just…” Bunny thought for a minute. “Just mildly annoyed.”
    “Is that how you felt?”
    “I wasn’t with anyone, so her