Read Online Plateful of Murder by Carole Fowkes - Free Book Online

were saying goodbye. Him and that pretty boy who works for him, Sean something. They rode in one car too.” He chortled. “Don’t think they spent the night together like Luther and Constance, though.”
    Sean wasn’t important. “How did Eagleton react?”
    “Stared at them like he wanted to rip off Luther’s manhood. Didn’t move until his flunky tugged at him.” Ed examined his knuckles. “Just as well. I’d have hated to bust up a fight.”
    Sure, like a prisoner would hate to beat up a guard. “Anything else?”
    He scowled. “Ain’t that enough? The guy killed her, sure as hell.”
    “Maybe. But there’s still not enough here to arrest him. My job is to remedy that.”
    “With my help.”
    “Of course.”
    Tucking that bit of information into my memory, I returned to my office in time to pick up a call from my apartment’s landlord. He not-so-nicely asked when he could expect my rent check. Thank heaven Gino had the office rent paid up for the entire five-year lease. But that didn’t help me with my living arrangements. Talk about a miserable existence. The wood floors in the claustrophobic office creaked like an arthritic man doing deep knee bends and the walls hadn’t seen fresh paint since the Clinton administration. The first one. The building didn’t have an elevator or a security guard. This place had the charm of a bus terminal.
    My chin in my hands, I concluded keeping my living quarters meant working on more than the Adler case. As much as I wanted to solve Constance’s murder, it wouldn’t provide me with enough money to satisfy my landlord.
    Once, one of my cousins scared the pants off me by claiming without money, I’d be forced to roam the streets in torn underwear. Sometimes, late at night, when my sad financial state keeps me awake, I crawl out of bed and ransack my lingerie drawer to make sure none of my underwear is ripped. Afterwards, my adult self reminds me my family would take me in and then I’m able to fall asleep. But that fear, lurks, waiting for me. 
    I went through my open cases, not that there were many. Advertising could help build the business, but besides having no money for it, the very idea of putting myself on display made my stomach knot up. Lots of people want to be noticed. Not me though. I prefer staying in the background, shrinking away, which makes catching people doing what they shouldn’t be doing pretty easy. It doesn’t help my income though. If I planned to sleep on something other than the top of my desk, that is.
    My tense shoulders ached, but I forced myself to lay all my cases on my desk and found one with the possibility of a quick payoff. Jezebel Jackson wanted to know where her fiancé, Dwayne, went every Tuesday and Thursday night. She’d resorted to hiring me after she’d gotten no satisfactory answers from him. Tomorrow was Thursday. Track him down, and I’d earn the rest of my desperately needed fee.
    I stretched and rolled my neck to ease the stress.
    Dwayne’s photo, the names and addresses of his associates, and all the rest of his information lay in front of me. My camera and I were ready to go.
    I took my time getting to my apartment, hoping to miss my landlord. He’d be after me again soon enough. I hated to do it, but asking my father to cover me until Jezebel’s final payment seemed like my only option.
    Lying in bed that night, I memorized Dwayne’s face and that of his friends. Jezebel claimed Dwayne left work about 6:00 in the evening, went back home, then headed who-knows-where. I sort of hoped it wasn’t to some other girl. Jezebel was such a sweet woman. Of course, that’s no protection against a cheating lover.
    That last thought somehow spun me back to Michael. After he popped into my head, concentrating on Dwayne and Jezebel any longer was impossible. Finally, in frustration, I put the photos away and closed my eyes. I dreamed Eagleton chased me with a butcher knife and Corrigan helped him.
    The next morning I