Read Online Silenced by the Yams (A Barbara Marr Murder Mystery #3) by Karen Cantwell - Free Book Online

“Agent Smith.”
    Agent Marjorie Smith and I had worked together reluctantly during the FBI Mafia sting operation that brought Frankie and I together as friends. She was all business then, and I didn’t expect her to be any different now.
    She gave Colt a terse nod. “Colt Baron, right?”
    “You have a good memory,” he said. “Any chance you can make this quick so we can get a move on?”
    “We’ll take it as quickly or slowly as necessary to get the information required.”
    Another agent stepped alongside Agent Smith. He was shorter than her and looked to be about Howard’s age. His eyes were concealed behind a pair of aviator shades and the line of his mouth was thin and tight.
    “Leo, this is Marr’s wife,” Agent Smith told the new arrival.
    His posture changed immediately and a smile appeared. “No kidding?” He took my hand and shook it firmly. “I’m Agent Leonard Price—nice to meet you. We’re really sorry to see him go. He’s been an incredible asset to the Bureau.”
    My ears perked up and out of the corner of my eye I spotted Colt cringing.
    “Where’s he going?” I asked.
    “Oh, I just meant we’re sorry he’s retiring.” Poor Agent Price obviously didn’t know that he’d just dropped a secret bomb on me, but I could tell that Colt did.
    “Oh, right,” I said, trying to keep calm and nodding as if I were the properly informed wife. “The retirement.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. At least not anything that was appropriate for public audiences. Howard had kept his job with the FBI secret from me for nearly twenty years, so why should I be surprised that I wasn’t informed when he decided to leave? I decided to change the subject. I asked them, as nonchalantly as I could, whether one of the shooting victims was the newscaster, Guy Mertz.
    Agent Smith shook her head. “We can’t discuss that with you. We just need to know what you saw, if anything.”
    “Nothing,” Colt said. “We didn’t see a thing.”
    Even though I was shocked to hear him blurt out that lie, I tried to act cool, which wasn’t easy when the sidewalk under our feet could double as a diner grill.
    Smith narrowed her eyes. “You’re awfully close to have seen nothing, Mr. Baron.”
    “We were clear back there,” he pointed toward the Washington Memorial, “when we heard gunfire and ran closer, but we were too far away at the time of the incident for a visual.”
    She wasn’t buying it. “You ran toward the gunfire?”
    “I’m that kind of guy.”
    She eyed me with equal suspicion. “Are you just that kind of woman, Mrs. Marr? Do you run toward gunfire?”
    “Hey, I was just following him.”
    “And those sunglasses,” she pointed to the pieces in my hand. “Did they break during the mad dash?”
    Boy, they trained those agents well. She wasn’t missing a trick. Luckily for me, I have kids and have learned the fine art of fibbing on a dime. “Rogue Frisbee,” I said, adding a giggle for good measure. “On the mall—last time I’ll walk through the middle of an ultimate Frisbee match.” I brought a flat hand up to my nose to duplicate the fake event. “Hit me right between the eyes.”
    Smith and Price traded looks that basically said, “these jerks are full of it,” but they backed down anyway. Probably because they knew where to find me. Which didn’t give me a warm and fuzzy.
    “Fine,” Smith said. “You can go.”
    “Thanks,” I sighed with relief.
    Colt and I turned quickly on our heels to scoot our booties from the crime scene.
    “Marr!” I heard Agent Smith shout before we’d gotten too far.
    I stopped and turned.
    “Remember,” she said. “We know where to find you.”
    Yup. Just like I said.
    *****
    The vast expanse from the Washington Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial was crawling with federal agents and Park Police so I didn’t dare chide Colt for holding back his information. I have my paranoid tendencies, and as far as I knew, not only did the