Read Online Sweets Forgotten (Samantha Sweet Mysteries Book 10) by Connie Shelton - Free Book Online
Authors: Connie Shelton
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“One of ’em done something wrong?”
“Thanks for your time,” said Kent
Taylor.
The two lawmen headed back to the
cruiser parked at the road. The next two houses yielded no answers to their
knocks, but that wasn’t unusual for midday. It was a neighborhood where people
held jobs. They doubled back and walked up to the house directly east of
Robinet’s.
A woman with a baby on her hip
answered the door, her blond hair caught up in a clip at the back, strands
hanging across her face. A toddler edged into view from behind her red
calf-length skirt. The woman looked ready to slam the door had the visitors
turned out to be selling magazines, pans or religion. At Beau’s question, she
gave her name as Lacy Padilla.
“I might have Jo’s cell phone
number,” she said, her eyes aiming skyward as she worked to remember. “She had
me accept a package for her once and asked me to call when it arrived.”
“That would be very helpful,”
Beau said.
She untangled the one kid from
her leg and shifted the baby to her other side so she could reach into the
pocket of her skirt. One-handed, she thumbed across the cell phone’s screen
until she came up with it. Beau wrote down the number she read out.
“Did you know the Robinets very
well?” Taylor asked.
“No, not at all. I mean, you’d
think that Jo and I both being home all day we would have the time to
socialize. But we never did. She seemed all wrapped up in charity work and her
husband’s business. I got pregnant the first time shortly after they moved in
next door. Talking baby food and diapers and that kind of thing completely did
not interest her. And, unfortunately, the Junior League and all that stuff
completely does not interest me. You might check with Sharon across the road
and down a little ways. She’s about the only other person who’s home a lot.
Other than Randy—you may have met him.” She made a face at the mention of the
boxer-clad gentleman.
Beau thanked her for the
information and, as usual, handed out his card in case she thought of anything
else.
Sharon Redmond answered so
quickly after the doorbell rang that Beau knew she must have been watching as
they drove up. Chances were she had seen their entire progress up and down the
road. She seemed that kind of woman, with her tightly bobbed hair and pursed
mouth.
“Well, I heard fights sometimes,”
she said with a juicy little smile.
“Physical?”
“Nah, I think mostly verbal.
Summer nights when windows were open was mostly all I ever got wind of. But you
never know. That Zack Robinet has a hell of a temper.”
“Does he?”
“I used to see him rag that kid
of theirs. Drive him to school, reaming him out over grades or sports and such.
That was only the first year they lived here, though. After that, I guess the
kid went away to school. I only ever see him on holiday weekends. He was here
over the summer and I think the dad tried having the son work at his office.
They’d go off together in the mornings. But that lasted a couple weeks. The kid
is a teenager with attitude now and he dishes it out as much as the dad does.
There was another screaming match and the boy went off with friends and didn’t
come back for nearly a week.”
This was degenerating into
blatant gossip but the lawmen let her go on until she’d covered the summer and
it seemed the son had gone safely back to Holbrook Academy in August.
“Thanks for your time, Mrs.
Redmond,” Kent Taylor said. He rolled his eyes the moment he and Beau turned
away from the door.
“Well, not much to go on for a
morning’s work,” Beau muttered as they walked back across the road to the empty
Robinet home.
He pulled out the number Lacy
Padilla had given him and checked it against the one given by Zack’s parents
yesterday. It was different. He dialed this new one but it went to voicemail.
Beau left only his name and number. Then he remembered something.
“It can’t hurt to try,” he said,
leading the way to the back
“Thanks for your time,” said Kent
Taylor.
The two lawmen headed back to the
cruiser parked at the road. The next two houses yielded no answers to their
knocks, but that wasn’t unusual for midday. It was a neighborhood where people
held jobs. They doubled back and walked up to the house directly east of
Robinet’s.
A woman with a baby on her hip
answered the door, her blond hair caught up in a clip at the back, strands
hanging across her face. A toddler edged into view from behind her red
calf-length skirt. The woman looked ready to slam the door had the visitors
turned out to be selling magazines, pans or religion. At Beau’s question, she
gave her name as Lacy Padilla.
“I might have Jo’s cell phone
number,” she said, her eyes aiming skyward as she worked to remember. “She had
me accept a package for her once and asked me to call when it arrived.”
“That would be very helpful,”
Beau said.
She untangled the one kid from
her leg and shifted the baby to her other side so she could reach into the
pocket of her skirt. One-handed, she thumbed across the cell phone’s screen
until she came up with it. Beau wrote down the number she read out.
“Did you know the Robinets very
well?” Taylor asked.
“No, not at all. I mean, you’d
think that Jo and I both being home all day we would have the time to
socialize. But we never did. She seemed all wrapped up in charity work and her
husband’s business. I got pregnant the first time shortly after they moved in
next door. Talking baby food and diapers and that kind of thing completely did
not interest her. And, unfortunately, the Junior League and all that stuff
completely does not interest me. You might check with Sharon across the road
and down a little ways. She’s about the only other person who’s home a lot.
Other than Randy—you may have met him.” She made a face at the mention of the
boxer-clad gentleman.
Beau thanked her for the
information and, as usual, handed out his card in case she thought of anything
else.
Sharon Redmond answered so
quickly after the doorbell rang that Beau knew she must have been watching as
they drove up. Chances were she had seen their entire progress up and down the
road. She seemed that kind of woman, with her tightly bobbed hair and pursed
mouth.
“Well, I heard fights sometimes,”
she said with a juicy little smile.
“Physical?”
“Nah, I think mostly verbal.
Summer nights when windows were open was mostly all I ever got wind of. But you
never know. That Zack Robinet has a hell of a temper.”
“Does he?”
“I used to see him rag that kid
of theirs. Drive him to school, reaming him out over grades or sports and such.
That was only the first year they lived here, though. After that, I guess the
kid went away to school. I only ever see him on holiday weekends. He was here
over the summer and I think the dad tried having the son work at his office.
They’d go off together in the mornings. But that lasted a couple weeks. The kid
is a teenager with attitude now and he dishes it out as much as the dad does.
There was another screaming match and the boy went off with friends and didn’t
come back for nearly a week.”
This was degenerating into
blatant gossip but the lawmen let her go on until she’d covered the summer and
it seemed the son had gone safely back to Holbrook Academy in August.
“Thanks for your time, Mrs.
Redmond,” Kent Taylor said. He rolled his eyes the moment he and Beau turned
away from the door.
“Well, not much to go on for a
morning’s work,” Beau muttered as they walked back across the road to the empty
Robinet home.
He pulled out the number Lacy
Padilla had given him and checked it against the one given by Zack’s parents
yesterday. It was different. He dialed this new one but it went to voicemail.
Beau left only his name and number. Then he remembered something.
“It can’t hurt to try,” he said,
leading the way to the back
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