Read Online There's Something About Marty (A Working Stiffs Mystery Book 3) by Wendy Delaney - Free Book Online Page A

tasted it and nodded his approval.
    Good. Fill our glasses and go away.
    Once our waiter stepped away from our table, I tried to pick up where I’d left off. “About last night, I wanted to ask you about Marty—”
    “Charmaine, let’s not talk about work anymore. In fact…” Kyle raised his wine glass. “Here’s to leaving work behind us for one night.”
    No, no. Not when I had Marty McCutcheon’s ER doctor sitting two feet in front of me.
    I took a drink of wine. “Fine. No more shop talk. Just let me ask you one question.”
    Swallowing, he set down his glass. “Okay, one question.”
    “Did you find anything at all unusual about Marty McCutcheon’s cardiac arrest?”
    “Unusual? Not really.”
    “You don’t have any unanswered questions as to what caused his heart to stop beating?”
    “With his medical history? No.” His dark eyes narrowed. “Why?”
    There was no reason to hide the truth from him. “Several of the family members are concerned that he ate or drank something that made him sick and led to his death.”
    Kyle blew out a breath. “Yeah, I heard as much from Frankie when I talked to her this morning, but I can only call it as I saw it. Mr. McCutcheon was in ventricular fibrillation upon arrival. Despite our best efforts and those of the medics, he went into cardiac arrest. Unfortunately something I’ve experienced all too often.” Kyle sipped his wine. “If you opened him up you’d probably see this was a classic case of coronary artery disease.”
    “Sure came on fast though. One minute he was fine. The next he was in the bathroom, puk…er…retching.”
    “That’s not that unusual in cases like these.”
    “Hmmm.” Seemed pretty unusual to me, but what did I know?
    I leaned back as the waiter arrived with our salads.
    Kyle pointed at his plate of greens with his fork. “If Mr. McCutcheon had eaten more of this instead of the cheeseburgers at Duke’s, we probably wouldn’t have had this discussion.”
    Since he had just echoed what Darlene had told me yesterday, I made a mental note to cut back on the cheeseburgers.
    He shot me a lopsided smile. “Hope I didn’t ruin your appetite.”
    “Not at all.” But I saw someone waving at me from a table across the crowded dining room who might. Donna Littlefield.
    Donna, one of my best friends since grade school, was a drop-dead gorgeous cosmetologist and owner of Donatello’s, one of the two beauty parlors in town. If Duke’s was Gossip Central, Donatello’s was Gossip South. I loved Donna like a sister, but I knew that I’d have to act fast if I didn’t want to eclipse Marty McCutcheon as this weekend’s top news story.
    Laying my napkin on the table, I grabbed my clutch bag.
    “Would you excuse me for a minute? My phone’s been buzzing. Probably my grandmother. I just need to make sure she’s okay.”
    “Of course.” Kyle set down his fork and smiled politely.
    I’d give the most popular ER doctor in town points for good manners. Steve would have challenged me on the lame story about my grandmother with his mouth full.
    “Start without me,” I said, stepping away from the table. “I’ll be right back.”
    Donna’s eyes tracked me as I approached. As I passed her table I pointed in the direction of the ladies’ room, where she joined me a minute later.
    She slapped my arm the second the door closed behind a little girl and her mother. “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing Kyle Cardinale?”
    “I’m not. This isn’t a date.”
    Her full lips curled, her sapphire almond eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “You’re certainly dressed for a date.”
    I couldn’t very well tell Donna that I’d dressed for Steve. That would be like striking a match in a fireworks factory. The explosive chain reaction would reach Rox before I swallowed a bite of my salad.
    I could outright lie or minimize the damage by fudging the truth. And I was all about damage control tonight. “Kyle and I both had our dates cancel on