Read Online Traci Tyne Hilton - Mitzi Neuhaus 03 - Buyer's Remorse by Traci Tyne Hilton - Free Book Online

into her coffee. “Twitter is already long over it.”
    “Even at page two this article has the little Twitter storm beat for info,” Mitzy said. Much of it confirmed what she had learned the day before. What she really wanted though, was new information. “I had no idea they would be this interested in a workaday murder like ours. They’ve identified her as Lara Capet, twenty-five year old local woman, who was in the process of buying her first home. They go to great lengths to talk about how she had worked long and hard to save for it.”
    “Do they say anything about her job?” Carmella asked.
    “Nothing new. She’s been at Neveah’s Wardrobe for about six years.”
    “That weird little place on Hawthorne ? Has that been around for six years already?”
    “You don’t strike me as a Hawthorne kind of girl,” Mitzy said with half a smile.
    “I like Nick’s Coney Island Dogs.”
    “I think it’s interesting that the news writer also thought she had quite a few bucks for a younger person. The reporters said the estimated time of death is
5 a.m.
Can you imagine? She lay on that patio dead for most of the day. I didn’t find her until late afternoon.”
    Carmella nodded while she crunched her toast. She took a deep drink of her coffee and swallowed, “That is a long time. But the weather was awful, no one was out on their patios. And yours was the top, so there was no one who would look down and see her. Do they know why she was at the condo that morning?”
    “No, they don’t even guess. They did interview her boss at the shop. And get this, they plug the designer, ‘Capet was wearing an Alice McNinch original design that was going to be released in the spring collection.’ I wonder why that was newsworthy.”
    “Are they painting her as a dedicated employee? Or as a thief?”
    “I’d have to say dedicated employee. The rest of the article has her sounding almost like a saint. Even Fiona only had good things to say about her. Unlike our conversation yesterday. I wonder why they didn’t quote David. He certainly had opinions to share.” Mitzy laid the paper down. She smoothed the crease flat. “I want to save this to show Alonzo.”
    Carmella shrugged. She stood up, pushed her stool under the breakfast bar, and carried her plate to the sink. “I’ve got to get to the front desk. Are you coming back for lunch?”
    “Not today. I’ve got to do something for those poor cats at my parents’ house. I completely forgot to go there yesterday.”
    This time Carmella snorted, “Forgot?”
    “Or lost nerve. Whichever. I’ll go there for lunch today and set the cats up with what they need. Enjoy yourself.”
    “Yeah. It should be fun. The rest of the bride’s party is checking in tonight.”
    Mitzy smiled. This was going to be a good, crowded night at the hotel.
     
    Mitzy pushed the door to her parents’ house open with her hip. Her arms were full of apology presents for the cats. “Here kitty-kitty,” she called. She set the bag of pet store stuff on the counter. The light on the answering machine was blinking. Mitzy grabbed a pen out of the jelly jar next to the phone and pulled a sticky note off the pad before hitting play.
    The first message sounded like a pocket call. She thought she could hear her mom laughing. It lasted forever. Mitzy looked at her watch. It was almost two and a half minutes of muffled laughing. Mitzy tapped her pen against the counter in staccato. The pocket call finally ended.
    The next message was different. “You’re not wrong.” The voice was breathy, also muffled. That was all it said and then the robotic voice said, “End of Messages.” Mitzy hit replay. She skipped the lengthy pocket call. There was the breathy voice again, “You’re not wrong.” The speaker said it so fast she almost didn’t believe she heard it right. The pencil in her hand was shaking. That message was not for her parents. She pulled out her cell phone and called Alonzo.
    “Hey babe,”