Read Online Veiled Passages by Terri Reid - Free Book Online Page B

go and do that and I’ll get myself settled,” she said.
    Mary hurried into the living room and pulled her coat from the closet. “I love you, ma,” she said.
    “I love you too, Mary-Mary,” she said. “Now, off you go so you can get back and make yourself beautiful for your man.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Mary said with a wink, as she hurried out the door.
     

Chapter Fourteen
    The restaurant was empty except for the three women sitting at a small table in the corner.  Mary smiled at the bartender/waitress as she walked past her.
    “Your usual?” the woman asked pleasantly.
    Mary nodded. “Yes, Diet Pepsi would be great.”
    As she approached the table, Tracey looked up and smiled at her. “Mary, thanks for taking the time to meet with us,” she said. “Please sit down.”
    Mary took the empty seat and pulled a small digital recorder and notebook from her purse. “Thank you for allowing me to interview you,” she said.
    The waitress placed Mary’s drink on the table next to her and quickly went back to the bar.
    “Well, I’m sure you’ll find, once you speak with us, that we will be much more useful to you than merely an interview,” Sally said. “My novels have won numerous awards. They don’t give those kind of awards to just anyone.”
    Mary smiled politely and nodded. “I’m sure they don’t,” she said, as she turned on the recorder. “How long did you know Peter?”
    “They never really knew me,” Peter criticized, from directly behind Mary. “They were too busy promoting their books.”
    “Does your recorder pick up EVPs,” Honora asked, “Just in case Peter is here too?”
    “You know, I never used to believe in all that spiritual crap,” Peter said. “Who would have thought that Honora, of all people, was right?”
    “EVPs?” Tracey asked.
    “Electronic Voice Phenomena,” Mary replied. “Noises picked up on the recorder that resemble words, but are not from any human recording.”
    “Ghost-recording?” Sally scoffed. “Really, you expect to pick up Peter’s voice on that thing?  Why don’t we just all hold hands and have a séance?”
    “Honora, I don’t know if my recorder is sensitive enough for EVP because I’ve never had to use it for my investigations,” she replied. “I wanted it here today because there are three of you and I wanted to be sure I caught everything all of you said.  Any small detail could be important in solving the case of Peter’s death.”
    Waving her hand at the waitress and lifting her wine glass in the air, Sally complained to the rest of the table, “Really, it’s not like there’s anyone else in here.”
    “She was always a little impatient with servers,” Peter said. “Which always surprised me because she was a waitress for many years.”
    “Sally was a waitress?” Mary blurted out, surprised, and then covered her mouth with her hand. “Oops.”
    Turning towards Mary, Sally stared at her. “How did you know that?”
    “Come on, Sally,” Tracey said. “Mary is a Private Investigator.  Any of our characters would have done background checks before they arrived at a meeting like this. Of course she knows you were a waitress.  That isn’t exactly classified information.”
    Sally sniffed. “It was a long time ago,” she said.
    Honora nodded her head, her dangling earrings clinking as she did. “Oh, yes, a long time ago,” she agreed helpfully. “When Sally was still young.”
    Mary quickly lifted her soda to her lips to hide her smile.  She took a sip, schooled her features and placed her drink back on the table. “Okay, why don’t we try this again,” she suggested. “How long did you know Peter?”
    “I met Peter a couple years before his death,” Tracey said. “We met through this convention. We spoke a few times, nothing more.”
    “I hit on her and she turned me down,” Peter said. “Damn shame.”
    “I understand Peter was interested in you,” Mary said. “Could that interest have sparked a