“Maybe because she hired a contract killer?” Linda screeched and I changed my mind and decided I should probably tackle Linda first before she continued, “With my daughter’s money!”

“That’s… that’s crazy, Mom!” Kami shot back, deep in the pit of denial. “She’d never hurt Curt. He told her he loved her, he wanted to marry her, he was gonna leave Bitsy for her.”

“Yeah, she told you that like she told you I took her ring shoppin’,” Max clipped.

“But –” Kami said.

“I never took her ring shoppin’, Kami,” Max went on.

“But –” Kami repeated.

“Never fuckin’ entered my mind,” Max carried on.

“She said –”

“She lied, Kams, Jesus!” Max exploded. “We weren’t even exclusive, I made it clear she could go her own way when I was gone and I’d go my own. I had a woman on the job I was on and she knew it.”

My eyes got wide and my body grew still. That was news. Linda’s gaze slid to me and I tried to act casual but I found it extremely difficult.

Kami was shaking her head and Mick entered the conversation. “Sorry, Kami, but thought you should know.”

Kami just tipped her head back to stare at him and my heart went out to her. She looked beaten down by the betrayal. She might act like a bitch a lot of the time but, bottom line, she was a good friend.

Mick went on, “You’re free to go but I might need to ask you more questions so I want you to stick close to town.”

“Why?” Linda was back to snapping at Mick.

“Because we need to talk to this Robert Winston guy and we need to ask Shauna a few questions and we can’t find her. And, seein’ as this has all come to light, we might have a few more things to get clear with Kami,” Mick answered.

“What things?” I asked.

“Don’t know yet, just don’t want her leavin’ town,” Mick told me.

“You can see that Kami had nothing to do with this, her statement checks out,” I said to Mick.

“Yeah, but –”

“Did you find anything to place her at the construction site? Dirt on her shoes? Rocks?” I pushed.

“No, but –”

“Did you find roofies in her house?”

“No –”

“Do you have any known dealers who have admitted to supplying roofies to Kami?”

“Nina –”

“Do you?”

“No.”

“You have her gun in your possession and it hasn’t been loaded or fired; a warrant to search her house which has pulled up nothing or she wouldn’t be free to go; a cancelled check that proves what Kami told you she’d done with that money true, whether it was to a known acquaintance of Shauna’s or Shauna, that doesn’t change the fact the money was meant for Shauna. You have no physical evidence that places Kami at the construction site and no other evidence whatsoever to link Kami to either murder. All you have, as far as I can see, is the fact that Kami Maxwell was asleep between one and four the morning of the murders which, by the way, so was the vast majority of the residents of Gnaw Bone and the entire Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.”

“Except we got the fact that Shauna Fontaine is on our suspect list, Robert Winston is now a person of interest and Kami gave him twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“And a jury will be made up of her peers and everyone knows Kami and Shauna have been close since grade school and friends help friends in a tight spot. It gets down to it, I’ll call Max, Brody and Mindy to the stand to testify that they heard Shauna announce to Max she was pregnant and needed money, thus corroborating Kami’s story if not Shauna’s lie. They’ll also all testify to the fact that Shauna was with a gentleman by the name of Robert, he was protective of her, as in overprotective considering he engaged in physical combat with Harry at The Rooster in front of dozens of witnesses in defense of Shauna.”

Mick tried to interrupt. “Nina –”

I cut him off. “Kami thought her friend was up to her eyeballs in debt, had no insurance and a baby on the way. Shauna asked for the transaction to be private, for her own ends but telling Kami it was to save face. We’ve all been there before, needing to save face or helping a friend who needs it. Every jury member will have faced that same scenario in their lives. But friends do what they can which is what Kami did and a jury will believe that too and you know it.”

“Shit Nina, you’re tryin’ the case in this room,” Mick mumbled.

“You wanted her to lawyer up, Mick, she’s lawyered up. You don’t want her to leave town, okay, where’s she going to go? But she isn’t leaving this room thinking this nightmare isn’t over for her. She’s got a life to live, Curtis Dodd meant something to her, his death is already taking its toll and she doesn’t need this hanging over her head.”

“I’m just askin’ her not to leave town,” Mick noted.

“Okay, she won’t leave town,” I assured him. “But I’ll remind you, on top of all that, there’s a good possibility that she’s just found out her friend took advantage of her so she’s dealing with enough. You need to question her, you call me and I’ll set it up. Yes?”

Mick turned beleaguered eyes to Max but he was barking up the wrong tree. I looked to Max and saw he was leaning with his shoulders against the wall, arms crossed on his chest, eyes on me and a huge grin on his face.

“Remind me never to do any more favors even if it’s for one of our own,” Mick muttered to no one.

“Are we done here?” I asked, standing and grabbing my coat.

“You movin’ to town?” Mick asked back and my head tilted with confusion at the somewhat nosy change of subject.

Even so, I answered, “More than likely, yes.”

“You gonna practice?” Mick went on.

“Of course,” I replied.

“Great,” Mick muttered, sounding aggrieved and I understood so I smiled.

“Don’t worry, Mick, if it isn’t a member of Max’s family or a friend, I’m a pussycat,” I assured him.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Mick queried.

“Don’t, she’s on one, she’s a tiger,” Max put in. He had pushed from the wall and had his hand on Linda’s arm, helping her from her seat.

“Yeah,” Mick mumbled.

I headed toward the door. “By the way, it’d be nice, anyone asks, you tell them Kami was assisting with the investigation and you might want to mention how cooperative she was.”

Mick looked at me, clearly shocked. “Now you’re askin’ a favor?”

“I did you one, I’m calling my marker. Anyway, it might be good, me moving to town and putting out a shingle, you start collecting them,” I advised as I grabbed my purse and Mick’s eyes again went to Max.

And again he was barking up the wrong tree. Max had opened the door for his mother and sister and he burst into laughter when he caught Mick’s eyes. Then he slung an arm around my shoulders and guided me out the door.

As we neared the outer door, not taking his arm from around me, Max leaned down to put his mouth to my ear.

“Just in case I didn’t mention it, Duchess, not so sure about the truth comin’ out, what I am sure of is that I can trust you to take care of my sister.” I pulled my head back as I twisted my neck to look at him but I had no chance to speak because he stopped me and he finished with, “Thank you, baby.”

Then again before I could respond, he kissed me deep, with some tongue action but, although deep, the kiss was not long.

“Max!” Kami snapped when his head came up. “I need a drink.”

I looked in their direction to see Linda’s eyes were on me. “I think pasta bake is out. Can I treat you and your folks to a buffalo burger at The Mark?”

I glanced at Max then back to Linda.

Then I said, “They’d love that.”

***

I sat at on a stool at a high, round table at The Dog with a drunken Mom, Linda, Kami, Arlene and Jenna. Becca was our waitress.

At Arlene’s edict with Mom and Linda backing her up, Max had been quarantined across the room in what had been decreed (again, by Arlene) as the Guys’ Night Out Section of The Dog. He was playing pool with Brody and Steve and he was not to approach under threat of Arlene’s wrath.

Regardless of my roller coaster day and my current enforced separation from Max, seeing as I, too, was slightly inebriated; I’d been adventurous at The Mark, demanded to see a menu and ordered the chicken fried steak which was made with an actual steak and therefore was amazing; I followed that with a Mile Hi Mud Pie which was five layers of chocolate cake, separated by dreamy chocolate mousse and covered with chocolate ganache; Becca had reported that not only had Mindy seen the rape center’s counselor yesterday, she’d gone down there to visit her again that day, asking Bitsy to go with her (and Bitsy did, even with the funeral, she’d carved out time); and I was finding out that Kami was a lot more fun when she was fed a buffalo burger and was also drunk, therefore, I was feeling quite happy.

“You. Cannot. Be. Serious!” Arlene shouted and I looked at her, having been thinking about my evening, I hadn’t been paying attention and I didn’t know what she was shouting about. Then again Arlene, Mom and Linda had been shouting everything they said for about half an hour, mostly while Kami, Jenna and I giggled, unable to get a word in edgewise, so it wasn’t the first time I lost track.

“I. Am. Not!” Mom shouted back and I felt something, something warm and sweet and instinctively I looked to the pool tables and saw Max, Brody and Steve all looking at us.

Seeing Max looking so handsome standing across the room from me, holding a pool cue, its handle to the ground, I had an overwhelming urge and I didn’t try to fight it.