A Deadly Slice of Lime: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 6 by Summer Prescott Read Free Book Online

starboard, he was to
be on the port side, and so on. He minded his P’s and Q’s after that, but it
seemed to me that there was some bad blood between the two men, just the same,”
he explained.
    “Do
you know what happened after they got off of the boat?” Marilyn asked,
wide-eyed.
    “They
went their separate ways as far as I could tell. We brought Island Girl back in early, because the mood was soured, and that brings bad luck for
fishing anyway,” he shrugged.
    “So,
you said something about the two guys being here on business…what’s that all
about?” she asked, wrapping her hands around her mug of coffee and taking a
sip, trying to sound casual.
    “That
ex-husband of yours is a broker, and the one who got killed is his client. They
came down here to try to badger me out of my business, but they weren’t willing
to pay me a decent price. Seemed like they were trying to steal it,” the
captain grumbled. “I spent my whole life on boats. I’ve made a decent living,
and soon I’d like to retire, but I’m not gonna give away everything that I
worked so hard for, ya know?”
    “I
know exactly how you feel,” Marilyn nodded, and before she could stop herself,
she told him about her current situation with Litigation Lizzie and how she
could potentially lose everything. It felt so good to finally talk to someone
who listened with a sympathetic ear.
    Draining
her coffee cup, Marilyn giggled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I guess I just
talked your ear off. Thank you for being such a patient listener, I hope I
didn’t bore you to tears,” she smiled, a little embarrassed about having
prattled on about her troubles to a total stranger.
    “Nonsense,
we small business owners have to stick together, now don’t we?” he replied
graciously. “Tell you what…if you and that young lady of yours would like to
take a charter trip sometime, you just bring me one of those lime pies and
we’ll call it even,” he offered.
    “That’s
so sweet,” Marilyn exclaimed, touched. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate
you taking the time to talk with me today,” she shook his hand and headed for
the door.
    “Anytime,
pretty lady, anytime,” he smiled and waved as she exited.
     

Chapter 11
    After
her enlightening chat with Captain Bob, Marilyn was more worried than ever. She
wondered why Daniel hadn’t told Tiara that Brad was his client, and was concerned
that now she had two accounts, one from Tim and one from Bob, of Daniel getting
into arguments with Brad. Was it possible that he had killed his client? And
why had he felt the need to deceive his own daughter? These were the thoughts
that were chasing each other round and round in her head as she drove to
Litigation Lizzie’s neighborhood. Instead of parking on the street in front of
the house, she parked in an easement behind the property, just inside a garage
that belonged to a vacant home nearly half a block away, cringing at the
thought of the creepy crawly critters that the old building must be harboring.
    Trying
to keep her wayward thoughts in check and focus on her surveillance, Marilyn
was bored to tears until just after eleven o’clock, when she saw the back door
of Lizzie’s house open, and the old biddy herself wandered out, carrying a full
basket of laundry. She recorded the woman coming down the steps easily, and
bending over again and again to reach into the basket and fasten her whites to
the clothesline with clothespins. When Lizzie went back inside, Marilyn figured
that she’d gained some valuable evidence and could call it quits for the day.
She had no idea that when she pulled stealthily out of the garage and exited
the alleyway, another car pulled in to take her place.
    When
she got back to the pie shop, Tiara was in the office on the main computer, and
Kelcie manned the front counter. Greeting her assistant with a smile, Marilyn
headed back to the office to talk to her daughter. She stood, without speaking,
in the doorway for a moment,