Beer Money (A Burr Ashland Mystery) by Dani Amore Read Free Book Online

empty?
    I moved the cursor to the top of the screen and changed the status of the folder from icon to name. But it was still empty. There had to be something I was missing. It just didn’t make sense.
    My fingers went to the keyboard, found the option key and the Y key. Command Y would eject the drive and put away the icon. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, anyway. A note telling me what was going on? Doubtful. It seemed like Tim had sent Fred the films and hadn’t had time to even include a note explaining it all.
    No, there wouldn’t have been anything on the drive anyway. My fingers went to the keys and I was about to eject the drive when I stopped. I remembered something Fred had shown me.
    There was an invisibility feature on most computers. You could make a folder or a document invisible, in the sense that it wouldn’t show up on the desktop.
    I went to the menu bar and scrolled around the different commands. I couldn’t find anything that could make an invisible folder visible. I saved the folder in several different applications, and tried the same thing. Nothing. Finally, I saved the document as a graphics file.
    Suddenly, a file name appeared.
    I double-clicked on the file icon. The computer hummed. I took the opportunity to get another beer. By the time I sat back down, a dozen documents had appeared. Research. Initial thoughts. Outlines. Bios. Interviews. Archives. Crime scene notes. Players. First draft. Addresses. Phone numbers. Contacts.
    Even with the alcohol deadening my senses, I could feel my heart start to pound. Crime scene notes? What the hell did that mean?
    I double-clicked the first document.
    A message popped up: ALIAS - ORIGINAL FILE NOT FOUND.
    I banged the top of Fred's desk. Goddamnit! Alias documents were essentially shortcuts - icons used to speed up the process of document retrieval. If the original documents were deleted - the aliases were essentially useless. Tim might have made these without ever thinking that the original files were deleted.
    I looked back at the list of documents. They were the only clues I had to help me find out what Tim's project was all about. Crime scene notes. I couldn't get past that one.
    What crime scene?
    A brush of fabric against the door behind me broke me from my reverie. I hit Command W and the file closed.
    The door opened.
    “Burr,” said Fred. “I’d like you to meet someone.”

Fourteen
     
    Her skin was tanned, her hair dark and short, slightly longer in back, pulled behind her ears. She wore a simple black dress. A small pearl necklace lay against her throat.
    “This is Eve Rochelle,” Fred said.
    She smiled, showing even white teeth and held out her hand which I took in mine. She had a firm grip, with long slender fingers that wrapped around my hand.
    "Are you working?” she asked, and gestured toward the computer.
    “No, I…”
    “He was probably looking at naughty Web sites,” Fred offered.
    She laughed and I said, “Hey, you need a beer.”
    I stood, remembered the thumb drive, and slipped it into my pocket.
    “Let’s get out of here,” Fred said. “I don’t want my party ending up in the office - how boring.”
    I shut off the lights and we went back into the living room.
    “Eve owns Lakeside Brewery,” Fred said. He was standing behind Eve, and he raised his eyebrows at me. I was surprised he didn’t wink and give me the okay sign. “And Burr, well, Burr loves beer.”
    “Thank you, Fred,” I said.
    He backed away from us. “I’ve really got to run,” he said. “I’ll catch up with you two later.”
    Eve turned to me. “So I hear you’re a private investigator," she said.
    “I am,” I said. I raised my new beer that Fred had given me. Eve clinked her champagne glass again my bottle.
    “Are you working on an interesting case now?”
    Maybe it was the booze, but I found myself staring at Eve. At her full lips, her smooth skin. Either she was beautiful or I was drunk. Maybe both.
    I said, “Not really.