Death by Lime: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 5 by Summer Prescott Read Free Book Online Page B

nastily. “She said it was the worst pie she’d ever tasted,” she continued, noting the shocked look on Tim’s face. They’d never seen him show that degree of emotion before, his usual flat affect making him seem like a cold, dead fish of a human being.
    “You’re lying,” he said, sounding a bit robotic, as though he was so stunned he could barely form words. “Grandma’s pie is the best. Always the best. If she said that, she’s lying. You don’t lie about Grandma’s pie,” he finished quietly. He turned to leave the store, muttering. “You don’t lie about Grandma’s pie. That’s bad. Grandma’s pie is best…”
    “Have you lost your mind?” Marilyn demanded. “You may have just put Kelcie in terrible danger!”
    Tiara looked at her mother smugly. “You hate just sitting back and doing nothing, so I did something. His grandmother’s pie seems to be the only thing he cares about, other than the cat that no one has ever seen. What I said provoked a reaction in him that may force his hand, because he’s so upset,” she explained. “You watch his cottage from your house, I’ll watch Kelcie’s apartment from down the street, and if he goes anywhere near her, we call the police,” she finished triumphantly.
    Marilyn raised her eyebrows, seeing the possibilities in her daughter’s plan, and impressed by her on-the-fly decision making. “That might just work,” she nodded. “Let’s get a plan together.”
     

Chapter 13
    “Detective, I’m not asking you to make me privy to confidential information, I’m just very concerned that I might be living next door to a stalker and/or a murderer, and I’d like some assurance that that’s not the case,” Marilyn reasoned, sitting across the desk from Bernard at his office. She and Tiara were going to put “Operation Stalk the Stalker” into motion tonight, and she wanted to try to feel out the detective to see if they were on the right track.
    “Marilyn, you know that I can’t comment on the evidence in an ongoing investigation,” the detective looked irritated.
    “Aha!” she exclaimed. “So my neighbor is part of an ongoing investigation…I knew it!”
    “Now don’t jump to any conclusions,” Bernard sighed, frustrated with her active imagination.
    “Look, I’ve lived next to this psycho for several months now, and the longer that I know him, the more creeped out I get. I don’t think this is just me being paranoid, or jumping at shadows. This is a very real and valid concern based upon his past and current behaviors,” she asserted. “Please, Bernard,” she leaned forward, widening her chocolate brown eyes in what she hoped was a demure fashion. “Isn’t there anything that you can tell me?” she had to work at not actually batting her eyes.
    The detective sighed again, refusing to let this vixen get to him, despite his human inclinations. “No, there isn’t, Marilyn. I’m sorry,” he sat back, dismissing her.
    A mask shuttered down over her open expression, and she sat back, disappointed on so many levels. “Fine,” she replied coolly. “I’ll just be going then,” she rose to leave.
    “Heading to the beach tonight?” he asked casually, shuffling papers back and forth on his desk.
    “I don’t seem to have the time for that kind of indulgence these days,” she said, moving toward the door. “Have a nice day, Detective.”
    Sitting in her car in the parking lot at the police station, Marilyn banged her steering wheel with the heels of her hands, frustrated both at having behaved in turn like a wanton hussy and then like a shrew toward Bernard, and the fact that her vile behavior hadn’t translated into any results. Knowing that she still had work to do, she turned the key in the ignition and backed out of her spot, not noticing the parted blinds in Bernard’s office that looked out over the parking lot.
    **
    “Okay, so I’ll take the car and park down the street from Kelcie’s apartment,” Tiara said,