Honeysuckle Homicide (Trash-to-Treasure Crafting Mystery) by Rose Pressey Read Free Book Online Page B

there to talk about? How would I get the conversation a way from the house and to Julian and Luke? She would probably tell me it was none of my business if I came out and asked about their relationship. I’d have to be subtle. How did one be subtle when asking someone if she’d murdered her ex-boyfriend? ‘By the way, did you off your ex?’
    After she finished jotting down a few notes , she looked at me expectantly.
    I leaned back in the chair. “You know, you look very familiar.”
    She grinned. “Oh, really? I don’t think we’ve met.”
    I pointed at her. “I saw you the other day. Aren’t you dating Luke Lexington?”
    If I could have kicked myself I would have. That was about as far from subtle as I could have gotten. By the look that she gave me I wished that I was invisible.
    “We were dating, but not anymore,” she said through gritted teeth.
    Julian straightened in her chair. Her body gesture told me that she wanted me to take a hike. Something told me she was about to stop being friendly. I had to say something to right this awkward situation.
    “I’m sorry about what happened to him,” I said.
    She stared at me. “We had broken up. I had nothing to do with his death.”
    Whoa. I hadn’t expected that answer. I ’d never even asked if she had anything to do with his death.
    “I wasn’t implying anything.” I shifted in my seat. Maybe it was time for me to get out of there.
    She released a deep breath. “We had a fight and broke up. That was the end of that.”
    Before I had a chance to respond, the entrance door rattled and I looked over my shoulder. A muscular blond man came through the door . His eyes were fixed on Julian and he said, “Hey, babe.”
    It looked as if Julian hadn’t wasted any time finding another love interest. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but he’d just called her babe. That didn’t necessarily mean they were dating though. I was being too suspicious of Julian. Maybe that was skewing my opinion of her.
    I stood from the chair . “Thank you for the help.”
    Julian pushed to her feet. She offered a fake smile, trying to be professional. She was probably happy inside knowing that I was on my way out. Now I’d see if she really told Darcy that I’d stopped by.
    “Thanks for stopping by. I’ll tell Darcy you are interested in speaking with her.” She barely looked at me as she spoke.
    Yeah, right. We’d see about that. When I reached the door I glanced back. The man leaned down and kissed Julian on the lips. So my first impression had been correct. I needed to find out this man’s identity. Maybe he had been jealous and done something to Luke. Okay, I was being suspicious of total strangers. I’d been reading too many mystery novels. Now I thought I was a sleuth.
    That hadn’t gone as well as I’d hoped, but honestly , what had I expected? I hadn’t really been prepared to talk. I wasn’t about to ask her any questions. But it had been odd that she’d immediately told me she wasn’t involved in Luke’s death. That made me think she was having guilt about something. Maybe she was nervous. Then there was the fact that she was already dating someone else. She might have been dating the man before Luke had broken up with her.
    I took my time walking home thinking about what had happened and what I’d learned. I went over every clue I had in my mind , which wasn’t much.
    As I strolled down the sidewalk, a couple gray-haired women watched me from across the street. They scowled at me and I knew that they were fans of Ross. Probably Doreen’s friends. I picked up my pace. The last thing I needed was a confrontation. They’d probably hit me with their pocket books if they had the chance.
    As I neared my house I noticed someone was stand ing on the front porch. A dark-haired woman who appeared to be in her forties waited directly in front of the door. She wore a yellow floral print dress that hit just below her knees with coral-colored flats on her