Killer Colada: a Danger Cove Cocktail Mystery by Sibel Hodge, Elizabeth Ashby Read Free Book Online Page B

inheriting Bob's estate?"
    I thought back to how Lester had tried to pin Bob's murder on me for the very same reason. And how annoyed he was to be proved wrong.
    Zen growled at Lester.
    Good boy!
    "But he's a doctor. He'd have had access to the pentobarbital that killed Pandora, too."
    "Are you telling me how to do my job?"
    Yes? "Um…no."
    "Good.
    "What about you?" Lester asked me.
    "What about me?"
    "Maybe you had a motive."
    "I'd never met her before!"
    "It's just that people who come into contact with you have a habit of dying."
    "No way. Don't even think about trying to blame me for this. We had an appointment with Pandora."
    "Tell me again exactly how long it was between seeing Tim Baxtor leave the house and finding Pandora dead."
    "About five minutes."
    Lester wrote that down on a pad he pulled from his pocket and underlined it several times with large slashes across the page. "Did you see Tim carrying anything when he left? Like a pair of gloves?"
    "No, I didn't notice anything in his hands, but I guess they could've been in his pockets. He had dress trousers on."
    He paced up and down in front of the window for a while, then turned to me. "I think it's pretty obvious what happened."
    "Really?" It wasn't to me. It was far from obvious.
    "Yes." Lester gave me a smug smile. "Tim called himself on a disposable cell and fabricated the story that Pandora called him saying she had evidence about what had really happened to Jenna. I think he went to her house with the express intention of killing Pandora."
    I frowned. That didn't make sense either. The timing of it all was strange. "But why kill her after all these years though? It doesn't fit."
    He gave a nonchalant shrug. "It's just a question of making it fit."
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    If Lester Marshall wasn't going to investigate any other possibilities, then it was up to us to discover the truth. And I had an idea of how to find out more about this drug that had killed Pandora. I called my vet's office and booked an appointment for later in the morning to take Karma for his last inoculation.
    Zen and Karma sat at my feet, watching me as I made the call. Zen looked at Karma with an uh-oh! look on his face. I swear Zen was a human in a past life.
    I channeled some positive energy after Lester's visit, with a revitalizing flow of sun salutations, followed by meditation, green tea, and what Tara would call rabbit food. I was just rebraiding the front of my hair to keep it out of my eyes when my cell rang.
    "Morning," Harvey said. "How's things?"
    My heart did a little triple loop at his voice. "Good, thanks. Where are you?" I felt a pang of longing.
    "Still in Seattle, I'm afraid. I stayed overnight at the apartment of one of the guys from the uni. It's taking longer than I thought to catalogue everything I've recovered. Hopefully, I'll be back later today though. I'll pop into the tavern. Have you found out any more about Pandora?"
    "A little." I told him what had happened so far.
    "Please be careful. If Tim didn't murder Pandora, then there's still a dangerous killer on the loose, and I don't want anything to happen to you. It was bad enough last time."
    I thought back to that night when both of us came so close to dying after we'd discovered who'd murdered Bob. It wasn't exactly on my bucket list to repeat, either. "I will—don't worry."
    Three hours later, I was in Adam Whitaker's office at the Danger Cove Vet Clinic. Every time I'd been to see him before he'd been very quiet and reserved, and I didn't know how easy it was going to be to get any useful information out of him. He wasn't unfriendly, exactly. I just think he preferred talking to animals rather than humans. Half the time I didn't blame him. I could totally relate to that.
    "And how are you today, Karma?" Adam opened Karma's travel cage and lifted out my three-legged friend, putting him on the treatment table..
    "I'm fine!" I squeaked in my best kitten impression. "I'm just here for my nasty little