There's Something About Marty (A Working Stiffs Mystery Book 3) by Wendy Delaney Read Free Book Online Page A

first letting him know I was coming. Of course, I didn’t have any problem with dropping by McCutcheon Floors & More unannounced. Then again, I didn’t have a history of throwing up on any of their shoes.
    After the cashier handed me my receipt, I walked past the beauty product aisles and several rows of home decor and took a left, where I spotted a guy in a navy blue polo and khaki pants, demonstrating a treadmill to a customer. I looked around for other males outfitted in navy and khaki, but the jogger with his back to me appeared to be the only one working in Sporting Goods. This had to be Austin.
    Hopping off the treadmill and onto a nearby elliptical, Austin looked like he’d kept himself in great shape, like he could still push a basketball up and down a court while barely breaking a sweat. Unlike me. Beads of sweat were popping out on my upper lip in anticipation of having to face Austin Reidy for the first time in almost twenty years.
    “Sheesh, cool it,” I told myself when I ducked into a row of automotive accessories and fixed my face in the nearest mirror. It wasn’t like I was back in high school and wanted a date to the prom. Thank God. I was just going to ask him a few questions, then I was out of here.
    “May I help you?” a male voice said behind me.
    “No…I…” I didn’t recognize the dark, fleshy circles under his gray eyes or the paunchy beer gut hanging over his waistband, but the tiny mole on the salesman’s left cheek was unforgettable.
    I pasted a happy smile on my face. “Oh, my gosh! Hi, Austin!”
    “Hi.” His greeting sounded more like a question, like who the heck are you?
    Okay, he wasn’t the only one who had put on a little weight since high school. “It’s Charmaine.”
    After an awkward moment of silence he cracked a smile as he reached out to shake my hand. “Nice to see you again.”
    I bet it is.
    “What good luck,” I said. “I needed to talk to you, but I also needed to do a little shopping on my lunch hour, and now, here you are.”
    The smile slipped from his face. “Talk to me? Why?”
    “Sorry, I should have mentioned that I’m with the coroner’s office.”
    He grimaced.
    Not the first time I’d received that kind of reaction. No one liked talking about death and dying. “Maybe Nicole told you that I might be stopping by?”
    He gave his head a little shake. “I haven’t talked to her since last night.”
    Curious. She’d obviously spent the night at her mother’s, but if I had been Nicole and had just lost my father, I would have expected a call from my husband at the very least.
    “Then you don’t know that the Coroner has asked for a statement from everyone who was at your father-in-law’s birthday party. Is there someplace we could talk?”
    “Now?”
    “If you don’t mind.”
    Austin blew out a breath that reeked of wine. From his bloodshot eyes and the sheen of sweat on his forehead, I guessed a lot of wine. “I do mind. I’m working,” he said.
    “It will only take a few moments. Could you take a break?”
    His gaze tightened as he looked down his nose at me. “I already took my break. We can just talk back here if it’s only going to be a few minutes.”
    “Fine.” I followed him to a rack of barbells hung opposite a display of reflective apparel for joggers, an area of the store my flabby thighs could attest I’d never seen before.
    Austin glanced up and down the aisle. “Okay, shoot, and make it quick. I don’t need any guff from my manager about being too chatty with the customers.”
    Which sounded to me like this was something that had happened before. That piqued my interest, but wasn’t why I was here, so I cut to the chase. “Since we’re pressed for time, let me ask your impression of how things were going last night prior to when your father-in-law became ill.”
    “My impression?” Austin shrugged. “Everything seemed okay. Marty was in a good mood. The food was great. I don’t know what to tell