Murder on the Ol' Bunions (A LaTisha Barnhart Mystery) Read Online Free

anything, Chief.”
    “Did you by chance notice something out of place on the counter?”
    And why would he be asking that unless it was important? I did recall a flash of white. Rectangular. An envelope or something. I decided to reverse the table, so to speak, to see if he’d drop a little more info for me. “Was it big?”
    Conrad’s right eye squinted as his lips curved slightly. “You tell me.”
    Beans! The man wasn’t going to give anything away if he didn’t have to. “I think I remember glimpsing a flash of white as I stood at the counter. An envelope, I think.”
    He nodded and jotted something down in his notebook.
    “All right. Let me talk to Payton and Hardy and I’ll get back to you. Someone’s got to know something. One of the officers mentioned hearing a rumour about a feud between Marion and Dana Letzburg , Valorie’s teacher. Do you know anything about that?”
    Did I ! “I was at Regina’s the other day and overheard Dana complaining to her that Valorie didn’t deserve to graduate after what she’d done.”
    Conrad raised his eyebrows. “That’s it? That’s all you know?”
    “Course not. I asked Dana about it as we left and she said she’d caught Valorie cheating. Had evidence, too. Marion hit the roof and accused Dana of having it out for her daughter.”
    He bounced a steady tempo against his chin with the end of his pencil. “Interesting. Anyone else you know who had a problem with Marion?”
    “Sure. Half the town. Regina gives her a bad haircut every chance she gets.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “You know, Regina Rogane . The hairdresser. She declares that Marion gets to talking and debating and it makes her so mad that she always manages to mess up her haircut. Then there’s that new guy in town, Mark Hamm, something strange there, for sure. Whenever Valorie would float into the shop saying she’d gone to his restaurant to eat, Marion’s lips would get tighter than a clam. She sure didn’t like the news.”
    “Hmm. You think. . . ?”
    “Never know now days.”
    I leaned forward, motioned him to come closer and lowered my voice. “Payton’s another one to keep an eye on. You know the row he’s started about this building. Marion wanted to sell to some contractors and Payton kept pushing it to be declared a historical site. When I worked here, they were always arguing back and forth over something. And he was always late on his rent. Drove Marion crazy.”
    One last note lingered in the air, Hardy’s dramatic ending punctuated what I’d just shared with Conrad. Hardy lifted his hands from the keyboard as Payton broke into applause. Chief and I joined in as Hardy slid off the bench and crossed over to us.
    Chief gripped Hardy’s hand hard, then relaxed back into his chair and tucked the pencil behind his ear. I knew another question was on its way. “If I might ask, what made you quit working for Marion?”
    Hardy fell onto the sofa beside me with a loud laugh. “Oh, she didn’t quit, Officer
    Conrad, Marion fired her. Made Tisha madder than a hooked fish.”

 
 
 
    Chapter Three

 
    “Would you hurry yourself up?” I glared at Hardy, who hung three steps behind as I hustled from Payton’s music store on Spender Avenue, past Out of Time, to the hotel on the corner where Spender intersected with Gold Street.
    “I’ve not got your zest, woman. Would have driven the car around here if you’d let me.” He mopped his face with a bright red handkerchief, stuffed it into his back pocket and raised his chin. He looked like a Banty rooster ready to crow. “Um. The smells coming from Mark’s place are mighty tempting.”
    As if the man didn’t know every day of the week the smell of good cooking.
    Mark Hamm, owner of Your Goose is Cooked , managed to draw more customers off the streets with the fragrant air his restaurant produced, than for the quality of the food. I knew this to be true—I’d eaten there.
    But food is not what had me hauling Hardy toward the