Suspicious Minds (Squeaky Clean Series, Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

to Ocean View, this neighborhood was upscale.
    I approached the front door and pressed the doorbell. I heard nothing, so I rapped against the wood. A few minutes later, a woman with circles under her eyes and dried, frizzy black hair answered. She reminded me of an older, ghetto version of Priscilla Presley. Weird.
    "Can I help ya?"
    "Hi, Mrs. Evans?"
    She looked me up and down, a cigarette smoking between her fingers. "Depends on who's asking."
    "My name is Gabby St. Claire. I'm the one who found your husband's body."
    She frowned, not necessarily in a sad way. "Yeah?"
    "I wanted to offer my condolences"
    "Thanks" She started to close the door.
    I had to think quickly. "Wait!"
    She paused. "Yeah?"
    I just wondered what happened. Have you heard anything?"
    She sneered and took a long puff of her cigarette. "Who are you again?"
    "I'm a crime-scene cleaner. I was supposed to take care of some mold under a house in Ocean View, but instead .. " I pointed back at her car, which had a magnetized sign on it. "I see you're a house cleaner"
    "It pays the bills"
    Keep her talking, keep her talking. "I understand how that is. How long have you been working that job? I've been at it three years now."
    "Too long. Long enough that the fumes have gone to my head and made me a little loopy."

    So I wasn't the only one who'd noticed. "I know of a great cleaning solution you can try out. It's unscented"
    She nodded with a raise of her chin and a puff of smoke. "So why are you really here? I'm assuming you didn't come by to offer me cleaning advice"
    I contemplated what to say. Detective Adams had wanted me to bond with the woman, said I might have better luck than the police did. So far, I guess they didn't have any leads in the death of the plumber-by-day and Elvisimpersonator-by-night Darnell Evans. The detective had shared that the man was forty-five and had been dead approximately a week. That was it.
    Gabby the Truthful Gabber plunged ahead. "I want to help figure out what happened"
    She eyed me. Took another puff. Flicked her hair behind her shoulder. "Why?"
    I shrugged. "Because I'm weird. Because I like helping people. Because I found the body"
    The chin nod again. "You're the chick who helped break that case with the guy running for senator a few months ago, aren't you?"
    The detective said that sometimes people were more comfortable talking to people who weren't in uniform. At least I had that going for me. And the one mystery I'd solved. "That's me"
    "Call me Jamie. Whatcha wanna know?"
    "Did the cops tell you how he died?" I remembered the gunshot wound, but I figured the question might get her talking.
    "He was shot, that's what they told me"
    `Anything else?" Okay, I was supposed to be finding out information for the cops, not for myself. I might as well kill two birds with one stone, right?
    "Yeah, there were some other suspicious signs. His throat was constricted, and he was swollen"
    "Dead people swell up" I hated to break the news that the swelling wasn't all that suspicious.
    "Yeah, there's more to it than that, honey. The police are doing some tests. The autopsy should be able to tell us more"
    "More about what?"
    "More information as to whether or not he ate a peanut before he died"

     

"HE HAD a peanut allergy? Didn't Elvis ... ?"
    She snortled, as my best friend, Sierra, liked to say. "Yeah, Elvis loved peanut butter ... with bananas, usually. Darnell knew better than to get close to the stuff, though. He had one bad attack as a child and never ate the stuff since then. Real pain in the butt if you ask me. Do you know how much stuff might possibly contain nuts?"
    "A lot, from what I understand."
    "You're telling me a lot. I had to read all the labels, trying to make sure he didn't get sick. Go figure that's the way he'd die"
    I'd expected a grieving widow. This woman wasn't even pretending to be sad. Of course, her husband hadn't been reported missing, and he'd been under that house for at least a week. "How long were