Murder Served Cold Read Online Free Page B

night,” he muttered. “Last night! On what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. You flipped it around into the worst night of my life.”
    “Hey, it wasn’t that great for me either. You think I wanted to break up with you?” Until he’d said he could have been happy with someone else, I’d been content to spend the rest of my life with him. I would have been happily content to do so. I hadn’t realized until he said it that I wanted more than that.
    “Why did it have to be last night?” Kevin looked at me with bright eyes, full of regret.
    “I don’t know. I guess everything came together and I saw what our future would be like if we got married. I wanted more for us.”
    Kevin pulled a ring box out of his pocket, opened it, and stared at the shiny ring. “You never even put it on.”
    “It’s better this way.” I closed the box. “Put that away.”
    He did. “I wish my feelings for you were as easy to put aside.”
    “They will be,” I reassured him. “Not today, but eventually.”
    “I’m not so sure.” Kevin tapped his fingers on the table. “I’m going to win you back. Give me two days, because that’s how long my hotel reservation’s for.”
    I crossed my arms. “It’s not going to work.”
    “Give me a shot,” Kevin pleaded. “If you change your mind, then perfect! If not, then what do you have to lose?”
    “All right,” I conceded. “Two days.”
    Kevin leaned back in his chair. “Did you really quit your job?”
    “Yeah. I was going to tell you last night, but…it wasn’t the right time. I put my two weeks’ notice in two weeks ago and yesterday was my last day on the job.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?” Kevin frowned.
    I shrugged. “Everyone else was against it. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you and have you convince me not to.”
    A smile crept up on Kevin’s face. “My opinion means that much to you?”
    “Of course it does! I couldn’t tell you I was quitting and let myself be talked out of it because I wanted to take a risk. I needed it to be fully my decision. I mean, I’m not sure that I’ve made a decision all by myself in years. I’ve always taken into account someone else’s thoughts, even when they weren’t right for me.”
    “I get that. Good for you.”
    A comfortable breeze floated past and I wished we could have had a different conversation under this setting. The evening was beautiful. Sitting here and discussing the end of our relationship was surreal. I’d never have imagined doing this last week.
    The glass walls of the ice cream shop showed two people inside — Rebecca the manager and one customer. The one customer left a minute later.
    “You know, I’d never try to talk you out of something that would make you happier,” said Kevin.
    “Except get back together,” I pointed out.
    Kevin grinned. “Other than that. I don’t have the conventional 9 to 5 job that everyone else does. Why would I discourage you from leaving that?”
    Kevin was a talented artist who made sculptures for galleries, personal orders, and once for a movie set. I loved his work.
    “You have to take chances,” Kevin continued. “This chance, even if it involves the end of us — which I’m hoping it won’t — is good for you. You’re chasing your dreams.”
    I laughed. “I don’t know what my dreams are.”
    A couple of teenagers walked up to Scoop. They halted in front of Scoop’s doors.
    “It was right here,” said the first. “This is where that man bled to death.”
    Kevin squirmed. I had no fondness for blood, but he really had a distaste for the stuff.
    “I wonder how they cleaned the blood up so fast,” said the second.
    “It wasn’t right there,” I told Kevin.
    His eyes widened. “How do you know?”
    The teenagers moved on. “I found him,” I said.
    Kevin stiffened. “You what?”
    “That’s what I did today. Got caught up in a stabbing — he didn’t die — and I’ve been trying to figure out who did it.”
    “You saw