“Do we know who he, umm, philandered with?” Declan asked, pen poised to add to his list.
“The women in my knitting group love to gossip. I’ll see what I can find out,” Hazel offered.
“You’re part of a knitting club?” Declan asked. “Are all the members—” he paused “—like you?”
“Oh no, dear. Most are human. I have to use regular yarn when I’m there. Not that they would notice what I’m doing. Like I said, they spend way more time gossiping than knitting.”
“I did hear that someone else bid on the building and that they were quite angry that Winston got it. I don’t know who, though,” Az added.
“I heard that, as well. Maybe I can find out who. Anyone else?” I asked, and everyone shook their heads.
Declan looked down at his list. “Okay, so what we have is Leon, Jim, Madam X, and an unknown bidder. Not a great start, but I guess it’s better than nothing.”
“I should probably be on the list. It was my crystal point that was the murder weapon,” Elwood pointed out. “They showed it to me at the police station. It was definitely one from my store. And I remember seeing it on the shelf yesterday afternoon.”
“But you didn’t do it,” Declan insisted.
“Of course not, but if we’re making a list of suspects, I should be there.”
“And me,” Tulip sniffled, “since he broke my heart.”
Declan sighed and picked up his pen. “Fine.” He scribbled both their names on the list. “I’ll add them so we can mark them off if that makes you happy.”
“It does.” Tulip gave him a sharp-toothed smile that made it all too easy to believe she could have done it. “I always wanted to make a murderer list.” Her smile fell. “I just wish it hadn’t been because someone killed Winston.”
“I’m not sure what to say to that.” Declan looked a mix of horrified and determined. “But this is our list, so we need to find ways to identify the two unknown people and to either confirm or cross off the others. I’ll go talk to Jim. He doesn’t know me, so maybe he’ll be caught off guard and let something slip.”
I stared at him. Like I was going to let him go running around town asking potential murderers if they killed anyone yesterday.
“You stick with Elwood and bake something. I’ll go question Jim.”
I realized the mistake I made the second it left my mouth. Declan’s spine straightened, and he glared at me. “You may think you’re the boss, Alpha, or whatever around here, but you arenotin charge of me.”
Elwood bit back a chuckle, but not before I heard it, and I let out a resigned sigh and held up my hands in defeat. “I’m no one’s alpha, but you’re right… I’m not in charge of you. But whoever this person is, killed once, so for safety’s sake, why don’t we go together?”
Declan nodded, and I turned to face the others. “Okay, Declan and I will question Jim. You three see if you can get us names of the others.”
Chapter Eleven
A possible date and an interrogation (and a little more coffee)
Declan
That night, there was no contractor banging around next door, the police hadn’t arrived to search Elwood’s apartment, and Elwood hadn’t slipped out in the middle of the night to God knew where to do God knew what. So, considering everything that happened in the last few days, I enjoyed a decent sleep, and morning arrived without incident.
But that didn’t mean I was ready to dive into the day without coffee. I needed to buy a French press or something because Elwood’s anti-coffee lifestyle wasn’t working for me.
“Are you sure you don’t need help getting ready for the festival?” I asked Elwood as we washed up the breakfast dishes. There weren’t many, but Elwood always dealt with them right away.
It wasn’t like when I’d lived with Josh. We’d each held out, waiting to see which of us would give in and clean them first. It was amazing the number of dishes you could fit on a counter if you needed to. In retrospect, that was yet another sign of our deteriorating relationship. We definitely hadn’t brought out the best in one another.
“A couple of days ago, you weren’t even going to be here,” Elwood pointed out as he handed me a wet bowl. “I was ready to do the festival on my own then. That hasn’t changed.”
“Yes, but I’m here now.” I punctuated my words with a yawn. I wondered what kind of coffee Lily would be trying to flog today—honey mustard? Sweet chili? You know, I might even try a sweet chili coffee.
I dried the bowl and placed it in the cupboard.
“It’s more important to find out what happened to Winston.” Elwood gave me another bowl to dry. “Besides, it’ll be good for you to meet some of the locals.”
