Grayson jogged out of a nearby aisle, making a beeline for the back room. “I’m taking my lunch break!” he called, sliding his clipboard across the counter and slipping through the door.
A moment later, Raina appeared behind the counter. She retrieved the clipboard, shooting an annoyed glance at the back room door before smiling at the first customer in line.
Amie let out a frustrated huff. It’d be a while before the other woman was free to talk. Ziya could be dead by then.
ZIYA.Remembering her worry for her ex, Amie allowed her fear to rush her out the door of the bookshop so fast she collided with the subject of her concern.
“Ow,” Ziya groaned, grabbing Amie’s shoulders to steady them both. “What happened? Are you being chased?”
“No, I—are you okay?”
Ziya rolled her eyes. “That woman movesfast. I chased her into the café, but wasn’t able to get to her before she went in the back. Had to stand in line and order a cake pop just to tell Jess I wanted to talk to their boss.”
“Did you really have to order the cake pop?” Amie asked, smiling.
“Well, I stood in line for so long, I had to getsomething.”
“You haven’t even eaten your muffin yet.”
“I got you one, too.”
“Ooh!”
They sat at a small table outside of the café, neglecting their breakfast items in favor of the frosting-coated balls of cake on sticks.
“When Madeline came out,” Ziya said, “I said I saw Andrew yelling at her and wanted to make sure she was okay. She looked kind of weirded out that I dragged her out of her office for that, but she said she appreciated me asking.”
Ziya took a bite of her cake pop, then continued. “I asked if she knew why Andrew was so upset with her. She was still a little confused, but also seemed like she wanted to talk about it, y’know? Defend herself to someone, even if it wasn’t him.”
Amie nodded.
“Anyway, she figured he thought she was gonna ask about buying the bookstore. She said she would’ve never brought it up to him so soon after Savannah’s death, but he didn’t give her a chance.”
“You think Andrew’s a suspect, too,” Amie said, reading Ziya’s face.
“Well,yeah,” Ziya said. “It’s almost always the husband. If Savannah was refusing to sell the store, putting her and her husband into more and more debt, killing her would be one way to put an end to it.”
“You have a twisted mind,” Amie said.
“Thank you. That was all I got from Madeline. What did Raina say?”
“Couldn’t get a hold of her. Thought you might be getting murdered, so I left.”
“Oh, you’re sweet.”
“But I did talk to Grayson, one of the other employees,” Amie said. “Theonlyother employee, apparently. Savannah laid off the rest a few weeks ago. Grayson said he didn’t think any of them were mad, but they could be suspects.”
“Nah,” Ziya replied. The last few bites of her cake pop threatened to fall off the stick as she waved it in the air. “Who’s gonna kill someone over losing a part-time job?”
“You were the one who said someone might have killed her just from spending too much time around her!” Amie exclaimed. “That’s evenlessof a motive.”
“I was just being silly,” Ziya said dismissively. “I know we’d need a stronger motive than that. What would the laid-off employees get from murdering their former boss?”
“Revenge?”
“Whoa,” Ziya said, putting her hands up. “You’re even more twisted than me. I wouldn’t want to be your ex-girlfriend.”
Amie fought hard to hold back the smile she was worried would expose her as enjoying Ziya’s company more than she felt comfortable admitting. She filled Ziya in on everything else Grayson had told her.
