I kept my smile in place. “I was hoping you’d talk to me about Hoyt Forrest.”
She grasped a torn towel and started rubbing down the glass. “What has he done now?” Her voice was more resigned than anything else.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “We’re investigating his father’s death, and I wanted to ask you about Hoyt since you dated for….”
“Six months.” She rubbed harder and showed cut muscles in her upper arms. “Hoyt is a good guy with a demon on his back.” She stopped cleaning and straightened, stretching her shoulders. “If he didn’t gamble, he’d be the perfect guy. Instead, he’s a nice guy who turns into an ass and steals your grandma’s jewelry to pawn so he can gamble some more.” She waved the towel and then tossed it toward the sink. “Of course, he’s sorry, and he plans to pay you back.”
I winced. “That sucks.”
“Yeah. I had to dip into savings to get the jewelry from the pawn shop,” she said, her eyes sparking. “But at least I got it all back. I ended things with him the next day, and since we were about to be evicted from the cutest cabin you could imagine, it was easy to part ways.”
“Sorry,” I said, meaning it. She seemed like a nice person. “Do you think he could’ve hurt his father for money? I mean, if his gambling debts got bad enough that he was in danger?”
She rubbed her chin. “No. He loved his dad and wouldn’t have hurt him. Well, he would’ve stolen from his dad, but he wouldn’t have killed him.”
At this point, I wasn’t sure about that. “Did you know about his father setting up Bernie McLintock with a fake lover?”
Now her brows drew down. “What?”
Guess not. “Any insight into Hoyt you can give us?” I asked.
“The usual, I guess. At the beginning, it was wonderful between us, but he was winning poker tournaments then. It wasn’t until he started losing that things went south.” She eyed the ice cream toppings. “I don’t know much more to tell you.”
I wasn’t sure what else to ask. “Did Hoyt ever exhibit any stalker-type tendencies?” It was a long shot, but maybe Hoyt was my crazy admirer.
She snorted. “That would take too much effort, I’m afraid. And if the tendencies included actually buying gifts, then no way. Not a chance. All of his money, and anybody else’s he could get his hands on, went into poker games.”
That figured. Once again, I hadn’t found out anything to help Bernie.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“When was the last time you talked to him?” I asked.
She blushed a light pink.
So it was like that?
She shifted her feet and rolled her eyes. “I know. I really do. He’s bad news, and he’s bad for me, but at his core, he’s a decent guy. He stayed over last night.”
If there was a way to help her, I would. “Do you know where he was the night of the murder?”
“No, but there’s no way he’d kill his own dad.” She looked around and then seemed to settle. “I think that’s it. Can I get you something to eat?”
I stepped closer. “Yeah. I’ll have a double scoop with huckleberry and coffee-mocha with a waffle cone.”
“Ditto,” Bud said from behind me. “Mine with sprinkles on top, please.”
I spenta couple of hours at my office managing paperwork and tried to pretend my life was normal.
“Anna!” Oliver yelled, running down to my office. “You have another box.”
Bud hurried to the reception area, beating both Clark and me. He looked at the box and then bent over to read. “Anna Albertini, this firm, from Hewsom Enterprises in New York.”
“Oh.” Relief batted through me. “That’s mine.” I fetched the box, my heart still skipping beats. I’d found an early copy ofCatcher in the Ryefor Pauley for Christmas to go with the socks I bought him every year. Pierce would definitely like the tie, and I was now almost done shopping. “I’m ready to get out of here,” I told Bud, realizing he’d been off the clock for almost an hour.
“Great,” he said.
We headed through the door, and he covered me the entire way to the car, almost looking like he wished the attacker would return.
