Tears filled Carlita’s eyes as an overwhelming sense of impending doom stared her in the face. “We’re so close to narrowing down the list of who may have been behind Sonny’s death. You liked him, right?”
“Yeah, and I think he was digging me,” Elvira said. “Whenever we were together, you could almost see the sparks fly.”
“Unnatural combustion,” Pete whispered.
“Very funny,” Elvira snapped. “Joke all you want, but we had chemistry.”
“Wouldn’t you like to help me track down Sonny’s killer? If you cared for him, it’s the least you could do.”
“Again.”
Carlita interrupted. “I’ll give you six hundred dollars.”
“No.”
“Six fifty.”
“Sorry.”
“All right. Seven hundred dollars for maybe twenty minutes to half an hour of your time,” Carlita bargained.
“As much as I would love the extra money, I can’t take the risk of getting busted,” Elvira said.
“I guess I’ll have to figure out some other way to come up with a list of Sonny’s visitors.” She turned to go.
Pete stopped her. “I would like to throw in an additional incentive.”
“Such as?”
“You help Carlita with the hospital’s surveillance footage, and I’ll let you dig up a small section of the Parrot House Restaurant’s parking lot to search for pirate treasure.”
Elvira let out a loud whoop and sprang to her feet. “Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“Pete…no,” Carlita argued.
“How much of a section? Three by five? Eight by ten? Fifty by one hundred?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of eight feet by eight feet, over at the far end, near the garage.”
Carlita could see the wheels spinning. Elvira had been pestering her husband for weeks now, ever since discovering there was no treasure buried in the basement beneath his restaurant. She immediately suggested continuing excavationsinto the parking lot, an area closer to the river, to which Pete had promptly and adamantly refused.
“You’re killing me here.” Elvira tapped her foot, muttering under her breath.
“I think it’s a generous offer,” Dernice said. “You’ve been itching to get over there and start turning the dirt. This is your chance.”
Tap, tap, tap.
She abruptly stopped. “What about the money?”
“I…”
“We’ll be right back.” Pete grasped Carlita’s arm and whisked her out of the building and onto the sidewalk. “I think Elvira is going to go for it.”
“Do you want her to start digging up the yard?” Carlita briefly closed her eyes. “You’ll be opening a can of worms.”
“I’m not thrilled with the idea, but getting the information is more important.”
