Jamie Quinn Cozy Mysteries Collection

Chapter 21

"How long had Spike and Rosa been sleeping together?" I asked.

A look of disgust crossed her face so quickly, I almost missed it. "Who knows? Who cares?" she said, flippantly.

It looked to me like maybe she cared. "Did Spike have any other girlfriends, or ex-girlfriends?"

"He was a rock star, what do you think? There were always groupies and skanks hanging around him."

She put her purse on her shoulder and pushed her chair back to stand up. I felt like I did when I was in court and the judge said, "Wrap it up, counselor, we"re out of time."

"What about you?" I asked.

She narrowed her eyes. "What about me?"

about "Well, were you and Spike ever together, as a couple?"

She shook her head and her ponytail swung back and forth. "We used to hook up, but that was a long time ago. Ancient history. Anyway, I gotta go. Good luck with Adam, give him my best." And she was gone.

I finished my coffee and soaked up some sun, while I thought about our conversation. Marian seemed convinced that Steve was the murderer, but how reliable was she? Did she have her own ax to grind? My reverie was interrupted by a beep announcing I had a text. I looked at my phone and read, "For a good time, call Duke." Then a second text, "Satisfaction guaranteed!" I figured I"d better call him before his texting turned into sexting.

"What took you so long, Darlin"?"

"Hey Duke! Sorry, I know thirty seconds is a long time to wait. What"d you find out?"

"You go first."

I propped my feet up on the chair across from me and got comfortable. "Marian Wolinsky is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside a New Yorker. Not sure if she has her own agenda, but she says Steve Michaels is the guy, that he was jealous because Spike and Rosa were sleeping together."

Duke gave a low whistle of surprise. "That just confirms the PI"s motto--"Everybody lies"."

I sat up in my chair. "That"s the lawyer"s motto, too, and they don"t teach it in law school. Who"s lying?"

"I think it"s your girl, "cause I believe mine. Rosa says she and Spike never did the dirty deed. He took her to a hotel to get her away from Steve, who was acting all crazy and threatening to kill her. She was scared, and people don"t lie about being scared."

"Does she think Steve killed Spike?"

"That"s the funny part, she doesn"t think so. She said he never threatened anyone else. He was jealous as hell, but he always took it out on her."

"But why would Marian lie? Maybe she really believed they were sleeping together. I mean, if she saw them go to a hotel, of course she"d think that. So, what should we do next?"

"You leave it to me, Darlin". I"ll figure out where Steve was at the time of the murder. And I"m not ruling out the Zombie guy, Daryl, I"ll check him out, too."

"Thanks, Duke! I still think Adam knows something. I"m going to watch his hypnotherapy session tomorrow morning. Why don"t we touch base after that?"

"Darlin", you can touch anything you want. I wouldn"t mind a bit."