AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s what decorating magazines call it anyway,” Theodosia said as she sat down across from him.
They smiled warmly at each other in the candlelight and clinked their wineglasses together in a toast.
“Here’s to you,” Theodosia said.
“To us,” Riley said.
They both took a sip of wine.
“You like?” Theodosia asked, eyeing him carefully. When they’d first met, Riley had been a mostly beer-and-lager type of guy. She’d been working to slowly change that.
“It’s light, dry, but with a lively acidity. Saucy, you might say.”
“You sound like a wine magazine.”
“Aw, I knew you left that copy of Wine Spectator lying open on the coffee table for a good reason,” Riley said. Which caused them both to chuckle and dig into their lemon chicken.
“I hate to say this myself,” Theodosia said. “But yum.”
“Ditto for me. How on earth did you get this chicken so juicy and bursting with flavor?”
“Secret’s in the sauce,” Theodosia said.
After Riley’s fourth compliment and, count ’em, second helping (and a few tidbits slipped to Earl Grey), he looked across the table at Theodosia and said, “Tell me what you know so far about the Morro murder.”
Theodosia set her fork down. “Not much. Do you think you’ll get pulled into it?”
“Probably not. But I’ve picked up bits and pieces of scuttlebutt around the office and know that a lot of people have been questioned, but none of the investigators seem to have formed a solid conclusion as to who the guilty party might be.”
“But you know about the actress, Andrea Blair, who hated Josh Morro?”
“Heard about her.”
“And the screenwriter, Craig Cole?”
“I understand he’s at the top of Tidwell’s list.”
Theodosia raised a single eyebrow. “Not Delaine Dish?”
“No. It’s for sure Cole that he’s focusing on now.”
“Good. Cole’s at the top of my list, too.” Theodosia paused and took a sip of wine. It tasted mellow and slightly fruity. “Then there’s Ted Juniper…”
Riley ticked a finger at her. “The lighting guy with the drunk driving charge.”
“Right. And Joe Adler, the pinch-hitting director.”
“Don’t know much about him,” Riley said.
“Adler was able to step in rather quickly,” Theodosia said. “Almost as if he’d been waiting for this golden opportunity to be dropped in his lap.”
“Maybe the producers simply cut a fast deal with him. They realized they were in a creative bind, so they offered Adler a pile of money to finish the job,” Riley said as he poured two more fingers of wine into their glasses.
“What do you know about a cowboy-type guy named Quaid Barthel?”
Riley’s hand jerked suddenly and a few drops of wine flew from his glass onto his place mat.
“Oh, you do know something about him,” Theodosia said.
