“Maybe Marius was right,”I hissed as we stood outside of the Essence & Earth herbalist.
“No, we put her on the spot. I can tell when people are lying. You don’t know how many times people used to stiff us at Girl Meets Fig. My grandmother would believe any sob story. Not me. Let’s go.”
My friend wrenched the door open and marched in.
Rosie looked up from where she was packing sparkling little vials into gift baskets for Christmas presents that people could buy premade.
Zoe marched right up to the counter and slapped the bracelet onto the countertop. “Recognize this?”
“My bracelet!” Rosie cried. “I mean, uh…” Her eyes darted between Zoe and me. “I’ve never seen that before in my life. What a lovely piece of jewelry.”
“Save it. We know it belongs to you,” Zoe snapped. “Why did you kill Brooks?”
“I didn’t! I’d never hurt Pookie!”
Barf.
Zoe made a gagging noise.
“I love Brooks.”
“And he said he would never leave Oakley for you, and you killed him.”
“I’d never! I was heartbroken when he died. He was the only man I ever loved,” she sobbed.
“He was literally cheating on you with other women he was cheating on his wife with. It’s like a Christmas wreath of cheating,” Zoe said, drawing a circle in the air.
“I know, and I’m sorry,” Rosie said to me. “I didn’t get with him until after you and he split. He said he was tired of Oakley, that she was being too demanding and emotional. He said she stopped getting all dressed up for him, and they barely had sex anymore. He was desperate. He didn’t love her. He was just with her because of the baby.” Rosie reached for the bracelet.
I snatched it back. “He used my money to pay for it.”
Rosie gave me a hurt look. “I’d never harm him; we were in love.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, thinking back to Beatrice taking a lock of his hair. “I guess Beatrice was snipping a lock of hair off Brooks’s corpse to give to you as a memento, then.”
Rosie’s eyes went wide, then her lips curled back. “That man-stealing bitch.”
“You dodged a bullet,” I told her kindly.
Her face went cold. “I think you need to leave now.”
“If she wasn’t a murderer then, she is now,” I joked as we headed into the Christmas market.
I needed nourishment, and the cupcake shop was a zoo.
The Christmas market wasn’t all that much better. We hurried to get in line at the Merry Munchies for a ho-ho hog roast sandwich, limited time only. Darren had gone out and hunted it himself last weekend.
“The person Brooks was texting has to be Beatrice, what with the stealing of a lock of hair from his literal corpse,” Zoe decided.
“That is clearly the action of someone who can commit murder.” I nodded as we hurried through the crowded market.
“Guess what!” Zoe said, looking at her phone. “Beatrice just started a new job at Svensson PharmaTech. She’d have access to cyanide.”
I looked over her shoulder, reading the LinkedIn app page.
I grunted when we ran into someone.
“I’m so sorry!” Cora exclaimed as I stumbled.
