“I’m here! I’m here!” An older man in suspenders, a bow tie, and round spectacles hurried into the room, reeking of cigar smoke and whiskey.
“You called me here for Brucey? Brucey, what did we tell you? You can drink in public, but you can’t be a nuisance,” the DA scolded the drunk.
“No, it’s the murderer.” The chief pointed with his coffee mug.
“A murder?” The DA flailed. “Here in Harrogate? Someone call the National Guard—there’s a murderer loose!”
“She’s not loose. We have her.”
“Sir,” I began.
“Oh, you’re Randall’s boy!” The DA beamed at me. “How’s he doing in retirement?”
“He and my mom are in the French Riviera, enjoying themselves.”
“Wonderful!”
“Wouldn’t catch me dead in France,” the police chief said mulishly.
“My client—”
“Brucey?”
“Emmie Dawson,” her grandmother sobbed. “You locked up my granddaughter.”
“Surely there’s been some mistake!” the DA exclaimed. “Pretty girl like that.”
The police chief rolled his eyes
“I’m glad you and I see eye to eye.” I shook the DA’s hand.
The police chief threw down his papers.
“You do not have enough evidence to keep Ms. Dawson,” I argued. “We don’t know if those are even her cupcakes. Someone could have made cupcakes that looked like hers and poisoned them.”
Emmie hiccupped. “But they look just like my cupcakes. It’s a custom design.”
“Ms. Dawson, please shut up, and please let me handle this. Unless you do want to go to prison.”
“She can and should be in prison!” Theo blustered.
Yes, Theo, the man who’d bought my father’s legal practice because I was a terrible son and refused to come home to Harrogate to run it.
I hated him.
I pulled myself up to my full height, still pettily happy I was taller than him.
I am not a teenager or some snot-nosed twentysomething recent grad. I should not care. It’s unreasonable to care. Theo is nothing.
“Why are you releasing her?” Theo still had that same whiny nasal voice.
“Because my client is innocent,” I snapped.
“She killed my best friend; she killed Brooks. Justice for Brooks! The man had a baby on the way.”
“Theo, my boy!” The DA and Theo embraced.
“We still doing drinks tonight?” Theo asked.
