“What?” she interrupted and wriggled out of my grip, her voice rising. “You’re not going to believe this. My gun was definitely used to kill Gene. That’s what Jason said at the cop shop. Rumors are spreading around town. Do you know what this is going to do to me? To the store? To us?”
My heart slammed against my ribs. Rumors could sink the bookstore even before we opened the door to customers. I could only imagine the national headlines about a romance bookstore owner, her gator-hunting sister, and the murder of a rival alligator trapper.
It had Florida Woman vibes all over it, and people around the country would laugh their butts off. We’d be a staple for late-night talk show hosts and online tabloids. Probably we’d even trend on social media.
And no one would come to the bookstore unless it was to take ironic selfies with the horny, gator-trapping, bookstore-owning murder twins. Just perfect.
I could almost feel our savings, our inheritance, and our dignity fly away with the wind. Things had taken a colossally craptastic turn in the past twenty-four hours, through no fault of our own. Well, maybe it was my sister’s fault, a bit; she’d been careless with her gun.
“Vera, it’s OK. We’ll work it all out.” I tried to use my most soothing voice, if only to calm myself down.
Heavy footsteps echoed on the tile floor behind us, and Vera’s gaze skittered over my shoulder. Her eyes widened.
“Who’s that?”
I waved my hand manically in the air. “Uh, this is the detective I talked with last night. He’s investigating Gene’s murder.”
My sister swallowed hard as she sized up Alex’s large frame. “Oh. Hello. I’m Vera. A few minutes ago, I was talking with some of your colleagues down at the station.”
“I’m Alex Holt. Wahoo’s newest detective. Well, only detective.” He politely extended his hand and they shook. It was actually kind of surprising how tender his tone had become. “Do you have a place where we can talk in private?”
I reached for my sister’s arm and leaned into her ear. “Do you want me to call Mr. Carpenter?”
Chris Carpenter was the lawyer handling my father’s probate case. I didn’t know if he did criminal law, but since he was the only attorney I could think of, I figured his counsel would be better than nothing. If he wasn’t playing golf or with a client.
Vera shook her head. “No, why? I’m innocent. I didn’t shoot Gene.”
Well, neither did I, but that didn’t seem to be stopping Detective Alex Holt from suspecting us.
# # #
Vera and Alex had been in the back office for an hour and I was starting to sweat. What could they be talking about?
With shaking hands, I answered the call from the book distributor in New York. Thankfully, it was a quicker conversation than anticipated, with me confirming that we’d received a book order. The guy on the other end actually wanted to chat with Vera, but I managed to deflect and extricate myself from the conversation politely.
“Well, that could’ve been an email,” I muttered when I hung up.
My cell immediately rang with the alligator tune. Oh, crap. This wasn’t a good time for a reptile call.
“Gator Queen,” I said in my most chipper tone.
“Vera?”
“No, this is Maggie.” Even though we didn’t look alike, everyone always got us confused on the phone.
“Oh, hey, Maggie, I heard you were back in town. This is Amos at the country club.”
Amos was the manager there. Like nearly everyone in town, he’d been a friend of Dad’s. They’d gotten to know each other quite well during the saga of a giant gator Dad had trapped some years back.
“Hey there, what’s going on? You have some reptile trouble out there?”
He sighed. “As a matter of fact, you’re not going to believe this. There’s a huge gator out here again.”
“Yikes. Has it threatened anyone?” It couldn’t be the same gator that Dad had trapped, since that particular reptile was at Uncle Bert’s.
“Nope. It’s been a good citizen and stayed mostly on the banks of the pond. But it’s frightening the guests and the staff. It showed up this week and likes to stroll down the fairway, then sun itself by the pond in the late morning and early afternoon.”
Not surprising. Gators are cold-blooded, and they love basking in the Florida sunshine. “You know I can’t trap it unless it’s a nuisance.”
