I wonder which one pulled the trigger.
Chapter 17
The inside of the True Life Chapel feels just as cold as the walk-in freezer at the Manor Café. But it’s nowhere near as cold as a killer’s heart. And now that I know what I do, it makes me wonder if there were two killers after all.
Could there be two killers if only one pulled the trigger? Surely the other would be merely an accessory but just as culpable.
The sanctuary is seemingly barren, save for the open casket where Craig Walker lies with his hands crossed over his chest, and as I make my way toward the altar, I can’t help but examine him.
There he lies, so eerily still.
My eyes dare his chest to move, to rise slowly as it might if he were sleeping. A small part of my brain can’t get around the idea that the human body before me, with this rosy glow, is no longer capable of any bodily function—even a simple one such as breathing. My heart breaks for the handsome man in the casket, gone far too soon before his time.
Other than the casket, the altar is sparse, save for the wooden pulpit with a Bible sitting on top of it the size of a cinder block.
The voices to my left pick up, and I slowly make my way over toward an open door just off the altar. They’re bickering, that much is clear. It’s the voice of a man and that of a woman. And I have a feeling I know exactly who they are.
I pin my back to the wall and carefully peer into the opened door. Sure enough, there stands Lloyd Jackson not three feet from me with a grief-stricken look on his face as he speaks with Kadie.
“You killed Craig,” he says it loud as can be. “You did this. How dare you try to weasel out of it. And you’re not going to kill me. I won’t let you.”
Ha! My other vision! I’m two-for-two today.
My heart thumps wildly in my chest as I look to the two of them.
Kadie killed Craig?
“I’m not killing you,” she snaps. “And I’m not weaseling out of anything. I’m asking you to stay away.”
I need to text Shep right away. My fingers fumble with my phone and it goes airborne and lands right inside the tiny room they’re congregating in.
Awkward.
The two of them look my way and I give a little wave.
“Hi there,” I say it a touch too cheery. “Sorry to interrupt. I think this is mine.” I point down to the phone, and before I can swipe it off the ground, Lloyd beats me to it.
“This yours?” The muscles in his jaw flinch as he offers a forced smile.
He holds it close to himself as if he wanted me to step deeper into the room to get it.
No thank you.
There’s no way I’m falling for that one.
Instead, I walk backward and land onto the altar as Lloyd and Kadie follow me out.
Her chest heaves hard as she looks my way with eyes as round as nickels.
“You heard,” she pants. “You heard everything, didn’t you?”
“No”—I shake my head, trying to refute it, but it’s no use—“I mean, I heard that tidbit at the end, something about he won’t let you.” I shrug it off as if I had no interest in their murderous conversation.
Kadie groans hard as she looks to Lloyd.
“She heard it all.” She shakes her head my way. “You know.”
My breathing picks up and my gaze shifts to the exit. It’s so far, it might as well be a football field away. I glance to poor Craig lying cold in his casket, then at the two before me and my blood begins to boil.
“Know what?” I can feel the old me rising to the surface—the one that doesn’t take anything from anyone no matter what the consequences. “That the two of you killed Craig?”
There. I said it.
Like ripping off a bandage.
Both Lloyd and Kadie solidify looks of horror on their faces.
“So who pulled the trigger?” I figure I might as well ask. I’ve come this far into the deep end. Why stop now? “Was it you?” I nod to Lloyd. “You’re my guess.”
He holds a hand out toward Kadie’s midsection as if to hold her back and the glint of his cufflink catches my eye—his triangular cufflink.
“It was you I saw arguing with him the day of the murder.” My chest heaves as I struggle for my next breath. “I saw your cufflinks. You were having it out with him right behind the buffet.”
Lloyd frowns over at Kadie a moment. “So what? Lots of people didn’t get along with Craig. Look, I don’t know what you think you heard, but clearly this is all a misunderstanding.”
“Was it a misunderstanding?” All of the conversations I’ve had with the suspects over the past few weeks come flooding to the forefront of my mind. “You and Craig were partners in the Dirty Habit. He wanted out. He said it was a financial burden and he shook you down for cash, didn’t he?”
Lloyd squints over at me. “Everyone knew we were partners in the bar, Bowie. That’s hardly a motive to kill the guy.” He laughs it off. “Now let’s go find Shep and dive into those tacos before they get cold.”
“No. You—you wanted to keep the bar going. I’m betting you didn’t bail him out of that loan. And I’m betting you didn’t buy him out either.” Another thought comes to me. “You know about the working girls, don’t you?”
Kadie shakes her head his way. “What girls? What is she talking about?”
“Lloyd is letting the ladies of the night work his bar,” I’m quick to tell her. “Oh my God”—I gasp his way— “you’re getting a cut, aren’t you? You’re a glorified pimp!” A silent laugh bucks through me.
Lloyd gives a nervous laugh. “What? Come on. Now you’re really reaching. Look, anything shady going on at
