“I said hostage situation,” I call after her as Georgie pulls me into her midst.
“Now you’re talking my language.” She nods to the dance floor. “Darby still hasn’t got Bates to commit to investing, and he needs the money to keep the pink lights on.”
Darby squints my way. “So you’re thinking I should take him somewhere against his will?”
“No.” I shake my head at him in the event his hearing aid isn’t turned all the way up. “That would be a Class A felony. And trust me, if you make him go somewhere against his will, the sheriff’s department will make sure you go somewhere against your will and it won’t be nearly as fun.”
He rolls his eyes. “It looks like it’s back to square one.”
Georgie offers a commiserating nod. “Back to trying to coax him into a conversation?”
Darby shakes his head. “Back to trying to blackmail him into giving me what I want.”
A breath catches in my throat. “Do you have anything good on him?”
He gives a simple nod. “I heard him and Heather arguing about twenty minutes before her body was discovered.”
“You did?” I move in close, suddenly interested to hear any and everything he’s willing to tell me. “So what were they arguing about?”
He rocks back on his heels. “It depends. How much cash are you willing to part with?”
I shoot Georgie the stink eye before reverting my attention back to the bartering barracuda.
“I don’t have cash, but how about this? You tell me what you heard, and instead of hosting the cast wrap party at the inn, I’ll tell Peter to host it right here at Silver Shufflers. The press will most likely be here, and that means free advertising to the entire country.”
Okay, so all of the above might just be a sheer fabrication of my overactive imagination, but who could blame me when a murderous bit of gossip lies in wait?
Darby twists his chubby little lips. “It’s a deal.”
Both Georgie and I lean in.
He gives a quick glance over his shoulder.
“I heard him tell her she was paranoid,” he whispers as loud as he can. “That he loved her and that she was enough. And then she said, ‘Don’t you get it? I don’t deserve to be loved. After what I’ve done, I deserve everything I get.’”
“And?” I nod furtively at him, waiting for him to really sock it to me.
“And that’s the end. Georgie here snagged me, and we went behind the building to sneak a little smoochy smoochy.”
Georgie gives his ribs a tickle. “And we would have done more if that woman wasn’t there taking off her shoes.”
I suck in a quick breath. “You saw Jane taking off her shoes?” My eyes bug out because suddenly it feels as if this entire investigation lies in the hands of the king and queen of smoochy smoochy.
Darby snaps his fingers. “That’s right. She said she needed to get her feet wet. She was melting in the heat.”
Georgie shakes her head as she covers Darby’s ears with her hands.
“She said she was having a hot flash, but men don’t like to think about that.” Her hips start gyrating to the music. “In fact, she said she was hot enough to commit a crime.”
Georgie gives a wave as she leads Darby toward the dance floor in a hip-swinging move.
Commit a crime?
Those footsteps I saw that night come to mind.
I saw Jane slipping on her shoes myself, and the wet sand on her feet.
Come to think of it, when I told Peter about those cleavers we found around the inn, the first person he thought about was his wife. I know for a fact Heather and Peter were having an affair. But I thought she had left him for Bates? And what about this new revelation about Heather thinking she didn’t deserve love?
I crane my neck into the ever-swelling crowd and spot Mayor Woods grinding her hips against some poor putz. And as I make my way in that direction, I soon discover that poor putz is a direct genetic relation of mine.
My feet don’t hesitate taking me his way.
“Huxley?” I pull my brother to the side, and soon he’s dancing with me, pulling my arms, making me move every which way like a rag doll. He’s still wearing his suit from the law office, and his bright red tie sits slightly askew. Hux and I share the same dark hair and blue eyes, but obviously our taste in the company we keep differs vastly. “What are you doing here? And why are you dancing with her?” Okay, so my brother and Mackenzie Woods have expressed an interest in one another more than once, and suffice it to say, it’s annoyed me more than once, too.
He frowns over at me, never once missing a beat to the music.
Why the heck does Bizzy care who I’m with? Correction, she doesn’t really care who I’m with so long as it’s not Mack. I get it. They were friends, and now they’re not for whatever reason. I have a feeling if she knew how far things have gotten with Mack and me, her head would explode.
I look at him, stunned at the thought of things getting far with Mackenzie of all people. Doesn’t he realize she’s inherently evil? That she alone is the reason I have the displeasure to hack into his mind at present? Not to mention the fact she enjoys making me miserable at every turn. I bet this is just another ploy to toy with my emotions. She knows how much I love my brother.
Mackenzie waltzes over and shimmies her body up and down Huxley as if he were a pole before shooting me a lethal glance.
There she is with that self-righteous look on her face. I bet she’s thinking to herself how unworthy I am of her brother. I bet she thinks I’m using him to make Leo jealous. She cranes her neck past my brother and I follow
