He shakes his head. “I don’t have a take on him. He was a louse of a boyfriend to Ember. Not that she didn’t deserve one after she trashed everything I worked for. But he’s redeemed himself in my eyes as of late.” He glances around. “I haven’t told anyone this, but Flint is helping me get my license back.”
He shrugs as the balloon of a giant cat holding a sunflower floats on by, much to the delight of the crowd. It’s at least sixty-feet tall by thirty-feet wide. Sherlock barks up at it as Fish stands straight up to witness the quasi-feline miracle.
“That’s great news,” I tell him. “Getting your license back would right all the wrongs Ember did to you. How soon will you be back in the pharmacy?”
He shakes his head. “That all depends.” On how much more Oxycontin I can drum up for him. Turns out, the councilman is convinced he needs it to relax. And lucky for me, I’ve got a few dicey pharmaceutical contacts. But unfortunately for Flint, and maybe myself, today is the last day on the Hunter-drug-lord express. I’ve got three pills burning a hole in my pocket, and he’s not getting them from me unless he tells me something I want to hear—like the fact he’s willing to testify to the board on my behalf in an effort to convince them that nefarious practices took me down the first time. Someone like Flint might actually have the clout to clear this up for me in a day.
Oxycontin?
Flint is lucky he’s still alive. So I guess Hunter wasn’t handing off strychnine to Flint the day of the murder. But it was definitely something that could be equally as lethal for the councilman himself.
Hunter gives the kittens back. “Let me know if you have a hard time finding a home for these guys. If so, I’ll be there with bells on to pick them up.” He ticks his head toward the gazebo. “I came for the free donuts. Oh, and if you see Macy, tell her we’re on for tonight. She invited me to Thanksgiving dinner. I’ll catch you later, Bizzy.”
It would figure that Macy wouldn’t let a little murderous detail, such as the fact he might just be the killer, get in the way of inviting him to dinner.
I turn back toward the shop and find the very councilman I was hoping to question staring inside the window of Suds and Illuminations.
Sherlock lets out a growl. That’s the killer, isn’t it, Bizzy?
“I think so,” I pant as I head that way.
“Flint Butler,” I say as I come upon him, and he turns and offers one of his signature cheesy grins my way. “Bizzy Baker Wilder.” The detective’s wife. The smile melts right off his face with the thought. “I was just peering inside.” He nods to the shop. “It’s just hard to believe she’s really gone.”
“I know.” I shrug, scowling up at him regardless of whether or not I mean to. “It feels strange, doesn’t it? To have someone just up and disappear out of your life?” Come on, Flint. Throw me a bone.
Fish watches him as if he were a giant mouse and she was ready to pounce.
Don’t bother beating around the bush, Bizzy, she growls. Ask what happened to the girl. Tell him you were related. Tell him anything.
She might be onto something.
“Funny story!” I say without putting too much thought into it. “I was just wishing my aunt who lives in Connecticut a happy Thanksgiving this morning. The subject of Ember came up and she felt terrible. She asked if Ember was married and I told her that she actually had a very newly elected yet prominent councilman as her boyfriend. She asked if you were handsome and, of course, I said yes.”
His chest puffs with pride. “Why, thank you for that.”
“But once I mentioned your name, she said she knew you. She said she was one of the volunteers during your run for alderman. She lived right there in your district. Small world. She said you left shortly afterwards, though.” I bite down on my lower lip. “She said you always had a pretty girl on your arm, Lauren Chrissy or something.”
His eyes spring wide. Lauren Comfort. “I did.” He shrugs. Who the hell cares now? Lauren is married to that idiot I paid to make sure he kept her from even remembering me—another intern, who as fate would have it, went to her high school. Ember can’t hold that over my head anymore. It’s finally done. I’m not going to hold onto it anymore. It was a mistake, and it’s over. “But before I could so much as take her to dinner, she took off with the kicker from the local high school football team. Such is life.” She doesn’t need to know about what happened in the backseat of my car. In fact, I never want to think about it again either.
“That’s it?” I ask with a touch of disappointment in my voice.
What’s it? Fish hisses.
Did he confess? Pumpkin does her best to growl, and it sounds ridiculously adorable.
“No,” I mutter.
“No?” Flint wrinkles his nose as he squints over at me. “No, what?”
“No end in sight to finding Ember’s killer.” I don’t mind one bit that I just said it out loud.
“That’s too bad.” He ticks his head to the side. “I just saw her father, too. He’s a good guy.” He just had no idea how to raise a daughter without turning her into a monster. Ember Sweet was proof that money doesn’t solve everything.
“So he’s back from Africa? That’s great, I’m sure Marigold is thrilled.”
“Africa?” He chuckles. “I’m pretty sure Warner hasn’t left the country in the last few years. He’s got an entire myriad of medical conditions. Actually, that’s how
