Down Home and Deadly

that the police haven’t already asked. They wanted to know about my eating habits, about J.D.’s eating habits, about our relationship.” She raised an eyebrow. “Personal things.” She waved her little cell phone at me. “They even confiscated my phone. And questioned me about it. How long have I had it? Who’s my carrier? Did I have another phone?” She sighed. “And then the big question. Why was J.D. behind the diner?”
    My heartbeat picked up slightly. “What did you tell them about that?”
    “I told them the truth—I have no idea. We didn’t have a date or anything that night.”
    “Was that normal?” I sounded like a detective.
    She shrugged. “Well, to tell you the truth, once he took your place here , we saw each other constantly. So we didn’t go out quite as much.”
    I tried to keep my irritation from showing. Once he took my place. I knew she said that just to needle me. “So had you known him long? Before you started dating , I mean?”
    “No. Not really.” She leaned toward me. “You know how you’re supposed to meet guys at weddings? Well , we met him at a funeral. His grandmother’s funeral. We were instantly attracted to each other.”
    “We who?”
    “Me and J.D.” She shook her head. “Good grief, Jenna . H ow can you solve a murder if you can’t even keep up with a normal conversation?”
    “I meant who was with you at the funeral? Your husband?” Maybe Lisa’s ex saw the instant attraction and understandably resented it.
    She snorted. “Hardly. I went with Debbie. J.D.’s grandmother and Debbie’s grandmother were friends. Or something like that.” She waved her hand in the air , dismissing them as unimportant. “I’m not really sure why, but Debbie thought she should go and didn’t want to go by herself. So I went.”
    “Okay. You met him at his grandmother’s funeral. And it was love at first sight. So you started dating and then hired him to work here. Right?”
    “Pretty much. He decided to look for part-time work so he could stay here and get to know me better. Luckily you quit not too long after that.”
    I was speechless with outrage, but she didn’t notice.
    She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “Only now he’s dead , and in a way it’s all my fault. If he hadn’t been so crazy about me , he’d have left town after the funeral.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Because his grandma didn’t leave him anything. Not a penny. And I think he was expecting to get a big inheritance. He was really disappointed.”
    “He wasn’t rich , then?” I’d always had Lisa pegged for a girl who went where the money was.
    “Well, he definitely didn’t seem rich when we first started going out. He even let me buy my own dinner. If he hadn’t been so good-looking I probably wouldn’t have gone out with him again.” She wiped her eyes once more. “But after a couple of weeks , he started paying for everything. He even took me to Tunica. And gave me money to play the slots. But of course, I didn’t tell John any of that. ”
    “Any idea where he got the money?”
    “Now, how would I know that?” She rolled her eyes.
    “Well, you were dating him.” I may have sounded a little sharp. Probably.
    “And that was the only reason I agreed to be fingerprinted. John told me it was to eliminate my prints so that they could find the killer.” She tossed the tissue in the garbage , and her tears dried as quickly as they came. “But now he’s using my fingerprints to try and prove I killed J.D. He tricked me so he would have someone to arrest,” she snarled. “I can’t believe I trusted him.”
    “Lisa, they needed your fingerprints. And he didn’t trick you. How could he know your prints would be on the gun? You have to admit it makes you look suspicious.”
    “It was my gun , so of course it had my prints. It’s not my fault someone stole it out of my drawer.”
    “How long ha d it been missing?”
    “How should I know? I hardly ever noticed it.” She shrugged. “I didn’t even know it was missing. You could have taken it for all I know.”
    I ignored that dig , but I wanted to beat my head against the wall. Or maybe Lisa’s head. Not enough to hurt her, of course, but maybe just enough to gently knock some sense into her. Yeah, right.
    I couldn’t believe she was talking to me like this when all I was doing was trying to help . Deep breath. “Maybe you should tell John the truth. That J.D. didn’t have any money, and then all of a