Love Can Be Murder

he'd be sorry that he didn't take on her case."
    "That's hardly a death threat."
    "It was the way she said it," Steve said. "She was giving him the evil eye...and she was at the party. Maybe she brought the voodoo doll."
    Penny didn't want to think the quiet woman had anything to do with Deke's death, but Diane, too, had seen Penny stab the voodoo doll, and Penny really didn't know her very well. "Are you going to open Deke's office today?"
    "Yeah, even though I'm out of a job unless someone takes over the practice." He flushed. "I know that sounds selfish, considering what's happened."
    "No," Penny said charitably as he pulled up in front of the beignet shop. "You have to take care of yourself." She opened the door, eager to get out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, Steve. I...maybe I was overreacting about the sound I heard. I didn't get much sleep last night."
    Steve nodded sympathetically, and she climbed out of the car. "Penny, do you know anything about a funeral service for Deke?"
    She swallowed hard and shook her head. The only tie she had to Deke now was as a murder suspect. "I'm assuming Mona will handle everything...or maybe Sheena. Bye, Steve." She closed the door before he could ask more questions. For some reason, she still didn't trust him. When she picked up the morning Post that had been delivered while she'd been out running, she realized her hands were trembling. Even if those gunshots hadn't been meant for her, they had come too close for comfort.
    When she entered her apartment, the clutter only further reminded her of the chaos in her life. She took a few minutes to clear the dining room table of the gag gifts, shaking her head at the condoms and the vibrator, thinking she'd be using one before the other...if her life ever returned to normal.
    She unrolled the newspaper and stared in horror at Deke's photo under the headline "Voodoo Festival Incites Murder." The story cited "official sources" as reporting that Deke Black, noted attorney in Mojo, had been stabbed in the chest with a long sharp object after his ex-wife, Penny Francisco, had purportedly stabbed a voodoo doll in a "divorce voodoo ceremony." The article went on to say that Penny owned a charm and spell shop in Mojo, and was, coincidentally, the person who had found the body.
    She crunched the paper closed. From the newspaper account, she could almost be convinced that she'd killed Deke. She stood and paced, gnawing on her nails. This couldn't be good.
    Hoping that food would help calm her jitters, she ate a bran muffin and plain yogurt. Unbidden, her thoughts went to B.J. Beaumont and what garbage he was consuming for breakfast. She tried to shake her thoughts of him, but they dogged her into the shower, where, as she ran soapy hands over her body, she kept remembering the interest in his dark eyes, replaying the evening they might have had if...
    Penny sighed as guilt descended. How could she be thinking about being with another man when Deke wasn't even in the ground—especially when a lot of people thought she had put him there.
    She showered and dressed quickly, then picked up the damaged phone cord to discover that her yank had disabled the base unit. The phone calls she needed to make—to Gloria, to B.J., to Liz—would have to wait until she could make them from her office. She glanced at her watch. Marie would already have the shop open, but she and Guy were probably worried sick about her. Penny frowned at the burned-out bulb on the landing as she left, then hurried down the stairs. When she opened the door leading to the sidewalk, she blinked at the woman standing there with a microphone that read WTNL. Behind her, a man held a camera on his shoulder, and it appeared to be rolling.
    "Ms. Francisco," the woman said, "what can you tell us about the voodoo ritual that resulted in your ex-husband's grisly death?"
    "Nothing," Penny said, attempting to sidestep the woman.
    "Ms. Francisco, how long have you practiced voodoo?"
    "I don't," she replied.
    "Are you some kind of priestess?" the woman asked, stepping on Penny's heels. "I understand you sell charms and spells at your place of business."
    "You misunderstood," Penny said, pushing past her and breaking into a jog. Hopefully the police would have some answers soon and would be able to clear her name. In the end, she was sure that science would win out over voodoo.
    She walked briskly, glancing over her shoulder to see if the reporter and her crew were following her.