Love Can Be Murder

said. "Absolutely. As soon as we hang up."
    "Okay. The detective is looking at me, so I'd better go."
    "I need for you to look up a customer address first."
    "Let me step behind the counter." The computer keyboard clicked. "Okay, who?"
    "Diane Davidson."
    "Okaaaay." Marie's curiosity was practically burning up the phone line, but to her credit, she didn't ask questions. Marie rattled off the address, and Penny jotted it down. Then she gave Marie her new cell phone number. "Call me if... you think you need to." She disconnected the call, then shifted uncomfortably in the seat and handed the address to B.J., directing him where to turn.
    B.J. cleared his throat. "Maynard is interrogating your employees?"
    "It would seem so."
    "How well do you know Marie and Guy the gay man?"
    She pivoted her head. "You think Guy is gay?"
    "Isn't he?"
    "He says he isn't... and he has lots of girlfriends."
    B.J.'s mouth quirked. "Yeah, well, then he's the only one who didn't get the memo. What do you know about Guy other than the fact that he's sexually confused?"
    "He's worked for me since day one—he's completely trustworthy. Why?"
    "Well, if someone did try to frame you, it would have to be someone who knew about those garden stakes."
    She gave a little laugh. "Guy's no murderer. Besides, anyone could have walked onto my property where those garden stakes are."
    "What about Marie? How long has she worked for you?"
    "About six months. And no way would she hurt anyone."
    He lifted an eyebrow. "From listening to your phone conversation, it sounds like you trust Marie more than she trusts you."
    Penny pursed her mouth. "I admit she's a little...quirky."
    "You're referring to the blue hair?"
    "That and she has this boyfriend, Kirk."
    "And?"
    "And he's a nebulous, superman phantom. She goes on and on about how much money he has, and all the different things he does. He's a pilot and a scientist and a big game hunter—"
    "A hunter? Where does he live?"
    Penny shrugged. "He supposedly has houses all over the country."
    "But you've never seen him or talked to him?"
    "No. I don't even know his last name. And they seem to correspond primarily by e-mail."
    "So you think she's fallen for a pathological liar in a chat room?"
    "That or maybe he doesn't exist at all."
    "Ah. Does she have mental problems?"
    Penny gave a little laugh. "Not that I'm aware of, although people have hinted she has a third eye."
    "ESP?"
    Penny shrugged. "So people say, although I've never seen any evidence of it, and Marie doesn't talk about it." Tingling with embarrassment, she told him what Marie had said about her friend Melissa bragging she'd slept with Deke. "Melissa was at the party, and she was in the diner this morning when you and I had coffee."
    "The girl could have been lying about the affair," he said quietly.
    She looked at him with gratitude...and resignation. "Maybe. But probably not."
    He sighed. "Okay, so she's someone else who might have had a motive if she and Deke argued. Maybe she's pregnant."
    Penny winced.
    "Or maybe she's the other woman Sheena seems to think Deke was involved with."
    Penny touched her temple. "My head hurts. How do you do this for a living?"
    He smiled. "It's easier when you're not in the middle of everything. Back to Marie—did you say that Steve Chasen has a crush on her?"
    "I think so. He's been coming into the store regularly, and although she's always ignored him, they seemed to hit it off at my party."
    "So he was only there because of her?"
    She nodded. "In fact, I was surprised he showed up, because others might have seen it as some kind of betrayal of Deke."
    "Love trumps principle every time," B.J. said wryly. "What about you?"
    "What about me?"
    "Are you sure you don't have a boyfriend?"
    The moisture left her mouth. "Not the last time I checked."
    "Have you gone out with anyone since you and your husband split up?" He lifted his hand. "It might be important to the investigation."
    Her face flamed. "I... no. I've been... busy." And she wasn't about to admit that the only man who had asked was scruffy Jimmy Scaggs.
    "Were you still hung up on your ex?" he asked mildly.
    "No," she said, too quickly.
    "It's okay if you were. It sounds as if the split caught you by surprise."
    She looked down at her hands. "It did," she admitted. "But I was trying to get on with my life." She had considered Sheena to be a cliché, but wasn't she a cliché as well? The signs were there, but she hadn't seen it coming.
    "It must have been