Love Can Be Murder

to see where this takes us." Then he looked at Penny. "You're coming with us, too...just in case your theory backfires."

Chapter Twenty-nine

    Beware of a missing ingredient...

    PENNY AND B.J. SAT ALONE in an interview room at the police station while Jimmy Scaggs was being questioned in another part of the station. Gluey silence stretched between them. Penny wasn't even sure why B.J. had come with her.
    "That was good thinking back there," he finally said.
    She lifted her eyebrows. "Thanks."
    "So what is it that this bloodhound hunts that makes him so valuable?"
    "I'm not at liberty to say."
    "You're angry."
    "What?"
    "You want to know why I was talking to Sheena Linder."
    "That's none of my business," she said, studying her nails.
    "It's not what you think."
    "Oh? What else could it be if the woman's shoe is in your car?"
    He blanched.
    "I saw you give it to her."
    "You were spying?"
    "No. I just happened to be looking out the window." With her binoculars. She frowned. "I saw you give her the videotape, too."
    His eyebrows went up, then he pursed his mouth. "And what do you suppose that means?"
    Penny crossed her arms. "That you're working for Sheena."
    "I am?"
    "Yes." She narrowed her eyes. "What else could it be?"
    "I'm not at liberty to say."
    "Good."
    "Good."
    The door opened and Detective Maynard walked in. "You were right, Ms. Francisco. Mr. Black apparently hit the dog and kept going. Jimmy Scaggs just admitted to going to Mr. Black's residence Friday night, arguing, then hitting him over the head with the cane. That's backed up by some partial fingerprints we found on the cane."
    Penny winced. "How's the dog?"
    "Scaggs said he almost died, but he's improved in the last couple of days."
    "What about the garden stake?" B.J. asked.
    "He says he doesn't remember doing it," Maynard said. "But he admits that he probably did. Seems like the man had a pretty low opinion of Mr. Black to begin with, and a pretty fair crush on Ms. Francisco, so the hit-and-run probably just pushed him over the edge." He clapped his hands. "Looks like we got us a solved case."
    She went limp with relief.
    "I'm sorry, Ms. Francisco, for the anguish you've gone through. Please accept our apology on behalf of both police departments. I hope you know that we were only trying to do our jobs."
    She nodded thoughtfully, relieved beyond words to be off the hook for Deke's murder, but grief-stricken by the knowledge that Deke had lost his life because he'd been a bad driver and a jerk, and now Jimmy would likely spend a good chunk of the rest of his life in prison. "I owe Jimmy some money, if he needs to make bail. And if he needs a character witness, please let me know."
    B.J. frowned and scratched his head. "So Scaggs copped to the voodoo doll?"
    "No, but that's probably just a coincidence, whipped out of proportion because of this voodoo festival going on," Maynard said. "One of Ms. Francisco's friends probably brought it, and now is afraid to admit it because of what happened."
    B.J. nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. If Scaggs had a crush on Penny, he wouldn't have been trying to frame her."
    "Right," Maynard said. "Ms. Francisco, you're free to go."
    Penny and B.J. walked outside, and she breathed in the cool air of freedom as deeply as possible, then exhaled noisily. "God, what a week."
    "Yeah," he said. "Seems longer, doesn't it?"
    She nodded and smiled at him, glad it was ending this way, on a friendly note. "Did you ever hear back on the hair you found at the museum?"
    "Not yet."
    She gave a little laugh. "We were really letting our imaginations run away, weren't we?"
    "Yeah."
    "I guess that's what happens when you want something to be true so badly—you make up the middle."
    He met her gaze. "So true."
    "I hope you find those missing women."
    "Me, too," he said, then his eyes turned pensive. "But meanwhile, I'm glad I found you." He leaned forward and gave her a kiss next to her ear. "It was fun."
    "Yeah, it was," she said with a sunny smile, but inside she was heartbroken. She had been too needy last night, too...intimate. Intimacy scared men more than war. Still, she'd known from the beginning that B.J. Beaumont wasn't the settling down kind of guy, so it wasn't as if she was surprised.
    "We could still take in another afternoon of the festival," he said.
    Tempting, but she'd overindulged enough for one day. "I think I've had enough voodoo to last me for a while," she said. "I might restake my garden—with surveyor's paint