Love Can Be Murder

purse for her cell phone, dreading the call to her father. He would be—
    "Alone at last."
    Her heart froze at the menacing tone. She lifted her head slowly while moving her hand blindly in her purse in search of the pepper spray. The stranger was tall and wiry with thin blond hair that hung to the shoulders of his camouflage jacket. His face was raw-boned and gaunt, his eyes too close together. Frank Cape was not an attractive man.
    "Do I know you?" she asked, stalling.
    "No, but I know you," he said, wrapping his bony hand around her forearm like a vise. "Now don't get any ideas about bringing a weapon out of that purse. You tell me what I want to know, missy, and no one has to get hurt."
    Her wrist and fingers were already numb from the pressure. "I don't know what you're talking about." Her mind raced for an escape route—the bench seat attached to the table made her feel trapped.
    His laugh boomed out, and anyone close to them might have thought they were sharing a friendly chat. "Of course you do—you took Melissa and Renita away from me, and I mean to have them back."
    "I only dropped them off at the airport. I don't know where they are."
    "Liar." His grip tightened. "You'd better start talking. I want an address and a phone number."
    "The police are looking for you—they know you broke into my apartment," she bluffed.
    He scoffed. "Your crummy apartment was torn up when I got there. I figured somebody else got fed up with your meddling."
    She swallowed. "Did you leave the message on my computer?"
    "Do I look like Bill Gates?" Leaning closer, he revealed sharp eyeteeth. "Where are they?"
    "I can't help you."
    "Yes you can," he hissed. "Or the people around you will start dropping like flies."
    The blood drained from her face, leaving her lips cold.
    A lascivious smile made his eyes even smaller. "Maybe I'll just take you with me and make you talk."
    "That won't be necessary," a calm voice sounded behind him.
    Roxann looked up to see Detective Capistrano standing wide-legged, munching a caramel apple. As much as she hated to admit it, she was sort of happy to see the brute.
    "Let her go, Cape."
    "Who are you?"
    He took another bite. "The man who's going to shoot you if you don't let her go."
    Cape let her go. "This ain't none of your concern."
    "You're a suspect in a Biloxi armed robbery that put a friend of mine in a coma." He swallowed and angled his head at Cape. "Everything you do concerns me."
    Cape straightened. "You some kind of cop?"
    "Yep. The unpredictable kind." He tossed the apple into a nearby trash can and wiped his hand on his jeans. "Give me a reason to bury you."
    The hoodlum threw up his hands casually and produced a charming smile. "I was just leaving."
    Capistrano smiled back. "You'll find your piece-of-shit car in the city impound lot."
    The man's face darkened. "You had my car towed?"
    "Expired tags and missing taillight." Capistrano tsk-tsked. "Safety first."
    Cape's mouth tightened, but he remained silent. After he strode past Capistrano, though, he turned and made an air gun out of his thumb and forefinger, aimed it at Roxann, and pulled the trigger in a warning that couldn't be misinterpreted. She shivered and stood up, stumbling back in her haste to get away from the table. Capistrano was there for a steadying arm. She pulled away a little more vehemently than she intended.
    "You're welcome," he said dryly.
    "Where did you come from?"
    "Akens, a little swamp town south of Biloxi."
    She sighed. "How did you find me?"
    "Driving that eyesore of a death trap is like a beacon in the night."
    "But how did you know which direction I was going?"
    "Your father said you were going back to Biloxi, but knowing you, I just started driving in the opposite direction."
    What had he thought of her father? What had her father thought of him? "You don't know me."
    "Then your cousin started racking up charges on a stolen credit card—"
    "It isn't stolen."
    "It isn't hers."
    "Her fiancé gave it to her."
    "The guy who jilted her at the altar?"
    "How do you know about that?"
    "Your dad said according to you, the woman his neighbor saw was your cousin. I called your aunt to check your story. She filled in the details."
    She just bet she did.
    "No offense, but your aunt's a real bitch."
    Okay, so he nailed that one. "Who did you think I had with me?"
    "Melissa Cape."
    "That would be pretty stupid."
    He simply shrugged, which irked her beyond words.
    "When did you meet up with Cape?" she asked.
    "I