Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries)

and sighs. I couldn’t think of a better way to start a Sunday afternoon.
    “You know what you need, Addison?” Kate asked. “You need to get back out there. Ever since the wedding you’ve gone into hiding. You haven’t dated anyone and the only people you ever spend time with are your widowed mother, your fourteen-year-old students and me. You know, Mike’s cousin just broke up with his girlfriend, and he’s always been attracted to you.”
    Mike was Kate’s husband of two years, and I’d met Mike’s cousin. He wasn’t my type at all, which is mostly the story of my life, a.) because he looked like one of my students and b.) because he couldn’t control the copious amounts of spittle that came from his mouth whenever he said a word that began with S. I was belatedly coming to the conclusion that I was nobody’s type.
    “I don’t have the time to date right now , Kate,” I said, trying not to hurt her feelings.
    “Nonsense, I’m not taking no for an answer on this one. I’m giving you an intervention to save you from becoming a lonely old maid. You’re one step away from adopting a herd of cats. Trust me on this.”
    I didn’t argue with her because I’d found myself standing outside of Grueber’s Pet Shop last week looking in the big front window at all the kittens.
    “Are you going to tell me why you really came by?” Changing the subject seemed like a good idea.
    “Damn, I thought the donuts would lull you into complacency so I could be sneaky about it.”
    “I’m your best friend. Best friends can’t be sneaky and get away with it.”
    “Well, I’m a private detective. It works differently with me.”
    I rolled my eyes and waited for her to get to the point, though I was pretty sure I already knew what it was.
    “I hear you had a pretty eventful day yesterday,” she said carefully.
    “It depends on what you mean by eventful.” I wasn’t sure if she was talking about the dead body or the stripping. I didn’t want to give myself away. There were some things that even best friends shouldn’t know about.
    “I’m talking about the fact that you stumbled over the body of your principal in the parking lot of one of the seediest titty bars in Savannah. The Foxy Lady parking lot has seen more criminal activity in the last month than Whiskey Bayou has seen in a hundred years.”
    “Well they didn’t exactly advertise that fact in the newspaper,” I mumbled. I would pick the most dangerous strip club in Savannah to get a job at.
    “What was that?” Kate asked with an arched eyebrow.
    “Nothing,” I said. “It was just bad luck. I’ve got to go give a statement at some point, but I’m not a suspect of anything.”
    “Of course not. You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met. The police would know in the first thirty seconds of talking to you whether you killed him or not. Just make sure you don’t put off giving your statement. It’ll just piss off the detective in charge if he has to come hunt you down.”
    My nipples came to attention, and I shivered as I thought about Nick Dempsey. I was going to have to see him again, no matter how mortified I was at my behavior from the previous day. A small part of me was looking forward to our next meeting. The other part of me wanted to move to Alaska and forget Nick Dempsey had ever crossed my path.
    “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve avoided telling me what you were doing in that parking lot. I still have a lot of contacts you know. I could find out if I wanted to.”
    “I’m going to plead insanity at this point. All you really need to know is that I’ll never be able to make a career as a professional dancer.”
    “I knew that already,” Kate said. “I saw you at our senior prom.”
    “Huh. I guess since you’re so smart about all these things you can tell me how to get a second job that will pay me a lot of money in a very short period of time.”
    “Maybe Mattress Mattie will let you rent out a room by the hour. It is the oldest profession after all, and she always has cars in front of her house.”
    “You’re not helping. I’m almost desperate enough to consider it. Look at this place. I have to be out of here in sixty days, and I’ll set up a tent in the back of my classroom before I move back home with my mother. I have water leaks and clogged drains and plaster falling from the ceiling into my T.V. dinners.”
    “I don’t understand why you need money so bad ly. You’ve got a good job with the