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

chair sitting beside it and thought of all the things that had been done on it the night before.
    “No, thank you,” I said cheerily. “I don’t want to take up much of your time.”
    He looked at me with a mixture of impatience and displeasure and nodded his head. “I’m very busy, Ms. Holmes. I’m working out of my home office today and have many things to do.”
    Like foreclosing on widows or having kinky sex on your desk ? I wanted to ask .
    “Is your estate manager here by chance?” I asked.
    “No, Loretta took the day off to see to some personal business.”
    “Good, because I think she’s been killing people.” My subtlety even amazed me at times.
    John Hyatt’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. “That’s preposterous. Why would you come into my home and make accusations against a woman who has worked for me for seven years? I think you need to leave now.”
    Sweat beaded at the top of his lip and on his brow.
    “Please listen to me, Mr. Hyatt,” I begged. “I’m scared for my own life. Please.”
    I brought a couple of tears to my eyes and tried my best to look d istraught. I could see his worry ebb and a calculating look come into his eye. John Hyatt wasn’t nearly as good of an actor as I was.
    “Yes, I can see that you’re quite serious. Let me get you some water, and then I want you to sit down and tell me why you think Loretta could commit murder.”
    He hustled off to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water that was sloshing over the edge of the glass. “Sit down, sit down,” he said pushing me into the infamous chair from the night before and shoving the glass into my hands. “Tell me what happened.”
    I grimaced as my behind touched the upholstery of the chair, but hopefully it came across as fear instead of disgust. I had to make a decision of how much truth to tell and which lies he’d believe.
    “You know that I took a job at the McClean Detective Agency to earn extra money,” I said, looking at him for confirmation. I wanted him to feel like he had the upper hand. “Well, before I worked for Kate, I took a job at The Foxy Lady.”
    “Oh, my,” he said. If I hadn’t been looking for it, I would have thought he was genuinely surprised. “Isn’t that where your principal was killed?”
    “Exactly.” I beamed at him like he was one of my brightest students. “I came by your house last week to talk to you about my home loan, and I met Loretta. I knew I’d seen her somewhere before, but I couldn’t remember where. There’s something about the way she moves,” I said absently.
    John Hyatt squinted his eyes like he was trying to read between the lines and see what I was really saying, but I smiled at him guilelessly and his expression smoothed out.
    “So when the police showed me the surveillance tapes and asked if I recognized anyone, I was able to point her out.”
    In reality, I hadn’t realized that the woman on the surveillance tapes was Loretta until I’d seen the photographs of her last night and the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.
    “And she wasn’t there alone.” I tried to look desperate and devastated and figured I was pulling it off when he took a hanky out of his pocket and gave it to me to dry my tears. “I’m embarrassed to say this, but she was with Greg Nelson.”
    “Your ex-fiancé?”
    “Yes, yes. So you can see why this is such an embarrassment. Don’t you understand what this means?”
    John Hyatt shook his head slowly.
    “It means that my principal caught them there together doing things that could ruin both of them in a small town like this one, and so when he got up to leave Loretta followed him and killed him in the parking lot.”
    John was looking at me like a child and shaking his head. “Addison, that is hardly conclusive evidence of murder. It co uld just as easily have been Greg.”
    “But now he’s dead too.” I decided now was where I should start to lie a little. “When I identified Loretta as your estate manager the police put her under surveillance. They asked Mr. Mooney next door to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I happened to be with the detective in charge when Mr. Mooney called him and said he had important information, but Mr. Mooney was killed before we could speak to him. It’s obvious Loretta didn’t want him telling her secrets. I can only imagine what it was he wanted to share.”
    John Hyatt looked a little green around the gills. He was staring off into the