LITMIR.BIZ

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in a clean home.

      An hour later, with the last section of shower tile shining a gleaming white, a heavy pounding on the front door jarred Darby from her thoughts and the throbbing strains of pop music that played through her earbuds. The addition of Penny’s barking had her peeling off her rubber gloves and dropping everything into the tub to go see who was at the door.

      “Penny!” The dog had her nose pressed to the floor in front of the door, a low growl emanating from deep in her throat.

      The pounding kicked up again and without the earbuds Darby had no trouble making out who was knocking. The high-pitched screech gave it away even before Darby pulled aside the small panel curtain that hid the glass beside the door.

      Hayley Patton.

      “Darby Gage, you let me in!”

      Although it had been a few years since she’d lived with Bo and Penny, Darby hadn’t forgotten her training skills or the way Bo had taught her to manage the dog. She used the required instructions to order Penny away from the door, satisfied when she took up her post a few feet back, blocking the small hallway entrance into the main living area of the house.

      The uncontrolled barking was odd, but not unexpected. For all her skill with dogs as a trainer at the K-9 training center, Hayley had a worse relationship with Penny than Darby did. Whether there was something about the woman that disturbed Penny or just the pure knowledge that Hayley was a jerk, Darby didn’t know. But nothing changed the fact that the two of them did not get along.

      She didn’t like another woman in her territory?

      The conversation that had haunted her throughout the weekend popped up once more, the chief’s question ringing in her ears. Did Penny resent Hayley’s place in Bo’s life? Was that the root of her upset? Or was it possible there was something more?

      Hayley had been playing the grieving fiancée to the hilt and while it pained Darby to think otherwise, was it possible the woman was responsible for Bo’s death? She knew it was beyond unkind—the woman had lost her fiancée the night before the wedding—but something about Hayley had always run false to her.

      Yet thinking Hayley had a hand in Bo’s death seemed far-fetched. Especially now that there had been a second murder—one that had nothing to do with Hayley.

      Dismissing the thought, Darby opened the door. Arm raised, Hayley had clearly been preparing to emit another round of pounding. The motion was enough to have her stumbling through the door on one high-heeled boot. Darby caught her, along with a whiff of heavy perfume and the knowledge that Bo had moved on to something bigger and better in the high, tight breasts that even now pressed against Darby’s chest.

      “Let go of me!” Hayley twisted out of the hold and quickly regained her feet. Penny let out another low growl, only to be on the receiving end of a trademark Hayley Patton eye roll. “Enough already! You know me!”

      Penny dropped her head on her paws, as if acknowledging the truth of Hayley’s statement, but kept her gaze firmly on her nemesis.

      “What do you want, Hayley?”

      “Nice welcome, Darb. You’ve gotten awful bossy since moving in to Bo’s house.”

      “It’s my house now.”

      “One you don’t deserve,” Hayley snapped.

      Since the house was old and shabby and, up until the thorough cleaning had been as much of a physical mess as its meager finances, Darby toyed briefly with snapping a leash on Penny, tossing Hayley the keys and breezing right on out the door. Since that fantasy was easier than the reality of just walking out, Darby opted to play along to see what the woman wanted.

      “Then maybe you and Bo should have talked about something important leading up to your wedding, like wills and finances.”

      “How dare you bring up something so crass and cold? I loved my Bow-tie.”

      Darby avoided making her mental eye roll a real one at the childish nickname and tried to summon up her cool. “I’m not suggesting you didn’t. But you obviously didn’t discuss your future if you’re mad at me.”

      “I loved him and I thought he loved me. How did I even know he had a will? What twenty-nine-year-old has a will?”

      A smart one, Darby thought. She’d made hers the moment she’d turned twenty-one and kept it in a lockbox with her other personal papers. “Well, Bo did.”

      “It’s like tempting fate.” Hayley shivered before her big blue eyes widened so far it was practically comical. “Do you think that’s why he’s dead?”

      “I doubt it.”

      “Why not?”

      “Bo’s dead because someone put a bullet in his heart. I don’t think a will had anything to do with it.”

      The sneer Hayley had carried through the door faded at the harsh image Darby had painted. “I’m well aware of what happened to him.”

      “Are you also aware, then, that Michael Hayden was killed on Friday night?”

      “The police have already been by to question me about it.”

      “They don’t think you did it, do they?”

      “Chief Colton says he’s ruling out my involvement but I’m not so sure about that. He questioned me for a long time about Michael. Bo, too, on the night it happened.”

      Although Darby wanted to bite her tongue at the ready defense, it sprang to her lips all the same. “He’s being thorough.”

      “Well, he should be looking at the real killer.”

      “You think you know who that is?” Darby didn’t think anyone beside Demi Colton had been formally announced as a suspect, especially since the chief had visited on Saturday asking questions. She’d also been head down in trying to fix her life, so it was equally possible things had progressed and she was unaware.

      “His cousin, of course. Demi Colton had a thing for my Bow-tie and I know she’s the one who did it.”

      She’d heard the rumors about Demi Colton—that she’d been jilted by Bo for Hayley after only a one-week engagement, and had put her work as a bounty hunter to good use to go after the fickle man. But somehow Darby couldn’t picture the woman as a murderess. Especially against Bo. She’d met Demi several times and the woman struck her as too smart, sharp and interesting to ever sacrifice her freedom over a man.

      “I don’t see it.”

      “Of course, you don’t. You’re too busy moving in to my house.”

      “Legal documents say otherwise.”

      “Which you’re clearly milking to your advantage.”

      Patience at an end, Darby dropped the polite veneer. “What are you doing here?”

      “I left a few things in Bow-tie’s closet.”

      Darby had seen “Bow-tie’s” closet and didn’t recall anything that would have fit Hayley, but she gestured toward the bedroom. “Be my guest. I’ve packed up most of Bo’s things to go to charity and I didn’t see anything that looked overtly feminine, but have a go at it.”

      “You packed up his things?”

      For the first time since the other woman’s arrival Darby felt a shot of something. Not warmth, exactly, but something that smacked decidedly of compassion. “Well, sure. I’d rather see someone get use out of it.”

      The moment shifted and the screeching began before Darby could even process what was happening. “His things are mine! You can’t have any of it!”

      * * *

      Finn heard the ruckus the moment he and Lotte got out of his police-issued SUV. The sound was a cross between a charging rhino and what he’d always imagined a “screaming banshee”

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