Pet Psychic Mysteries Boxset Books 5-8 (Magic Market Mysteries Book 2) by Erin Johnson (reading diary .TXT) 📗

Avery Ann was talking with another lady when we walked up. The woman murmured something in her ear, then moved away. The young assistant spun to face us, her curly ponytail bobbing behind her, and her huge eyes grew even wider.

“Oh! Officers.” She blinked and hugged the clipboard tighter to her chest. “You’re done upstairs with Ralph?”

Peter nodded.

“Oh, okay then.” She flashed him a shy smile. “Then I’ll just hop up there and see if he needs anything.”

Peter sidestepped and blocked her way. “Actually, Miss—?”

She waved a hand and flashed a bright smile. “Oh—everyone just calls me Avery Ann.”

Peter nodded. “Alright. Well, Avery Ann, we’d actually like to ask you a few questions.” He turned to me, brows raised.

I nodded and stepped forward as she looked wide-eyed from Peter to me.

“You—you want to ask me questions?” She touched her fingertips to her collarbone.

I nodded. “We understand that you recently accompanied Ralph Litt on a trip to the Mediterranean?”

She drew herself up taller, shoulders back, chin up—the picture of good posture. “Yes. I was one of about thirty Potent Potions employees and independent consultants chosen to attend a work-sponsored event about two weeks ago.” She gave a self-satisfied nod.

Peter and I exchanged looks—guess he forgot to ignore me that time. She’d just sounded so rehearsed. Something was definitely up here.

Peter stepped in. “Where were you earlier this evening when Pearl Litt collapsed on stage?”

Her throat bobbed, and she took a few quick, shallow breaths. “I work as an assistant for Pearl and Ralph. I was helping coordinate speeches and was standing to the side, ready to cue Opal Whitaker up next.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And what do you do on a normal day for the Litts?”

“I’m their executive assistant—I do administration.”

The girl was nervous—that much was obvious—but was it just normal nerves about speaking to the police or was it because she was our killer? I bit my lip. As much as I’d have loved to catch the culprit and call it a night so this awful awkwardness with Peter could end, I had to admit I doubted Avery Ann was capable of plotting such a thing. Or of plotting anything, to be honest. The girl blinked her huge, vacant eyes at us—didn’t seem like a whole lot was going on inside that head.

Peter cleared his throat, and her attention snapped to him. “Did you handle the vial Pearl drank from?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Daisy wagged her tail. True.

I leaned into one hip. “Did you want her dead?”

She gasped. “No!”

Daisy growled. Lie.

I crossed my arms. So little miss doe eyes wasn’t quite as innocent as she seemed.

“My partner here says you’re lying.” Peter cocked a brow. “It’s a serious offense to lie to a police officer.”

Avery Ann’s eyes grew even bigger as her gaze darted around the room. She inched closer to us and lowered her voice so that she was barely audible over the murmur of the huge crowd. “I didn’t kill Pearl!”

We all three looked to Daisy, who wagged her tail. True.

Avery Ann’s shoulders sagged with relief, and she blew out a breath.

“Then why did you want her dead?” I thought I already had a pretty good idea and it had to do with wanting to be with Ralph—though I had to question the girl’s sanity if she was into that greasy orange older guy.

Her throat bobbed, and her voice stayed barely above a whisper so that Peter and I had to lean close to catch her words. Even Daisy’s big pointy ears swiveled her way.

“I didn’t want her dead—not really, anyway. It’s just—she pushed me! She was really hard on me.”

Daisy wagged her tail but let out a quiet bark. Partially true.

Maybe Pearl had suspected her husband of having an affair with Avery Ann and had been extra hard on the girl. Then again, she didn’t seem like the brightest spell in the book—maybe everything seemed hard to her.

“Did you tamper with the vial Pearl drank from in any way?” A line creased the space between Peter’s brows, and the bags under his eyes seemed even darker.

“No!” The assistant shook her head. “I didn’t even know Ralph had it on him.”

Peter narrowed his eyes. “So you never even touched that vial?”

Her chest heaved. “I’m telling you—no!”

Daisy, who stood between Peter and me, wagged her tail. Truth.

Peter nodded, his gaze far away and lost in thought. I turned to Avery Ann. “Look… were you and Ralph having an affair?”

She recoiled, aghast. “No! And… ew.”

Daisy wagged her tail. True.

I mean, I agreed with the sentiment—ew, indeed—but if they weren’t having an affair, what was going on with those two? I cleared my throat. “Okay. Do you know of anyone else who’d have wanted to hurt Pearl?”

“No.”

Daisy growled, and the girl huffed. “Fine. I just—it’s not right to speak ill of the dead, but…” She looked around and leaned even closer. “Pearl could be a difficult personality, and she and Ralph had recently made some policy changes that I, uh—” She pressed her eyes shut for a moment. “I heard rumors that some of our top sellers were unhappy.”

“Like who?” I turned my head and gazed out over the sea of thousands of ladies in white.

She shook her head. “I really can’t say.”

Peter let out a heavy sigh. “You’ll have to say if we bring you up to the station for questioning.”

The whites showed around her eyes before she winced and shook her head. “Fine! You didn’t hear this from me, but I’ve heard that Peyton Thornsbury is furious.” She jerked her chin, and Peter and I turned to follow her gaze.

A middle-aged redhead in a white maxi dress with huge black flowers all over it stood surrounded by a small group of fervently chatting women. She sipped from a straw, then said something, and the women around her all leaned closer, hanging on every word.

Peter turned back to Avery Ann. “Thank you for your help. We’ll be in touch.”

She nodded, then dipped her head and scurried