Murder in the Marigolds by Dale Mayer (good books to read for 12 year olds txt) 📗

“Yep,” he said, “but you’ve got to expect that. I mean, Robin and I were an item.”

“Well, and they do say that the most common murderer is the spouse.”

“Well, in that case, that will be you and me,” he said, with a smile. “I never married her.”

“You didn’t think about it?”

“God no, she was a lawyer. You’ve got to watch those people.”

“And yet you were totally okay,” she said in wonder, “having an affair with her.”

He looked at her in surprise. “Of course,” he said. “One is just sheer fun. The other one is a duty.”

She winced at that. “Oh, so that’s how you look at it. Interesting.”

“Not a problem,” he said. “Though we did have fun in our time.”

“We did when we were young and stupid,” she said, with a smile.

“Absolutely.” And he smiled back at her. “I was going to invite you out for dinner.”

She stopped, not sure what to say. “Oh,” she said in wonder, offset by the invitation. What was he up to? “I just refilled my coffee.”

“Forget your coffee. We’ll go out for dinner.”

“I’m a little busy at the moment,” she said, wondering what to say because she knew Mack was on his way.

“That’s okay,” he said. “I can come back in a little bit.”

She climbed onto that idea. “That might be better,” she said. She looked at her watch, and it was already six. “How about in an hour?”

“Perfect,” he said, as he nonchalantly turned, walked down her front steps to the Jaguar.

“Nice car,” she said again. She remembered the days when she drove around in such class. There was just something so comfortable about having that level of a vehicle.

“You know I like to travel in style,” he said, with a big grin. “I’ll see you in an hour, maybe even an hour and a half. Which would be better?”

She considered it, shrugged, and said, “Maybe an hour and a half.”

“Okay,” he said. “In the meantime, I’ll just see what this town has to offer for a restaurant. Not sure there’s a whole lot.”

“Not sure there is either,” she muttered, as she watched him get in the vehicle and drive away. She should have told him to stay here with her. But then Mack would arrive, and who knew how that would turn out.

She’d barely reached the kitchen, when she heard Mack drive up. Sighing, and wondering what she was supposed to say to him, she walked back out the front door.

He stood there, staring down the driveway.

She winced. “You saw him, huh?”

He looked over at her, frowned, and said, “Yes. What did he want?”

“To take me out for dinner.”

His eyebrows shut up. “And are you going?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Mack just gave a nonchalant shrug. “Well, go, of course. I mean, after all, he is your husband.”

She glared at him. “Ex-husband, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, you’re separated, but you’re technically not divorced yet.”

“Why are you being difficult?” she asked. He glared at her. And then she got it. “You can’t be jealous, are you?”

His glare deepened. “I never said I was jealous,” he replied stiffly.

“Because I don’t want anything to do with him. You know that.”

“I don’t know that,” he said. “Having that lifestyle back again is pretty appealing.”

“Remember the gilded cage part?”

He glared at her.

“Look,” she said. “I just feel like he knows more and like he’s after something.”

At that, his anger turned to fury. “Are you serious?” he said. “Because that’s the last thing we want. If he is the killer,” he added, “that puts you in danger.”

“He would have someone else do his dirty work. And, when he wants something, he won’t be that obvious. I think he will just try to pump me for information.”

“Why would he think you have any?”

“I think it stems back to the fact that I spoke with Robin. I think he is afraid that she said something. I just don’t know what he’s afraid of.”

“Well, it’s got to be something to do with her murder case most likely, which means you could be in danger.”

“I’ll tell you what restaurant I’m at,” she said, with a smile, “and you could always sit there yourself.”

He laughed. “I just might.”

She grinned, happy that things were better between them. “I’ve got fresh coffee,” she said. “Come have a cup.”

“Well, I thought we were doing dinner,” he said, holding up the grocery bags.

She gasped and winced. “And I forgot,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

He looked down at the groceries, shrugged, and said, “Well, I guess we can do it another night. But it still leaves me not eating.”

“I wasn’t kidding,” she said. “I can tell you what restaurant we’re at. If you feel like I’m in any danger, you can always come keep an eye on me.”

“No, then he’ll know I’m stalking him.”

“Does that matter?” she asked. “Maybe it would keep him on his best behavior, if he thought you were there.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t know.” He looked a little disgruntled, as he walked over to the kitchen and put down the grocery bags.

“We did talk about dinner, and it completely slipped my mind when he just showed up like that.”

He just nodded.

“Not because I wanted to be with him,” she said in exasperation, hating that it looked like she chose Mathew over Mack. “But because it completely flummoxed me that he was back and so soon. And then all I could think about was that he wanted something, and I needed to know what that was.”

At that, he spun on her and said, “You get so involved in these cases, you never give a thought to your own safety.”

“No, I guess I don’t. You’re right,” she admitted; really that fear for her safety was his overarching emotion. “I generally don’t, which is why I end up getting hurt. I know. And, so far, you’ve been the one who’s come along and saved me every time. You have no idea how grateful I am.”

At that, he snorted.

She poured two cups of