Page 19 of Little Empty Promises

“Maybe not.When Cordelia was younger, she had a hobby of observing people.She’d jot things down that she saw or overheard in a notebook.”

“Interesting.”

“When you searched the house, did you find any notebooks or journals?Any notes she’d taken anywhere?”

“Nothing, and we were thorough in our search of her place.Looks like she’d given up her childhood habit.”

“What about notes she might have typed on a computer or another tech device?”

Foley shook his head.“We didn’t find a desktop or a laptop in the house.There was a tablet.It had a handful of eBooks downloaded onto it.Looked like the type of books men would read.My guess is the tablet belonged to Marlon.I took it he preferred reading digital books, while Cordelia preferred physical ones.There are stacks of them all throughout the house.We opened several of the books she had.All of them have book plates on the inside cover in Cordelia’s name.”

Sounded like Foley may be right: Cordelia had given up the hobby of eavesdropping altogether.

Or maybe she was still doing it, but she no longer wrote down her observations.

I liked the theory about Cordelia seeing or knowing something she shouldn’t have.It was a solid motive for murder that made sense to me.What didn’t make sense was the fact that Cordelia didn’t get out of the house much after Marlon died, making the odds she’d witnessed or overheard something she shouldn’t have slim at best.

“Did you hear what I just said?”Foley asked.

“Sorry, I was just running some theories in my mind.”

“Care to share?”

“I think we were on the right track the night the murder took place.The attack on Cordelia could have been a targeted one.It’s just, if she was a recluse after Marlon died, I don’t see her being involved in many situations where she had the chance to see or hear something she shouldn’t have.”

“Even so, it’s a theory I’d like to pursue.So far, I can’t figure out how to give it legs, you know?”

“This is why I like the idea of Claudette hiring my agency to look into her sister’s murder,” I said.“If we work together, sharing our information, I believe we’ll uncover what happened to Cordelia, and why, in no time.”

He looked at me, saying nothing for a moment.

“Hey, listen,” he said.“About my behavior when you first got here.I didn’t mean to get snippy with you.”

I guessed it was the closest thing I would get to an apology.

“We all have bad days,” I said.“I get it.I know I’m not always easy to deal with, but you deal with me anyway.”

“I want to talk to you about what’s going on.Believe me, I do.You and I, we’ve always been straight with each other.It’s just … I’m not supposed to say anything to anyone.”

“Not supposed to say anything about …?”

He breathed out a long sigh.“Your sister.”

My sister?

Now I wasn’t going anywhere until he told me everything.

“What about Phoebe?”I asked.

Foley and Phoebe had started dating two years before.Given he was the chief of police and was now part of the family had its advantages.

It also had its disadvantages.

When we first met, he hadn’t been keen on the two of us working the same investigations.At the time, he’d just been hired as a detective for the county, and the idea of a private investigator coming in and solving a case before he did didn’t go over well.Over time, we’d learned to work together, and I was certain his relationship with my sister played a role in it.

“Is there something about Phoebe I should know?”I asked.

He laced his hands behind his head, thinking.“If I tell you, she might kill me.”

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