Page 31 of Little Empty Promises

“It’s a shame, what happened to your neighbor,” I said.

Rosalyn glanced at Cordelia’s house then back at me.“I still can’t believe it.She was always so nice to me.”

Yeah, but were you always nice to her?

“How well did you know Cordelia?”I asked.

“We talked here and there when we saw each other, but she was on the quiet side.When we did talk, she kept the conversation brief.She seemed sad.I guess it’s because her husband died.”

“I heard you weren’t fond of her cat.”

Rosalyn cleared her throat, stunned to find out I’d heard about the conversation she’d had with Cordelia about the cat,ifit was about a cat.

“How did you know about?—”

“My sister is married to the chief of police,” I said.“I heard he stopped by to talk to you about an argument you had in your front yard some weeks back.”

“I wasn’t aware he’d told anyone about our conversation.”Rosalyn blushed, fluttering her eyelids.“It wasn’t a big deal.I just asked her if she could do a better job at keeping her cat from coming into my yard.”

Blushing was her first strike.

Fluttering her eyelids was her second.

Both were telltale signs that she was lying to me.

I considered pointing it out to her, but given we’d just started the main topic of conversation, I decided to wait and see what more I could get out of her first.

“When the conversation between you and Cordelia ended, I hear she started crying,” I said.

Rosalyn’s eyes darted back and forth.

Strike three.

She was about to be called out.

“I don’t … ahh, I don’t remember Cordelia crying,” she said.“She was a little upset, sure, but not to the point of shedding tears over it.We had a good conversation.When she left, everything was fine between us.I thought it was, at least.What makes you think she was crying?”

“During your conversation, my sister was parked right about where we’re standing right now.She witnessed the entire exchange.”

Rosalyn pressed a hand to her chest.“Gosh, she must have seen something I didn’t then.Maybe Cordelia started crying after I went back inside the house.I had no idea what I said had upset her so much.”

She hadsomeidea.

Of that, I was certain.

“If my sister said Cordelia was crying, she must have been,” I said.

“I … I don’t know what to say.”

It might have been the most honest thing she’d said so far.I’d backed her into a corner, something she hadn’t seen coming.The only way out was for her to tell the truth, and it was clear she wasn’t about to do that.

“Did you have any other conversations with Cordelia before she died?”I asked.

“A couple of small ones, I guess.”

“What did you talk about?”

She paused a moment and then said, “I don’t recall.Small talk, about the weather, or her garden, or the neighborhood, that kind of thing.”

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