Page 11 of Little Merry Murder

Once he’d pushed his ego to the side, I saw a different side of him, one he’d do well to show off more.

“It sounds like you’re carrying some guilt,” I said.

He gave a small shrug. “I guess I am.”

“Is some of it because of your affair with Nadia?”

“I suppose. Nadia was a fling. I never expected it to last.”

“Why not?”

“Relationships are hard and complicated, no matter how easy they seem at the start. I’m a simple guy with simple needs. Doubt I’ll ever get married again.”

And with that, my time was up.

“I have to go,” I said. “The two of us … we had a rocky start. But we got there in the end.”

“We sure did. Thanks for giving me another chance. Hey … ahh, before you go. What I said before about Claire being a good person. She was and all …”

“I sense abutcoming.”

“But there’s one thing you should know. I’m hoping it will help you find out what happened to her and why.”

“What’s that?”

He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t the only one cheating. I think she was too.”

CHAPTER 8

I couldn’t get my conversation with Owen out of my head. I’d been thinking about it all last night and this morning. I’d asked him if he knew the man with whom he suspected Claire was having an affair. He did not. I followed that question up with another, asking how he knew she’d cheated. He admitted he didn’t know, not for certain. He had suspicions, but he was sure his suspicions were right.

My first stop of the day was the local elementary school where Claire had worked. I arrived during their lunch break, hoping to chat with a few of the teachers. As I walked down the hall, I peered into classrooms, noting the posters and decorations on the walls. It brought me back to my childhood and memories of my youth.

I rounded the corner and found the break room. As I walked in, several people glanced in my direction, no doubt wondering who I was and why I was there.

A twentysomething woman, wearing a red turtleneck and black slacks, pulled her eyeglasses down past the bridge of her nose and smiled at me. “Are you new here? Or are you lost?”

“Not new, and I’m not lost, no. My name is Georgiana Germaine, and I am a private detective. I’ve been hired to investigate Claire Cooperson’s murder.”

There were gasps all around.

“I thought her husband did it,” Red Turtleneck said. “That’s what we all heard. He’s been arrested for her murder, hasn’t he?”

“The fact he was arrested doesn’t mean he killed her. It means he’s beensuspectedof killing her. That’s where I come in. Were any of you friends with Claire?”

Red Turtleneck looked around, giving others the chance to speak. When no one did, she said, “I never saw Claire outside of work, but yeah, I considered her a friend. I’m Holly, by the way.”

“And I’m Colin,” one of the men said.

I focused on the others, those who hadn’t said anything yet. “And the rest of you?”

Using his pointer finger, Colin made the introductions. “This is Ann, Bruce, and Teresa.”

Bruce and Teresa smiled and made eye contact.

Ann did not, making her my primary focus.

“Ann, did you know Claire well?” I asked.

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