Page 130 of Trouble Comes in Threes

“You’ve been in contact with her?”

“I told you I ran into her at Dena’s Bakery. I can’t help it if she wanted to chat with me and Neely Kate again.”

He groaned. “I don’t suppose you plan to tell me what she said.”

“Someone should have given her a real, respectful interview, and you doggone know it, Joe Simmons,” I said sternly. “Send someone who will actually listen to her and offer her some sympathy, and maybe she’ll talk to them.” Then I added, “But don’t go yourself. That’ll look too obvious. Just have someone tell her they realized they never got a proper interview with her. It’s still gonna look suspicious, but not as suspicious as if you go.”

“I’ll send Randy.”

“Good,” I said, feeling relieved. “She’s a sweet girl, and Harvey was the last family she had. She needs someone who’s gonna be sweet to her. Randy will be perfect.”

“Anything else I should know?” he asked, and again, I was grateful he didn’t sound pissed.

“Nothin’ I can tell you at the moment, but I think Randy talking to Darlene and acting like he really cares about her and her brother will get you headed in the right direction.”

“Do you know who killed Harvey Smith and the others?”

“Others? Are there more than three?”

“You didn’t answer the question,” he said.

“No,” I answered honestly, even though I had a suspect in mind. “I don’t know who killed them.”

“Hmm…” he said, then sighed. “I’ll send Randy to talk to her. Thanks for the tip.”

“Joe, before you go…”

He waited for me to continue.

“Do you have an ID on the third victim?”

“No, do you have one?”

“Maybe look for Hugo Dempsey.” Then I added, “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

I was prepared for him to be aggravated, but he simply said, “I love you.”

“You’re not gonna ask me how I know that?”

“Are you gonna tell me?” When I didn’t answer, he released a soft chuckle. “That’s what I figured. And if you got it from Harvey Smith’s sister, then you weren’t interfering with our investigation, especially if Detective Wiseman really didn’t interview her. And,” he added, drawing out the word, “I trust you.”

I felt close to crying. “Thank you.”

“I love you, Rose. I hate when we fight.”

“I love you and hate when we fight too. Now solve those murders and come home to us.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

I hung up and went back into the kitchen. The kids were sitting around the table, eating yogurt, and each of them had one of the cookies we’d made the day before. They wanted to save the cupcakes so they could show Joe. Neely Kate got up from the table and met me by the entrance, lowering her voice so the kids couldn’t overhear us. “Everything okay? Did Joe say when he’d be home?”

“He’s still not sure,” I said, watching Liam smear his yogurt on his tray like he was finger painting. It was also all over his face and partially in his hair. “I told him we were just fine and not to worry about us. He’s going to have Randy go talk to Darlene.”

“You told him to do that?” Neely Kate asked in surprise.

I made a face and turned to look at her. “I may have pointed out that we talked to her, and she mentioned no one from the sheriff’s department had given her a proper interview.”

Neely Kate frowned. “It’s still going to look suspicious.”

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