Page 66 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
“Did we scare you?”
She blushed when they all laughed.“I’m newly married.I’d say I’m shocked more than anything.I didn’t realize couples did such—things.”
“Oh, honey, stick around.We’ll teach you how to please that new husband of yours in no time.”
The laughter erupted again.As curious as she was, she didn’t have time for lessons in seduction.“Thanks,” she said.“But I really need to know if you remember anything about Edwin’s appearance that can prove the man at the undertakers isn’t him.Did he have any birthmarks anyone can remember?Or distinct features?”
“He liked to shave his cock hairs off.”
Laughter filled the room again when someone said, “He thought it made his Willie look longer.”
“Well, I’m not sure how useful that is.Any number of men may do that.It doesn’t prove anything.Besides, it could have grown back by now.”
They all start throwing out ideas again, most of them more comical than anything.She’d been told most of her life to not mix company with undesirable women but she had to admit, she hadn’t laughed so much in longer than she could remember.
“He has a freckle!”Everyone stilled when a blonde pipped up.She grinned and said, “Near the base of his pecker, he has a freckle or mole or something.I saw it once right after he’d shaved his pubes off.”
A tiny girl with dark hair nodded her head.“Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I remember seeing that too.”
Violet listened to them confirm the freckle, and she thanked them for their time.It wasn’t much to go on, but it was better than nothing.
They left the saloon, Bonnie telling her she needed to get back to check on Archie, and she said her goodbyes before heading back to the jail.One of the men that had come with the sheriff to take Josiah from the hotel was at the desk when she walked in.He barely gave her a glance before looking back down at whatever he was reading.
She hurried across the room to the cell they had Josiah in.He was still shirtless and his whiskers were starting to show.It was no wonder.It had been a long day so far, and she wasn’t even sure he’d shaved that morning.She’d left their room right after the sun rose in order to go talk to Edwin, so she hadn’t been there to see if he had.
“Violet, you don’t need to be here.”
“I know.”She gripped the bars and lowered her voice.“I saw Edwin’s body.”He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.“It's not him, Josiah.”
He paused a moment before saying, “What makes you think that?”
“Well, his face was pretty mangled, but his clothes don’t fit right.”
He raised an eyebrow at her before sighing.“You shouldn’t have looked at him like that, Violet.And I don’t think the man’s clothing not fitting is enough for the sheriff to drop murder charges against me.”
“Probably not, but I do have a lead.”She looked over her shoulder at the deputy before lowering her voice again.“Bonnie and I went to the saloon.”
He blinked.“You what?”
“We went to the saloon.”He opened his mouth to say something else, but she talked over him and blurted, “It seems as if Edwin was a regular and I may have a way of identifying him.”
“What way?”
She blushed before even opening her mouth.“Well, a few of the girls said he had a freckle.”
“A freckle?”He huffed out a laugh.“Most people have freckles.”He reached through the bars and ran the tip of his finger over her nose.
“Not that kind of freckle,” she grinned.“A freckle…down there.”She looked at his crotch.
He still, the corner of his mouth tilting up.“Down where?”
The gleam in his eye made her think he knew exactly what she meant, but wanted to hear her say it.
“Next to his—member.”
He threw his head back and laughed.“I’ve heard it called many things, but that's a new one on me.”
She grinned and gripped the bars.“He shaves—down there—and has a freckle.We just need to get someone to check for it and prove that isn’t Edwin and you’ll be out of here by nightfall.”
