Read Daisies for Innocence for Free Online Page B

having this discussion huddled in the corner of the garden.
    Lang didn’t seem to notice. “Did you hear or see anything suspicious?” he asked.
    “No.” My throat closed over the word.
Had I slept through her murder?
    “Did the victim visit you last evening?”
    “No.” I tried to regroup. “The last time I saw Josie was early yesterday afternoon. I left her tending the shop while I ran errands.”
After she told me she was dating Harris. And I didn’t actually run a single errand.
“She was gone by the time I got back. Had probably already started her shift at the Roux Grill.”
    Garcia broke in. “I like that place. Best steak tips I’ve ever eaten. It’s your ex-husband’s restaurant now, right? You mentioned that Ms. Overland worked for him, too?”
    “She sure did,” Lang answered for me. Something about the way he said it told me that he knew Harris had been dating “the victim.”
    Garcia spared him a quick look, but her face remained impassive. “It must have been an amicable divorce.”
    Lang snorted.
    I chose to ignore that. “Josie works . . . worked Mondays and Tuesdays at Scents and Nonsense, as well as the occasional hour here and there when I needed extra help. She’d tended bar at the Roux Grill for a couple of years. She was good at it, too—cheerful, efficient, handled the occasional obnoxious customer with a deft hand. She also cleaned houses, and sometimes she’d sell one of her photographs. You know how hard it is to make a living in Poppyville year round.” Without warning, I felt tears threaten.
    No. No crying. Not now.
    I straightened my shoulders again. “How can I help you find who did that to her?”
    Max Lang gave me a wry look. “I think we can handle it. Besides, you’re a suspect.”
    I felt the blood drain from my face. “A . . . ? But why would I . . . ?”
    He smiled at me. It wasn’t a very nice smile. “She was killed on your property, and you don’t seem to have a very good explanation for that.”
    “But she was on the boardwalk,” I said. “Which is technically part of my property, but still a public area.”
    “Then why was her foot caught in your gate?” he asked with slightly raised eyebrows. I bit my lip.
    Garcia looked up from her notebook. “Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to harm Ms. Overland?”
    “I . . . I can’t think of anyone,” I stammered. “I didn’t really know her all that well, though.”
    Lang’s gaze sharpened.
    “We didn’t socialize,” I clarified.
    “All right, then. We’ll be in touch if we have more questions,” Garcia said.
    Lang started to say something, but when his partner touched his arm he stopped, looked down at her, and nodded. “Right. We’ll be in touch,” he repeated.
    They turned to go. The muscles in my neck began to unclench, but then Detective Lang stopped. “Oh, and Ellie? Don’t leave Poppyville for the next few days.”
    “Why would I leave?” I infused the words with all the innocence I felt and then some.
    “Just don’t, okay?”
    “Okay.” I hated how timid I sounded.
    He strode away. Detective Garcia reached into the pocket of her blazer and retrieved a business card. She handed it to me. “Call me if you think of anything else.”
    Glancing down at the number, I wondered—if Lang was the bad cop, was Garcia the good one? I was disconcerted to realize I couldn’t tell. Usually, I was pretty good at reading people.
    I nodded. “I will.”
    She leaned toward me and said in a low voice, “Well, I think they’re cute.”
    I blinked. “What?”
    “Your pajamas.” A smile flitted across her face, and she turned to follow Lang.

CHAPTER 5

    I T took hours for everyone to finish up. When they finally left, yellow police tape looped around a section of the boardwalk in front of the store. I had no idea what they were trying to preserve, since so many people had been all over the area. Back in the Enchanted Garden, the air smelled like lavender because