Free Spoilt by Joanne Ellis Page B

moved onto the next one. She comes in
here quite a bit. I think her name is Lindsay.”
    “ You don’t think it’s strange that your boss chats up these
women, they then go missing and then they turn up dead?” Lucas
asked in a probing tone.
    “ Well, no, because they weren’t the only three he’s ever
flirted with. Like I said, he’s a player.”
    “ It didn’t bother you, working with him after he dumped you?”
Maggie said.
    “ No, he was good, if you know what I mean.” She grinned. “I
had fun. That was all it was for both of us anyway. All I’m saying
is if you got too attached to him, you might get hurt.”
    “ Is he here?”
    “ He was running errands. He should be back by now. I’ll check
the kitchen. He cooks our baked goods,” she said, getting up. “You
won’t tell him I told you all that stuff will you?” she asked
looking concerned.
    “ No, Laura, we won’t,” Maggie said. “You have been really
helpful, thanks.”
    “ You’re welcome. So sad. Hope you catch him.” She smiled
slightly and wondered off to find her boss.
    Maggie looked at Lucas.
    Baked goods? Flour!
    “ What do you think?” she said.
    “ I think I’m very interested to hear what Adrian has to
say.”
    Across the room, a tall guy, a couple inches shorter than
Lucas, with straight blonde hair, blue eyes and boy next door good
looks, came out from the back of the café and walked towards the
detectives.
    “ Hey, I’m Adrian Matthews. Laura told me you wanted to talk to
me.”
    “ Yes, I’m Detective Hudson and this is Detective Johnson and
we’re investigating the murders of three women. We would like to
ask you a few questions.”
    “ I don’t know how I can help you, but I’ll try,” he said,
flashing his boyish smile.
    “ Are you the owner here?”
    “ Yes, but what does this have to do with me?”
    “ Do you know any of these women?” He pointed to the photos on
the table.
    “ Yes, they all come in here.”
    “ They’re all dead, Mr Matthews,” Maggie said.
    “ Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, the smile disappearing
very suddenly. “They were nice girls.”
    “ Did you have a relationship with any of them?”
    “ I went out with Elle a few times but it didn’t work
out.”
    “ What about Libby and Kate?”
    “ Are those their names?” He gave them a smug grin. “No, but
not for lack of trying.”
    “ Do you know a girl by the name of Lindsay?” Lucas
asked.
    “ Yeah, she’s a hot one that one. I asked her out a few days
ago and she said she would let me know, but I haven’t seen her
since.”
    “ Do you ask a lot of your customers out?’
    “ Perks of the job.” He grinned again.
    “ You don’t think it’s strange that three women you went out
with or tried to go out with have gone missing and then been found
dead?”
    “ No, a lot of women come in here and I go out with quite a few
of them, or try to,” he said giving Lucas a disconcerting look.
“There are a lot of regular male customers that come in here
too.”
    “ Would you consider letting us give you a DNA test?” Maggie
asked.
    “ Um, no, I wouldn’t. I don’t like what you’re insinuating,
Detective.” His face grew fierce. “I have work to do.” He got up to
leave.
    “ Mr Matthews,” Maggie said carefully, “the test would rule you
out as a person of interest. It’s only because you knew all the
girls.”
    “ You don’t need to rule me out because I didn’t do
anything.”
    He started to walk off again.
    “ Matthews,” Lucas called after him. He turned his head and
looked at Lucas. “Do you do the cooking here?”
    “ Yeah, some of it. I bake the cakes and quiche, things like
that. What has that got to do with anything?”
    “ So you would use a lot of flour then?
    “ Yes. Why are you asking me these stupid
questions?”
    “ Just routine. Thanks for your time.”
    Adrian disappeared into the kitchen again.
    “ I want to test this guy, Maggie.”
    “ I know. Me too. Do we have enough