Free Wedding Cake Killer by Livia J. Washburn

a part of her brain wondered why she would be surprised. Hadn’t murder seemed to follow her around for the past several years? It was as if some cosmic switch had been flipped, and after leading a nice, normal existence for more than six decades, suddenly she was cursed to find herself dealing with violent, unexpected death on a regular basis.
    That grim thought occupied her for only a fraction of a second. Then she asked the questions that were really uppermost in her mind.
    “Where is Eve? Does she know?”
    Mike took another deep breath, and Phyllis steeled herself for another answer she didn’t think she was going to like.
    “We don’t know where Eve is,” he said.
    “Oh, my God,” Carolyn said, her voice cracking from the strain she was under. “She’s been kidnapped! The murderer kidnapped her!”
    “There’s no evidence of that,” Mike said with a shake of his head. “In fact, right now . . . right now I guess you’d say she’s considered a person of interest.”
    “A suspect, you mean,” Sam said.
    “That’s crazy!” Phyllis burst out.
    Mike lifted both hands and patted at the air. “No, that’s not it, exactly. I wouldn’t say that she’s a suspect. She’s just somebody that we want to talk to.”
    “Have you issued an arrest warrant for her?” Carolyn asked, and her words were jagged with anger now. “I know how quick you people are to arrest people who are innocent!”
    That “you people” comment wasn’t fair to Mike, Phyllis thought, but she could understand why Carolyn felt that way. Several years earlier, Carolyn herself had been suspected of murder, and she had never forgiven the authorities for that.
    To get Carolyn off that track, Phyllis asked, “What about the people who own the bed-and-breakfast, Jan and Pete Delaney? Have they been questioned?”
    Mike nodded. “Jan Delaney was the one who found the body.”
    A little shudder went through Phyllis at the way Mike said
the body
instead of using Roy’s name. But that was his training, she supposed. Roy’s death was a murder case now, and that’s how he had to regard it. He had put aside any personal feelings he might have.
    “I suppose Mrs. Delaney and her husband have both been questioned by now, and any other people who were in the house at the time,” Mike went on. “I don’t know that for sure. I haven’t been on the scene. When I heard that a unit was going to be sent here, I asked for the job. I don’t think Sheriff Haney much wanted to give it to me, but I guess he decided it would be all right.”
    “Wait a minute,” Sam said. “You came here lookin’ for Eve, didn’t you?”
    “I knew it!” Carolyn said. “You’re going to arrest her!”
    Phyllis could tell that Mike was getting annoyed. She said, “Eve’s not here.”
    Mike nodded. “I know that. I could tell by the way you reacted, so I didn’t figure there was any point in even asking. I’d already found out what I needed to know. But now I have to tell you . . . if you see her or hear from her, you need to tell her to come to the sheriff’s department and ask to speak to the investigators in charge of the case.”
    “Turn herself in, you mean,” Carolyn said.
    “Look, Mrs. Wilbarger, this isn’t any easier for me than it is for you.”
    Normally Phyllis might have said something to Mike about speaking to Carolyn in that tone of voice, but she understood why he was upset. Eve had been one of his English teachers in high school, and since she had moved in here, she’d become almost like a member of the family. To him this was like having one of his aunts suspected of murder.
    “What else can you tell us?” she asked.
    He looked even more uncomfortable as he said, “That’s it. Just tell Mrs. Turner . . . I mean, Mrs. Porter . . . to come talk to us if you see her.”
    “You sounded mighty sure it was murder,” Sam said. “How’d Roy die?”
    Mike shook his head. “I can’t go into any details.”
    “You can’t