Free Death by Coffee by Alex Erickson Page B

she leaned forward. There was no playful gleam to her eye this time. “Do you have any sort of evidence that Regina Harper could possibly be involved in her son-in-law’s death?”
    “Well, no,” I said, feeling ashamed. Just because I had suspicions of my own, it didn’t mean I needed to throw a woman, whom I hardly knew, under the bus. “I was just adding to the conversation.” And maybe deflecting things away from me a bit, of course.
    Patricia grunted and sat back. “If she’d done it, I wouldn’t blame her. The guy was a no-good cheat. If I’d been married to him, I would have killed him myself.”
    No one seemed shocked by that. I was definitely getting the picture that Brendon Lawyer wasn’t popular around town. If he was as bad as everyone said, how did he ever get married in the first place?
    I thought back to my own failed relationship and took the question back. We all make mistakes.
    Thankfully, from there talk moved on to everyone’s writing. Rita and Andi both read from their latest works in progress. I smiled throughout each, though my ears tried to crawl into my head as they leapt from one cliché to the next. Georgina and Patricia passed. Adam mumbled something totally unintelligible before Lena read from something she’d written earlier that day. It was the only decent thing I’d heard all night.
    And then all eyes turned to me.
    “Sorry,” I said. “I have nothing.”
    Rita closed the meeting by thanking everyone for coming and then she turned to me with a hopeful smile.
    “Do you think he’d come if we asked?”
    “Who?”
    “Your dad.”
    I bit my lip. “Doubt it,” I said. “He’s pretty busy right now.”
    Rita only nodded before grasping my hand. “I do hope you come again,” she said. “And please bring something to read next time. I’d love to hear what kind of story you might come up with.”
    What I really wanted to do was run far, far away; instead, I gave her a smile and said, “I will.” She let go of my hand and went to talk to Georgina and Andi.
    Adam and Lena had already escaped by then and I was about to make my own way out when Patricia stopped me with a firm hand on my elbow.
    “I want to speak with you a moment,” she whispered harshly into my ear before walking off.
    Oh, crap, I thought. Could she actually think I had anything to do with Brendon’s death? Was I about to be interrogated, all because my coffee was involved? Or could it be because I’d brought up Regina Harper when I really shouldn’t have?
    I followed Patricia reluctantly down the hall, into a smaller room than the one we’d just left. A long table was surrounded by short-backed computer chairs. They were the only things in the tiny space. Obviously, it was some sort of conference room.
    She waited for me to enter and then closed the door behind me. She turned and looked me up and down, inspecting me like I imagined a highly trained policewoman would do when trying to determine whether or not someone could be a suspect. It went on for so long, I started to fear she was reaching all of the wrong conclusions. Hadn’t I read something about how cops would use silence to make criminals speak on their own, often letting something slip in their nervousness?
    Well, I wasn’t going to do that. I had nothing to be ashamed of. I didn’t kill Brendon Lawyer and I didn’t know who did.
    I crossed my arms and just stood there, bearing her inspection as stoically as I could manage.
    “You might do,” she said.
    “Excuse me?” That wasn’t what I’d expected her to say.
    “Are you married?”
    “Um, no . . . ?”
    “Seeing anyone?”
    “Not at the moment.”
    “Is there anyone special in your life at all that would interfere with you having a relationship?”
    “What are you asking me?”
    Patricia smiled. “My son,” she said. “He’s currently available.”
    “Oh.” My head was spinning. “I see.”
    “You might very well do.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling all kinds