Free Mug Shot by Caroline Fardig

Hollingsworth? You’re not a person of interest again, are you?”
    “Go to hell, Wolfe,” I barked, crossing my arms and sneering at him.
    He snapped a picture of me with his camera. “This should look fantastic on the front page. I’m thinking ‘Local Woman Finds Second Dead Body: Coincidence or Conspiracy?’ for the headline. What do you think?”
    I narrowed my eyes at him. “I think you’re a jackass, but you already know that.”
    Wolfe smiled his smarmy smile at me. “Ah, and you’re still bitchy and unwilling to cooperate.”
    Stan just stood there and watched our exchange, dumbfounded. My knight in shining armor, he was not. The last time Don Wolfe called me a bitch, Ryder physically threw him out of Java Jive.
    “Yep, I am,” I replied, feeling the overwhelming need to get the hell away from the little creep. Turning to Stan, I said, “I’m sorry to leave you like this, but I need to go. Will you be okay?”
    He sighed. “It’s going to be a rough day, and I should probably get home to Mother. We’ll talk soon.”
    After giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, I took off across the lawn to get as far away from Don Wolfe as possible.
    As I was shivering in the cold and impatiently waiting for Pete to finish talking to Cromwell, Ryder came up to me. “You look upset,” he said, studying my face. “Cromwell in a foul mood today?”
    Shaking my head, I replied, “No, he was actually nice for once. I just got accosted by Don Wolfe.”
    “Bet that was fun.” He nodded with his chin in Stan’s direction. “I’m more worried about you hanging out with Stan Hollingsworth. Looks to me like you two are still an item.”
    “It’s complicated. I…” I looked away, at a loss for how to express what I was thinking.
    “Something’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours. What is it?”
    I shrugged. “Just a weird feeling. I probably shouldn’t say anything.”
    “You know you can tell me anything,” he said kindly.
    Even more off-putting than Stan’s indifference was Ryder’s gentleness. I didn’t exactly know how to respond.
    He took my hand. “I can see you’re struggling with this. Tell me.”
    At his touch, goosebumps shot up my arm. With everything going on today, I didn’t need to add having amorous feelings about Ryder to my list of issues. I reluctantly pulled my hand away. “It’s only that Stan was acting really strange just now, asking me all kinds of questions about what’s going on. He seemed almost unaffected by the fact that his sister was murdered. It bothered me.”
    “Why, do you think he’s hiding something and should be questioned?”
    “Well, no…maybe…I don’t know…”
    Ryder’s face didn’t show any emotion, but I could have sworn I saw a twinkle in his eye. “You realize the MNPD is not going to question someone on the basis that
you
think he’s ‘acting really strange,’ Scooby.”
    I knew his nice-guy act couldn’t last long. “Oh, great. You’re an asshole again. I had missed that.”
    The corner of his mouth turned up. “And I had missed being able to get you all hot and bothered,” he said as he ambled away.
    Savannah came walking over, her shoulders slumped and eyes red from crying. I hurried to her and gave her a hug, and she let out a sob. Patting her back, I said, “I’m so sorry about Cecilia. I know you two were friends.”
    After a moment, she stepped back and wiped her eyes. “Oh, it’s all so surreal. She was so full of life and energy yesterday when we were rushing around making all the last-minute preparations, and today she’s…she’s just…
gone
.” Savannah started quietly weeping again, and I put an arm around her to comfort her. She added, “And I can’t…I can’t help feeling sad that she worked so hard to put this event together…and now…and now she won’t get to see all of the
good
she did.”
    That was true. For as obnoxious as Cecilia had been lately, I had never seen her so passionate about