investigator. Being observant was simply par for the course. He eyed Lynette. "What happened?"
She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and left a streak of mascara on the blue wool. "Darnell was wonderful. He treated me like gold"
I had to point out the obvious. "He was married"
Lynette looked at her fingers as they twiddled in her lap. "I know. I knew it wasn't right. But when you meet the person that's right for you, you just know."
I leaned forward. I'd always wondered if that was myth or not. "You just know when you meet that person? Really?"
Chad nudged me, breaking me from my fascination with her answer.
I cleared my throat and regained my focus. "Go on"
"We were going to move to Vegas. He was going to be the next big thing, the top tribute artist in the country."
Not bad. Eighty million Elvis impersonators, and he was the king. Pretty ambitious. "And you were going to be his Priscilla?"
"I would have followed him to Antarctica"
It would have been sweet, had the woman not been having an affair. "When were you supposed to move?"
"Today"
I bit down, not wanting to feel sorry for the woman. Regardless, I did feel a surge of compassion as she wiped away tears. Poor sweater. I glanced around for a tissue before drawing in a deep, nonjudgmental breath. "Lynette, do you have any idea who might have killed your ... boyfriend?"
Her eyes cut straight to mine, all sadness erased. "His wife. She couldn't stand that he was cheating on her"
"Did he ever mention anything about her? That he was afraid she might hurt him?"
She shook her head, back to being solemn. "No. He would have never spoken ill of her"
I stood and snapped my pad of paper shut. "We're almost finished here, but would you mind if I used your restroom? I have a sensitive stomach" I tried to look embarrassed as I said it.
"Second door on the right"
Was this the oldest trick in the history of snooping? Probably, because it worked. I bypassed the bathroom and tiptoed down the hallway. The first room was painted brown and blue. Nothing remarkable there. Just a spare bedroom, it appeared.
The next room had a lacy white bedspread and matching curtains. Very Victorian. Probably the master bedroom.
Lynette seemed so normal except for her bad taste-in fashion and in men. My gut told me she wasn't guilty.
There was one more door on the hallway. Another bedroom? Just to be sure, I pushed the door open.
I gasped at what I saw inside. The room was wallpapered with pictures of Elvis-not the real Elvis, the fake one. The dead one. Well, they were both dead, but the most recently dead one.
A mannequin in the corner wore an Elvis outfit. A model of a pink Cadillac remained parked on a table. A handkerchief rested in a glass encasement.
Was this woman really dating Darnell? Or was she delusional?
"I'M TELLING you, that woman was obsessed with Darnell"
Chad threw his hands in the air and off the steering wheel as he drove down the road. "They were dating. She was his manager and the president of his fan club. It's not that unusual"
I waved my finger in the air, wanting to make my point and to make it clearly. "You didn't see the room. It was a shrine"
His hands went back to the wheel. "She was, like, mad crazy about him"
I rolled my eyes. "When you're, like, mad crazy about a girlfriend, do you decorate an entire room with all of her things?"
He shrugged. "No"
"Okay then"
"It doesn't make her a killer"
"It gives her motive"
"What?"
"What if Darnell decided to stay with his wife? What if, in anger, Lynette decided to off Darnell for breaking her heart? You know, one of those `if I can't have him, no one can' kind of things"
"It's cliche. Besides, Lynette would have had to drag him under the house. She's too small to have done that"
Point taken. I never did find out if Darnell was at that house because of a job or if it was random. That would be next on my list of things to investigate.
I thought of Lynette Lewis for the rest of the drive
Tianna Xander, Bonnie Rose Leigh