Free Kitten Kaboodle (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 20) by Kathi Daley

have a clear view of the street. I didn’t notice her pass by. She missing?”
    “Not really, but she got some upsetting news and I want to make sure she’s okay. I guess you heard she was arrested for Edna Leech’s murder.”
    Wanda didn’t say anything, but her eyes got big. It seemed obvious this fact was news to her.
    “Salinger let her go because he didn’t have enough to hold her, but I’m pretty sure she’s the main suspect unless they track someone else down,” I added. “I don’t suppose you have any idea who might have wanted Edna dead?”
    Wanda furrowed her brow, stopped what she was doing, and looked at me with an expression of suspicion on her face. “Why would you think I would know? I barely knew the woman.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry. I saw Edna and Pete together a while back and I guess I just assumed Edna was a friend of the family.”
    I watched Wanda’s face as it turned bright red. She visibly fought for control before she spoke. “Pete was simply discussing a business deal with Edna. We aren’t personal friends, although if you ask me, the world is better off without the likes of Edna Leech in it. Still, I’m sorry to hear about Zak’s grandmother. If she’s innocent I’m sure things will get straightened out when they find the real killer.”
    “That’s what I’m counting on.” I lowered my voice, as if I was about to share a secret. “I heard the killer left some DNA on the shovel used to kill Edna. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until Nona is cleared.”
    Wanda frowned. “DNA?”
    I picked a piece of candy out of the dish on the counter and tried to appear disinterested and casual as I unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth. “I don’t have all the details, but it seems there was blood from two different people on the shovel: Edna’s and someone else’s. Salinger is assuming Edna fought back and the killer was injured.”
    I studied Wanda’s face as she processed this piece of information. She appeared to be interested but not panicked. Maybe she wasn’t the killer I was looking for. Of course if it got back to Salinger that I was making up fake evidence he’d be the one killing me. “Of course,” I added, “it may be that the whole story of the DNA is simply a rumor. You know how people like to make things up.”
    Wanda handed me my ticket and promised to call me when the dress was ready. It was obvious she no longer wanted to talk about the murder, and if her husband had been sleeping with Edna, she seemed to want to cover that up as well, but I wasn’t picking up the guilty vibe.
    I left the store and headed over to Pete’s insurance office to see if his reaction to my fake news was different from that of his wife. Maybe Pete was the bad guy. It could be that he was sleeping with Edna but had decided to break if off and she hadn’t taken it well. A love affair gone wrong had certainly been the motive for murder many times before.
    Pete Ferguson hadn’t always been an insurance salesman. When he and Wanda first moved to Ashton Falls he’d worked for the power company as a meter reader. Several years ago he was bitten by a dog while on duty, and he’d insisted he was unable to do his job as a result of the trauma he’d suffered. He’d sued the power company and was awarded a small settlement, which he used to open his own insurance office. Zak and I personally don’t buy our insurance from Pete, but he seemed to get by, so I could only assume there were others in the community who were willing to look past the fact that he tended to deal in fly-by-night insurers in order to take advantage of the cutthroat prices he was able to come up with.
    “Afternoon, Pete,” I greeted as Charlie and I walked into his office.
    “Surprised to see you here. Last time I talked to your old man he accused me of writing phony policies.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m not here about insurance.” I decided the direct approach might be my best option in this instance; Pete