Free A Motor for Murder (Veronica Margreve Mysteries Book 1) by Valerie Murmel

the local paper, and from Paul, that George was well-acquainted with lawyers, – in fact, his father was one – so I was sure that he could have come up with some legal basis for the lawsuit. That must made for some uncomfortable times for Mr Moody. “What about any payments for the work?”
    “We paid 30% upfront, 40% a couple of months ago. The rest was due 2 weeks ago. George withheld 15% over that argument we had. But he should have paid out the rest by now.”
    Interesting – Kevin Moody had a motive to be disgruntled with the host. And 15% of the sum of that remodel would be very sizable, I thought.
    “Do you know whether that last payment was ever made?”
    Rita got out her phone, tapped on it, logged into her online banking app.
    “Yes, the payment was made on the 15 th .”
    “Who authorized it, or wrote the check?”
    More tapping on the phone. “George did.”
    “Where did you live before moving here? While the remodel was going on.”
    “We rented three bedroom condo downtown.”
    “And Roger also lived with you there?”
    “Not long. He moved here only 3 months ago. He left Stanford after the spring quarter. So he stayed with us at our old place for 2 months, and then we moved to the house. Why?”
    “I was just wondering about the timing of the death. Why now? What changed? And the house move was a big change in your life. Maybe it had something to do with the murder.” Rita suppressed a sob and looked around her like someone who had woken up from a deep sleep and didn't realize where she was. She looked as if the house itself terrified her at that moment, as if it itself was the killer.
    “Did a lot of people came over to visit when you lived in the rental?”
    Rita nodded.
    “When was the last big party you had?”
    “Oh about 2 months ago. Shortly after Roger moved in. Let me check.” She scrolled through her calendar on her phone. “Found it. June 25 th . After that, the remodel started taking up even more of our energy, and I didn’t feel like hosting anything for a while.”
    “Was it the same group of people?”
    “Pretty much. We invited the same people this time around, too. You weren’t at that last party, of course. “
    “Anyone who was invited and didn't come at that time?”
    She thought, then taped on her phone again, looking up guest acceptances.
    “Paul wasn’t there. And Stan couldn’t make it either. And Kevin Moody.”
    So if the murder was connected with parties – if the murderer was not a close friend or someone who had easy and regular access to the house, – then the motive arose some time in the last 2 months. Or, in the case of Paul and Stan, the motive may well be older – but still, something must have triggered the event.
    “When did you actually move into this house?”
    More tapping on the phone. “Three weeks ago.”
    “And people haven’t visited before last week?”
    “No, not really. John came by a couple of times. And of course Kevin has been here.” I mulled that over, but couldn't make a connection to why the murder happened when it did.
     
    I took another sip of my tea and decided to switch tracks.
    “What are the other reasons for the police to suspect you? Let's walk thought them.”
    “There’s the money: I inherit a lot of it. To me, the police almost seemed to imply that I married George for his money.”
    I was too polite to ask “Did you?”, so instead I put an outraged expression on my face.
    “Well, I could see their point. We hadn’t been married very long – just under 18 months. Before we got married, I was a poor grad student, trudging through my PhD. And he was already successful then.”
     
     
    Rita told me how they had met: she was recently single, waitressing at a swanky Seattle restaurant while in graduate school working on her PhD in 16th century Polish literature. He came in one night with a couple of people, and at the end of the night asked for her phone number “because she was beautiful”. She liked