Free Braking for Bodies by Duffy Brown Page B

they’re all looking for you too, and what the heck happened this time? You’re all banged up.”
    â€œI got pushed down the steps at the Grand Hotel while sneaking around and I thought the ice cream might help my lip. I could have used ice, but Nutty Buddy tastes better and you always have a stash. Want one?”
    I took a bite. “Why would someone push you down the steps?” The first bite of a Nutty Buddy was always the best when the frozen chocolate covered with nuts cracked and then melted in your mouth and all the problems of the world melted away too, at least for thirty seconds.
    â€œI’ve been asking a lot of questions.” Fiona took anibble of chocolate. “I’m thinking it’s a warning to back off, which if you think about it is a good thing. I’m getting close to the killer and making him nervous.”
    â€œI’m not sure about a nervous killer being a good thing.”
    â€œIt means I’m on the right trail, but what I don’t get is how in the world did I wind up a suspect in the Peep Show? I was careful, I hid in the bushes, no one saw me.”
    â€œAnd you’ve got a purple hat.” I took two licks to stop the ice cream from dripping, then pulled the hat off the workbench and handed it over. “This thing is like a neon sign. People at the Grand saw it last night when you were hiding out, and then I found it in Zo’s room, which was also Peep’s room. I know you didn’t kill Peep, but Idle Summers was nearly doing cartwheels across the Grand Hotel lobby this morning, and I’m pretty sure it has to do with Peepster being on a rolling rack in the refrigerator and not Raisin Bran. Got anything to add to this?”
    â€œI must have left the hat when I went looking for Peep’s cell phone in Zo’s room. One of the maids let me in and did lookout. I helped her pass high school algebra, so she owed me. Idle and I knew each other in L.A. Peep had stuff on her and was threatening to go public with it now that she’s doing really well on the club circuit. I told her to come here to Mackinac to get away from him, and we’d figure out what to do together.”
    â€œAs in knock him off?”
    â€œIt was on the list.”
    I bit my lip instead of the Nutty Buddy. “Ouch!”
    â€œHey, it was just a suggestion.” She expertly caught an escaped chunk of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. “The Grand’s always looking for name talent, and Idle has a dynamite voice. We got together last night before I met with Peep. Our plan was to talk to him, just talk and convince him to go away. I got nowhere. Peep wanted money and he wanted me to come back to L.A. and work for him on the
Scoop
or else . . .” Fiona let out a sigh and stopped eating her ice cream. “Or else he’d tell my parents about some of the more questionable ways I got info back in L.A. and blab about Idle’s checkered past. Neither was an option for either of us. I was so rattled when I left Peep the first time that I lost the yellow bag you gave me somewhere. I have no idea what I did with it, but someone sure found it and the olive oil and used it on Peep and now I’m duck soup.”
    â€œYou agreed to pay Peep?”
    â€œWhat if your parents found out you were a stripper, married and had kids?”
    Three customers chose that exact moment to come into the shop. Really? Now? With
kids
and
stripper
hanging in the balance? Why couldn’t they come in when Sutter was questioning me about something I didn’t want to tell him, or when Irma wanted to know about the wedding dress?
    I handed Fiona my cone and she hustled off for the kitchen. In a sweat over the last bit of Fiona’s news, Isomehow managed to rent the pink, purple and white lilac bikes for the week, then took a call for the New York Yankees bike to be delivered up to the Grand by three.
    Fiona stuck her head out. “Is it