Free A Killer Cake by Jessica Beck

lone
diner’s coffee cup, and then I asked her, “Can I get you anything
else?”
    The woman frowned a little, looked around at
the empty diner, and then she said, “You’re Victoria, aren’t
you?”
    “I am,” I said as I offered my hand. “And who
might you be?”
    “Someone who wants to talk to you in
private,” she said. I couldn’t get over how helpless she looked, as
though she needed someone bigger and stronger to take care of her.
“My name is Loretta Jenkins. I’m Roy Thompson’s illegitimate
daughter.”
     
    “You sure know how to start a conversation,”
I told her as I sat down across from her. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t
even realize that Roy had any children besides Asher.”
    “He didn’t have any that he ever claimed,
that’s for sure,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Loretta was a pretty woman in her early thirties, and knowing Roy,
her mother must have been a real beauty for her to come out looking
that good from that particular gene pool mix. Loretta had striking
brown eyes, and hair so black that it almost didn’t look natural.
She was petite, barely over five feet tall, and if she weighed a
hundred pounds soaking wet, I’d eat my raincoat.
    “Might I ask who your mother is?”
    “You may. And it’s was now. Momma’s name was
Honey Jenkins. She met Roy when he was sizing up some property he
was thinking about buying, and from the way she told it, their
attraction was nothing more than two lonely people getting together
for one night. When she got pregnant, she contacted him, but he
never got back to her. I didn’t find that last part out about until
last month after Momma passed away. I was going through her things,
and I found a rough draft of one of her letters to him. It was all
pretty sad, and I was wondering how to handle it when I found out
that Roy had been murdered.”
    “Loretta, how did you get the news that
quickly?” I asked her. “This all just happened this afternoon.”
    “Oddly enough, I was in town trying to decide
if I was ready to tell him about me when I heard that he died. I
guess I’ll never get the chance to get to know him now.”
    If it were true, it was one of the saddest
stories I’d ever heard in my life.
    “I’m sorry for your loss, but why tell me?” I
asked her.
    “I heard around town that you were digging
into his murder, and I didn’t want to talk to the police about my
connection with Roy if I didn’t have to.”
    “Why not? That would seem like the next
logical step for you to take,” I asked.
    “Well,” she said, suddenly not making eye
contact with me anymore. “I have a few issues with the police.
Nothing serious, just some outstanding parking tickets and things
like that. I was kind of hoping to avoid all that by talking to
you. Have you figured out who killed him yet?”
    “My grandfather and I are good, but it just
happened less than five hours ago,” I said. “These things take
time, and we’ve just gotten started. I’d ask you if you knew anyone
with a motive to kill your father, but from the sound of it, you
didn’t really even know the man.”
    “That’s true, but honestly, I might
have a motive. I wasn’t going to push it before, but now that he’s
gone, I’m going to make sure that I get my share of what’s coming
to me.” I must have looked surprised by her callous admission,
because she quickly followed that up with, “I never had a father,
just a series of my mom’s boyfriends. Roy Thompson can’t leave a
legacy behind in my heart, but he sure can make up for it in my
wallet.”
    Wow, and she’d struck me as such a quiet,
almost helpless woman at first glance. How quickly that had changed
once she opened her mouth and started talking.
    “Well, I have nothing to do with his estate,
and so far, I have no idea who might have killed him.”
    She nodded, slid a five under her plate, and
then stood. “If you come up with anything, I live in Laurel Landing
with my boyfriend.” She