Free Black and Blueberry Die (A Fresh-Baked Mystery Book 11) by Livia J. Washburn

out of the place.”
    “I’m sure you looked perfectly fine,” Phyllis said. “You’re a handsome young man, and you weren’t wearing...”
    “You mean I wasn’t wearing a jail jumpsuit then.” Danny chuckled. “No, but I usually had paint on my clothes. Hard to avoid it in my business.”
    “I suppose so.”
    One of the guards opened the door and said, “That’s it. Wrap it up.”
    “I need more time with my client,” D’Angelo protested, but Phyllis sensed he was doing it just out of habit, accustomed as he was to wrangling with the authorities.
    “You can come back another time, counselor,” the officer said.
    Danny said, “I hope you come back, too, Mrs. Newsom. It sure was good to see you and talk to you. You’ll say hey to Mike for me, won’t you?”
    “Of course.”
    Both guards came in and flanked Danny as he got to his feet.
    “And thank him for talking to you about my case,” he added. “I...I’m really counting on you.” He nodded to D’Angelo. “On both of you.”
    The guards led him out. D’Angelo folded back the sheets on the legal pad he had filled with notes while Phyllis and Danny were talking. They didn’t say anything to each other as they followed the corridors back to the lobby where Sam was waiting.
    As they stepped into the lobby, though, where there was a constant buzz of conversation and no one could eavesdrop on them easily, D’Angelo paused and said quietly, “A time or two there, I thought I saw a strange look on that boy’s face.”
    “I know,” Phyllis said. “I saw the same thing. He’s lying about something. We’re going to have to figure out what.”

Chapter 9

     
    Sam stood up as they came toward him. He asked, “Find out anything?”, then before either of them could answer, he went on, “I reckon it’d probably be better to talk about it somewhere else, though, wouldn’t it?”
    “That’s right,” D’Angelo said. He turned to Phyllis and added, “Let’s get together at my office this afternoon. Say, two o’clock?”
    “We’ll be there,” Phyllis said. “That will give me time to talk things over with Sam.” He was the most important sounding board she had.
    They left the jail, going different directions when they reached the sidewalk. Phyllis and Sam went back to the pickup. Sam drove down along the river as he headed toward the Interstate.
    Phyllis wasn’t able to reproduce the interview verbatim, but she came pretty close. Sam listened in attentive silence until she was finished, then said, “I didn’t see that Aurora girl myself, but you say she was pretty good-lookin’?”
    “Very attractive, as long as you don’t mind all the, well, odd things that young women do to themselves these days.”
    “And Danny sorta looked uneasy when you brought her up?”
    “He did. He also said he barely knew her. Do you think that means anything?”
    Sam shrugged. “When a young fella claims he hasn’t been payin’ any attention to a girl, it’s usually a sign that he’s noticed her, all right. Maybe more than just noticed.”
    “He’s eight or ten years older than her,” Phyllis pointed out. “Although I suppose that’s not really a huge age difference, is it?”
    “Not enough to rule out something goin’ on between ’em.”
    “But that’s just pure speculation, Sam, based on nothing more than a very brief reaction on Danny’s part.”
    “Sure. But it might explain why Aurora sulled up a little when you mentioned Roxanne. If she had her sights set on Danny, that’d make Roxanne the competition.”
    Phyllis frowned in thought as she looked out the window. They were on the freeway now, heading back through Arlington Heights toward the western part of Fort Worth, but Phyllis didn’t really see the heavily populated landscape passing by. She was thinking about the way Aurora had reacted when she asked about Roxanne, and Phyllis had to admit that Sam had a point. It could have been good old-fashioned jealousy because Aurora