Free Marty Ambrose - Mango Bay 01 - Peril in Paradise by Marty Ambrose Page B

likes to cause trouble. I just happen to be
the last person who ticked him off. And maybe I did because he’s got something to hide. Did you ever think of
that?”
    “Don’t tell me how to do my job. Everett will be
questioned as a possible suspect when I say so”
    “Are you kidding? He should be at the top of your
list.”
    “That’s for me to decide.”
    I took in a deep breath and tried to adopt a more conciliatory tone. “It seems to me that anyone as meantempered as Everett could’ve easily been pushed over
the edge to commit murder.”
    He weighed me with a critical squint and, gradually,
some of the anger faded from his face. “I can’t deny
that Everett lodges a lot of complaints about fellow
islanders.”
    “See what I mean?”
    “But you shouldn’t be bothering him in the first
place”
    “I was only asking him questions about Hillman for
my news story.”
    “You are technically still a suspect even though your alibi checked out, Ms. Monroe, and that means you
need to tread very carefully. If I think or get word that
you’re trying to manipulate information to your advantage, I’ll throw you in jail.”

    I swallowed hard. Jail. Yikes. That’s just what my
family needs to hear. Mixed-up Mallie has become a
no-account, down-and-out jailbird.
    “I won’t step over the line,” I promised.
    “See that you don’t.”
    “And why not? Sometimes lines need to be crossed”
Anita stood in the doorway of her office.
    Oh, no. And just when I’d calmed down Detective
Billie. Please, Anita, stay out of it. I silently offered up
a prayer to the saint of browbeaten journalists-the one
that must’ve protected Woodward and Bernstein during
the Watergate scandal.
    “Anita, I’m not going down this road with you,” Detective Billie transferred his glance to my boss.
Strangely, I’d swear admiration was lit in the depths of
his dark eyes. “You know what you can and can’t do
legally when it comes to a murder investigation.”
    “Yes, I do. We can question people who might have
comments about Hillman that we can use in our stories.”
    “I won’t tolerate interference in my job”
    “And I won’t tolerate your trying to censor freedom
of the press”
    Watching Anita’s leathery face set in stubborn lines,
I gave up on the prayers.

    The two of them looked like prizefighters squaring
off at their side of the ring. Not that they’d come to
blows, but the verbal punches packed quite a weight.
    “Questioning people for a story is different from
trying to get information about the murder out of them.”
Detective Billie landed a right jab to the side with
that one.
    Anita remained standing. “Interviewing people isn’t
against the law. And in the course of questioning them,
we can’t anticipate that everything they say won’t touch
on the murder,” she countered with her own effective
punch.
    “Revealing information that could tip off the murderer
could blow my whole investigation.” He landed a double
blow with that one.
    “Withholding information from the public could enable the murderer to strike again.” Anita went on the offense. “I’m sure that’s the last thing you’d want to
happen”
    “Are you questioning my ability to protect the people
of Coral Island?” He did a neat sidestep, but her last
punch had obviously winded him a bit.
    “Nope. But people need to know the truth” Anita
knew she had him on the run now and moved in for the
kill. “Then they can protect themselves.”
    “This kind of murder wasn’t a burglary or theft.
There’s no serial killer lurking in the palm fronds-and
to suggest there is could incite people on the island to panic unnecessarily.” Detective Billie managed to land
a verbal hit dead on target with that one.

    Anita turned silent. Detective Billie radiated triumph. I stood in awe. Sandy, of course, had missed the
entire match and, unfortunately, I hadn’t had the time
or forethought to videotape