Free Death Rides the Surf (A Kate Kennedy Mystery Book 5) by Noreen Wald Page B

Kate.” Self-assured. Not the least bit shaky. “This Tyler investigation is mushrooming. I’d prefer Katharine come to my office.” He hesitated, then added, “Can you be here at twelve thirty?” Phrased as a request, but more like a command.
    “We’ll be there,” Kate said, then hung up, and whirled around to face her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. “Get dressed, Jennifer. Katharine’s due at the police station in an hour.” She glanced at the uneaten bagels. “We should try to eat something. And if we don’t want to be late we need to leave here by noon. It’s almost the off-season and the bridge is up more than it’s down.”
    Jennifer bit her lip. “Does Katharine need an alibi?”
    “Why, are you thinking about lying to protect me, Mom? Or would providing me with an alibi cover both our butts?”
    Kate sighed. It should be a fun ride across the Neptune Boulevard Bridge to Palmetto Beach Police headquarters.

Eighteen

      
    Be careful what you lie about, Marlene thought, or your scenario might come true and bite you in the behind.
    Annette, the aging hippie, had planned a sit-in and, believing Marlene to be one of the NOW volunteers, expected her to lie down with all—well, most of the other trailer owners, a few had balked—to demonstrate civil disobedience and to be willing to go to jail for their cause.
    “You mean the demolition crew is arriving today?” Marlene asked, thinking of the old man tending his garden. No wonder he seemed so cranky.
    “Indeed. And none of the owners will leave. Even the most conservative among us, who refuse to actively engage in passive resistance, are holding firm. Didn’t Beth explain all this to you? And where are the other women? Beth promised support from our local chapter. One person hardly qualifies as support.” Annette put on her glasses and peered at Marlene. “Funny, I’ve never seen you at any of our meetings.”
    “I’m from the Fort Lauderdale chapter.” Marlene, lying yet again, hoped there was one. “You know, Annette, maybe I’ll have that beer.”
    “There you go.” She reached into the tiny refrigerator and handed Marlene a beer. “And there’s marijuana around here somewhere. Now where did I stash it? We deserve a toke today; that’s my motto.” Her hostess bustled off through a door into what Marlene assumed must be a bedroom.
    A moment later, the trailer’s front door flew open and Sam Meyers and his surfboard filled a good part of the living area. He wore stylishly long shorts in a dark print and no shirt. Great abs, though a tad on the skinny side for Marlene’s taste. Sam was tall, dark, and too geeky to be handsome, but still an attractive man, not a boy like the rest of the boardsmen. Would she ever sleep with a man that young again? Hell, would she ever sleep with any man again?
    “Hi.” He smiled, revealing straight teeth. “What’s going down?” He lovingly lowered the surfboard to the space behind the wall and the couch. Its ends stuck out on both sides. “I don’t want this baby injured in the scuffle. The cops might get tough.” Sam flashed another smile. “You must be one of Annette’s allies from NOW, right?”
    So he called his granny by her first name. How progressive. Now how much of the truth should Marlene reveal? Lying was much easier when mired in a few facts.
    “Right on,” Marlene said, sounding like a hippie cheerleader. Rah, rah, sis boom bah. Go, women! “I’m Marlene Friedman.”
    “Have we met before?” Sam stared at her.
    He’d fed her an opening line. “Call me Marlene. You look familiar too. I’ve seen you on the beach, haven’t I? Palmetto Beach, that is. I live there.”
    Sam laughed. “I live there too. Or maybe it just feels like that while I’m waiting to catch a wave.” If he’d heard about his fellow boardsman’s death, he showed no emotion. And how could he not have heard?
    “Sammy, you bad boy, did you smoke all my pot? I even searched under the mattress.”