Free Murder on the Half Shell (A Red Carpet Catering Mystery Book 2) by Shawn Reilly Simmons

looking through them one night after she was supposed to be in bed. She got into a beef with another girl on her volleyball team at school. The girl graduated and went off to college last year. I told the detectives about it when they found these.” She tucked the picture back in the bag and closed the box. “You know how kids are, best friends one minute, mortal enemies the next. Luckily she and Rebekkah have always been like sisters. That was her mom on the phone, checking in.”
    Penelope looked at the box, and folded her arms across her chest.
    “I appreciate you stopping by. That was real nice of you. I’m going to lie down for a while,” Mrs. Lambert said, swaying slightly on her feet.
    “Of course. If there’s anything—”
    “I know. That’s what everyone says,” Mrs. Lambert said, a sharp edge in her voice. “Everyone wants to help. But that’s not bringing my baby back to me, is it?”

Chapter 8

      
    Penelope walked back down Ocean Avenue, the thick wet air making it hard to pull in a breath. She kept thinking about that hand on Sabena’s shoulder, the familiarity of the touch beneath her strap, the look on Sabena’s face, trying to act so grown up when she had yet to shake all of the childlike features from the photo when she was just a little girl, playing in the yard with her best friend.
    As she got closer to the docks she saw Detectives Torres and Williams again, in the same spot she had left them earlier, outside the vacant building next to Sackler’s market. She quickened her step when she saw Emilio also.
    “Okay, Mr. Babineau, open it up,” Detective Torres ordered, nodding at the frosted glass on the front doors of the vacant building. They were secured with a thick chain and a large padlock.
    Emilio tucked a stack of papers they had given him into his back pocket and pulled out his keys. He shrugged and unlocked the padlock. “You’re not going to find anything. This place has been locked up tight since last week.” When the lock snapped open, he pulled the chain from the doors and swung the left one open.
    “Stay put,” Detective Torres warned him. She entered the building, Detective Williams right behind her. The door swished closed behind them.
    “Penelope,” Emilio said when he saw her approaching. “I called my lawyer. They have a warrant.”
    “That’s good. They’ll search your house and the restaurant site, then they’ll move on to someone else when they don’t find anything.”
    “It will be a relief. I can’t believe this happened on the one weekend I come down here and mix with the locals. I hope that’s not an indication of how things are going to go—”
    The doors banged open and Detective Williams rushed out, speaking urgently into his cell phone. “We need the chopper. MediVac stat. We’ve got two unresponsive females, possible OD. We’re at Ocean Avenue on Andrea Island, adjacent to Sackler’s Market.”
    Penelope’s stomach did a flip and she stepped away from Emilio. He searched her face helplessly as Detective Williams said, “Mr. Babineau, we’re placing you under arrest.”
    The detective’s voice faded away in Penelope’s mind as she took another step back and stared at her former teacher. His expression morphed from panic to fear to resignation as his hands were cuffed behind his back.
    “Penelope,” Emilio pleaded as she continued to back away. “I didn’t do this.”

      
    Penelope stood in the parking lot of Sackler’s Market as the MediVac helicopter took off from the athletic field behind the Andrea Island school complex, a small group of stucco buildings that housed the elementary, middle and high schools. After they’d handcuffed Emilio, the detectives sat him down on the sidewalk and re-cuffed him to the base of a sign that read Andrea Island Historic District in gold letters, his arms lying loosely behind him. Detectives Torres and Williams ushered the EMTs into the vacant building and, moments later, two stretchers