Free Death By High Heels (The Kim Murphy PI Series Book 1) by Violet Ingram

face like a two-by-four. I put on a pair of sunglasses before getting into my car. Not wanting all the work I had done on my hair going out the open windows, I flipped on the air conditioner. I seriously could have done without the blast of hot air, though it was probably exactly what I was going to get during my conversation with Lindsay.
    The Lakeview Inn was next door to the Lakeview Mall. Convenient, I guessed, if you shopped so much you couldn’t make it home. After parking in the half-empty lot, I walked inside the lobby and past the front desk. An older gentleman with gray hair smiled and nodded his head. Having been raised by an Irish father and Italian mother, it had been drilled into me about respecting our elders. I smiled and waved at the old guy, then pressed the button for the elevator.
    When I was a kid my family took a vacation to Canada. The hotel we stayed in had these cool glass elevators on the outside of the building. One evening, my siblings and I spent an hour going up to the twentieth floor, where a restaurant was located, and all the way back down to the lobby. Even better, the hotel had been built on top of a hill overseeing the small town. We were too young to appreciate the amazing view of the city lit up at night. We were, however, just the right ages to pretend we were on a grand adventure. Though I was sure the guests who had the misfortune to join us on one of our trips probably hadn’t seen it quite the same way, especially on our last trip when Justin and Jason pressed the buttons for every floor.
    The elevator doors opened and I hesitated. Sucking in a breath, I stepped inside and pressed the button for the fourth floor. It was my bad luck that elevators no longer invoked the feelings of excitement and adventure. Now when stepping inside I had the urge to jump back out and run away as fast as I could. For a brief moment I had considered taking the stairs but it just didn’t seem worth the effort. I tried to think of it as a way to make up for my skipping my morning workout but decided it was okay to skip one day. I’d work out an extra hour tomorrow, I lied to myself.
    Relieved when the doors opened, I rushed out, almost knocking into a young couple. I mumbled an apology before making my way down the hall. Before I could come to my senses and leave, I pounded on the door. Lindsay opened the door, a fake smile firmly in place, and invited me inside. She was still wearing the same clothes she had been wearing during her early morning visit. The only difference was she had removed her two-inch Jimmy Choo Faith Lace Peep Toe Pumps. The only reason I knew what they were was my best friend had the same exact pair. They had set Melissa back nine hundred bucks. With that amount of money, I could pay the rent on my apartment for two months and have enough left over for a very nice dinner for me and a guest of my choice. Okay, dinner for me anyway.
    We sat in matching hunter green side chairs. I noticed a man’s tie on the floor beneath her chair. Not big on small talk, Lindsay wanted to know what I had learned since this morning. Instead of answering her question I handed her the mug shots and asked if she recognized any of them.
    “What kind of person do you think I am that I would associate with these kinds of people?”
    “Just look at the pictures,” I snapped.
    “Fine.”
    As she flipped through the pictures, I watched her face for any sign of recognition.
    “Sorry, I don’t know any of them. Who are they and what do they have to do with me?”
    “This one,” I said, picking up the picture of Brian, “is the young guy who ended up dead in your apartment.”
    Lindsay looked down at her lap and brushed at imaginary lint before talking. “Oh, yes, of course. I didn’t recognize him.”
    Truth was, she probably didn’t. Lindsay seemed to have an infuriating habit of dismissing anyone or anything not important to her. Not in the mood to lecture her, I picked up the rest of the