Free Evelyn David - Sullivan Investigations 02 - Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David

but something respectable. Hell, he’d be happy with something he could drive unnoticed down the street.
    Mac checked his watch. He ‘d agreed to pick up Bridget from her friend’s apartment and deliver her home in time for the ‘O’Herlihy-Lasky meet & greet’ dinner. He’d tried every excuse in the book to skip the soiree, but Jeff had pulled the trump card when he mumbled, “You owe me.” Mac had shut up. Nothing more needed to be said. Yeah, he did owe Jeff, a lot.
    “ Another wreck from Dad?” Bridget wrestled open the dented passenger door and peered in. She was dressed in form-fitting black wool pants and a heather green turtleneck, topped with her red leather jacket.
    “ Your carriage awaits, Cinderella,” Mac grumbled, gesturing to the cavernous interior.
    “ More like the pumpkin.” Bridget grinned. “But you definitely are my fairy godmother.”
    Mac raised an eyebrow in challenge.
    “Fairy godfather is what I was going to say.”
    Despite the impish grin, Mac could see the tension in his goddaughter ‘s face. Even a healthy application of makeup couldn’t hide the dark circles under her eyes.
    “ Didn’t get much sleep last night?” Mac pulled out into traffic and headed towards Kensington and the O’Herlihy home. The caddy only backfired twice.
    “ Great, people are going to think we’re shooting at them.” Bridget frowned. “For your information, you never really sleep on pull-out couches. There’s this bar that goes right across the small of your back.”
    “ Are you sure you wanted to sleep? Afraid of bad dreams, maybe? No one would blame you. That’s two deaths in–”
    “ I’m not afraid of anything,” Bridget snapped. “I’ve been to crime scenes before.”
    “ Okay, okay.” He held up his hand to ward off the verbal assault. She was wound tighter than an eight-day clock.
    Bridget settled back in her seat.
    “Well…we don’t know for sure it was a crime scene,” Mac said, trying to lower the tension in the car.
    “ It was and you know it.” Bridget turned to face her godfather. “Please, Uncle Mac. You don’t believe Crager died of natural causes no matter what that idiot sheriff said.” She paused, and then smirked. “He was trying to impress your girl.”
    Mac was unsuccessful in trying to stifle his grin. “First, she’s not my girl. Rachel Brenner is nobody’s girl. Not that she’s old or anything.”
    Bridget laughed. “Okay, woman, your woman.”
    “ Well that’s a little ahead of ourselves too,” Mac agreed. “But yeah, he was an idiot sheriff.”
    “ So you agree that Crager met an untimely death. Just like Ken Edelstein.”
    “ I’m not sure about anything, much less the reason for your reporter friend’s death.”
    “ Well I am.” Bridget crossed her arms over her chest. “I think whoever killed Crager used the same poison that killed Ken. And the same poison that killed that gift rat someone wrapped up with a pretty little bow for me. My guess is that they used warfarin cut with something else.”
    “ Warfarin?”
    “ Yeah. It’s the same basic drug as Coumadin; you know the blood thinner. But warfarin was one of the first rat poisons. They use other stuff now, but warfarin kills faster than the stuff on the market, especially if you have bleeding problems anyway. I Googled rat poisons.”
    “ Let’s say you’re right, that the killer used rat poison. How did the killer get Edelstein and Crager to eat it? Mix it with cheese?”
    “ Funny.” Bridget rummaged around in her purse. “Nope. I think the killer mixed the poison in with the margarita Ken drank and in the Jack Daniels Mr. Crager downed. The alcohol masks the taste. I didn’t get the glass Ken drank out of but.…” She triumphantly pulled a plastic bag containing a shot glass out of her purse.
    Mac shook his head in disbelief. “Please, please tell me you didn’t take that from the Crager crime scene.”
    Bridget turned away and stared out the window, the passing