Powdered Murder

"You know how I feel about butting into the gossipy crap that floats through this town," I said. "Once I start digging, who knows what I might find."

"I understand that but, this is life or death, Essie. And I will be forever in your debt."

"I thought you already were," I added.

She forced a hopeful smile.

"So you'll do it?"

"I'll do it," I gave in. "So long as you understand that we don't have much time to work with and . . ." I bit the corner of my lip, knowing that she wasn't going to like what I was about to say next. "I am going to have to pay a little visit to Wade."

"Absolutely not," she scolded me. "I don't care if the entire earth is about to burst into flames. You promised me you would stay far away from that backstabbing piece of vermin!"

"Joy, if anyone knows of something fishy going on in this town it's him. I have to pay him a visit." I glared at her until she calmed herself down enough to give me her approval.

I don't think Wade is a completely terrible guy. He just makes terrible decisions. That and he is Joy's ex-husband. The two of them were high school sweethearts. They moved in together the second they turned eighteen and the rest was all downhill from there. For years, I never knew if they were separated or back together, but every time they split, Joy made me promise to shun him like an incurable disease. Wade makes my sister crazy. The kind of crazy that compels people to throw frying pans and butter knives.

"When you do, I don't want to hear about it." She stood up and firmly gripped the edge of her clipboard. "And if he asks, I'm thriving without him." She paused for a minute. "And tell him I'm seeing someone," she added. "Someone hot and completely wrong for me."

Her heels echoed on the wooden floors as she passed Murray in the hallway escorting Bebe out of his makeshift interrogation room. Murray was wearing his police uniform and he gri

"Murray," I said as I sat down across from him.

"Officer Williams," he corrected me, pointing to his badge. "You see this, Essie."

"My mistake."

Murray dropped his pencil as he pulled out his notebook to jot something down. His reddish hair was parted to the side and his front teeth stuck out slightly when he smiled.

As soon as he'd finished high school, he followed in his father's footsteps by joining the police department. It was admirable, but unfortunately the Williams family wasn't cut out for police work. I don't even think they bothered to lock their front door until a couple of years ago.

"Your name please," he said, looking at his notepad.

"It's me, Murray. I've known you since first grade."

"Come on, Essie." He whined when he talked. "It's procedure."

"Fine Essie Str--"

"Your full name," he added.

"Gwenessa N. Stratter," I replied, narrowing my eyes.

"What does the N stand for?"

"None of your business."

"I'll make note of that on our marriage license," he joked.

I folded my arms as he wrote down our conversation word for word.

My middle name is actually Nora. My parents gave it to me after I was adopted. Since the name belonged to my mom's grandmother, it had been their way of bringing me into the family. Though I'd let them know more than once when I was younger that I wouldn't have minded at all if they'd decided to change my name completely. Gwenessa isn't exactly a popular name.

"And where were you the night of . . .?” Murray recited the question like he had spent the last hour memorizing the manual. "I mean, where were you this afternoon?"

"I got off work early, went to my apartment, walked around the bookshop, and came straight here to meet Lila for her bridal shower."

"And do you have witnesses who can confirm your whereabouts?" he asked.

"Yes." I rolled my eyes and watched him literally write the word yes in his notebook.

"Who can confirm this?" He looked up and waited for me to answer.

"Well, besides everyone at the hotel, my landlady Mrs. Tankle."

"Okay, check." Murray nodded as he turned the page and moved on to the next set of questions. "Please describe to me what you saw tonight at the spa."

When he paused and waited for me to answer, my mind jumped back to tea with Bebe and Lila. I replayed the whole thing in my head up until the point that Bebe had stood frozen when she noticed Do

"Are you really writing all this down in a notebook?" I asked. "Shouldn't you be recording our interview?"

"Voice recorder is broken." He chuckled.

"Murray--"

"Officer Williams," he butted in.

"Officer Williams," I said, a little a

"Um."

"Did you ask her if Do

"Um." Murray scratched his head.

"Did you at least ask her about what Franco told Lila about Do

"Who is Franco?" Murray wrinkled his nose looking confused.

I touched my forehead with the palm of my hand and flipped through more pages, stopping at Murray's interview with Misty, the spa receptionist. From what Murray had written down, she'd admitted that she'd spent most of her afternoon shacked up in a storage closet with one of the waiters. No wonder she'd looked cheerier than usual. I sca

I dropped Murray's notebook back in his lap. Joy was right. If the resort lost too much business then the whole town would suffer the consequences. If Murray was our best guy we would all be out of jobs before the summer.

"Okay, I think we're done." I stood up and placed my hands on my hips. "You need to get Doc Henry down here to take a look at the body. I believe he's also our county coroner. And I think you need to get a list of all the guests who stayed here last night. At least your dad is downstairs right now with a camera. That's a start."

Murray turned the page of his notebook and scribbled furiously.

"You should think about holding a meeting with all the staff to get their cooperation on this. Oh, and I'll be by the station later to request a background check and an undercover reporter guy who hassled me this morning."