I know, I know. It makes no sense that she was Ryan’s mistress for a while, but that was…well, apparently a very serious burst of desire and emotion. I’m not here to judge, after all.

I thank Ryan, and he leaves. After calling both Lena’s parents and sister and getting no answer, I leave messages asking for them to call me at their earliest convenience on either my office line or my cell and give the numbers.

Even the sweetest people have enemies.

Somewhere, Lena must have had one, too. If she hadn’t, she’d be alive.

My office phone rings. “Noelle Bond.”

“Noelle!” my father shouts down the phone. “Did you threaten Detective Nash?”

Fucking snitch. “Only because he won’t leave me alone.”

“He’s a police officer, honey. He’s supposed to bug you when a dead body turns up in your parking lot!”

I narrow my eyes at the door. “There’s bugging me and then there’s bugging me, Dad, and he’s bugging my kidneys right out of my body. We’ve agreed to stay away from each other’s investigations now, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You can’t just stay away from his investigation! You’re supposed to help him!”

“Noelle? Are you in there?” Devin opens the door. “Dad’s just been to the—”

“Is that Dev?” Dad asks as I frantically wave my hand at my brother. “Let me talk to him.”

“Can’t, Dad. Sorry. He promised to take me to Lena’s store so I can talk to her staff.”

“I did?” Devin asks.

I stare at him, wide-eyed and tight-lipped.

“Devin? But I thought you just said—”

“Not Dev’s investigation. Gotta go okay bye see ya.” I hang up and drop the phone into my purse. “Will you take me to Lena’s store?”

“Fine. But you have to tell me why Drake just came storming into the station, cursing about ‘fucking Noelle’ and ‘fucking harassment my ass’ and ‘fucking private investigator.’”

“I might have pissed him off.”

“Oh, goodie. You should know that he’s currently trying to nail your ass for something so he can throw you in jail for the night, so you’ve starred there.”

“Fuck,” I mutter, walking to Grecia’s door. “I’m going to be out for a while. If Lena’s parents or sister call, tell them to get me on my cell.”

“Yes,” she replies. “We’re out of coffee.”

“Mike’s gotta lay off it,” I growl to myself, walking out to my brother’s cruiser. I climb in the front and buckle up.

“All right. If you’re making me go in that fancy-ass store, start talkin’ about Drake.” Devin starts the engine and turns onto the main road.

I summarize Drake’s attempts at convincing me to lay off the case, and my brother responds with a giant laugh.

“Jesus. Did no one tell him about your famous temper?”

“I don’t have a temper!” I snap. And pause. “I’m simply passionate.”

“Passionate. Right. And how do you explain your attitude?”

“Attitude is male-speak for a woman being right all the time.”

“Spoken like Nonna’s granddaughter,” he mutters.

“Heard that.”

“You were supposed to.”

“Are you engaged yet?”

“Are you dating yet?”

Thankfully, at that moment, we pull up outside Lena’s boutique. Sadness pangs my gut as I walk toward the store. It’s something about knowing that I’ll never be greeted by her smiling face again or I’ll never hear her laugh as we discuss Nonna’s attempts to marry me off.

Inside, it feels empty without her. The warmth she brought to the air is over, and all her assistant manager, Penny, can give me is a wan smile.

“Hi, Noelle. Officer Bond,” she says with a glance to my brother.

“Hey, Penny. How are you?”

She shrugs and pushes some hair from behind her ear, a hand resting on her round stomach. “I’m…lost.”

I squeeze the hand she’s resting on the counter. “I understand. I need to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind. I know it’ll be hard, but I want to find this monster.”

“Ryan said he’d hired you.” She looks down. “If anyone can solve it, it’s you.”

Wow. No pressure, then.

Drake’s voice travels from the back room, and I narrow my eyes as he enters the store next to a sales assistant named Mallory.

His eyes harden when he sees me. “What are you doing here, Ms. Bond?”

“I’m shopping for a new dress,” I reply. “My nonna kindly has me a date set up for the weekend.”

“That right?” He looks at Devin. “Officer Bond.”

“Detective.” Devin nods to him.

“Why are you here in a police car, then?”

“Dev often comes shopping with me. You know, to give his opinion on what a good little Italian boy would like.” I grin and pinch my brother’s cheek. He’s so going to kill me for that.

“I come under duress and promises of no cop favors,” he grinds out, batting my hand away.

I fight my laugh and turn to Drake. “Working?”

“Am I wearing a gun?”

“Three.” My eyes flick to his arms.

He stares at me, confused, and I really have to fight my laugh at the look on his face.

“What’s the matter, Detective? Can’t take a compliment?” I wink.

“Good Lord,” Devin mutters.

Penny giggles, and Mallory looks like she wants to shoot me.

Drake’s eyes spark, and I know he’s finally understood. “If you’re trying to distract me, it’s not working.”

“Not distract you. Throw you off? Maybe.”

“You’re here to work, aren’t you, Ms. Bond?”

“Perhaps I am, Detective Nash, but a girl can talk and shop simultaneously. Killing two birds with one stone is my favorite thing to do.” I smile sweetly. “But I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your questioning. Please continue.”

“Shut up,” Devin mutters. “Your niceness is suspicious.”

“I’m done here,” Drake says, his eyes hot on mine. “Ms. Chandler, Ms. Prescott, if y’all hear anything or think of anythin’ that might help me, please give me a call.” He slides a card onto the desk and gives a courteous nod before walking past me.

Mallory pouts when he glances at me before leaving the door to shut behind him.

“Jesus, it’s hard to be nice to that guy,” I breathe. “Okay, ladies. Where were you the night Lena was killed?”

“Are you accusing us of killing her?” Mallory squeaks.

“No,” I say quickly. “I’m merely trying to get a picture of her routine. Ryan told me she was here unpacking inventory then went to get some food on her way home, except she never got home. She called him and told him there was a problem here.”

“I was here,” Penny offers. “One of us always helps her unpack inventory, and it was my shift this time.”

“We were both here,” Mallory adds. “I needed to change some shifts next week, but she wouldn’t let me since she was supposed to take a few days off. She couldn’t cover me because her and Ryan’s vacation had been booked for weeks.” She sighs.

“Did you have a fight?”

“We argued, sure. She’s been working less and going away more since she got married. I get it, right? But it ain’t fair on us. We’ve been picking up the workload.”

Motive? Maybe.

“When did Lena leave the store?” I ask, sucking my bottom lip into my mouth.

“Around eight?” Penny frowns. “She came back because we’d been sent the wrong amount of the tartan dresses over there in the corner.”

I look over. Oh, they’re cute.

She continues. “She also had a fight with Ryan about the vacation.”

Interesting.

I keep my face blank, turning back to her. “When did y’all leave? Where’d you go?”

“Maybe nine thirty? We parted in the parking lot and both of us went home. Lena said she was going to order takeout and sleep on the couch in the staff room,” Mallory replies. “She hated going home when they argued.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She was super paranoid that Ryan was cheating on her like he did Julia.”

“Mal!” Penny hisses.

“Something to tell me?” I stare at Penny.

“He was,” she whispers. “We slept together. Once. Before they got married,” she adds hurriedly.