“Uh, sure. Come on up.”

The door buzzes open and we dart through. While taking the elevator up to her apartment, I wonder how Mallory can pay for this. Surely its way out of her budget as a retail sales assistant.

If not, I’m in the wrong damn profession.

She has the door open when we step out of the elevator. “Come in,” she says wearily.

“Are you okay?” I ask quietly.

“Just long hours now that Lena’s gone. I think it’s really starting to hit me, you know? Plus, Ryan came in yesterday and said he’s considering selling the store, and Penny’s giving me a hard time over telling you about her sleeping with him, and…” She stops and swallows back a sob. “I’m sorry. It’s just real now.”

“Of course. I’m sorry to bother you again, but I just found something out and I’d like to talk to you without Penny around.”

“Sure. Sure.” Mallory sits down. “What can I help you with?”

I pull the insurance policy from my purse and set it down in front of Mallory. “What can you tell me about this?”

Mallory draws in a sharp breath. “I forgot all about this,” she whispers.

“You knew?” Bekah asks.

“I had to sign it, too,” she says softly.

“Mallory, why is it in your name?”

“She seriously suspected that Ryan was cheating on her—or that he would at some point. Her family has a strong history of cervical cancer, and she was afraid that, if she developed it like her sister and aunt did, Ryan would get all the money, but she wanted to have one. She told me that I was supposed to buy the store with the money.” She stares at the paper. “Ryan didn’t know. About the policy.”

How about that?

“Did she think Ryan was sleeping with Penny?” Bekah asks.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I think she regretted marrying him as soon as she’d signed the marriage certificate. After all, Ryan and Julia had been together for years before he cheated on her with Lena. Then they got married so quickly. I think she was preparing for every eventuality. The shop was her baby.”

“It sure was,” Bekah agrees.

“Will they pay it now that she’s been murdered? I-I want to buy the store. I don’t want Ryan to sell it to someone else.”

“I haven’t read the terms, but at a guess, they’ll at least need police proof that she was murdered. You’d have to call them.” I pause. “Mallory… You knew about Penny and Ryan. Is there anything Lena may have known about you that could have led to her being killed?”

Mallory shakes her head, her sad eyes on mine. “No. Nothin’. I don’t talk more than menial gossip. I’m taking my secrets to the grave.”

“Wise girl,” Bekah notes. “You think she’s still a suspect?”

“She doesn’t have a solid alibi, so she is. But no, I don’t think she did it. I didn’t notice a tell when I showed her the policy. If she really hadn’t forgotten, I would have known,” I muse. Body language has always been my strong point and why, as a cop, I was always taken in on interviews and interrogations. “Same with buying the store. She really does want to buy it.”

“Any chance she killed her to get the store?” Mike asks, looking around the room at everyone.

I shake my head and grab a chocolate cupcake. “She genuinely forgot about the policy, and I can’t imagine where else she would have gotten the money to do such a thing.”

“But her apartment is crazy expensive,” Bekah argues.

“Her parents are rich,” Grecia inputs. “Her father owns a big construction company in Houston. She moved here to get away from everything. He owns the building she lives in.”

“They why would she need the policy money to buy the store?”

“Because other than that, she’s independent,” Grecia explains.

“Okay. That makes sense now.” I frown at the wall.

“How’d you know that?” Dean asks.

“I also enjoy shopping in Lena’s boutique.” Grecia smiles. “I see Mallory a lot. She’s a nice girl.”

Huh. Surprises everywhere these days.

“Okay, y’all. If you’re okay with your plans for today, I’m going to head home and try to make sense of some of this.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Marsh says.

The others all express their agreement, so I stand.

“Bekah? Can you give me a ride home? I walked to Brody’s this morning.”

“Sure.”

I grab my things and follow her out to her car. I don’t say a word as she pulls away. Instead, I nibble steadily at the skin by my thumbnail and stare blankly out the window.

Something isn’t adding up in this case.

I have two prime suspects: the husband and the mistress. They both have the motive and the means to kill her. I mean, I don’t understand killing someone to be with another person when divorce is so easy, but hey. Some people are crazy, and hemlock has been implanted in North America for years now. You can drive down a country road and pick it, for the love of God.

But… It doesn’t seem like it’s enough.

It seems too simple.

“What’s your gut telling you?” Bekah asks, parking at the end of my driveway.

She knows me so well.

“That I’m barking up the wrong tree.”

“Then we’ll look at another angle.”

I nod and pat her hand on the gear stick before getting out. She drives away as I fumble in my purse for my keys. Unsurprisingly, I find them in the toes of my Chucks. Along with my phone, a stick of gum, and my favorite red lipstick.

I’m just pulling the keys out when something inside my car catches my eye. Slowly, I move toward the little red vehicle, my eyebrows dipping into a frown.

And I freeze.

My heart thunders in my chest, and I almost drop my keys as I dig my phone out.

“Detective Nash.”

“I have a problem,” I say shakily.

“Stuck already, Bond?”

“No. There’s a dead body on the back seat of my car.”

“I hope this isn’t gonna be a habit.”

I look up from my front step at Drake. “You and me both.”

“You okay?”

“Honestly? Not really. Another dead body being found on property I own isn’t exactly the greatest thing I’ve ever had happen to me.”

“Stupid question,” he mutters, sitting next to me. “It’s only midafternoon. Your brother has asked that your house be searched with the car so you can at least sleep here tonight.”

I lick my lips. “My house doesn’t feel that safe right now.”

“You got a place to stay?”

“I’ll call Bekah. Then someone to install an alarm in this place.” I stare at the cherry blossom tree just coming into bloom across the street.

“Good thinkin’. You know it’ll be a while before you get your car back, right?” He touches a hand to my lower back. “We can arrange for a rental for you, given the nature of this.”

“Fuck that.” I snap my head around and look at him. “You can send it to the scrapyard. You ain’t getting me back in that damned thing even if you handed me a million dollars!”

“I’m gonna need that in writing.”

“Of course you are.”

“You know I have to question you, right? Things look suspicious for anyone looking on the outside in.”

I lean against the wall and run my fingers through my dark hair. “I worked late last night, and I can get you the tapes from my building to prove it. I left around eleven, came home, downed a shot of JD, and collapsed on my sofa. This morning, I woke with a stiff neck, went to see my brother, then you, then headed back to the office. After that, I visited Mallory Chandler with Bekah, went back to the office, then Bekah dropped me off around two minutes before I called you.”

“Airtight alibi,” Drake notes, his hand still on me. “Sounds like you’ve done this before.”

I glance at him and open my mouth to snap, but I realize he’s teasing me. I sigh. “If you go to the office, Marshall will get you the tapes from last night and a list of everyone’s phone numbers to check alibis.”