Riptide (Sam McRae Mystery #3)

Chapter 10

Danni Beranski lived in an old Victorian in Berlin (pronounced BER-lin, emphasis on the first syllable, unlike the German namesake), a small town only a few minutes drive from Ocean City. Its gingerbread brown with yellow trim had faded a bit with time and weather, but a realtor could still call it "quaint," as opposed to a "fabulous fixer-upper."

Climbing the creaky porch steps, I rang the doorbell and practiced smiling.

Eventually, a blonde woman in jeans and an oversized T-shirt opened up. She could have been Danni's mother, although she looked young for that.

"Hi. Is Danni here?"

She looked puzzled for a moment, then said, "And who are you?"

"I ... met Danni recently. There was something we discussed and I was hoping to continue that discussion."

Still looking uncertain, she said, "Okay. Your name?"

"Sam McRae."

"Wait here, please," she said, as she turned and half closed the door on me. So far, so good.

When Danni opened the door, her eyes widened a moment. "Oh, hi," she said.

"Hi, Danni. I know we didn't meet under the best circumstances, but I hoped we could talk a little about your ex-boyfriend." The dead one. "Would that be okay?"

"Sure." Danni stepped outside and shut the door behind her. She gestured toward a porch swing and a sturdy rocking chair.

I sat in the rocker and took in the view of small-town America. The air was perfumed with a heady floral scent.

"This seems like a nice place to live," I lied through my teeth. The thought of living in a place so small everyone knew everyone else's business gave me the creeps.

"It's okay." Danni perched on the swing and twisted a strand of hair.

"Was that your mother I just met?"

"Oh, no. That's Jill. I rent one of her rooms."

"Just so you know, I'm helping my friend, Jamila, defend against any charges that she killed Billy Ray."

She nodded, looking off into the middle distance.

"I understand that you were once engaged to Billy Ray. Can I ask what happened?"

"He ..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "It just didn't work out."

"Did he call it off?"

"No. I did." She spoke with more conviction than I'd heard up to that point.

"If you don't mind my asking, why?"

She shook her head, mute. For a moment, I thought she was refusing to answer.

Finally, she said, "Things with him were too weird ...."

"What do you mean?"

"He was into things that I didn't want to get involved with."

I nodded. Now, we were getting somewhere.

"What things?"

"Business stuff. I'm not sure exactly, but I think a lot of it wasn't on the up and up."

Now, we were really getting somewhere.

"Could any of those things have involved people who might want to kill him?"

Her expression distorted, and I thought she was going to cry, but instead she laughed. "Plenty of people might have wanted to kill him."

"Anyone specific?" I had to restrain myself from grabbing and shaking her.