Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 03 - Money is Murder by Carolyn Arnold Page B

there was no other woman he ’d entrust with the weapon more than his Sara. He looked at her, holding it, ready to fire, and his eyes went to the floor where Beverly was trying to reach a pill bottle that had spilled from her purse.
    “Let me help you with that.” Sean swooped down ahead of her, read the label, and then held it for Sara to see.
    “Sleeping pills.”
    Sirens sounded outside the coffee shop. The cruisers came to an abrupt halt, the noses of the cars diving forward with momentum from the sudden stop.
    The door to the coffee shop flung open and three officers rushed in, guns at the ready.
    “Put down your weapon!”
    Sara responded immediately, placing the gun on the floor and raising her arms in surrender.

     
    They were taken down to the station and questioned, but it wasn’t long and they were released to the freedom of the streets. They walked along the sidewalk. Sean glanced over at Sara and smiled.
    “What?” she said.
    “Just you.”
    “Just me? Look at you. Your poor nose always takes the brunt of things. How is it?”
    “Tender.”
    “I bet.” She nuzzled into his side and rubbed his arm. “Maybe we should take a vacation.”
    He pulled away from her. “A vacation? And miss all this fun?”
    “I was just thinking.”
    “You know we live for this, but we can take time off, here and there.”
    “Uh-huh.” She laughed.
    A silence followed, and Sean felt inclined to fill it. He owed her an apology for the way he’d treated her, both on the case in Cancun and here. “Darling.”
    “Yes, Sean.”
    “You’re right about the way I treat you. It’s like you’re a china doll.”
    She stopped walking. “You have that tendency.”
    “I’m sorry for that. I just love you.”
    “Yes, and I love you. That’s not the issue.”
    He had a hard time speaking from the heart. It wasn ’t one of the things that came easily or naturally to him. “What I’m trying to say is, I trust you.”
    She laughed. “I just took on a psychotic killer and I won. That’s all it took?”

    “Yeah, I guess so.” He laughed and she narrowed her eyes.

 

     
    Cognac Kisses
     
    THEY WERE PACKING THINGS UP at the condo when there was a knock on the door. Sean opened it to Edward Cranston.
    “Do you mind if I come in?” he asked.
    “Not all.” Sean opened the door wider.
    Sara came around the corner and smiled at their visitor. “You didn’t have to come see us off.”
    “Nonsense.” Edward fidgeted with the leather gloves he held in his hands. He gestured to the seating area.
    “Yeah, of course,” Sean said.
    Edward wiped his shoes and then took them off.
    “I’m just thankful that Mr. Quinn left everything to you, Sean. He always had a great eye and a way of seeing people.” He smiled and sat in the sofa chair. “Beverly’s going to be in prison for a long time.”
    “Yes, she is, and so is Jordan Reid. His family won’t be far behind.”
    Police recovered Cindy’s USB stick and the documentation contained on it would see to that.
    Edward nodded. “All of this was over money.”
    “Sometimes money is murder.” The words slipped from Sara’s mouth.
    “Isn’t it? And look at you two.” He jabbed a finger and went between them with it. “You inherit the world—essentially—and get a murder to solve. Are you ever going to retire?”
    Sean glanced at Sara, who was grinning at him. He thought back on this investigation. Beverly had been in the thick of everything. Jordan had convinced her that his love, and his money, would make any problems she had go away, when, in fact, all he did was spurn her on to kill two people. If the matching sleeping pills weren’t enough, the signature on Cindy’s suicide note had been identical to the one printed from her computer and it was feasible Beverly would have had access to the file. She tried to divert their path by warning Robert of their arrival, knowing he’d make a run for it and lead her right to what she sought. While Jordan did come