Craving Vengeance by Valerie J. Clarizio

at
all?”
    Shannon thought for a moment. “No. He was a
little upset, but he didn’t act strange.”
    “Why was he upset?”
    She looked at Spinelli. “I would imagine he
didn’t like that I declined his offer to go to his room, and that I
reiterated the fact that I’m seeing someone else.”
    Walker nodded. “Where did you go after you
dropped him off?”
    “I stopped at Subway to pick up a sandwich,
and then I came back to work.”
    “So you say you ended it and dropped him off
at the hotel, and he was upset with you. Yet he agreed to work with
you on the fundraiser tonight,” Spinelli cut in.
    Walker stepped back.
    “He’s an adult. He was doing what was best
for the church,” Shannon snapped back. Her condescending tone
shamed him.
    “I don’t get it. Why would he want to help
you with your church’s fundraiser?”
    “He went to my church. That’s how I met him.
In fact, the reason I haven’t seen him for the past couple of years
is because he was on a church mission trip in Nicaragua.”
    Spinelli caught Walker’s sideways glance and
snicker.
    He felt like such an ass. The perfect Dr.
Joshua Meyers was on a church mission trip. Reality check. He was
jealous of a dead guy, and he knew if he didn’t shut his mouth
right here and now he’d be minus the woman he loved as well. But
still, why did she kiss the wholesome doctor the way she did this
afternoon?
    “Nick, I don’t want to discuss this now. Not
here,” Shannon said as her gaze drifted back to the crime board. He
didn’t really want to either, ever. He hated this type of
confrontation in public or private.
    Shannon squinted at the board again. “So,
this is what Uncle Bernie was talking about?”
    “Yes.”
    “How many cupids were murdered today?”
    “Four so far.”
    “Four?”
    “Yep.”
    Shannon leaned forward. Her mouth fell open.
“Is that Mike...” her voice trailed off.
    Spinelli, Walker, and Marsh fixed their gazes
on her.
    “You know Mike Carter?” Spinelli
questioned.
    Shannon’s gaze shifted between the
detectives. Several beats passed.
    “Shannon, did you know Mr. Carter?” Walker
asked in a tone a bit more controlled than the one Spinelli used
seconds earlier.
    She nodded.
    “How did you know him?” Walker followed
up.
    She shifted her teary eyes to Spinelli. “We
dated in high school,” she whispered.
    Spinelli looked at Walker and Marsh, “What in
the hell?”
    Walker stepped toward the crime board and
pulled a photo of Tony Rosso, a clothed photo, not the one of him
sprawled out on his boss’ desk naked but for his wings. He held the
photo up for Shannon to see. “Do you know who this is?” he
asked.
    Shannon nodded. “Tony Rosso.”
    “How did you know Mr. Rosso?” Walker
asked.
    This time she kept her gaze fixed on Walker.
“My Uncle Bernie owns a bar downtown. Tony used to bartend for him.
My uncle set us up, and we went out a few times.”
    Walker pulled another photo from the folder.
“Do you know who this is?” he asked as he held the photo of the
third cupid for her to see.
    Tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed her
eyes and sucked in a breath.
    “Shannon?”
    Her eyes fluttered open. “It’s Chad
Williams.”
    “Did you go out with him as well?” Walker
asked.
    She nodded and used the back of her hand to
swipe the moisture from her cheeks.
    Spinelli stood in disbelief.
    Walker cleared his throat. “Let’s take a step
back here. In what order did you go out with these men?”
    Shannon twisted off the top of the bottle of
water Walker had given her earlier. She drank nearly half the
bottle in one shot. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a
moment as if pausing to get her thoughts in order. She set the
bottle on Spinelli’s desk and expelled a breath. “I dated Mike
Carter during the second half of my senior year in high school. I
started dating Joshua in my senior year of college; he was already
in medical school. We dated for a couple of years and got engaged.
It seemed