Death Wore Brown Shorts (Happy Holloway Mystery Book 1) by Audrey Claire

of inviting ourselves over for a visit.”
    “Us,” she repeated and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe after what happened to you, you’re still willing to keep investigating. You didn’t hear of anyone running Detective Lawson off the road.”
    “No, but he has a gun. Now there’s an idea. I should buy a gun.”
    She eyed him trying to figure out if he was joking again. Annie had nothing against guns. She had once visited a firing range to learn how to shoot. The cold steel in her hand felt powerful and satisfying for some reason. However, after the session, she wrote the scene she needed the experience for and never returned.
    “Would you have had a shootout on the road?” Annie asked in disbelief.
    “I would do anything to protect myself or anyone with me.”
    She figured he meant it as encouragement.
    “Besides, Annie, you were attacked as well. Are you willing to keep going?” He gazed around the kitchen. “Do you have a gun in that giant purse you carry around?”
    She waggled a finger at him, calming down a bit. His teasing helped her more than he knew, that and putting distance between them. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
    “Are we doing this?” he insisted.
    Annie hesitated. She had enjoyed talking with him and searching Paul’s apartment together. In fact, she liked people a lot, socializing with them, getting to know them. Men were a challenge on a personal level, and she tended to hold them at a distance. Not that she had that much trouble. They weren’t beating the door down to ask for a date or anything.
    She studied Flynn’s handsome face. This man was not the kind to be interested in her, and she didn’t once think of him as a love interest. Her ridiculous reaction from earlier embarrassed her now.
    “Evie’s likely to lie if we ask her directly,” Annie surmised. “But she did tell me she feared the police would blame her if they found out about her being the last on Paul’s delivery list.”
    “Or she could have lied then, too.”
    Annie’s brows rose. “I didn’t think of that.”
    “Here’s a theory, Annie.”
    “Go ahead.” She tugged the gloves off and placed them with care back inside the plastic.
    “What if Evie was Paul’s accomplice?”
    “That’s preposterous.”
    “Annie, you’re a mystery writer. Open your mind. You can’t close off the possibilities just because your friends are involved. It’s scary. I know, but you have to do it.”
    Annie scowled at him. “Are you my therapist?”
    He waited rather than respond.
    “Okay, fine. I’m having a hard time accepting it.”
    “Why?”
    “Because Evie is so anal about money. Everyone knows it. She saves every cent she can, and her husband Gary had to justify each purchase. The day before Paul died, the two of them had a big argument because Evie got onto him about money. If she was selling stolen goods on the side with Paul, I think her household finances would have been better.”
    He rubbed his jaw. “Makes sense, but everything isn’t black and white.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Just because a person is worried about money all the time doesn’t mean they have money problems.”
    “You’re right!”
    He stood and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I know I’m right. I’ll be here early. Let’s say seven?”
    “It’s just after three now.”
    “We want to catch Stacy before she leaves for work, and we want to get a hold of that package before Evie has a chance to try to call in an anonymous tip.”
    Annie went cold. Once again, he was right. For a moment, she was temped to call Stacy and alert her. Who knew if Stacy had returned after her middle of the night trip of trailing Robert. She might still be spying on the poor guy. On top of that, where did he need to be at this time? Robert lived off his retirement money from the military, and sometimes he visited his old colleagues.
    Not the middle of the night though.
    “Are you staying nearby?” Annie asked, realizing she had no