Murder in Aix (The Maggie Newberry Mystery Series Book 5) by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

it. Crap .
Now even her feet were starting to ache.
    “You are well,
Maggie?” Roger asked, not looking at her, not smiling.
    “Yes, thanks,
Roger,” she said brightly. “And you?”
    “Fine, merci . What is it I can help you with
today?”
    “Well, first let
me thank you again for allowing me to come and see you. I know how busy you are,
and now I see how important you are, too.” She waved a hand at his office.
    He looked at her
from beneath his eyebrows, registering her light sarcasm. She thought for a
moment he was fighting a smile, but if so he won the fight.
    “Your purpose
today?”  
    “I have some
questions about Julia Patrick’s case.”
    “I have released
all pertinent information to the media.”
    “That’s funny. I
didn’t read anything about the case in the paper.”
    He looked at her
blankly.
    “Oh,” she said.
“I see. Good one, Roger. Nothing pertinent to report.”
    “Is that all?”
    “Nope.” Maggie
pulled out a piece of paper — one side was clearly a grocery list of
some kind. She squinted at the other side. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “The crime
scene was compromised.”
    “That is not a
question.”
    “Okay, Roger, I’ll
rephrase. How can you use evidence found at a crime scene that has been
tampered with?”
    “How do you know evidence
was affected?”
    “How do you know
it wasn’t?”
    He shrugged.
    “Someone’s life is
on the line here, Roger,” Maggie said, fighting to keep her composure. Why is he acting like such a dick?
    He took a breath
and seemed to come to an answer on some internal struggle he had been having.
“The poisonous mushrooms found in Madame Patrick’s car will not be admissible
as evidence,” he said finally.
    “Thank God!”
    He looked at her
quickly. “Just because a jury won’t know about them doesn’t mean that everyone
else—the prosecution, the police, the victim’s family, eventually the
media—won’t know. Their existence is very damning and pertinent to building our case against the suspect.”
    “Okay. Whatever
all that means. Question two: what was Annette Tatois doing the night in
question? My understanding is she hated him.”
    “That is none of
your affair. Besides, Madame Tatois has a firm alibi for the time of his death.”
    “Well, that’s the
other thing. How can that be? Unlike shooting or stabbing, my understanding is
that when you poison someone, you don’t have to actually be there when the victim has his last seizure, you know? I would
have thought it would be more important to nail down Annette and Michelle’s whereabouts for about twelve
hours before he died.”
    “It seems our
Medical Examiner disagrees with you.”
    “Then your
Medical Examiner is an idiot.”
    “Of course. As is
anyone who disagrees with you, n’est-ce
pas? Are we done?”
    “Roger, you are
taking the easy way out here.” She forced herself not to say, again . “You have no confession and
everything you do have is circumstantial. That’s not enough to convict.”
    “ Au contraire , Maggie,” Roger said
heatedly, his calm façade falling off him with each word. “Circumstances
dictate fact and they always have. What do you Americans say? Where there is
smoke, you will find the fire? Madame Patrick is covered in smoke.”
    “Fine,” Maggie
said, trying to hide her frustration with him. “It looks like I am going to be
forced to do your job since you won’t. I intend to talk with Madame and Mademoiselle
Tatois, and anyone else who wanted Jacques dead.”
    Roger clenched
his fists against the table. “You will not talk with them!”
    “Oh, yes, I
will,” Maggie said. “You can’t stop me. It is a free country. Which, by the
way, you’re welcome .”
    Roger stood up, fists
on the desk, and leaned toward her. “I will speak with your husband. Perhaps he
can control you.”
    Maggie didn’t
like the sound of that, but she stood up to face him nonetheless.
    “Screw you,” she
said, putting her face close to his. Suddenly,