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Emma looked at Jake from under her lashes, waiting to see if he would do the polite thing, and counter Kim's statement. But he was just as silent as she was. Neither one of them was going to disagree. They had known Kim before she had left for Miami, and there was no way. Kim had been very much like Marianne.
There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Kim smiled at the two of them ruefully and gave a shrug.
"You don't have to spare my feelings. I know how awful I was. I was terrible in my greed to further my career. I stepped onto many people. And it took getting a little of the same medicine thrown my way to realize what I had become." Kim looked at her two new friends and made a motion with her hands, indicating they should move on. "The difference is Marianne has no idea of how she treats people to move herself up the ladder."
"Or maybe she does and she just doesn't care," Jake countered.
"I'm inclined to agree with Jake. I try to like people when I first meet them, but Marianne just rubbed me the wrong way," Emma added.
"Don't feel bad about the way you feel. Marianne seems to have that effect on most people she meets, and I think she's only tolerated because of Midge." Kim leaned closer and lowered her voice, not wanting even a whisper of what she was about to say overheard. "Marianne, on the surface, is an extremely efficient personal assistant. But it's what's going on under the surface that makes her dangerous. She's not afraid to put her nose where it doesn't belong, and she has a way of ferreting out secrets from other people. Both their own and other's secrets. What she does with the secrets is anybody's guess. But even if she does nothing, it's the knowledge that she has the secrets that makes people fear her."
Emma was silent for a moment, allowing Jake to speak. Clearing his throat, he lifted his arm and raised a finger as he called off the suspects, one by one.
"Okay, we have Wendy Anderson; Midge's niece, Nancy Mills; the gardener, Kevin Frost; the CPA, and Marianne James; Midge's assistant. I think we can discount the cook and her granddaughter; Sophie-they were seen in the kitchen. Midge and Travis were with you at the time of the murder, so that clears them. Right, Emma?"
Seeing Emma's nod, Jake lowered his arm and reached for his cup of cocoa. Gulping down the last of the liquid in the cup, he leaned back against the bench in a self-important manner. The only problem was it was hard to carry the look off with a smear of whipped cream on his lips. Kim giggled and tossed him a napkin, pointing to his mouth. Wiping his lips with an embarrassed movement, Jake joined their laughter. Then he got serious and continued.
"So, that leaves the mysterious guest staying at the cottage, Joe Winders."
"I think it was clear that Travis had no idea who he was, or that he was staying on the property. And I don't think he was all that happy about it when he was informed," Emma said. "And he was pretty upset when Wendy jumped in to defend Joe's position as a guest."
"Travis must be a pretty good judge of character because if it was me, I would not be happy knowing he was staying in the guest house of my home. Let me tell you what I found out about Joe Winders."
Like Kim, Jake pulled out his tablet and opened a few screens until he found what he was looking for. The readout looked official, and Emma could see he had a full dossier on Joe. She briefly wondered where he'd gotten the information, but before Jake gave her a chance to ask, he began to go over his report.
"It seems Joe has always been just shy of crossing the line between petty crimes and federal crimes. He's on the watch list of both local and federal officials, and his connections to the criminal community are well known."
"Just how did you find out all this information?" Kim asked, clearly impressed.
Jake shot Emma a quick glance and shrugged before he turned to Kim. "It's better you don't know."
Emma frowned, wondering just how much of Aiden's contacts and data Jake had gotten into. And how legal it was. But he was the one with the budding law degree, and he'd worked with Aiden enough to know just how far to go, so she was willing to trust his judgment. Glancing over at Kim, she could almost see the wheels turning in her head and had a feeling Jake was going to be pumped for more information than he might be willing to share.
"One point about Joe's interaction with the law is how he always seems to pin his crimes on somebody else. Usually, an innocent bystander who just happened to get caught in his crosshairs. Joe will be brought in for questioning, and thoroughly investigated, and yet the police always seem to come up with not enough evidence to convict. And there's never enough evidence to convict anybody else. Just enough innuendo and finger-pointing to smear the reputation of the innocent," Jake said.
"Then we need to figure out who is targeted to take the blame before Joe sets things in motion," Kim said. Tapping her finger against her forehead, she continued. "But who? Right now, we just have a lot of questions. It feels like we're in limbo waiting for the next thing to happen."
"Kim's right," Emma agreed. "Maybe we don't have all the answers about our suspects. But we also don't know very much about the victim. Maybe that's the place to start."
"How do we go about doing that?" Jake asked.
"The same way we've come up with the information on the others. We ask questions, we peek in records, and we get downright nosy."
Jake laughed at Kim's suggestion, but quickly realized she was right. The only way to find out about Cindy was to ask more questions.
"I could go back to the house, to meet with Travis later today and find out what he knows. And of course, Midge could provide any information I need," Emma said.
Kim nodded, making her suggestion. "I think you'll find out only superficial facts about Cindy doing it that way. You need to find somebody who loves to gossip and always wants to put herself in the limelight. I plan to invite Wendy to lunch. I hope you appreciate the hit I'm taking for the team." The grimace on Kim's face said more than her words, and secretly Emma was thankful this was a luncheon she wasn't invited to.
"While you two are busy with that, I'll take coffee to the police department and see if I can get any more information from Sean about Cindy. I should have enough data to begin searching other avenues," Jake said.
Kim and Emma finished the last of their chocolate and gathered their belongings. They had a plan of attack and were eager to question their sources about Cindy. Putting enough money to cover the three chocolates and a generous tip, Emma reached over and grabbed Dixie's basket, the movement causing the sleepy puppy to peek her head out. Kim led the way out of the restaurant, each of them giving Susie a wave goodbye.