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LATER THAT EVENING, after Dana had gone home and showered and changed off into her black leggings and wore her riding leather boots and a knitted long sweater that Grandma Rae had knitted for her a few years ago, Dana was ready to go.
She couldn’t wait to shove her dress and stockings into the washer to clean in the heavy cycle after it had been in the garbage.
And speaking of garbage, Katie and Dana had tried to piece together the torn letters she’d found in the garbage bin. It was a letter addressed to the mayor from some guy in Colorado.
Colorado?
Dana wandered why those personal handwritten letters were torn?
She couldn’t quite read everything but would go back to them later. She wouldn’t bother Detective Troy with any of those details now. She would wait until she could pieced together the letter. It was strange how that letter was handwritten in this day and age of electronic communication. That was rear. But why would the mayor want to get rid of it and why was it addressed to his office, not his home?
“Do you think he had the letter sent to his office because he didn’t want his rich wife knowing about his friendship with this guy from Colorado?”
“Possibly.” Dana thought about it.
“I think so. Mayor Jones might be mayor of the town, but we all know he’s rich because of the wealthy woman he married.”
“They’d been married for thirty years.”
“I know. And they have no children. So if anything happens to his wife. Her billion dollar inheritance fortune would be all his.”
“I’m sure part of his prenup clause was that once he’s faithful to his wife—he’s good to go if anything happens to her.”
“But Shags had been dating him.”
“True. That’s going to put a kicker in his plans.”
“The more I think about it, the more anxious I get. The mayor knows the layout of the Town Hall better than anyone and if Shags did come to collect her paycheck from him—so to speak, then he would have removed her purse, right?”
“Right.”
Dana gave herself, one more quick glance in the mirror then brushed her newly shampooed and dried hair.
“I cannot believe you’re actually going on a date with a hot cop to a murder scene. You guys are strange.” Katie grinned at the doorway of Dana’s bedroom. Katie had already showered and changed for bed and held a large mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream in her hand. She wore her pink dressing gown that was tied at the waist and her hair was done up into an upsweep.
“Katie, you know that’s not exactly what it is,” Dana grinned.
“Oh, come on please. You guys have to be the most stubborn and strange couple I’ve ever met.”
“We’re not a couple, Katie.”
“That’s what makes it so strange. I saw the look in both of your eyes. I could feel that electrical chemistry between you two. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife. You both have the hots for each other yet you’re trying to avoid the inevitable.” Katie grinned and took another sip of her hot steamy chocolate.
Dana could inhale the delicious scent of cinnamon and nutmeg from the mug of hot chocolate. Dana could do with a mug herself and curl up by the fireplace, but not tonight. Tonight, as Katie said, she had a date at the home of a murder victim.
Come to think of it. That did sound crazy, didn’t it?
“Troy will be here to pick me up soon. Don’t wait up.”
“Oh, I won’t.”
Just then Dana felt the furry hairs of her Ginger-haired cat, Truffles, circle around her ankles. “Oh, baby, Mama’s going to be out late, so you don’t wait up either, okay.”
Truffles always managed to warm Dana’s heart, even on the coldest of nights, like tonight.
Maybe Katie was right. She had a point. Dana couldn’t wait to spend her time with Detective Troy looking for clues at the scene of a crime. Was she weird or what? But her heart leaped in her chest every time she was together with him. Was it because they both loved to solve mystery riddles or in his case, mystery crimes? Was she attracted to him because of his profession or because of him? Did it matter?
Wasn’t that the best ingredient for a relationship, as Grandma Rae used to say:
A pinch of love
A dash of honesty
A cup of communication and compatibility.
Patience and understanding
Or something like that, Dana tried hard to remember. But the cup of communication was important. Being able to talk about anything. Dana didn’t have much in common with her ex-fiancé. She seemed to have more in common with Detective Troy. They could communicate about solving stuff and he didn’t think she was strange like her ex did.
Yeah, Dana and Troy certainly had that cup of communication and compatibility going strong, didn’t they?
Grandma Rae always had her own special ingredients for everything, from the cakes she used to bake to the stuff that made up life and everyday living. Gosh, she missed her Grandma Rae like crazy. What would Grandma Rae do in a situation like now? Would she seize the moment? Then again, Grandma Rae had married several times. She believed in love and was never afraid to take chances.
Just then, the sound of the doorbell startled Dana.
“He’s here? Already?”