A VENEER OF MURDER (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 3) Read Free Page B

truck at the other end of the complex from the police department. She didn’t want to look at the library today. She just couldn’t.
    Scott was in his office, of course. He wasn’t wearing the same suit. He must have gone home at some point. He looked fresher than she felt. Her eyes were gritty from lack of sleep. She’d showered, but she’d probably washed her hair more than once because she’d lost track. She’d pulled it back into a ponytail.
    He stood when he saw her. “I have your statement here.”
    He handed her a pen. “Go into the room and read it. If you’re okay with it then sign it.”
    She read it, signed it, then brought it back to him. “I hear you’ve brought Celia in for questioning.”
    Scott put up a hand. “Don’t get involved, Kate.”
    “Carly called me on my way here. Could I at least see Celia so I can tell Carly that she’s okay?”
    He frowned. “You don’t want to be in a relationship with me, but you certainly take advantage of our friendship when you want something.”
    “I’m not asking for that much. I don’t have a file to pass her.”
    He shook his head. “She’s in lockup. You want me to take you there?”
    “I think I can find it.”
    Lockup was in the basement and a uniformed officer sat at a desk by the entrance. He waved her in. It seemed everyone in the police department knew her. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
    Celia sat primly on the edge of the bunk bed in lockup. No one else occupied the cell with her. Whatever drunks had been arrested last night were in the other cell. Kate didn’t glance in there. She didn’t want to know.
    Celia didn’t stand. She just looked at Kate, her lips pressed together. Kate would bet that Celia had never been in jail in her life before.
    “Hello, Celia.”
    “Kate.”
    “Did they tell you why you were arrested?”
    “Besides the fact that I had an argument with Meghan earlier in the night?”
    “What did you argue about?”
    Celia sighed. “About my outstanding fines.”
    “Doesn’t sound like a motive for killing a person.”
    “I said that, too, Kate, but only Ken is listening to me. Scott wasn’t. I’m here now.”
    “Do you have a lawyer?”
    “He’s on his way,” Celia said.
    Ken couldn’t investigate this case. Not as long as Celia was a suspect. Kate could not imagine the woman killing anyone. She could be a pain, but Kate couldn’t see her doing anything as violent as what had happened to Meghan. The killer had been mad.
    Kate leaned against the bars. “Weren’t you at the reception?”
    “No, I’d left. I was walking home. You know how I love to walk.”
    Celia walked the town every morning before her part-time job as administrative assistant to the mayor. She was a retired nurse and had spent a few years home before being hired a few months ago.
    “So you were out walking when they think it happened? Surely someone must have seen you.”
    “They haven’t found anyone, and as far as I knew, no one was out.”
    “I walked to the library and there were a few people out and about. It was still light enough for a walk after dinner,” Kate said. “So all they have is that you had a fight with Meghan?”
    “Well, there’s more.”
    “Oh?”
    “The letter opener used to kill her was mine.”
    “Yours? How did it get in the library?”
    “I don’t know. I lost it at a meeting a week or two ago. I’m not sure.”
    “Only your prints were on it?”
    “Sadly, yes. I don’t know where it was during that time, but I didn’t have it.” Celia rose. She walked toward Kate. “Please help me, Kate. You seem to be good at these things. Find the murderer.”
    Kate was going to anyway. That person had snuffed out the life of her friend, and Kate couldn’t sit by and let that person go free. “I will, Celia.”
    Kate mulled over the letter opener as the murder weapon. Why had the person targeted Celia? “Other than Meghan, have you had a fight with anyone lately?”
    “The only