HAMMERED (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 1) Read Free Page A

wait.”
    “No, I’ll answer your questions. I’m not a suspect.”
    “Everyone’s a suspect until we know time of death. Can you account for your time before you found the deceased?”
    “Part of it. The rest of it I was at Scott’s house fixing the hole in his wall.”
    “We’ll worry about that when the ME tells us the time of death.”
    That reassured Kate. She was in the hardware store prior to that. The woman would have had to have been killed before she arrived at the chief’s house. She hadn’t heard anyone else in the house.
    “Tell me about finding Jackie York.”
    Kate told him everything she could remember up to and including finding Scott’s ex-wife on his kitchen floor. She wondered how long they’d been married. Jackie York was probably a beautiful woman in her day. The kind that turned heads.
    Opposite of tomboyish Kate. She’d long ago learned to be comfortable with herself in most situations, but once in a while a gorgeous woman did intimidate her. She’d bet that Scott’s ex-wife would have been one of those women.
    She would have sported the latest in clothing with some person’s name on the tag that Kate had never heard of. If LL Bean or Carhardt didn’t make it, then Kate had no idea what it was.
    “So you fixed the hole, used the restroom, then Chief York called you. Do you often wander around your clients’ houses?”
    “I’m not going to answer that. It’s none of your business what I do on a job. I’m not a suspect and don’t have to explain myself.”
    Scott took that moment to stop in the room. “Are you antagonizing Mrs. Flaherty?”
    He looked a little better than he had at the house. He’d straightened his tie and rolled down his sleeves.
    “I’m just doing my job,” Ken said.
    “Well wrap it up. She’s not a suspect.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “She didn’t even know my ex-wife. Right, Kate?”
    Kate shook her head. That was the truth. “Never met her.”
    Ken frowned. “Okay. I’ll print this out and you need to sign it.”
    “Fine,” Kate said.
    She was ready to move on to her next job. She turned to Scott. “Will I be able to get back into your house tomorrow? I need to sand and paint.”
    “No. I can’t even get into my house at this point.”
    Even though it was none of her business, she asked anyway. “Where will you stay?”
    “I have a couch in my office.”
    “Comfy.”
    He shrugged. “I’m hoping it’s only one night.”
    Ken left then came back with a piece of paper. Kate read it and it was exactly what she’d said. She signed it.
    “You’re free to go.”
    As she was leaving the interrogation room, she heard her name. She looked up to see Larry Stadt, chief of the Rock Ridge Fire Department. And a guy who had been interested in her for years.
    ***
    Kate wanted the floor to swallow her up as Larry strode across the room. This was not going to be good. Two alpha males in one room. Both mistakenly vying for her attention.
    Larry had taken it upon himself to be Kate’s protector. She suspected he had ulterior motives, but she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t date. Him or anyone else.
    She didn’t like her life being in limbo, but until there was a definitive answer about the whereabouts of her husband, she was still married.
    Larry always skated the edge of understanding that. He stopped in front of her and put his hands on her arms. Marking his territory much?
    She didn’t want to embarrass him, but she gently stepped away from him.
    Larry had brown hair, parted on the side, and soft, puppy-brown eyes. He was one of the sweetest men that Kate had ever known.
    “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine, Larry. I just needed to make a statement.”
    “You aren’t being charged, are you? I can call a lawyer for you.”
    His taking over rankled her. She was an independent woman, and she didn’t need him to do that. “No, I’m fine. I’m on my way home.”
    Scott stepped closer to them. Of course. There was so much testosterone