Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon Read Free Page B

bagged and tagged. All they cleaned up was the mess they’d made in fingerprinting.”
    “Still, I appreciate it.” Her eyes were dark, as if in genuine pain as her gaze remained focused on the table. She finally glanced back at him. “There’s coffee in the dining room, and you just let me know when you want breakfast, or if you want something besides biscuits and gravy, and I’ll be glad to serve you in there.”
    He nodded. “Biscuits and gravy sounds good, and after we eat, I’d like you to take me on a tour of the grounds.”
    Her eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded her assent. “I’ll have breakfast ready in about fifteen minutes.” She turned toward the stove as if to dismiss him.
    He hesitated a moment and then returned to the dining room, where he helped himself to a cup of coffee and opened his laptop to begin work.
    He hadn’t seen a personal laptop in their suite. The only computer had been in the small office off the great room that was obviously used for the business.
    Heavy footsteps let him know Jackson approached. Jackson was a slender man, but he walked as if he weighed ten thousand pounds. Gabriel offered the dark-haired agent a tight smile as he entered the dining room.
    “Ah, coffee... The drink of gods,” Jackson said as he headed for the sideboard.
    He poured himself a cup and then joined Gabriel at the table. “So, looks like a potential abduction to me.”
    “That’s what I’m thinking,” Gabriel replied. “I’ve already let Director Miller know how things stand here. I’m in the process of getting a financial picture for both their personal life and this business. After breakfast I’m walking the grounds with Marlena, and I want you and Andrew to search for a personal computer or laptop, plus get into the one in the office, and see if there’s been any unusual activity that might yield clues as to what happened here.”
    Jackson nodded and Gabriel continued. “I also plan on bringing in the part-time helpers sometime this afternoon to interview them, and later I’d like you and Andrew to head into town and start asking questions.”
    “Breakfast first, and then work,” Andrew said as he ambled into the room and headed toward the coffee.
    “Of course, breakfast first,” Jackson said with a grin. It was office intrigue about what Andrew loved most: his job, his girlfriend or food. There was a rumor that he’d once eaten his weight in meat and desserts at a local buffet in Baton Rouge.
    Andrew joined them at the table, and for the next few minutes the men spoke about the interviews they’d conducted the night before with the gardener, John Jeffries, and Marlena’s brother, Cory.
    John Jeffries was thirty years old, originally from New Orleans, and his alibi for the night of the disappearance was that Cory had been at his cabin and the two of them had been watching horror films and had fallen asleep. According to both Cory and John, they’d slept through the night, John on the sofa and Cory in a recliner, and had both awakened around seven the next morning.
    They all stopped talking when Marlena walked in carrying a huge basket of biscuits, a small tray of butter and a variety of jellies. “I’ll be right back with the gravy,” she said, looking at none of them as she set the basket and tray in the center of the table between where the three sat.
    “And what are our thoughts of the lovely manager?” Jackson asked in a low voice.
    “The verdict is still out,” Gabriel replied. What he’d like to know is if her hair was as soft, if her lips were as hot as they’d been in his dream. He frowned, shoving away these unwanted thoughts. “As far as I’m concerned right now, she’s at the top of our suspect list. If nothing else, she’s a person of interest who might know something that will solve this disappearance.”
    He slammed his mouth shut as she returned to the room, carrying a large bowl and ladle of sausage-scented gravy.
    “Mmm, smells good,” Andrew