Which is why I refuse to call him my boyfriend. I’m fifty-two and he’s forty-seven. Boyfriend seems too juvenile. Lover could work, but since the L-word had yet to be spoken between us, that seemed a bit premature.
My beau was staring at me. And from the look on his face, I assumed he had nary an solution to offer Trey or Sarina.
I reached over and turned off the stove. “Okay, what’s wrong?” I asked. “You’ve had more on your mind than dinner ever since you called this afternoon.”
He frowned and slowly spooned the meatballs onto a plate lined with paper towels. “I was going to ask you to do me a favor,” he mumbled eventually. “But never mind. It’s too dangerous.”
Too dangerous? Well, now he had to tell me. But how to convince him of that.
I hopped up to set the table and began with the most obvious question. “Does it have something to do with your job?”
“It’s kind of complicated,” he told the meatballs as he transferred them, one by one, into the sauce pot.
“Why am I not surprised?” I looked up from folding the napkins. “Is this about what happened at the Wade On Inn? Didn’t I read something in the paper?”
No answer while he pretended his spaghetti sauce required his urgent attention.
“If you refuse to tell me what’s going on, why bring it up at all?” I asked.
“I keep you in the dark for your own safety, Jessie.”
“Yeah, right.” I dropped the silverware and returned to the stove. “Perhaps things did get a little tricky during the Stanley Sweetzer episode,” I said once he would finally look at me. “But that’s no excuse for you to be so cagey about your work, Wilson.”
“A little tricky? You almost got yourself killed.”
I folded my arms and glared. “As I recall, the lead investigator of the Clarence Homicide Squad accused me of killing Candy Poppe’s fiancé. Forgive me if I got a little carried away trying to prove my innocence.”
“I only accused you that one time.”
“Gee thanks.”
Wilson took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes. Two murders at the Wade On Inn. Last week. Both victims were regulars at the pool table.” He stopped and waited for my reaction.
I pursed my lips and decided to stir the pasta.
“You ever play out there, Jessie?”
“Umm, I might have.”
He took the spoon away from me. “That,” he said, “is exactly what I was afraid of.”
“Come on, Wilson. It was a long time ago.”
“What do you know about the game at the Wade On Inn?”
“I know it’s the hottest table in town. They shoot nine ball out there, if I’m not mistaken.”
He squinted at me, suspicion veritably oozing from his pores. “When were you last there?”
“Oh, for Lord’s sake! I haven’t set foot inside the Wade On Inn or any place like it for close to thirty years.
“However,” I added when he seemed a bit too relieved. “If Adelé Nightingale’s books ever go out of style, I do believe I could pop on down there and get enough action to pay my mortgage, no?”
Wilson turned to Snowflake. “That,” he said, “is exactly what I was afraid of.”
Amazon Author Page
Still curious? Learn more about Jessie and her creator Cindy Blackburn at www.cueballmysteries.com. Cindy also writes a blog. Read her altogether embarrassing and exceedingly awful poetry at cueballmysteries.com/blog
Acknowledgements
I could not have written Playing with Poison without gobs of help from gobs of people. Thanks to everyone who offered me their support, encouragement, and time. I am bound to forget someone, but here goes: Jean Everett, Anne Saunders, Sharon Politi, Jane Bishop, Joanna Innes, Bob Spearman, Kathy Powell, Megan Beardsley, Betsy Blackburn, Martha Twombly, Karen Phillips, Shari Stauch, Teddy Stockwell, Sean Scapellatto, Carol Peters and my friends at the LRWA. Special super-duper mega thanks to my husband John Blackburn, my technical guru extraordinaire and my hero.
Contents
Playing With Poison
Copyright
For John,
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Please Keep Reading
Three Odd Balls
Double Shot-Sneak Peek
Acknowledgements