Clambake Murder: A Rocky Cove Culinary Cozy - Book 2 by Summer Prescott

in town, I’d save myself the
trouble of making a phone call and just come reason with you directly, why do
you ask?” his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
    “How
long have you been in town?” she fearlessly held his gaze.
    “We’re
done here Becca. I’ve already undergone an inquisition from your Detective
Reynolds, I will absolutely not tolerate another from you. Back off Becca, I
mean it,” his eyes darkened with menace.
    “Or?”
she challenged, shaking inside.
    “I’m
not even going to dignify that with a reply,” he shook his head in disgust,
charging down the steps, brushing by her rudely.
    Still
shaken by the sudden and hostile appearance of Simon, Becca got back into her
car, pulled into the garage, and made her way to the back door. When she
stepped up into the back porch, the door leading to the house was ajar, and
some sort of substance was puddled just outside. Using her cell phone as a
flashlight, she dipped a fingertip into the congealing puddle and looked at it
in alarm. The red liquid looked like blood. Bringing it to her nose for a
sniff, she gagged a bit when she confirmed that it was indeed, blood. Not
daring to go inside, she called Detective Reynolds, who was out of the office.
Nearly hysterical, she explained the situation to the dispatcher, who promised
to send out a patrol car immediately and would notify Detective Reynolds as
soon as he was available.

Chapter 14
    Detective
Lance Reynolds shook his head in frustration as he discussed the case with his
veteran partner, Chester Gramble. “I spoke with Simon Langworthy, Becca Rogers’
ex-husband tonight, and not only does he have solid alibis for the times in
question, he just doesn’t seem the type. Don’t get me wrong, I think the guy is
an arrogant ass, but I don’t think he has the chops for this kind of thing. I
feel like he’s not one to get his hands dirty, you know?”
    Gramble
nodded. “Besides, what would be his motive? Whether he wants to admit it or
not, the Rogers woman helped prove his innocence. Why would he go out of his
way to torment her?”
    “Well,
he does have a history with Gareth Foster, but I agree, it just doesn’t add
up,” Reynolds replied.
    “What
about Jenkins and Foster,” Chester pursed his lips, thinking.
    “Nothing
solid that we can tie either one of them to yet. We gathered evidence that’s
being compared at the lab, but we won’t know what’s going on with it until we
receive their report.”
    As
if conjured by Detective Reynolds’ words, Gonzales, the lab tech who had given
them the results that they needed to find Lacey Warrington-Langworthy’s
murderer, knocked softly on the office door, coming in with a thick file folder
of results.
    “Bout
time, Gonzales,” Gramble muttered, taking the folder. “Where the heck have
these results been?”
    The
unfortunate young woman flushed bright red. “Well, as it turns out, sir, we
actually had several of results back a few days ago, but the papers
were…misplaced. But now that we’ve compared everything, the findings are much
more conclusive,” she added before Chester could explode in a flurry of
epithets. The grizzled detective dismissed the flustered tech with a wave of
his hand, focusing his attention on the contents of the file.
    He
looked up at Reynolds, amazed and impressed. “Well, it looks like your hunch
was correct again. Let’s go, I’ll explain in the car.”

Chapter 15
    The
detectives sped toward Becca’s house, parking their unmarked car across the
street. For once, instead of heading over to Becca’s or Sally’s, they stayed on
the other side of the highway and banged on Hubert Finch’s front door.
    “Mr.
Finch, we’d like to take a look in your garage if you don’t mind,” Chester
Gramble said as cordially as he could.
    “Yeah,
I do mind,” Becca’s cranky neighbor growled.
    Lance
Reynolds stepped in. “Not a problem.” Taking a pair of handcuffs out of his
back pocket, he snapped one end on Hubert’s wrist,