MULTIPLE MOTIVES (The Kate Huntington mystery series Book 1) by Kassandra Lamb Page B

shrug and headed for the front door.
    Once the jackass was out the door, Rob turned to Kate. “I don’t want you talking to him again without me present.” He realized too late how sharp his voice sounded.
    Kate arched an eyebrow at him, a silent reminder of something she’d pointed out to him before. When he was fresh from the courtroom, he tended to be a lot more adversarial than usual.
    He huffed out air. Softening his tone, he said, “Look, I’m not going macho on you here. I’m talking as your lawyer. This guy seriously believes we’re having an affair and we’re trying to get rid of our spouses. He even checked out my alibi for when Liz was hit. Fortunately, I was in a settlement conference with four other people at the time.”
    Anger surged again in his chest. “Then he asked if I’d hired a hit man. I’ve never wanted to physically harm another human being in my entire life, but I want to put my hands around that detective’s neck and squeeze ’til his eyes bulge!”
    Kate patted his arm. “Whoa, Tiger. Actually a little macho protectiveness feels good to me right about now, but let’s not get ourselves thrown in jail for assaulting police officers. And what happened to the he’s-just-doing-his-job attitude?”
    There was an irritating twinkle in her eye as one corner of her mouth quirked up.
    “Humph,” he snorted. “In my line of work, I’ve rubbed elbows with a fair number of police officers. Most are intelligent and dedicated, but I’ve encountered ones like Phillips before. Ambitious, not overly bright and dedicated only to number one.” He pointed his thumb at his chest. “Their goal is to close cases quickly so they look good, and to hell with whether or not they have the right suspect.”
    He decided not to tell Kate that Phillips had also searched his house and garage, no doubt looking for signs of bomb-making. He’d granted permission for the search since he had nothing to hide. But when Phillips had wanted to search Kate’s house, Rob had told him to get a warrant.
    Which the jackass had been unable to do. The judge had been unimpressed when the only probable cause Phillips could offer for intruding on a grieving widow was the fact that a male friend had hugged her and called her dear right after she’d learned of her husband’s murder.
    Rob ground his teeth one last time, then changed the subject. “Okay, if you’re going to let me take care of you some, get me the phone book so I can find a glass repair shop.” He was much less concerned about the taillight than he was about someone crawling into her car through that back window. “Then I’ll follow you over to drop the car off.”
    “My hero!” Kate gave him a mock simpering smile and fluttered her eyelashes.
    “Milady,” Rob said, taking off an imaginary hat and bowing deeply.
    With a snort, Kate went off to find the phone book, shaking her head at his silliness even though she’d started it.
    Okay, sense of humor’s coming back. She’ll make it . He smiled to himself.
    The smile faded at the next thought. If nobody kills her, that is.

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Thursday evening, Mary called her sister.
    “Wow, you are psychic, girl!” Kate said. “How’d you know I needed to hear your voice?”
    “Don’t know about psychic, but I was thinking I’d fly east this weekend and visit. Maybe stay a week and get together with some old friends.” Mary tried to sound nonchalant, but she was worried about Kate. She could only begin to imagine what her sister was going through. The thought of losing her own husband was unbearable.
    Pete, the sweetie, had agreed to a week of single parenthood so she could go see for herself that Kate was okay.
    “I know it’s last minute, but with the holiday Monday, it’s one less day Pete has to jockey his schedule around the girls’ school.” Mary didn’t want to give her too much time to think about it, and maybe realize that her little sister was mainly coming to check up on