What Happens When Crime Solving Partners Collide?

Posted on Jul 19, 2016 Topic : Fiction

When savvy sleuth Beth Kirby is sent to Natchez, Mississippi to investigate the mysterious death of Reverend Paul Dean, she is teamed up with irrepressible PI-in-training, Michael Preston. In this excerpt from Magnolia Moonlight, Beth and Michael are at odds over their interview of the victim's widow...

***

Do you have sawdust for brains?” asked Beth, the moment she stepped onto the Deans’ front porch. “We gain nothing by infuriating our client, while we exponentially increase the risk of getting fired.”

“Did Mrs. Dean fire us?” Every drop of blood drained from Michael’s already pasty complexion.

Beth contemplated stringing out his agony to teach him a lesson.“No, not yet, but she’s not inviting you back for coffee and Danish.”

Michael crossed his arms over his starched shirt. “I know I was out of line, but she didn’t act like a grieving widow. Every one of her answers seemed somehow off.”

“Off—that’s the best scientific conclusion you can draw? I thought you earned two master’s degrees.”

He shrugged. “My degrees in accounting and business management won’t help me here.”

“So why don’t you watch and learn?” She dragged him down the stairs toward their cars.

Michael offered a three-finger salute. “Will do, Captain. I arrived at the same conclusion a few minutes ago.”

Beth brushed back her bangs to scratch her forehead. “Some of Mrs. Dean’s answers caught me by surprise too, but grief affects people differently.”

“Point well taken.” He rubbed his chin as though deep in thought.

“Always let the person talk themselves out, especially if you think they’re hiding something. Loose lips sink boats.”

“Ships.” Michael rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.

“What?”

“Loose lips sink ships.”

“What’s the difference between a ship and a boat?” Beth stared at the spot between his eyebrows, unable to decide if his eyes were brown or hazel.

“Absolutely nothing.” Her partner seemed to be biting his cheek.

“With an outsider’s objectivity, I noticed that Mrs. Dean is strikingly attractive.”

“You don’t have to live outside Adams County to see that she’s pretty. So what?”

“At the risk of speaking ill of the dead, I noticed Mr. Dean was not particularly attractive.”

Beth pointedly looked at her watch. “Is this line of deductive reasoning going somewhere? Because I have a long list of errands to run before dark.”

“I read in the training guide that intuition and first impressions should be taken seriously. My gut tells me something isn’t right about their marriage. Why would a rich woman, especially a beautiful one, marry Reverend Dean? If she wants us to look for a killer, maybe it’s to direct attention away from her.”

Beth shook her head. “Then why hire us at all? Once the police concluded the death was a suicide, she would get away with murder.”

“Maybe she took out a big life insurance policy. Doesn’t a suicide render the policy null and void?”

“Well done, Sherlock. Too bad policies also don’t pay if the beneficiary murders the insured.” Beth tore a page of notes from her tablet. “Look, when I talk to our boss tonight, I’ll tell him we’ll work the case together while he’s gone. But—and this part isn’t negotiable—I’m the lead. You take orders from me. Can you live with that?”

“Do I still get Sundays off, thirty minutes for lunch, and two weeks of vacation after my first year of employment?”

“Keep up that humor, and my weapon might accidentally discharge into your foot.”

“Will I get to carry one of those someday?” Michael pointed at her holstered Glock.

“Not if I have any say in the matter.”

“Okay, Miss Kirby. I will do nothing without your express approval.” He offered a small but genuine smile.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

***

Will Beth and Michael solve their differences in time to solve the case?