Page 52 of Shadowed Witness

“Of course. I’m not staying, just happened to see Allye here and thought I’d say hello while waiting on my take-out order.” He flashed her a grin as if they’d been talking about the weatherrather than murder. “I hope you ladies have a wonderful time.” He winked at her mom. “And I’ll seeyouin a few days.”

“I can’t wait. Goodnight, Raymond.” She was all smiles as she retook her seat. “He’s such a wonderful man.”

“He could have joined us if you wanted him to.” Not that she wanted to talk to him right now, but perhaps once her shock wore off, she could have asked him where he’d heard about the green glow.

Mom waved her hand. “We have plans for Saturday evening.”

“What kind of plans?” Allye was impressed that she managed to keep her voice even. She didn’t want to tip her mom off that something was amiss. Or might be.

“He said it was a surprise but to dress up. I’m looking forward to it. Now, how about dessert?”

Allye didn’t feel like dessert, but it was their tradition, and her mom would surely suspect something if she turned it down. They decided on the tiramisu to share. The dessert wasn’t covered in Parmesan like most of Zhan’s menu items, but the restaurant took their reputation too seriously to leave their signature ingredient out completely. Somehow they’d managed to make the flavor combination work, and it had become a local favorite.

For the next several minutes, her mom chatted about work and mutual friends, but Allye found it difficult to follow the conversation. How had Mayor Jennings known about the green glow? She mentally rehearsed their conversation to make sure, but no, she definitely had not mentioned it. Could he have heard about it from Officer Moore or Eric? She hadn’t told anyone else that detail—not even her neighbor right after it happened. But if the mayor had heard about it from the police, why had he acted as if he didn’t know she’d experienced a break-in?

Before she found an answer to her questions, the waiter approached them with two pitchers. “More tea, ladies?”

“Please.” Mom turned that megawatt smile on him, and he actually blushed. What was he? Seventeen?

A drop of condensation slid down the side of one pitcher and landed on the small pile of extra napkins.

The waiter straightened. “Can I box the pizza for you, or are you still working on it?”

Allye glanced at her mom, who nodded. “That would be great, and we’d like an order of tiramisu, please.”

He left with their pizza, and Allye attempted to focus on the story her mom was relating. She was hopelessly lost.

Her mind drifted again. It wasn’t just the offhanded way Mayor Jennings had mentioned the green glow that bothered her. Why did it seem like he just wanted the whole situation to go away? She couldn’t make sense of why he not only was unconcerned about a murder—and an attack on her—happening barely a block from his office but also felt so strongly against her involvement.

He was running for a state seat, and much of his campaign focused on how safe he kept his town. Perhaps he saw the situation as bad publicity? She’d never seen him as one to gloss over the town’s problems though. He had a reputation for meeting challenges head on—fixing things. If he was hoping to cover up the fact that major crimes were going on in the area, he wasn’t the man she and the majority of Kincaid thought he was.

She really hated to think that might be the case. Maybe his relationship with her mom was clouding his judgment? Allye’s personal connection to him wasn’t quite what she’d call a father-daughter bond, but he did seem to care about what happened to her.

When an opportunity arose, she rerouted the conversation. Perhaps her mom knew something that could help her make sense of the situation, but she’d have to be careful about how she worded things to avoid spilling her own secrets.

“You’ve been dating Mayor Jennings for a while now. How have things been since he started his campaign?” She hoped the question sounded casual.

“With how busy election season has kept him, we haven’t seeneach other as often as we’d like, but it’s been going well, all things considered.”

That hadn’t exactly been what Allye was getting at, but she lifted her tea to take a sip while she tried to think of a better way to ask abouthim.

Her mom glanced at Allye through her eyelashes and ran a finger around the rim of her own glass. “Just between us, I wouldn’t be shocked to receive a proposal soon.”

24

Allye dropped her glass.Sweet tea and ice cubes sloshed across the table, spilling into her mom’s lap. Her mom sprang to her feet, whisking most of it away with her napkin before it could soak into her expensive cobalt suit.

“Oh no.” Allye grabbed the pile of napkins—already half soaked—and tried to head off the stream still dripping to the floor. The napkins helped, but they weren’t nearly enough. “Sorry. Sorry.” Why did she have to be so clumsy?

“It’s okay. No harm done.” Her mom blotted the remaining drops on her skirt, then added her napkin to Allye’s efforts. “I needed to have this suit cleaned anyway.”

The waiter appeared beside them, towel in hand. “Here, let me.”

They stepped back and allowed him to mop up the puddle on the table.

“I’m so sorry.”

“No problem. Would you like to move to the next table while we get this area cleaned up?” He gestured to an area behind him where their boxed pizza sat.

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