Page 13 of The Beachside Cafe 4
“Excuse me, Miss!” they heard called out. Jaymee felt a bolt of fear strike her. She knew whoever it was, that call was meant for her.
The two looked to their left and saw one of the security guards approaching quickly, his hand on the stun gun strapped to his belt.
Jaymee looked up at Cameron. “If he stuns me with that thing, I’m going to kill him.”
Cameron put one finger to his lips and shook his head. “Shush, don’t say things like that. He’s not going to stun you. I’ll step in between if I have to. He just recognizes you from earlier and you did literally just step out of Coulter’s office. Now he’s dead. What would you think?”
Jaymee looked past the quickly approaching security guard, made easier by the fact that many of the onlookers had made a path for him and were all looking at her suspiciously. She could see the other security guard, who was also now looking at her with alarm, pointing his finger and talking quickly to Lou and John.
She breathed a sigh of relief that it was the detectives they were working with. If it had been any other officer, they might not have understood why she was there or what she was doing.
“Hold it!” Cameron said, stepping in front of Jaymee with one hand out like a traffic cop. The security guard skidded to a stop and stared at Cameron long enough for Lou and John to douse the fire.
“This woman is with us!” Lou said loudly, crossing to where they were faster than even the security guard had. The man stepped back, giving her a sheepish look.
“I’m sorry, Miss,” he said. “I just recognize you from when you were here before. You visited Mr. Coulter, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. But he was fine when I left.”
“It’s true.” Another voice came out of the crowd and got their attention.
Jaymee turned and was stunned to see Amanda emerge from the crowd, a worried look on her slender, pretty face. “I am the last one who saw him alive.”
Chills covered Jaymee and she looked up at Cameron, who looked almost as stunned.
“I passed you in my car,” Amanda said, looking at Cameron and Jaymee.
Jaymee had the sudden urge to interrogate Amanda right then and there on the spot. She refrained, holding her questions in but it was quite a struggle. There was so much she wanted to say to the woman, so many answers she needed.
“I did see Danny,” Amanda said. “But only for a few minutes. Maybe ten or fifteen. You saw me come out, didn’t you, Carl?” She directed her question to the security guard that had approached Jaymee.
“I did, Miss Dinklage. I sure did.” He nodded in agreement. “Saw you when you came in and saw you when you left.”
Amanda looked at the detectives, Cameron and Jaymee. “I don’t have to sign in, you see, because I work here and Danny and I are friends.” Her eyebrows drew together and Jaymee was stunned to see tears fill her eyes. She wondered if they were genuine tears.
How could they be?
Coulter had told Jaymee he hadn’t spoken to her for some time, that their fling had been broken off for a while. He just heard from her a few weeks or months ago and now she shows up on the very same day as Jaymee, resulting in Coulter’s death?
It was all too much of a coincidence.
She looked down at the floor, trying to look confused. She didn’t want Amanda to suspect her.
“What did he say to you, if you don’t mind my asking.” Amanda asked the question of Jaymee.
There was no way Jaymee was going to reveal that information.
“Not a lot. We discussed my husband’s retirement account he’d had while working here. A very boring conversation to say the least.”
Amanda nodded and Jaymee would have sworn she saw relief in the woman’s eyes.
“He was always such a whiz with numbers,” she enthused. Jaymee was boring of her fakeness and wanted to get away from her. She edged herself a little closer to Cameron, who gave her a side hug again.
“This is all troubling to us,” he said, squeezing Jaymee’s shoulder and sending pleasant tingles down her arm. “Can we examine the office for clues so I can get her out of here?”
Jaymee felt like a delicate flower as the men all enthusiastically said yes, they needed to get going. Lou told Amanda he would like to stay and question her. She looked reluctant but willing, saying she expected it because she’d just left him.
It looked like she was going to follow them to the elevators when Lou reached out and grabbed her arm gently. “I’d like to talk down here, if you don’t mind. If there’s a private room we can use?” He looked at the security guard, who nodded.
