Page 6 of Deadly Sins: Gluttony
Boo studied the woman for a moment.Then, deciding she meant no harm, nestled back onto my lap.
The woman took a seat next to me and said, “My name is Camille.Gideon Belmont was my brother.I heard you two were the ones who found him.”
“We did,” I said.
“And you’re a private detective?”
Cade and I exchanged a glance, both already anticipating where her questions were headed.
“I still take cases on a part-time basis,” I said, “though it’s been a while since I’ve taken on a new investigation.”
“If you wouldn’t mind sticking around town for a while longer, I’d like to hire you.”
“Your sheriff won’t be too fond of the idea.”
“You’ve never let a sheriff stop you before,” Cade said.
For a moment, I just stared at him, stunned he’d said it out loud.
Death had always had a way of finding me.
And we had a rule—no cases when we were traveling.
A rule I’d bent a few times, but not often.
“I try not to get involved in investigations when I’m traveling,” I said.
Cade crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter.“I prefer you not to take cases when we’re on the road, but we don’t have anywhere else we need to be for a while.I’ll admit, Gideon’s been on my mind ever since we found him.And knowin’ you as I do, I’m guessin’ he’s been on your mind too.”
More than he realized.
If I agreed to investigate Gideon’s murder, it wouldn’t take long for the sheriff to hear about it, and I wasn’t fond of the idea of running into him again.
“Have the police talked to you about what’s going on in the case?”I asked.
“I mean, sorta.Can’t get much out of them.Not that I expected I would.Briggs is a worthless son of a …” She pressed her hand to her lips.“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, though I would like to know why you feel that way about him.”
“He went to school with my brother.”
“Briggs mentioned that when we met.”
“He did, did he?I’ll bet he never mentioned how he and some of the other boys used to bully him for being overweight.Back in school, they called him “Gluttonous Gideon,” and the name stuck long after he’d lost weight.”
Briggs had kept that part to himself.
And why wouldn’t he?
The truth wouldn’t have cast him in a favorable light.
He was a bully.
Perhaps he still was one.
Hearing Gideon had once been overweight came as a surprise.The man I saw was lean and fit, not a trace of fat on him.
“Did the bullying ever stop?”I asked.
