Page 107 of Road Queens
“Ladies, I am in awe of your past efforts. And David, thank you for bringing us together. And you, sir, I ... have no idea who you are.”
“Sean Beane.”
“Truly?”
Sean ignored the question he probably got every time he introduced himself. “I’m looking into the murder of Jonny Frank.”
Amanda noted the careful “I’m looking into” as opposed to “I’m vigorously investigating.” Nor did Sean mention his law enforcement background. Kid gloves?
Marcus smiled. Or his lips curled up. Probably a smile. Or a toothache? “Good. Justice must be pursued, isn’t that what we’re taught? We don’t find out the truth until years later.”
“Yeah,” Cass replied cautiously. “That’s a bummer, all right.”
“Please, ladies, tell me about yourselves. Or perhaps David can elaborate?”
Dave picked that moment to run out of words; maybe the chill of the building got to him, or Marcus Garner’s off-putting demeanor, or he thought they could introduce their own damned selves.
Amanda let go of Sean’s hand and stepped forward.
“Hello. So sorry to barge in. Your mausoleum is lovely. This is my friend Sidney Derecho; this is my other friend, Cassandra Rivers—”
“Amanda only has two friends,” Sidney said with a straight face. “She caught her limit back in high school.”
“And I’m Amanda Miller, small-business owner.”
“Yes, you own the Hobbit Hole, a play on words regarding your little bookshop; how clever,” Marcus said in a tone that indicated he thought it was anything but clever.
Amanda hated clichés, but when he casually dropped that nugget, she felt her pulse stutter.He knows about OpStar, he knows about my Hole, and he’s been visiting Iris. Have I been wondering about the wrong man? Sean has been watching out for us for years, which could have easily been misconstrued. But how long has this politely blank stranger been slithering around in my life? Our lives?
“I am Marcus Garner, as you know. This is my sister, Wanda,” he added, indicating the small, elegant urn, which had a silver background and delicate gold bands at the neck. She’d assumed it was silver, but given Garner’s obvious wealth, Amanda was now willing to bet it was platinum. “I will join her here eventually.”
“Oh. Well.” Cass cleared her throat. “That’s ... something to look forward to?”
“She hated being alone.”
Sidney was studying the urn and pillar. “You’re building this great big thing—this great big, gorgeous thing—when all you need is about a foot and a half of space?”
“It’s what Wanda would have wished.”
Amanda doubted Wanda would have wanted her brother to obsess, murder, and piss away hundreds of thousands on a small marble building and a platinum urn, but kept her mouth shut.
“And how is your dear mother, Cassandra?”
“Fine. In prison, but ... fine.” She paused. “It was nice of you to visit her.”
“I am not nice. And I regret—many things, now I think about it. Among them, that I was unable to assist in her legal defense, then and now.”
Okay, so he didn’t know Iris until recently. But ... now?
Cassandra obliged her: “Now?”
Garner nodded. “My last two visits, I suggested a new attorney and a new strategy, but she was adamant. And thus remains imprisoned. Doubtless, she wishes to keep punishing herself for a crime that was no crime.”
“Er, yeah. Doubtless.” Amanda could see Cass was equal parts puzzled and uneasy. “She’s, um, doing good, though. Y’know, relatively speaking.”
“Doing well,” Amanda whispered, then hissed when Sidney pinched her.
“Though she was bummed about losing her appeal to reinstate her license—”
