As he droned on, I met Penelope’s gaze. Having already taken the brunt of his charm during the evening, she looked a little wilted around the edges. Somehow, she managed to interject herself into his diatribe. “Oh goodness, look at the time,” she said cheerfully. “I believe you said you needed to get home for dinner, Chief Jargon?”
He blinked at her. “Uh-oh. You’re right. I’d better get moving, or my wife will have my hide.”
Penelope laughed gaily. “We’ll have to do this again very soon.”
“Absolutely.” He nodded eagerly.
I forced a smile. “Good talking to you. See you soon, Chief.”
“You bet.” He walked away toward the front of the bar, and Mayor Granger slumped. “My Lord, that man can talk.”
“He’s a marvel.”
She laughed, but as she studied me, her smile faded. “You seemed very distracted this evening, Sheriff.”
“Oh, I have a lot on my mind.”
“You mean with your murder investigation?” she asked.
“Other things too, but obviously, that’s a huge priority.”
“Speaking of your investigation.” She cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you, Sheriff.”
Those six words rarely preceded a pleasant conversation.
“Is that right?” I asked, bracing myself.
“I was talking to Angela Raiden at the women’s club luncheon today.” Penelope furrowed her brow. “She seemed very upset with you, Sheriff.”
“Why is that?” I knew perfectly well why Angela had a bug up her ass, but I wanted Penelope to actually have to say it out loud.
“Oh, well, she seems to think you’re unfairly targeting her family in your investigation.”
“You’ve known me a long time, Penelope. Do you really think that’s how I do things?”
“No. But she really was quite upset with you.”
“I can’t help if she’s upset, but I’m not targeting anyone. I’m asking questions of everyone who had interactions with Archie the day of his murder.”
“She insists you’re being too hard on her.”
Anger simmered in my gut. “Now, Penelope, you know better than to stick your nose into my investigations.”
She laughed. “Oh, Sheriff, I’m not doing that. I was just wondering if maybe you could be a little gentler on the Raidens.”
“Gentler?”
“Yes. I… I understand you have to investigate, but she seemedquiteupset.”
“The problem with the Raidens is they don’t seem to think they should be questioned at all.”
“Oh, that can’t be right.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s exactly what’s been happening, Penelope.”
“But I’m sure they know you need to talk to them.”
I shook my head. “When I ask them questions, they get angry.”
