Deadly Vintage: A Molly Doyle Mystery (37 page)

Read Deadly Vintage: A Molly Doyle Mystery Online

Authors: Elaine Flinn

Lucero grinned. “That’s our Molly You okay, then?”
Molly took her regular place next to Randall. She shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
Randall eyed her. “Don’t kid kidders, okay?”
“I’m okay, honest. I’ve had a full day to think things over. Like you always say, what happens, happens. End of story, right?”
“That pretty well sums it up,” Loomis said kindly “It’s a trick we ex-cops learn early on.”
Her phone call over, Daria was at Molly’s side. She leaned over to hug her. “I think,” Daria said, “it’s not a trick most of us can handle.”
Dinner was even more sumptuous than normal. There were only five of them at the table, but the platters of vitello tonnato, a salad of arugula and tomato with lemony dressing, vermicelli with clams, and veal scaloppini, were enough to feed ten. The wine on the table bore labels of a new winery Daria was thinking of adding to the restaurant’s wine list. Much of the conversation centered on sports, Emma’s trip, and the new wine, and the compliments to the chef were boisterous.
It was as if Todd Jessop had never entered their lives.
The closest they came to the subject was when Lucero said, “By the way, dinner tonight is on me. A little gift to my friends for all their help.”
 
When Molly left with Daria to clear the empty platters, Randall said to Loomis, “I’ve got a top-priority job for you.” He looked at Lucero next. “If you don’t mind my stealing your top investigator for a side job?”
“For you? Hey, be my guest. What’s up?”
“Missing person,” Randall said. “I’ve got a full jacket on him for you,”
Loomis’s eyes lit up. “A walk in the park. Who is it?”
“Name is Derek Porter.”
Randall looked at Lucero. He saw Lucero’s famous wide grin, the one he usually saved for constituents, break free. He gave Randall a knowing nod. “This’ll be on the house, Chief. I mean, hey, he’s a fugitive, right?”
Loomis asked, “And he is?”
“Molly’s errant husband. I want you to find the bastard. It’s time this was settled.”
Loomis gave out a soft whistle. “Like that, huh?
When Randall didn’t reply, Loomis probed, “And when I find him? What then?”
Randall filled his wineglass, pulled out a cigar, and said, “You leave that up to me.”
Molly heard Randall’s answer when she walked in. “What’s going on now? Leave what up to you?”
“Oh, just a new project Randall’s working on,” Loomis answered.
Molly sat down and reached for her coffee. “New case, Chief?”
“You might say that,” Randall replied.
Molly laughed. “Looks like I’m on a need-to-know basis again. But you’ll tell us all later, right?”
Randall smiled. “Bet on it. And then some.”
 
 
ELAINE FLINN is the Barry Award-winning author of
Tagged for Murder.
Her first book in the series,
Dealing in Murder,
was nominated for the Agatha, Gumshoe, Barry, and Anthony awards. An antiques dealer for many years. Flinn peeks behind the scenes of the mystique. showing her readers how to avoid fakes and unscrupulous hucksters. Her website. which can be found at
www.elaineflinn.com
, emphasizes
caveat emptor
let the buyer beware—and she can be visited and e-mailed there.
Between trips back and forth from Carmel to her new home in Eugene, Oregon. Flinn is working on the next Molly Doyle mystery.
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CAROLYN WHEAT
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Available from your local bookstore or from
Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Co. at (800) 662-8351
or
www.danielpublishing.com/perseverance
.

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