Page 160 of It Runs in the Family

I hesitated. I wasn’t going to admit I knew about the flash drive, but how else did I explain my interest? And why wasn’t he asking about Boone? He’d been with me for every conversation I’d had.

Except for one.

“What makes you think I was askin’ around about Rebecca?” I realized my question was out of order. I hadn’t denied it, but maybe he’d answer anyway.

His eyes darkened. “You had a chat with my grandmother.”

“Your grandmother is Loretta?” I asked in shock.

His grin was my answer.

“Why do you lock her in her bedroom? What kind of grandson are you?” I asked in outrage.

“I do what’s necessary for her own good.”

“She had to pee like nobody’s business!” I protested. “At least lock her in a room that has a bathroom.” I shook my head in disgust.

“My grandmother is not your concern,” he said, his eyes dark with warning. “You let her out.”

“Yeah, when an elderly woman asks you to help her escape a locked room, if you’re a decent person, you let her out.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you need to mind your own business?”

“No,” I said. “I usually keep to myself.” I cocked my head. “I don’t believe your grandmother told you about me. How did you really find out?”

He laughed, but it was a dark sound. “You’re right. She didn’t. I have cameras in the house. I know you were askin’ about Rebecca.” He paused. “I also know she told you about Eddie.”

My mind ran over my conversation with Loretta, but so much had happened in the last eighteen hours, I was struggling to recall it all. But I did know I’d mentioned Boone and Voss didn’t seem to know about him, so maybe his cameras didn’t record sound. Like the one at the Stop-n-Go.

“So let me repeat my question, Iris,” he said, his voice tight, “And for the record, I do not like repeating myself.” He leaned forward, his menace coming through loud and clear. “Why were you lookin’ into Rebecca?”

I decided to go with the bracelet story. Garrett hadn’t bought it, and I doubted Voss would—especially since I’d pretty much told him I was looking into Rebecca because I was scared for Selena—but it was all I had at the moment.

“I didn’t start out lookin’ for her. I was lookin’ for a blue bracelet with red beads. My cousin Rachel has one, and my cousin Hannah really liked it. Her birthday’s comin’ up, so I decided to try to find one for her. I went to Marvin’s Mercantile to see if they had any more,” I said in a rush. “They didn’t, but Marvin told me Deanna bought two with her friend. I know Deanna, so I went to the Dollar General to see if she’d sell me hers. She didn’t want to, but she told me that her friend Rebecca had the other one and might sell it to me. She told me to go to her house, and if Rebecca wasn’t home, I could use the spare key to get in and look through her things. Only while I was there, a deputy sheriff showed up. That’s how I found out Rebecca was murdered. He was talking to someone on the phone about it. While he was talkin’, I slipped out the back window. I was hiding between houses, waiting for the deputy to leave, and Loretta saw me and asked me to let her out.” I shrugged. “So that’s why I was askin’ about her.”

As I told him the story, I hoped that if I threw enough information at him, he’d accept it as fact. But he was staring at me like he didn’t believe a single word coming out of my mouth.

Finally, he gave a little head shake and turned to Selena. “Is what she’s sayin’ about your cousins true?”

Selena gave me a confused look, then turned back to Voss. “Yeah, I kind of remember our cousin Rachel having a bracelet like Rebecca’s, and our cousin Hannah really liked it.”

“Why not just get her a different bracelet? Why chase those people all over town?” Voss asked.

So far, I was coming off as a ditzy fool, and I was going to keep playing that part in the hope it would save me. I shrugged. “Hannah likes what she likes. Besides, I was hoping to barter for it, not spend money on a new one.” I winced. “I recently lost my job.”

Selena gasped. “You did?”

I rolled my eyes. “Girl, you’ll never believe why. Mannie asked me out, and I told him I don’t date coworkers.”

“Eww!” she exclaimed. “Isn’t he like fifty years old and living in his mother’s basement?”

“He’s in his forties, and yes. He lives in his mother’s basement. Anyway, he told our boss I was stealing from the register, and Jimmy fired me. Then Mannie thought I’d actually go on a date with him to Taco Bell.”

Her eyes flew wide. “Are you kiddin’ me?”

“Ladies,” Voss said with a huff, but his impatience didn’t sound menacing. “Can we focus on the topic at hand?”

“The topic at hand was my current unemployment,” I said matter-of-factly. “And that’s what we were discussin’.”