19644d8eebdf42e4b611005d94748ece

Much to my surprise, Bonnie offered me her hand.“Shall we?”

I took it, and together we slipped back into my bustling house that was filled to the brim with partygoers. Oh, I hoped the police would hurry up in finding what they needed.

Until they could, I’d need to do everything in my power to keep people inside and away from the body. Maybe I could also uncover some clues to help things along.

Save the party and catch the killer?

Yup, all in a day’s work for a P.I. like me.

Chapter Six

“Everyone listen up!” Bonnie shouted, cupping both hands around her mouth like a megaphone. “This girl right here has an announcement to make.”

Well, so much for being subtle.

I cleared my throat and stepped forward.“Yes, the 5k has been cancelled, due to an approaching storm. Sorry. I know a lot of you were looking forward to it, but better safe than sorry. Right, guys?”

“So what now?” a thin man in an ill-fitting suit called from his seat at one of the middle dining tables. “I gathered a lot of pledges for that race.”

“Um, I guess we’ll just go straight to the next part of the evening.”Shoot.I hadn’t quite thought this one through. “The formal ball. Yay!”

Bonnie clapped her hands over her head.“Yay!”

“But what about our pledges? Can we at least get a rain check?” that same man whined at me.

“Rain check,” I parroted enthusiastically as I pointed to him. “Definitely! We’ll call everyone once we have a new date.”

“But what about—?”

“She’ll let you know when she knows, all right?” Bonnie barked at him, and the disappointed runner reddened under her intense gaze.

“Yes, I promise I will,” I confirmed with a grin. Bonnie may have a harsh way about her, but she was definitely coming in handy right about now. “Until then, enjoy the rest of your dinners.”

“And don’t forget to submit your guesses for the murder mystery theater door prize,” Mr. Gable added, striding over from the other side of the house to lend his support. He then whispered into my hair, “I’ve updated your nan on the situation at hand.”

Once again I was grateful for his help, but he’d only been outside for a moment. How did he know?

Mr. Gable grabbed his phone from his pants pocket and wiggled it at me.“Charles caught me up on the key facts.”

I nodded my thanks.“Keep an eye on things down here for me?”

“I knew you’d find a way to investigate before the night was through. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.” He smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll keep the guests from wandering around outside. Go get ’em, girl.”

I jogged up the stairs, not quite sure where I was headed until I got there—Octo-Cat’s bedroom, the place where the shelter volunteers had set up the adoptable animals. Also the place where I’d seen our deceased DJ exiting on less than pleasant circumstances.

Who could he have been arguing with? Time to ask some questions. See if I could help rush things along for Officer Bouchard.

“Hello,” I called to announce myself as I swept into the room with a newfound determination.

“Hello,” a blonde girl wearing her hair in a Princess Leia-like configuration greeted me. She wore a simple nylon dress that looked amazing on her. My guess was she didn’t have much money to buy clothes, but she knew how to work with what she had. Suddenly I felt subconscious in my borrowed dress and gloves. She studied me with a curious expression as if she knew me from somewhere but didn’t quite know where.

“I’m Angie. This is my house. Just wanted to check how things are going up here,” I said in an attempt to explain my presence. “I saw what looked like an argument earlier.”

She blew a raspberry.“Oh, with Max? He’s always making trouble, I swear.”

This surprised me, and I couldn’t help but show it. “You knew Max?”

She shrugged and looked down at her lap.“Yeah, we go to Blueberry Bay Community College together. I was surprised to see him volunteering for a charity event, and I told him so.”

“I’m guessing he didn’t respond favorably, then.” It had sounded like Max had been muttering curses under his breath, yet the girl in front of me didn’t seem irritated at all. Had I somehow misunderstood? Or did she just have an excellent pokerface? Could this be my killer?

She laughed.“It was hard to rile him up. He liked himself way too much to care what others thought of him. Can you believe it? He actually bragged, started talking about how he was too talented to work for free, that he was getting paid even if I wasn’t.”

“Charming,” I muttered. As far as this girl knew, everything was fine with Max. I couldn’t let on that it wasn’t, especially while I still considered her a suspect.

She pursed her lips and nodded.“Yeah, Doug was not happy with the way he talked to me. That’s probably the fight you overheard. Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” I assured her with a smile. “Are you okay?”

“Of course I am. It was no big deal. Like I said, Max is always like that. I’ve gotten used to it.” She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed.