a smile of pleasure. She poured herself a cup of coffee and then joined them at the table. Within minutes Ted also appeared to drink coffee while Gabriel and Jordon ate their meal.
For the next half hour the conversation remained light and pleasant. Ted and Joan told Jordon about the various shows and attractions offered at the many theaters and establishments along the main drag.
“If you have time to do anything, you should go to the Butterfly Palace,” Joan said. “It’s one of my favorite places here in Branson. It’s like walking in an enchanted forest with different species of butterflies everywhere.”
“That sounds nice, but I don’t plan on having any downtime to enjoy the local flavor while I’m here,” Jordon replied. “I’ve got a vacation planned in Florida next week so I can get away from the cold and the snow.”
“So you think you’ll be able to have this all solved by the end of next week?” Ted’s voice was filled with hope as he looked first at Jordon and then at Gabriel.
The frustration that had been absent while Gabriel had eaten his waffle returned to burn in the pit of his belly. “Unfortunately, I can’t promise to solve this case in a timeline that would accommodate Agent James’s vacation plans.”
“And certainly that isn’t what I meant to imply,” Jordon replied with a slight upward thrust to her chin. “Vacation plans can be postponed. I’m committed to being here as long as I need to be in order to be of assistance to Chief Walters.” She gave him a decidedly chilly smile.
“And I appreciate any help that I can get,” he replied, hoping to diffuse some of the tension that suddenly snapped in the air.
“Speaking of help...” Joan looked out the door where housekeeper Hilary Hollis and her daughter, Ann, stomped their boots before entering the building.
Joan cleared the table and then she and Ted disappeared into the office so Gabriel and Jordon could get down to work.
The interview with the two women didn’t take long and Gabriel let Jordon take the lead. It had been twenty-one-year-old Ann who had found Sandy Peters’s body when she’d entered the room to clean it.
The young woman’s eyes still held the horror of the gruesome discovery as she recounted to Jordon the morning she would never forget.
Jordon took notes on a small pad and handled the interview like the pro she obviously was, not only gaining the information she needed from the two women, but also earning their trust, as well.
“Do you intend for me to conduct all the interviews?” she asked when the women had left and she and Gabriel were alone in the room.
“If you’re comfortable with that. I’ve already spoken to these people several times before with the previous two homicides. Maybe you can get something out of one of them that I couldn’t get.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you being sarcastic?”
He smiled at her ruefully. “No, although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you think I am.” His smile fell into a frown as he continued to gaze at her. “I’m frustrated by these murders. I’m ticked off at the mayor, who has made me feel inadequate since the moment I took this job, and I guess I’ve been taking all that out on you.”
The smile that curved her lips warmed some of the cold places that had resided inside him for months. “Apology accepted,” she replied.
“That’s twice you’ve easily accepted an apology from me. Are you always so forgiving?” he asked curiously.
“I try not to sweat the small stuff, although I have been known to have a temper. Now, who are we seeing next?”
Before he could reply, the outer door swung open and groundskeeper Billy Bond walked in. “I don’t know why I’ve got to be here,” Billy said after the introductions had been made and he’d thrown himself into a chair.
He looked at Gabriel, his dark eyes filled with his displeasure. “You’ve already talked to me a dozen times before when those other two people got killed. I don’t know any more now about murder than I did then.”
“But I don’t know anything about you or anything you’ve told Chief Walters in the past, so you’ll have to humor us and answer some questions for me.” Jordon gave the surly man a charming smile. “Why don’t we start with you telling me what your duties are around here?”
“I take care of the grounds.”
“Can you be a little more specific?”
For the next forty-five minutes Jordon questioned the thirty-two-year-old man who had worked for the bed-and-breakfast since Joan and Ted had opened the doors for business.
Once again admiration for Jordon’s interrogation skills filled him as he sipped coffee and listened. And as before as he watched Billy closely, as he heard what the man had to say, he couldn’t help but believe the man was hiding something...but what?
“He’s a charming guy,” Jordon said wryly when Billy left.
“He definitely lacks some social skills,” he replied.
She looked down at her notes. “He answered all of my questions fairly easily, but his posture and facial expressions indicated to me that he wasn’t being completely truthful.” She looked at Gabriel. “For most of the interview he refused to meet my gaze and I could smell his body sweat. He just seemed a bit shady to me.”
“Billy is at the top of my potential suspect list because I have the same concerns about him, but I haven’t been able to find anything to tie him to the murders and I can’t figure out what he could be lying about.”
“He would be on my suspect list simply because he’s the one who found Samantha Kent in the woods,” she replied. “He could have stabbed her and then waited until he knew she couldn’t say anything to identify him and then played the hero in calling for help, knowing that she was going to die before she could say anything to anyone.”
He nodded. The same thought had definitely been in his head. “But what’s his motive? There’s certainly no financial gain in him killing the guests and he doesn’t seem to have an ax to grind with the Overtons.”
“Crazy doesn’t need a rational motive,” Jordon replied. Her eyes simmered with what appeared to be a whisper of dark ghosts and Gabriel fought against a sudden dark foreboding of his own.
It was just before noon when thirty-eight-year-old handyman Ed Rollings sat at the table for his interview. Ed had the face of a cherub, slightly plump and with the open friendliness of a man who’d never met a stranger in his life.
However, the pleasant man was another at the top of Gabriel’s list of suspects. Before Ed had arrived, Gabriel had given Jordon just enough information to aid her in her questioning of Ed.
“I understand your brother Kevin owned this place before the Overtons bought it,” Jordon now said.
Ed nodded and a strand of his blond hair fell across his broad forehead. “That’s right. Kev had big dreams for Diamond Cove but he was short in the financial-planning area.” Ed laughed and shook his head. “That’s the story of Kevin’s life... Big dreams and no smarts for the follow-through.”
“And you weren’t upset when the Overtons took over here?”
“Why would I be upset? I was just glad they hired me on. I’d been working here when my brother owned it and jobs aren’t that easy to find around here. I don’t have any hard feelings against Ted and Joan. They didn’t screw things up for Kevin. He did that to himself.”
“What about your brother? Does he have a grudge against the Overtons?” Jordon asked.
“Kevin has a grudge against the