Murder for Millions (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 7) by Mary Maxwell

smiled silently, he sighed. “Alrighty then.
The BMW? It’s registered in the name of Velma Lancaster. The address on the
title is in—”
    “Utah?”
    Trent raised one eyebrow. “No,
smarty pants. She’s got a Sacramento address, although she previously lived in Utah.
And the plates on the car were stolen, remember?”
    “Okay, so Velma Lancaster is from California.
But she came to Crescent Creek driving her own car with someone else’s license
plates on it?”
    “Sounds about right,” Trent said. “Although
Mrs. Lancaster denied any knowledge of the stolen tags. She claimed that her California
plates were intact when she left home last week. She also stated that she has
no idea who exchanged her legit plates for a stolen set or when the switch may
have occurred.”
    “Or why?” I added.
    “Yeah,” Trent agreed. “That as
well. Although I suspect someone was either playing a practical joke on her or
trying to incriminate her for stealing the plates in the first place.”
    “Did you actually talk to her?” I
asked.
    “I was getting around to telling
you that part.”
    “Where’d you pick her up?”
    “We didn’t,” he answered. “Velma
Lancaster came to the station last night around ten o’clock.”
    “She turned herself in?”
    He nodded. “And guess who she was
with?”
    “Boris Hertel?”
    “Nope. Want to try again?”
    “Ira Pemberton?”
    “Strike two! He was already at the
station talking to Dina and Tyler. Care for a third time at bat?”
    I felt my pulse quicken. “No,
Trent. Just tell me. Who came in with Velma Lancaster last night?”
    The megawatt smile on his face was
so bright that I couldn’t help but grin.
    “It was Carter Devane,” Trent said,
lifting his chin slightly. “The millionaire from Aspen who—”
    “The burglary on the rhyming
extortion note?” I interrupted.
    “One and the same,” Trent said.
“Velma and Carter waltzed into the station and said they had a story to tell
me.”
    I sat forward in my chair. “What
was it?” I felt an icy tingle on my neck. “Did they tell you who was responsible
for assaulting Ira, burning down his body shop and killing Jacob Lowry?”

CHAPTER
16
     
     
    The office was so quiet I heard a
bird twittering in the distant meadow. I kept my position, tilting toward Trent
like an expectant pupil at the foot of the master. He continued smiling; it was
the same self-satisfied expression that accompanied all of his momentous
pronouncements.
    “Well?” I said finally. “What’s the
deal? Did Velma and Carter identify the arsonist and murderer?”
    Trent shifted on the guest chair,
frowning with discomfort. “I mean, the least you could do is put a cushion on
here or something, Katie. This thing is killing my—”
    “Yeah, okay. I’ll look into it. In
the meantime, will you please stop dragging your feet?”
    His smile vanished. “Look who’s
impatient now? You’re usually the one telling me to calm down.”
    “Because you’re usually the one being—”
    “Anyway,” Trent cut in, “Dina and Tyler
had a very interesting chat with Velma and Carter after they finished talking
to Ira Pemberton. They were at the station until about three o’clock this morning, going over what Mr. Devane and Mrs. Lancaster had to say about the
situation.”
    He paused, arched one eyebrow and
waited. But I didn’t bite. I sat back in my chair, folded my arms over my chest
and smiled.
    “Thank you, Katie. It’s a whole lot
easier when you let me talk.”
    Another pause, another raised brow
from Trent while I continued smiling.
    “Okay, so…”
    I shook my head. “I’m not going to
take the bait, big guy. I’m going to sit here and calmly listen to what you
have to tell me.”
    He chuckled. “Man, I wish I had
this on tape.”
    “But you don’t, so let’s keep
going.”
    “Yeah, good idea. We’ve both got
work to do, right?”
    I nodded.
    “Alright, so Mrs. Lancaster and
Devane showed up with a whopper of a story,” Trent