Shay O'Hanlon Caper 04 - Chip Off the Ice Block Murder by Jessie Chandler.

his handgun was in the ice with the deceased. So that makes him a person of interest in the murder.”
    “Murder?” Eddy jolted and nearly toppled over. I grabbed her elbow.
    “Easy, Eddy,” Coop said.
    In the space of three seconds, Eddy’s confusion melted into indignation. There were times she channeled my Tenacious Protector pretty damn well. “There’s no way your father shot anyone. Granted he’s a hothead. But no sir-ee, he’s not a murderer.” She paused a beat, her lips pursed. “I don’t think he’d kill anyone. Unless someone pushed him too far.”
    My thought exactly. I could see the gears in Eddy’s head grinding along, interpreting what she’d just uttered. “Um, maybe I better keep my trap shut.”
    Up to this point Lisa had followed our exchange without comment. Now she said quietly, “I think maybe it’s time to close up shop.” She pointedly gazed at the two customers in the back booth. “They each only had one drink—Cokes, not alcohol—so their tab should be under ten bucks. Hang on—”
    “Don’t worry.” I waved her off. “I’ll take care of it.”
    Lisa had a good point. Not the greatest idea to be discussing a potentially homicidal father in front of the clientele, especially when the AWOL parent was the owner of the joint. Subtlety wasn’t always my strong suit, and god knew my brain wasn’t banging away on all cylinders right now. Besides, it wasn’t like there was going to be a run on drinks this evening anyway.
    I stood and stretched, then ambled over to the couple. They were middle-aged, dressed in somber, dark clothes, and the woman’s eyes looked puffy while the man’s face was grim. I wondered what crisis I’d interrupted as I explained we were closing early.
    The man said, “No problem. We’re done.”
    I wondered if I’d caught them in the middle of a fight, if maybe I needed to try to get the lady away from the dude to make sure she was okay. I’d done that more than once when I was worried someone was getting heavy-handed with their companion. You never knew, and when you added booze into the mix, it could get ugly in a hurry. Then again, these two hadn’t gotten drunk on a couple of soft drinks.
    The gal groped for something on the seat beside her. She pulled up a black handbag and set it on the table. As she rummaged through its contents, she said, “It was nice to find a quiet bar this evening. Our mother passed away today, and this was a perfect place hide to out for a while.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.” I was relieved I hadn’t stepped into the middle of a domestic thing, but saddened to hear the reason for their distress. It struck me that it could easily be me in their shoes. The fear-fueled ache in my belly flared, along with that horrible feeling of being entirely out of control.
    The woman handed me a twenty. “Keep the change.”
    “No ma’am, you’ve got enough to deal with. Let me treat you to a New Year’s Day drink.” I handed back the twenty. I could see she was about to protest, so I added with a gentle smile, “Every once in awhile we all deserve a break. It’s your turn. Don’t argue, keep it.”
    With the wind taken out of the sails of her argument, she smiled tiredly at me and stood to pull on a thigh-length black tweed coat. The man patted me on the shoulder. I followed them up to the front door. They exited, I threw the deadbolt and turned off the OPEN sign.
    I resettled myself at the bar and said, “Okay, where were we?”
    Eddy said, “We were figuring out how to find your father and get him out of this mistake. When’s the last time someone saw Pete?”
    I scooped up my fuzzy navel and held it tightly. Condensation on the glass was cold against my palm. “Agnes saw him Friday night at his weekly poker game. Said he was planning for New Year’s Eve the next day. Doesn’t exactly sound like he was hell-bent on a bender.” I sucked a chunk of ice from my glass and pinned it between my molars. “But that