The Lady Who Sang High: A Reed Ferguson Mystery (A Private Investigator Mystery Series - Crime Suspense Thriller Book 7) by Renee Pawlish Page B

thought. Had she already tried to manipulate Jude and it went bad and she killed him?
    “Are you going to help me?” she asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    She thumped a jar on the table and I jumped.
    “If I figure this out without you, you get nothing,” she said.
    “I don’t know. With what happened to Jude…” I didn’t finish.
    She suddenly stood up and her chair toppled over. “I’ve got to get back to the store.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “Remember, this is just between us.”
    “Right,” I said.
    After she left, I sat for a moment, thinking. What was up with Ivy?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    I threw her a halfhearted smile when I went back into the store. She was cleaning the countertops, and she glared at me and then winked. For the next couple of hours I swept floors and checked and changed light bulbs. I noticed that Wes and Heath had both left, neither one of them saying a word to me. It sort of hurt my feelings, and I had to remind myself that I was just the help.
    I walked back into the store a few minutes before seven. The regulations stated that no marijuana could be sold after that time, so the store closed at 6:45 so that all customers were gone before the deadline.
    “Hey, get yourself some samples,” Ivy said.
    Bill smiled. “You should try the energy drink.”
    “Isn’t that a contradiction?” I asked. “Doesn’t weed make you mellow?”
    “Dude,” he said. “Weed’s evolved way beyond that.” He held up a bottle full of orange liquid. “You really will get an energy boost. Or at least you’ll laugh your ass off a lot longer than usual.”
    “Okay, I’ll try it.”
    He gave me a couple of bottles and Ivy rang it up. “Two cents.”
    I gave her a nickel. “Keep the change.”
    “Think about what I told you,” she whispered as she took the money.
    “Uh-huh.”
    Bill leaned against the counter, swaying to the beat of some reggae, the perpetual look of happiness on his face.
    “Did you clean the table?” Ivy asked him.
    “Yeah, I did it earlier.”
    She looked around to see if she missed anything. Satisfied all was completed, she waved a hand. “I’m outta here. Bill, are you going to listen to that all night?” She headed around the counter.
    He grinned, then shut off the music. The store became eerily quiet.
    “Have a good one,” he said to me as he sauntered past Ivy and out the door.
    “Are you coming?” She looked at me as she held the door open. “We can go back to my place and try some of your samples.”
    “Sorry to be the buzz-kill, but he can’t,” Jodie said as she strolled into the store. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “I want him to stay and help in the back. We’ve got to get him up to speed on all this.”
    “Why the rush?” Ivy asked innocently.
    “In case we expand,” Jodie said.
    “Yeah, business is booming.” Ivy threw me a threatening look that Jodie and Bill didn’t catch. “See you tomorrow, then.”
    She shut the door and Jodie locked it.
    “Whew.” She leaned against the door and blew out a large breath, her bangs flying up off her brow. “I thought this day would never end.”
    The weariness and stress showed around her eyes, but she marshaled some reserve strength and pushed herself upright.
    I glanced around. “Is anyone else here? I didn’t see Carlo and Pete.”
    She shook her head. “They sometimes let themselves out the back. Let’s go up to my office,” she said as she walked past me. “I want an update on your investigation.”
    She’s not going to be happy , I thought as I followed after her.
    A few moments later, she settled into her desk chair. I pulled up the chair on the other side of the desk and sat down.
    “How’d it go today?” she asked, her eyes on the ceiling.
    I gathered my thoughts. “I’ve met everybody now.”
    “And?” She closed her eyes.
    “They all seem to like being here…” I hesitated.
    “What?”
    “Like I said before, no one liked Jude.”
    She lowered her