The Marsh Madness

“It’s not a problem. There’s tons of stuff here that Vera can sell if she wants or needs to. Her collection isn’t secret. It’s all above board, and you can—if you haven’t already—go see it in the library. She’s proud of it. You can turn this house upside down searching. There will be nothing that implicates Vera in any kind of dishonest or illegal behavior. I’d bet my life on it.”


She flashed a grin at her co-workers. The female officer stopped tossing my bras and panties out of my underwear drawer. The male paused in flipping the mattress to study her carefully. Both of them were scared to death of the good detective.

“You hear that? She’d bet her life on it.” She chuckled—a warm, rich sound that gave me goose bumps. “Miss Jordan Bingham was raised by common criminals. Did you know that?”





CHAPTER ELEVEN





THE TWO COPS gawked at me.

“Not true,” I said, drawing myself up in outrage. “My uncles are not criminals.”

“Oh really?” she said. “Mick Kelly and Lucky Kelly—not criminals? That’s a laugh.”

“They have no criminal records. They’ve never even been charged with a crime. Does your definition of criminal extend to every citizen in our community whether they’ve ever been charged with an offense or not? That’s a big net you’ve got there, Detective.”

Her eyes glittered. She was a dangerous adversary, and I was challenging her in front of two subordinates. Of course, the subordinates were trashing my home on her orders, so you can figure out what got my back up.

“They are known to the police.”

“Who isn’t? You are known to the police, being a serving officer, but that doesn’t make you a criminal. Or, at least, I assume that.”

I was pushing my luck. But I am half Kelly, and sometimes we are luck pushers. I said, “I am not a criminal nor have I ever been.”

“You’ve certainly been under suspicion.”

“Being under suspicion doesn’t mean a thing. You know that. And this was a violent attack.” I heard my voice catch. My uncles would tell me to man up at this point. Of course they weren’t here, were they?

“And Kevin Kelly? You’re telling me he’s innocent too?”

Kev had been on the wrong side of the law, meaning he’d served a bit of time because of youthful indiscretions and less-than-brilliant legal help. I said, “He was a kid. He’s a changed man now.”

“Right. And if you have a bit of Florida swampland for sale, I’d like to take it off your hands. Can I give you my credit card number?”

I ignored her sarcastic tone. “He has a good job here at Van Alst House. He makes a contribution. He’s valued and appreciated and helpful. He’ll do anything for anybody, and he didn’t kill Chadwick Kauffman.” My voice went up in a girlish way. I told myself to get that under control, because if the cops know you really care about something, they try to use that against you.

I was spared any further slurs against my family when Tyler Dekker stumbled up the stairs and into my room. Another young officer was right behind him. “Something you should see, ma’am.”

“What?” Castellano and I said in unison.

“It’s outside, Detective Castellano,” he said with emphasis. I noticed he couldn’t make eye contact with me. He did look around the room. I was positive he spotted the randomly tossed bras and panties on my flower-sprigged comforter. I took some pleasure in the fact that his blush had already started. It was very bright. Tomato-like, even.

Of course, I was also blushing. What a pair. Too bad we were barely speaking.

Castellano turned to the other two and said, “Don’t miss anything.”