Deadly Deceptions by Linda Lael Miller

and trapped. Cornered, with no hope of escape.
    I went to her, sat on the arm of her chair and slipped an arm around her. “What’s going on?” I asked mildly after giving both Jolie and Tucker a glance that said I’d protect my sister—even from them.
    â€œTucker’s here to ask some routine questions,” Jolie said before Tucker managed to reply.
    He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Set the papers aside. Reports, probably. Or were they copies of Alex’s insurance policies—or perhaps his will?
    A shudder strolled down my spine, then shivered right back up again to tingle on my nape. I waited.
    Tucker stood. Shifted slightly on the soles of his beat-up cowboy boots. I remember wondering, completely out of context, if he’d sat on the edge of Allison’s bed that morning to pull on those boots. If Allison had been the one to tell Chelsea he’d left his family for a “slut who lives over a biker bar.”
    â€œI’m sorry for bothering you at a time like this, Mrs. Pennington,” he said, though he was looking at me as he spoke, not Greer. He took a card from his shirt pocket, laid it on the end table on top of the papers he’d been reading. “If you think of anything you figure I should know—anything at all—call me.”
    Greer nodded numbly. Even without seeing her face, I knew she’d disconnected. Tucker was no more real to her than the dead greeter at Wal-Mart would have been.
    Tucker’s eyes connected with mine, held.
    â€œYou see Detective Darroch out,” Jolie told me, briskly efficient. “I’m going to help Greer upstairs. She needs to rest.”
    I nodded, watched as Jolie got Greer on her feet and steered her toward the curving stairway.
    Tucker could have found his own way out, of course, but he waited for me.
    â€œWe need to talk,” he said, repeating what had become his stock phrase, when we were outside, with the door closed behind us. “Your place? Or we can get some dinner somewhere.”
    I knew Gillian or Justin, or both of them, might be in the guesthouse, waiting for me to come back. I could have dealt with that, but adding Tucker to the mix was just a shade more than I could handle.
    â€œDinner,” I said. “If you’re buying.”
    He grinned wanly, looking sort of like the old Tucker, but not quite. I wondered if it was the new job that had changed him, or sharing a house with Allison and the kids. I longed for the good old days, before I’d started seeing dead people, before—well, just before. “I’m buying,” he assured me. “Things a little slow in the detective business, Sheepshanks?”
    â€œI have to give back Greer’s retainer,” I admitted. He knew my sister had advanced me five thousand dollars to find out if Alex was being unfaithful, with another five grand to follow if I got the goods on him—I’d bragged about it. After all, it was my first case. Since I didn’t want to tap in to Nick’s insurance money, I’d probably have to hit the casino and work the slot machines for some ready cash. I have a talent for making them pay, but I’ll get to that later.
    We’d reached Tucker’s SUV, and he opened the passenger door for me, waited while I climbed in and snapped the seat belt in place.
    â€œI guess Pennington’s getting killed sort of threw a wrench in the works,” Tucker said. “But at least now you know he’s not cheating on your sister.”
    I didn’t answer until he’d rounded the SUV and gotten behind the wheel. Started the engine. “Isn’t it a little soon for you to be questioning her?” I asked tightly. “After all, they only found the body this morning.”
    â€œWrite this down and hide it in the secret compartment of your magic detector ring, Moje,” Tucker answered, backing out onto the street. “It’s important to question