“No, no. Nothing like that. It’s just . . . well, my husband and I haven’t seen him in a long time. Do you know where I can find him?” I asked.
“I only see him now and then. Not regular anymore, since I stopped working at El Paraiso.”
“When did you stop working there?”
A strand of blond hair had worked its way free from her braid. She tucked it behind an ear. “End of May.”
“Do you know what George does there?”
She looked at me for a second, slowly placing her teacup down. “Are you with the police?”
This was the second time someone had asked me about being in law enforcement. What could George be doing?
I plucked stray cat fur off my pants. “I heard George did delivery but I called to order something the other night and was told they don’t deliver.”
Jennifer smirked.
“Do you know if he still works there?” I asked.
She nodded. “I heard he’s still there.”
“From who?”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “I’m pretty good friends with the manager, Rich.”
Him again?
“Did you know the owner, Brad Avery?”
Her eyes clouded over. “Sure. Course.”
“You know he was killed?”
“Yeah, Rich told me. Awful, huh. Somebody shot him!” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “What kind of world are we living in?” She tsked.
“I know.” I tsked along with her.
“Rich told me Brad was killed in June. His body must have been weighed down somehow all this time in the bay.” Jennifer shuddered. “It’s terrible.”
“It’s a shame,” I agreed.
I leaned in close, trying a girlfriend to girlfriend, very confidential, tactic. I used my best stage whisper. “I think Brad was having a tough time with his marriage.” Jennifer eyes grew wide. I waved off her shock. “You probably already knew that.”
She circled the top of her mug with her finger. “What do you mean?”
“I was friends with his wife. He was leaving her for another woman.”
She looked around uncomfortably.
“He left her on June fifteenth, the same day he was murdered,” I continued.
Jennifer sipped her tea. “I was with my boyfriend, Winter, on June fifteenth.”
“How do you remember that?” I asked.
“Easy. I was with him every night in June, July, and August. Our first night apart was Labor Day.”
“Can you think of anyone who would want to kill Brad?” I pressed.
She tapped her teacup, shrugging. “I don’t know. What about his wife? You said he left her. Or the ex? He’d been married before and I don’t think it ended well.”
She seemed to know a lot about him.
“What do you know about the ex?” I asked.
“Svetlana?” Her eyes darted around the room. “Not much. She’s cool.”
“Were you close to Brad?”
She retreated slightly. “He was my boss. People gossip about the boss is all.”
“Anyone gossip about who he was seeing?”
She flushed. “People gossip about everything. You’re friends with the wife. I’m sure you know.”
Know what?
I shook my head. “Michelle didn’t know who he was seeing.”
She pressed her lips together for a moment. “Well, let’s keep it that way,” she spat.
“That won’t be hard. She’s dead.”
Jennifer gasped. “Oh my God!” She covered her mouth with a ring-ladened hand, shaking her head back and forth in denial. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. I found her dead in her house yesterday.”
She rose and crossed to a bureau, opened a drawer, and pulled out a bong. “Want a hit?”
“No. No. I’ll pass.”
She frowned. “It’s just a little weed, no big deal.”
“I just had a baby. I’m nursing,” I explained, mentally kicking myself. Why did I have to defend myself and my choices to this woman I barely knew?
“Suit yourself,” she said.
“Were you with Winter yesterday morning?”
“Winter? No. I was working. I work down the street at Heavenly Haight. I open the store every morning at eight A.M.”
“Where was your boyfriend yesterday?”
“What?”
I was fishing now, but I pressed on. “Out of curiosity, where was Winter?”
Jennifer looked down a moment. She took her time preparing the bong. “Winter and I broke up. I thought he was pretty cool at first, but it wasn’t working out. I don’t know where he was yesterday.”
“Do you have his phone number?”
“You want to talk to him?” she asked, shocked.