The Missing Dough(34)

“And did you?” I asked as I took another bite of pizza. The conversation was so intense that it was taking something out of the joy I normally found when eating one of my pizzas, but it couldn’t be helped. These questions had to be asked.

“Sure, we finally managed to corner him, for all the good it did us. Grant claimed that Bernie was the double-crosser, not him, and what’s more, he said that he had proof of it.”

“What kind of proof?” Maddy asked.

“He wouldn’t say, but he was pretty smug about the whole thing.”

“Did you believe him?” I asked.

Kenny spoke up. “She wanted to, but not me. I didn’t care who took that money. I just wanted it back.”

“For me, you mean,” Samantha said.

“For us. I was going to make you split it with me right down the middle if I managed to recover any of it.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Samantha said, clearly surprised by this news. “What makes you think I would have ever agreed to that?”

“If you wouldn’t have, I was going to keep it all,” he said smugly.

“Over my dead body,” she replied.

“Don’t tempt me,” he answered.

That was about all of the bickering I could take at the moment. “How about if we get this all back on track? From what you’ve just told us, you both had your own reasons to want to see Grant dead. Samantha, who decided to end the relationship between you and Grant?”

“I did,” she said as Kenny answered at the exact same time, “He did.”

“Which one of you is telling the truth?” Maddy asked.

“I was in the relationship, not him,” she said as she gestured toward Kenny. “As soon as I discovered that my investment was gone, I walked away.”

“So, do you believe that Grant was the one with the money?” I asked.

“It didn’t matter,” Samantha said with a frown. “He’s the one who talked me into investing in Orion in the first place, and when it all fell apart, he wouldn’t make any kind of restitution. I dumped him the instant he refused to give me any of my money back.”

“If that’s true, then it must have happened pretty recently,” Maddy said.

“I never claimed that it didn’t,” Samantha snapped at her. “I dumped him yesterday morning, and last night I was still trying to get my money back when we spoke with him at the concert.”

“I’m amazed he let the two of you corner him like that,” I said.

“Are you kidding? It was all Grant’s idea. It’s the only place he’d talk to us. There were a lot of people at that fair last night. I guess that made him feel that it was safe enough.”

“Boy, was he ever wrong,” Kenny said.

“We didn’t kill him, though,” Samantha said. “Someone else did.”

“I know that, and you know that,” Kenny answered, “but who’s going to convince the police that we’re innocent?”

“That’s why we’re here talking to Eleanor and Maddy, remember?” she said.

“Hang on a second,” Maddy said, holding her hands up for silence. “Are you telling us that you came by the Slice to ask us for help in proving that you’re both innocent?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?” Kenny asked.

“Maybe because you two are at the top of our suspect list,” Maddy blurted out.

“You’re siding with the police?” Samantha asked.

“We’re not taking sides,” I said quickly. “We’re after the truth, no matter who it might implicate.”

“Even your precious fiancé?” Kenny asked Maddy.

“Bob didn’t kill Grant,” Maddy said flatly.

“How could you possibly know that? Are you his alibi?” Kenny asked.

“No,” Maddy admitted, “but he doesn’t need one, as far as I’m concerned. How about the two of you? If you want us to help you, we have to know where you were when Grant was murdered.”

Either my sister was being brilliant or she’d completely lost her mind. Was she serious about even considering helping this pair? I decided to keep my mouth shut while she worked. Either way, I’d back her up one thousand percent, but I didn’t know enough about what she was doing to make a play one way or the other.

“We’re waiting,” Maddy said. “Where were you?”

It was clear that Kenny didn’t like the neat way she’d turned the tables on them. “Samantha, we don’t have to answer that.”

“We’re asking them for help, don’t you remember? She’s right, Kenny. The only way we can expect them to lend us a hand is to tell them both what we were doing when Grant was murdered.”