Page 78 of Dead Man's Alibi

“What areyoudoing?”

Brian shoved his hands into his pockets.His shoulders hunched up to his ears.“Meeting somebody.”

“Who?”

He blew out a breath, a kind of self-deprecating laugh.Which was weird, because she had never known Brian Mathews to be self-deprecating.“Giving online dating a whirl.”

Online dating.Sounded plausible, she guessed.Still… “So, you didn’t know Hayes was in there?”

“No shit?”He angled his head as if to see inside the restaurant.“You think he’s hitting the apps too?”

“No,” she said flatly.

He was hitting up witnesses and convincing them not to talk to her.The prick.

This was a weird coincidence, but maybe it was something more like fate.She tried to work up a smile.“Hey, Brian, if I asked you some questions about the Jules Hyatt case, would you answer them?”

He rocked back on his heels, looked up at the sky.“Aw, come on, Sam.Not this again.”

“You were really helpful about my dad’s case.”

“Yeah, and then you got messed up with those Bennets and have been a bitch to me ever since.”

He delivered it so easily, so matter-of-factly.Like it was just a normal thing to do, call her a bitch.For a moment, Sam was rendered speechless.She didn’t fully absorb what he’d said or hownastyit was when delivered in that reasonable tone.

But it landed eventually.

As did her furious response.“Okay, cool.Well, fuck you, Brian.See you around.”

He blustered something, but she walked to her car and got in, pretending like she didn’t give a shit even as she seethed with rage.

She pitied whatever poor girl had matched with him on a dating app.She was liable to beverydisappointed.

*

“I’m sorry abouther.”Jake looked across the table at Olivia.

She was clearly worked up about Sam’s little stunt, even though she was pretending not to be.

“She’s… I don’t want to go through all Sam’s issues, but she’s certainly got them, and her fiancé being a murderer doesn’t help.”

Olivia nodded, but her gaze drifted over to the windows that looked out over the parking lot.“It’s just… she seems very…”

“She’s a good investigator when she’s not swayed by personal feelings.Unfortunately, her personal feelings are all over this one.It might make her seem… right or sympathetic, but she’s planning on marrying the murderer.She’s not coming from an investigative place.”

Olivia nodded.“I’m sure you’re right, Detective.”

“Jake, remember?”He flashed her a smile, and she reciprocated some, a little of the tension in her shoulders loosening.

She was a beautiful woman, easily flattered, and Jake didn’t mind using that to his advantage.Especially if it distracted the woman from being softened toward Sam at all.

“Like I said on the phone, I just have a few updates.I’m glad you wanted to meet up for dinner, though.It’s nice to feel… human, I guess.Instead of like the bearer of bad news.”

Her shoulders loosened even more, and her smile broadened.“It’s nice to feel closer to normal than I have in a while,” Olivia said.She looked around the restaurant.“I feel like I’ve been in this fog of grief forever.But it’s… well, on the one hand guilt for wanting to move on from it and also realizing that’s just… healthy.”

“It is,” Jake assured her.“And it doesn’t mean we can’t get business out of the way first.I wanted you to know I looked through Jules’s phone.She didn’t have any contacts with the initialsO.M.No emails, no messages from any initials that fit.”He could have told her that over the phone.Even in an email.

But he wanted to ensure this woman stayed far away from Sam and didn’t come up with any more loose ends he needed to cut.