Page 15 of Deadly Sins: Lust

“All right. We’ll have that.”

“And prosciutto wrapped chicken bites,” I added.

The bartender walked away, returning minutes later with the wine. “I’m Connor. How long are you two in town?”

“The week,” Maddie said. “We’re here for a wedding.”

He flipped his head to the side, getting his bangs out of his face. “There was a crazy bunch of girls celebrating in here the other night. Bachelorette party.”

“I’m guessing they were our friends,” I said.

He raised a brow. “You two knew the dead girl? Oh ... uhh ... sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude.”

News of Marissa’s death had spread fast.

“It’s all right,” I said. “Marissa is ... I mean,wasmarried to one of our good friends.”

“Everyone is talking about what happened. Hard to believe.”

“Did you talk to Marissa, or any of our other friends while they were here?”

“Not at the restaurant. I did later, though.”

“Later?”

“I went to Splashes after work with one of my mates. By then it seemed like they’d all had a fair bit to drink. They were fun, though. We chatted a while, and then my partner got there, and I took off with her.”

“Did you talk to Marissa?”

“Not really. She wasn’t in a chatty mood. It looked like something was bothering her. I tried talking to her. She didn’t seem interested.”

“Did you see her talking to anyone else?”

He tossed a tea towel over his shoulder and crossed his arms. “You ask a lot of questions. What’s going on?”

Maddie leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm. “If I tell you something, can you keep it to yourself?”

“Maddie, don’t,” I said.

She gave me a look that saiddon’t worry—she knew what she was doing. But worrying was what I did best. Right now the line of communication with Connor was open. If she pushed, he might clam up.

“Our friend Marissa’s death was suspicious,” she said. “Maybe it was an accident. Maybe not. Whatever you’ve seen on the news, it’s not the full story.”

“You serious?”

She nodded. I assumed he’d make his exit by then, but his eyes shifted as Maddie spoke. He was intrigued.

“We’re trying to figure out what happened the night she died,” she said. “Can you help us?”

“Are you really friends with the girl who died?”

“We are,” Maddie said. “We flew over here to find out for ourselves what happened.”

He went silent for a minute and then said, “I didn’t see your friend talking to anyone else. But they were fighting.”

“Who was fighting, Marissa and her friends?”

“Yeah.”