Page 56 of Little Last Words
“Did you see or talk to her again after that night?”
He nodded. “The next day. I was out walking Shaggy, the neighbor’s dog. The neighbor is housebound, you see, so I do all the dog walking for her. Penelope saw me and waved me over. For a second, I was concerned she’d seen me walk back to her house the night before, but if she did, she didn’t mention it.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me she was happier than she’d been in a long time.”
“Did she say why?”
“No, but I assumed it had to do with the man she’d been talking to the night before. Who else could it have been?”
“Can you give me a description of him? Anything you can remember would help.”
“You already know I didn’t see his face, and he had a hood over his head. Let’s see now … well, he was taller than she was by quite a bit and slender. And there was a vehicle in the driveway that wasn’t hers—a black, no … a sort of charcoal-colored Jeep Wrangler.”
“Anything else?”
“Not that I recall. It’s strange, you know. Here I was thinking she had so many more years than I did ahead of her, and then this happens.”
“How long ago did you see the man kissing Penelope?”
Aaron removed the ballcap he was wearing and scratched his forehead. “Lemme think. Guess it might have been a day or two before she died.”
Two or three days matched with the idea I was forming in my head—that what Aaron had witnessed tied into Penelope’s death somehow.
“Have you told the police about the man you saw with Penelope?”
“When Detective Whitlock stopped by our place, I couldn’t get a word in, to be honest. Rita did all the talking. Suppose I better tell them what I just told you.”
Aaron gave Luka another pat and then turned to head for home. I stood there, watching him, my head swirling with questions.
Who was the man kissing Penelope?
If he’dalwaysloved her, it had to have been someone from her past.
And my biggest question of all … had she returned the sentiment?
CHAPTER22
Iarrived at the office about an hour before my scheduled meeting with Hunter and Simone. I was antsy to share the news I’d just heard. I leaned back on the sofa, gathering my thoughts as I put my schedule together for the day. I thought about whom Hunter should look into first, whom I should see first, and whom I should pass off to Simone.
Hunter arrived right on time, per her usual. She plopped down next to me and reached for one of the straps on her denim overalls, which had slid off her shoulder. She almost never wore makeup, but today she’d applied a concealer that was so thick it masked most of her freckles.
After slipping her Birkenstocks off, she crossed her legs and grinned, looking left, then right as she said, “Well? What do you think?”
I decided to have a little fun and play coy. “What do I think about what?”
“Oh, come on. You haven’t stopped staring at me since I walked in.”
“The makeup looks nice. I’m just not used to seeing it on you. Are you trying something new?”
“My cousin is in town. She’s in cosmetology school, and she’s always asking to practice on me. Since I owe her a favor, I couldn’t say no.”
“What doyouthink? Do you like it?”
“I think I don’t need it. I mean, it’s not me. I’m too much of a … granola, I guess. I don’t know how women do it every day. Makeup feels weird, like I’m hiding behind a mask.”
“You don’t need it. You’re adorable without all that stuff.”