Orchid Beach (Holly Barker 1)

Jane flushed. “Yes, I was, for a little more than fifteen years.”

“So when you were divorced, you left Miami and came up here?”

“Yes, I read about the job in a police journal. I had had a clerical job with the Miami department.”

“And that’s when you met Barney?”

“In Miami, yes. He had a security firm.”

“And then Barney turned up here, in Orchid Beach, didn’t he?”

“So I heard.” Jane was increasingly nervous.

“And you began seeing him again.”

“Not really.”

“And when did you start giving him information about the Orchid Beach Police Department?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Jane said, flustered.

“Sure you do, Jane. You kept tabs on Chet Marley for Barney, didn’t you?”

Jane said nothing but looked at her feet.

“It was you who told Barney about Chet’s conversations with the accountant from Palmetto Gardens.”

Jane still said nothing.

“Chet confided in you, didn’t he? He told you everything, and you reported everything to Barney.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Jane said.

“You got Chet Marley killed, that’s all,” Holly said. “You’re an accessory to his murder.”

“I had nothing to do with hi

s murder,” Jane said.

“Sure you did, Jane. What you told Barney convinced him that Chet had to be killed. And after I arrived and went to work, you reported all my actions to Barney, didn’t you? At least, those you knew about.”

Jane shrugged. “All right, Barney and I are…close,” she said.

“Oh, really? Funny, I was at Barney’s house last night. There was a very beautiful young girl there, Jane.”

Jane looked horrified, but her gaze was not at Holly, but over her shoulder. Holly heard a door squeak. Daisy stood up and looked at the door.

“Good morning,” a male voice said.

Holly turned to find Barney Noble standing in the kitchen doorway, a gun in his hand. “Morning, Barney,” she replied.

“Looks like you’ve discovered our little love nest,” he said. “What have you two been talking about?”

“I was just telling Jane about the young woman I found in your house last night.”

“And exactly what were you doing at my house last night, Holly?” Barney asked.

“I was in the company of three hundred federal agents who went into Palmetto Gardens in the middle of the night and shut it down.”