Demise in Denim Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  Pearls and Poison

  “Readers are sure to be immersed in this outrageously entertaining and hilarious mystery. This third in the series continues to highlight sharp dialogue, eccentric characters, and expand on the mystery that is Walker Boone.”

  —Kings River Life Magazine

  “The diverse cast of characters . . . are hilarious and completely endearing. Given the book’s (very) Southern setting, Brown manages to keep things exciting and colorful enough to please all cozy mystery lovers—and not just those who can relate to living in the South. The mystery aside (which is incredibly enjoyable and not easily predictable), the mounting tension between Reagan and Walker make reading this charming mystery novel worthwhile. . . . Brown’s Consignment Shop series is now my favorite go-to cozy mystery series.”

  —Dreamworld Book Reviews

  “What a fun ride this series is! It will keep you laughing and cheering for Reagan and her cohorts through the entire book. Duffy Brown keeps her readers on their toes with so many twists and turns, your head will spin. The author has a true flair for writing snappy dialogue and bringing the reader right into her story . . . Duffy Brown splashes Southern charm and coziness throughout the entire book. Nobody does it better than she does.”

  —Socrates’ Book Review

  Killer in Crinolines

  “Brown deftly spins the tale of Reagan’s many misadventures while sleuthing, fills her story with Southern eccentrics, and offers up a magnolia-laced munificence of Savannah color.”

  —Richmond Times-Dispatch

  “A fast-paced cozy with lots of twists and turns. Brown has a knack for writing dialogue, and readers will find themselves so engrossed in the story, it’s hard to concentrate on anything else.”

  —Debbie’s Book Bag

  “Great characters, funny dialogue, twists and turns, and a little romance. What more could you want in a cozy mystery? If Agatha Christie lived in Savannah, she would have written this novel. Charming, clever, and sometimes creepy, a really good read.”

  —Sweet Mystery Books

  “So, click martini glasses or frosty bottles or iced-tea cups, and swig back the high times as Reagan and her Auntie TCB in one of the most fun and Southern-flavorful mystery series on the market.”

  —Book Reviews by David Marshall James

  “Southern coziness at its finest! A most enjoyable read—mystery fans will love this one. It’s the kind of book that makes a bad day good!”

  —Socrates’ Book Reviews

  “If you have read Iced Chiffon, then you’ll absolutely LOVE Killer in Crinolines. In fact, if you weren’t hooked on the series after reading Iced Chiffon, you bet your derriere you’ll be hooked after reading this one. Its compelling mystery and engaging plot will have you staying up countless hours into the night . . . If you’re a fan of Southern mysteries and just cozy mysteries in general, I HIGHLY recommend checking out this new series by Duffy Brown! You won’t regret it, I promise.”

  —Dreamworld Book Reviews

  Iced Chiffon

  “A Southern comfort cozy with Yankee tension . . . A treat. Not to be missed.”

  —Annette Blair, New York Times bestselling author of Tulle Death Do Us Part

  “An amazing mystery debut . . . Riveting.”

  —Mary Kennedy, author of the Talk Radio Mysteries

  “A hilarious romp through a consignment shop where customers may end up with more than they bargained for.”

  —Janet Bolin, author of the Threadville Mysteries

  “A delightful world filled with charm and humor.”

  —New York Journal of Books

  “This amusing, thoroughly entertaining mystery . . . has perfect accomplices, plenty of suspects, and humorous situations.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Besides a fabulous look at Savannah, especially the haunts of high society, Duffy Brown provides a lighthearted, jocular amateur sleuth.”

  —Gumshoe Review

  “Delightful . . . If I could give it six stars, I would.”

  —Examiner.com

  “A pleasant beginning to a new series . . . A light tone, a quick pace, [and] good old Southern hospitality . . . all come together for a charming read.”

  —The Mystery Reader

  “A strong story; fantastic, well-developed characters; and a great mystery . . . Iced Chiffon was a stellar read and I can’t wait to see where Duffy Brown takes these characters next.”

  —Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Duffy Brown

  Consignment Shop Mysteries

  ICED CHIFFON

  KILLER IN CRINOLINES

  PEARLS AND POISON

  DEMISE IN DENIM

  Specials

  DEAD MAN WALKER

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China

  penguin.com

  A Penguin Random House Company

  DEMISE IN DENIM

  A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

  Copyright © 2015 by Dianne Kruetzkamp.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

  BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-15785-9

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / April 2015

  Cover illustration by Julia Green.

  Cover design by Diana Kolsky.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  To Allison Haden, Stephen Nesbitt, Scott Lakso, and Kevin Morris for all the love, support, and fun you bring to our family.

  To Faith Black, the best editor ever. Thanks for everything.

  Contents

  Praise for Duffy Brown

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Duffy Brown

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen
r />   Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter One

  THE convertible top was down, a crescent moon hung low over the marshlands, and the night sky was filled with a bazillion stars as I drove Walker Boone’s precious red ’57 Chevy toward Tybee Post. It was a perfect spring night except that my palms were sweating, my heart was rocketing around in my chest, I shook so bad it was hard to keep the car on the road, and there were one, two, make that four police cars on my bumper, their red and blue lights flashing in my rearview mirror.

  Of course I wouldn’t be in this fix if Conway Adkins hadn’t been found dead in his very own bathtub and Boone hadn’t gotten himself accused of the murder. Taking Boone’s Chevy and heading off in one direction to get the cops off his tail while he took my new cute-as-a-button pink scooter and escaped in the other direction seemed like a really good idea . . . till now.

  Figuring I’d pushed the surely you can’t be after little ol’ me routine as far as I could, I pulled to the side of the road, careful not to drown Boone’s car in the swamp and wind up gator food. As the string of cruisers lined up behind me, illuminating the dark like fireworks on the Fourth of July, and traffic slowed to snap iPhone pics that would make me an instant Savannah celebrity of the wrong kind, the gator-food option looked pretty darn good.

  “Get out with your hands raised” blared from the cop’s bullhorn. Teeth chattering and knees knocking, I finally wrenched the car door open and stood, arms up. Immediately they were handcuffed behind me. Okay, I’d expected this to happen, but the real deal was downright terrifying. Breathe, I ordered myself. Think calm and cool and try not to babble like you always do when scared spitless.

  “You’re not Boone,” a cop growled as he spun me around. “Where is he?”

  A loaded question if ever there was one. I gave Officer Deckard—least that was what his name tag said—the innocent-and-clueless arched-eyebrow expression. “Why now, I have no idea where Walker Boone is and can we make this quick, I got to get home to let my dog out to pee.”

  Deckard’s lips thinned, the little capillaries in his eyes ready to pop. He yanked the collar of Boone’s much-too-large-on-me leather jacket and whipped the Atlanta Braves ball cap off my head and tossed it into the cattails. “You know where he is. You wanted us to think you’re Walker Boone.”

  “Me? I run the Prissy Fox consignment shop in Savannah.” Was that squeaky voice really mine?

  “And I’ve heard about you. You’re a total pain in the ass, always sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

  “There is that.”

  Deckard picked me up by the collar, my frightened gaze now level with his really-pissed-off one. “We both know Boone’s wanted for murdering Conway Adkins. We have Boone’s gun, we know he did the deed, and here you are helping him get away by driving his car and wearing his jacket and hat, and leading us on a wild-goose chase.”

  “Would I do that?”

  That got me the how’d you like to rot in jail for the rest of your natural life cop glare. “If you’re not helping him, how’d you get the keys to his car?”

  “They were in the ignition.”

  “You stole his car?”

  “He took Princess.”

  “Kidnapping?”

  “A scooter. It’s new and pink and the helmet smells like cotton candy on the inside, I had to pay extra for that, and that’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but—” That got me tossed in the back of a cruiser. I think the cotton-candy part pushed Decker over the edge, and twenty minutes later I was sitting across from Detective Aldeen Ross in the Dumpster-green police interrogation room back in Savannah. This night was not improving.

  I knew enough not to touch under the table, avoid anything wet on top of the table, and step around slick spots on the floor. The reason I possessed this valuable information was that this was not my first time in the police interrogation room on Habersham Street or my first time meeting up with Ross. Fact is, Aldeen Ross and I were sort of buds depending on which side of the law I happened to be standing on at the moment and whether one of us was willing to share a six-pack of sprinkle doughnuts from Cakery Bakery.

  “Boone can’t hide forever, you know,” Ross said to me in a flat matter-of-fact voice even though the look in her eyes suggested that Boone probably had enough street smarts to hide forever if he wanted to.

  “He didn’t kill Conway,” I said. “He isn’t a bullet-between-the-eyes kind of guy. He’s an attorney, upholds the law, I doubt if he cheats on his taxes, and there’s the little fact that Conway was Boone’s daddy. He’s not about to kill his own father, for Pete’s sake, even if the piece of crud deserved it.”

  Ross sat back in the chair, her navy poly jacket pulled tight across her pastry-enhanced girth. “The way we see it,” she said, “is that Conway the elder walked out on Walker when he was a baby, married money, had nothing to do with Walker all his life even when he was living on the streets, and never claimed him as his own. Conway the elder had nightmares of burning in hell for all eternity for his sins so he told Walker who he was, left him the Old Harbor Inn in his will to make up for being a first-class ass, and then Walker did Conway in before he could change the will back. Plus Walker had thirty-four years of ticked-off under his belt to egg him on. Sounds like motive for murder to me.”

  “Except you and I both know that Boone doesn’t egg, and if he did Conway in no one would ever find the gun or the body, and what about everybody else who hated Conway? They aren’t going to be erecting statues in his honor anytime soon around here.”

  Ross stood and leaned across the table toward me, her voice low and her brown eyes intense. She put her hand over the little microphone that recorded the conversations in this room. “Keep in mind Boone’s got his share of enemies, and they’re tickled pink he’s on the run, and they’ll be even happier once he’s rotting behind bars. Somebody framed him, and if they think you’re out to rectify the situation you’ll be the next one in their crosshairs. The best way to find out what’s what is to act like you hate the guy, and that’s going to be real tough with that dopey look on your face when you mention his name.”

  “He kissed me.”

  “Forget the kiss.”

  “It curled my toes.” I rolled my eyes up. “Singed my brows.”

  Ross pointed a stiff finger at the door. “A cold shower and a bad memory is your only hope. Now get yourself out of here; I’m late for my midnight doughnut and if you find out where Boone is you better tell me.”

  “You bet.”

  “You’re lying.

  “Only when necessary.” I hurried out the door before Ross changed her mind about setting me free. Personally I didn’t think there was enough cold water in the Arctic to kill the aftereffects of a Walker Boone kiss, but unless I wanted to go the lobotomy route it was worth a shot.

  It was late and I was tired to the bone as I stepped out into the police parking lot. I hated that Boone was on the lam, I really did, but the upside was it gave me some time to think about what that kiss meant. Another upside was that I had myself a car, a really sweet car. No one had reported the Chevy stolen, so the police gave me back the keys and here it was parked right in front of me. It was all nice and red and shiny as if waiting for me to take it home and tuck it into my garage, which had been carless since I’d divorced Hollis the Horrible, who drove off with the Lexus I paid for.

  I lovingly stroked the ragtop, unlocked it, and sat behind the wheel, inhaling the scent of fine leather and a hint of residual exhaust that graced sublime vintage cars. I cranked the engine over, listening to the low rumble, feeling the vibrations up my spine and across my neck. I eased the gear into drive, inching forward so as not to hit the cars or either side or nick the Chevy.

  Then I put the car in reverse and put the Chevy back to where I found it. That one of the Chevy’s fins took out the front ligh
t of an old tan pickup parked next to me was testimony to just how little I knew about being the captain of a vintage boat. I killed the engine, got out of the car, and left my contact info on the truck.

  Here’s the thing: If I drove out of the police station in Boone’s car, the reporters hanging around would see it and follow me and ask a bunch of questions about Boone that I didn’t want to answer. They’d probably hunt me down later, but if I snuck out of here now that would give me time to figure out what to say. Wouldn’t you know it, after two years of schlepping myself on and off buses and hoofing it from one end of this city to the other, I finally get a car to tool around in and I couldn’t even use it.

  A cruiser pulled into the lot and parked by the rear entrance to the police station. Two uniforms wrestled one of Savannah’s drunk and disorderlies from the backseat, and I used the distraction to slip out of view of the reporters, slink across Hall Street, and fade into the shadows. I headed down Habersham, flanked on each side by restaurants and bars closed for the night. It was a darn shame they weren’t open, as a Reuben from the Firefly would taste really terrific right now.

  I cut across Troup Square, one of the twenty-three parks in Savannah. This one had a doggie fountain where Bruce Willis, my four-legged BFF, loved to socialize with the other canines and— Holy cow! BW! He hadn’t had a potty break in hours. I could picture him howling by the door with his back legs crossed. I took off in a run, cut through Whitfield Square with moonlight filtering through the big oaks draped in Spanish moss, and darted around the gazebo that every bride in the city used as a backdrop for wedding pics.

  Hanging a left onto Gwinnett, I caught sight of the light in the front display window of the Prissy Fox, my consignment shop on the ground floor of my less-than-pristine Victorian. Someone was sitting on the decomposing front porch steps. Either it was a green alien with round things poking out of its head or it was my Auntie KiKi dolled up in night rollers and face cream.

  “Lord have mercy,” she said in a stage whisper so as not to disturb the residential quiet around us. “I thought Ross done locked you up and swallowed the key.” Auntie KiKi hiccupped and saluted my presence with her martini.