Read Limoncello Yellow (Franki Amato Mysteries) for Free Online Page B

table.
    " Did you live together?"
    " Yeah, for the last couple months or so. She moved into my place." He glanced out the window, clearly bored.
    " Were the two of you close?" Veronica asked, almost hopefully.
              "Yes and no."
    I could see that Veronica was getting nowhere fast, so I took over the questioning. "How would you describe your relationship?"
              "Jessica and I had our ups and downs. Like other couples."
    " What do you mean by 'downs'?" I probed.
    Ryan snapped the paper clip in half and tossed it onto the table. "We fought."             
    This guy wasn 't going to give an inch, so I pressed the issue. "Can you tell us about the fights?"
    He sat up in his chair and cast daggers at me with his eyes. "What are you getting at, exactly?"             
    " I mean, was there anything about your relationship that would cause the police to suspect you?" By now it was clear to me that Ryan had something to hide.
    He snorted and leaned back into his chair. "Apparently!"
    " Were the fights verbal? Or did they get physical?" I prompted, unfazed by his lack of cooperation.
    He looked at me hard and said nothing.
    "Look, Ryan," Veronica intervened, clearly sensing that I was running out of patience for this guy. "We want to help you, but we can't do that if you don't tell us everything we need to know."              
    He let out a long sigh. "About a month ago, we had a fight. Things got out of hand, and Jessica called 911."
    " What did you fight about?" she continued.
    " Money. Jessica was private about money. Well, about everything. I really didn't know anything about her aside from the fact that she worked at LaMarca. And she always had way too much money for someone who managed a retail store. So I asked her about it. She got defensive, and we started fighting." He picked up a pen from the table and started twirling it with his fingers.
    " Was it a violent fight?"
    " I threw her purse at her. She got pissed and lunged at me with a bottle of wine. I bent her wrist until she dropped it, and then I hit her. She fell backward, grabbed her cell phone from her purse, and called the cops." He spoke as though describing scenes from a boring TV show.
    " So, she was afraid of you," I said, trying only half-heartedly to conceal the contempt I was feeling for him. During my short time as a cop, I'd met enough domestic abusers to last a lifetime.
    He laughed and put the pen back on the table. "Let me clarify something for you. Jessica wasn't afraid of anyone or anything, least of all me. She called 911 because she was a vindictive bitch."
    I watched a muscle working in his square jaw.
    "She actually had a smile on her face when she made that call," he added.
    " I'm not sure I understand," Veronica replied, confused. "Why would she be smiling?"
    He paused for a moment and then gave an ironic smile. "It's simple. Jessica liked to see people suffer. She enjoyed watching people squirm. I'd pissed her off, so she was going to make me pay. That's just who she was."
    " Then why were you still dating her?" I asked, despite the fact that I was starting to think Jessica and Ryan were made for one another.
    " Because she was beautiful, and she was good in bed," he replied, as though those were the only criteria to judge a woman by.
    Just like a man , I thought.
    " Well, if Jessica was like you say she was, then it's possible that she had enemies," I concluded. "Do you know of anyone who might have had a reason to kill her?"
    " Look, I don't know if she had family or friends, much less enemies. Like I said, she was private. Secretive even."
    Veronica looked at me and then nodded. "All right, Ryan, I think that's all we need for now. The first thing we'll do is find out where the police are in the investigation, then we'll start looking into Jessica's background to see if we can come up with other leads in the case. We'll also need to set a time to come by your place