The Thin Line of Love (part two) (The Cartoonist 3)

Recap- “After solving crimes, one legally and one illegally, the Cartoonist gets the girl and lives happily ever after…at least until they take a vacation/business trip to Miami and find a dead person in their hotel room”

                              🎨

For God’s Sake. I hate my life.

After our discovery the cops are called and the whole place is a crime scene. This seems to be my life now. Dead bodies and dealing with the police. Oh boy. Cidra is besides herself and I need an aspirin. It’s amazing how a dead person found in your hotel room can sober you right up. Sleep is the last thing on my mind, but it doesn’t look like we will be getting our hotel room back anytime soon. The detective assigned to this case is a guy named O’Reily, a pale Irishman who seems cranky. Probably because he was woken up in the middle of the night to check a crime scene. Hey, imagine how I feel to find a dead body in my hotel room. Cidra is in the lobby. One of the Crime Scene guys gave her a blanket to put over her shoulders and the Hotel gave her some tea. It was able to calm her down. At least one problem solved. 

Detective O’Reily asks me some basic questions. Did you know the victim? Did you see anything suspicious before or during the time you were at the hotel? Do I have an alibi? No to the first two and Yes to the last. I was out with Cidra all day and night. Also, I would guess that the people who served us would verify. The Crime Scene guys were there most of the night and according to the detectives we weren’t getting our rooms back so me and Cidra decided to find a motel nearby. While it was not a 5-star hotel, it was a place to sleep so we did. Well, Cidra did but it was a little harder for me. All I could think of the face of that woman and the pain it displayed. I have seen dead bodies before. Two corpses and two was more than enough. Well, I guess it’s now three. 

The next morning, we head out to the convention. Cidra had about five hours of sleep and I had one. Not what I expected from this trip. We check in with security and say our goodbyes to each other. “Don’t worry, Sugar. Let’s put last night aside, try to salvage this trip and make the best of it”. I head to my booth, and she goes to hers and I try to clear my head the best way I can. I meet up with my publisher and let him know what’s been going on. He tells me straight up. “I heard. I just hope this doesn’t make the press. I don’t want this to affect the turn out. And more important the sales of your new book” Never mind a woman’s life, but I am not going to argue with him. My day continues. Do the Q&A, then the signing, have an afternoon lunch with Cidra and then I call it a day. Cidra had a few more hours but told me to go the motel and get a few hours of sleep. I didn’t argue the point. I was exhausted. 

At the motel I plop on the bed and instantly fall to sleep and have weird dreams of dead bodies everywhere…and sex dungeons (don’t ask). I wake up to the ring tone of my phone. I don’t recognize the number, but I pick it up anyway. It’s Detective O’Reily. He says they want me in for additional questioning and if I am available right now. I unfortunately say yes, and I am off. I get there and I am escorted to what it seems like an interrogation room. The detective comes in and he doesn’t look too friendly. He smells like he smoked a few cigarettes before he came in. “So, you don’t know the victim?” A little sarcastic but I still tell him No. It seems by the look at his face and the grunt that its either not the answer he’s looking for or he thinks I am mocking him. I am definitely not mocking him. 

He pulls a photo out of a folder that he put on the table so that it’s facing me. “Look at it again. NOW”. I look at it and again I have no clue who it is. He shifts in his seat and then stands. “I am not happy”. I think I can tell. He takes a deep breath like he is going to try again.  “You must know who she is”. In his most stern voice. ‘My God Man. What is wrong with you?” I look at him with a puzzled look. I tell I have no clue and if he is going to continue like this I may need my lawyer. Eho is she?

He blurts out “SHES YOUR SISTER”

Oh. My. God.

To be Continued…

escorted to an interrogation room.

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