Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 44

Things might get a little awkward again, but Colt wanted to press her for more information. And the only way to do that... was to a play a role that he didn't particularly feel like playing.

Goddammit.

"...So what brings you here?" he asked. "Curiosity? Or...?"

Genevieve's postured stiffened, as did the expression on her face. "Or what?"

A difficult reaction to respond to, but Colt didn't balk. "Well... your makeup is a little smudged."

She blinked and whipped a compact mirror out of his purse to look. She turned around to hide her face as she tried to quickly fix the problem.

Colt exchanged glances with Alice, who was inching closer. She made a face at him that he'd never seen from her before. Furrowed eyebrows and tensed jaw muscles. Nodding toward Mrs. Beaumont.

Was she urging him on? She did realize that he wasn't her fucking recruiter, right? She'd just been balling her eyes out herself a second ago, but now it was like that never happened. Her makeup wasn't messed up at all, either. Or wait, was she even wearing any? He honestly couldn't tell with this woman.

Well, whatever.

He had his own reasons to continue on. "I didn't mean to pry," he said. "But if it's something you would like to talk about... you've come to the right place."

Genevieve seemed to be done already, but she didn't turn back around to face him.

He looked at Alice again, who was gesturing so frantically with her hands that she was practically just flailing. Her eyes were bugging out just a bit, and she looked like she had about a hundred things she was trying to tell him without actually speaking.

Yeah, this broad was crazy.

"If you'd rather not, though, then that's fine, too," he said. "No pressure. You're welcome here, all the same."

Genevieve turned back around, and Alice's waving hands were suddenly clasped neatly in front of her again as she took the posture of a graceful statue.

"Thank you," said Genevieve. "I don't know if... ah..."

Colt waited, but it seemed like that sentence wasn't going to be finished.

Alice seized the opening. "That's fine. That's absolutely fine. Here, why don't you have a seat?" And she tried to gently guide the woman over to the nearest pew.

Genevieve resisted, but only at first. "Thank you, Matron."

"Ah," said Alice with apparent realization. "You are familiar with Cocoran custom?"

"Only a little, I'm afraid..."

"That is still surprising. I have not been called Matron since I lived in Richland."

Oh? That was a thing? Colt had no idea. Shit. If he was going to keep up this facade of being a good Cocoranite, then he should probably study up on the religion a little more.

Ugh.

When Mrs. Beaumont did not respond, Alice moved to sit down next to her. "It's okay," she said gently. "Whatever you want to talk about is fine. And if you just want someone to sit with you in silence, that I would be more than happy to do that, too."

What if she didn't want you to sit with her, Colt thought?

Fortunately for Alice, however, Genevieve did not say that. She merely remained quiet.

For quite a while.

Wow. Was that really all she came here for? To sit in silence?

Great.

Colt decided to sit down with the kids on the other side of the aisle. He figured that he could probably leave now without upsetting Alice too much, but Genevieve still seemed like a pretty valuable source of information. If he stuck around a bit longer, maybe he could make some headway with the investigation.

But man, this was boring. How could he propel the conversation in a direction that might be relevant to the investigation? He had plenty of questions in mind, especially about Malcolm, but he couldn't see any good way to pose them now--not without destroying his rapport with this woman. And potentially with Alice, too, if he was clumsy enough.

Goddammit. Maybe just learning her name today was enough. It was quite a big discovery, actually, especially that last name. Previously a Margot, and now a Beaumont. If nothing else, it implied some type of love triangle between her, Malcolm, and Rex. And Colt knew perfectly well that love was as good a motivator for murder as anything.

But if that was the motive here, then what would that have actually looked like? Malcolm killing his wife's ex-husband? Why? Jealousy? Thinking that she might go back to him?

It was possible, sure, but Colt didn't like Malcolm for the murder, right now. From what he'd seen so far, the guy seemed like he was conducting his own investigation into who killed Rex. And this whole case seemed a little too complicated to have been caused by something as simple as a lover's spat.

That was mainly just his gut talking, though.

"I do have something I would like to ask you about," said Genevieve, drawing looks from everyone, even the twins. "What does Cocoranism have to say about... dealing with the death of a loved one?"

Alice blinked.

Colt didn't. The death of a loved one, eh? Didn't take a detective to figure out who she was most likely referring to. But if that was really the case, then that was still a bit surprising in its own way. From the way Rex had joked about her when Colt first showed himself in Orden, he'd gotten the impression that the sheriff and his ex-wife were on bad terms.

Was that not the case? Or were these just posthumous feelings of remorse?

Alice took her time answering, and Colt didn't blame her. That wasn't the kind of question that should be answered carelessly. "...In the First Book of the Mother, the subject of death is addressed at length. As you might expect, it is... a rather complicated subject--and one not given to easy summations. I would like to give you a copy, if you don't mind."

Hmm. A bit of a dodge, in Colt's opinion, but an understandable one.