“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Karalyn was starring daggers down at me.

        “Uh-um, well- the door was open so I let myself in-“

        “You’re lying! No one came in the door, you were broke into my house.” She took sure steps toward an antique phone (also horribly pink). “I’m calling the cops.”

        “Calm down, Karalyn.” Earl had gotten up from his place on the couch and thankfully zipped up his pants. “I’m sure she has an explanation.”

        “I don’t care for her explanations, she broke into my home. She can explain to the police.”

       Thinking quickly I blurted out. “I’m sure they’d love to know about you and Earl.” The sureness in her eyes gave way to panic. “I mean, they’d be happy to know you’ve already moved on and found love. Even though Bo hasn’t been in the ground for twelve hours yet.”

        I put on my best stern face and let my words sink in, watching her expression morph from anger, to guilt, then fear. She gave a weighty sigh then put the phone back on the hook.

        “I guess there’s no need to invite them to our little party.” She tried to smooth the front of her now wrinkled blouse.

        “And no need to bill me for that fabulous lamp.” The fuchsia lamp now lay shattered in a million pieces on the floor. I normally would be happy to pay for something I’d broken but I couldn’t afford to buy a five thousand dollar (give or take) broken lamp right now.

        I looked from her to Earl. Both looked pale and nauseated. The three of us stood there in awkward silence for a beat, me trying to find some way to ease on toward the door.

         “All this time I thought you loved Bo, guess I was wrong.” I said as I started walking.

        Her face looked anguished then. “I know this looks bad, but don’t go thinking I’m a bad person. Lord knows Bo had his flings.” She walked next to Earl and together they held hands. “Besides, I’m happier now than I’ve been in years.”

        I watched the blissful couple as they stared into each other’s eyes with adoration and felt a tiny bit guilty. Everyone knows Bo used to treat her like shit. Who was I to judge what this poor woman did to find a little bit of comfort in life.

        “It’s true, Miss Evelyn.” Earl added. “I’ve never loved anyone like I do Kara. She’s the silver lining in this whole messed up situation.”

        “You know how awful Bo was.” Karalyn continued. “I was angry with him, but I didn’t kill him, I swear. He used to berate me for my size all the time, but Earl loves me just the way I am. I was a broken woman until I met this man here.”

        I thought this over for a moment. “All right, I suppose there’s no need for the police to know about this-any of this.”

        “Thank you for understanding.” Karalyn said as she walked me to the front door. “And Evie, take care of yourself.”

        That last part was added with a touch of sorrow and I instantly felt bad for her again. Walking down the front walk I wondered if she’d killed Bo for the money. Better yet, Earl said he didn’t have a reason to want Bo dead, but he might if he had been sleeping with his wife this whole time.

        It was a lot to think about.

        Back in Henry’s car my best friend was freaking out. No really, he was losing his shit.

        “Oh man, I thought I was going to have to come get you! What if she called the cops? But then I thought, what if she’s the murderer and just decides to chop you up into little pieces right there!”

        “Yeah, next time try calling before they’re in the house. I almost got in serious trouble back there.”

        “She’s letting you go?”

        “Only if she doesn’t want to get in trouble.”

        “What do you mean?” He started up The Snotrocket and we started to long drive back to our side of town.

        “I kind of struck a deal. She didn’t call the cops and I won’t blab to the cops about her little affair with Bo’s publicist.”

        “Well that’s weird. Why would she let you go unless she had something to hide?”

        “Good point. Breaking and entering is very much against the law but her cheating on her husband is no big deal, in a court anyway. Not unless there was some reason she doesn’t want the cops to know.”

        “Like Bo’s missing money.”

        “Exactly.” I leaned back in my seat and rested my eyes. “I don’t know, man. She’s such a sweet woman. I can’t see her killing Bo no matter how much she hated him.”

        “But Evie even the nicest people have dark sides; you don’t know her well enough to completely remove her from the suspect list.”

        “You’ve got a point.” But I still wasn’t sure. Karalyn just didn’t seem like the killer type. I didn’t have years of instinct or experience to help me determine who was telling the truth. There was no way to be sure right now if Karalyn was lying or Earl or Brock for that matter.

        Henry dropped me off at my apartment, taking his car back since he had to do some in the field research tomorrow for his book. Strolling casually up to my floor I felt a nervous prickling on the back of my neck. It was that odd sensation of being watched again. I peered over the rail of the second floor, looking out over the parking lot.

        A strong gust of wind played with the tops of trees and blew trash around the empty lot, but no other sound or movement could be heard.

        This is getting crazy, no one is following me. I just need to keep my mind preoccupied so I wouldn’t fall back into paranoia land. Pulling out my cell phone I saw I had three messages so ignoring my unease I walked on while checking my voicemail.

        The first was from my mother. She’d called to tell me Aunt Jackie was having a nervous breakdown and that Grandma was talking about going down to the police station to give the cops a piece of her mind. The image made me relax and smile. My seventy- eight year old Grandma Sophie would so kick Detective Juarez’s ass in a fight. No contest.

        The next was from my mechanic Rusty. He called to tell me Douglas was all fixed up and that I could pick the car up in the morning. Good, I missed my baby.  I’m sure Henry will be glad to know his car is safe from me for now.

       The last call was odd. It was just silence. As of someone had called and sat on the line for a while, then calmly hung up. Strange, but I can only assume it’s a wrong number. That's probably all it is.

        My nerves calmed, I inserted my key into my door and walked into total darkness. I have to remember to leave lights on if I’m going to be out after dark. Using my terrible night vision for a second time in one night, I felt around until my fingers brushed the light switched. I couldn’t believe my eyes. In fact I closed them, and then opened them again just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.

        My apartment was ruined. Trash was thrown haphazardly around my living room and my stuff had been knocked over and broken. I wasn’t the only one breaking and entering tonight.

        I tried my best to remain calm, but my dread was starting to bubble to the surface. This was random, right? There is no logical reason to believe that this is anything more than your average run of the mill crime. It can’t have anything to do with Jackson or Bo. It just can’t.

        But as I was picking things up, in total breakdown mode I might add, I noticed that none of my valuables were missing. They hadn’t taken the television or computer or anything that could get them a good price. My whole place; living room, kitchen, even the bathroom, was wrecked but nothing was gone.

        The only place I hadn’t checked was behind the closed door of my bedroom. I realized with disgrace that I was afraid to go in. My bedroom was my sanctuary. The place I went each night and completely lowered my guard and slept. If it was destroyed there was no way I was going to be able to sleep here and feel safe tonight.

        I gulped deeply, telling myself that if I’m going to be an amateur detective I better stop being such a coward, and opened the door to my bedroom.

        The room was completely fine. Clothes were thrown everywhere and the bed was unmade, but that was exactly how I’d left it. The only thing that stood out, of course, was the blood red painted message over my bed.

                                                           “You’re a Dead Woman Walking.”

        The message was clear, either I stop looking into Bo’s death or else. Before, I’d been handling the break in with an unstable calmness that I was a little bit proud of. But now, all that flew out the window and true alarm set in. Someone wants me dead.

        Not knowing what else to do I backed out of the room and made a run for the hallway outside of my apartment. I couldn’t face it now. My world was officially shaken. I needed a friend, I needed my mommy, I needed a damn drink or I was going to go crazy.

       Somewhere in the madness, a thought occurred to me. It was high time I called the cops.