Patty watched avidly, her eyes going back and forth between her boss and me.

“No, it wasn’t,” Jordan said, her face flushing. “If you must know, he signed them yesterday afternoon. I went by his hotel room.”

“Gosh, then maybe you were the last person to see him alive.” Patty could hardly contain her glee. “I bet the police will want to talk to you.”

Jordan, in the act of reaching for the box again, stumbled against the counter. When she turned, her face was dead white. For a moment I thought she was going to faint, but she rallied. She pulled a high-seated stool over and sat down on it. “What happened?”

“You haven’t heard?” I was surprised. She was probably the one person in Athena who hadn’t. “Godfrey was found dead in his hotel room last night. The sheriff’s department is treating it as a suspicious death.”

“Oh dear Lord.” Jordan muttered the words over and over.

“Can I get you some coffee or something?” Patty, suddenly contrite, appeared anxious.

Jordan waved her away. “No, just go do your job for once.”

Patty’s sulky expression didn’t bode well for her dedication to the task, but she went away quietly.

“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned by how shaken Jordan still seemed to be.

Diesel, sensing her distress, stood up on his hind legs and stretched his right paw out, touching her thigh. Jordan gave him a shaky smile and a rub on the head.

“If she ever does penance for anything, it’ll be for that double-jointed tongue of hers.” Jordan paused and breathed deeply. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. It’s a shock, hearing news like that. So completely unexpected.” She continued rubbing Diesel’s head.

“You really had no idea?” Was she a consummate actress, only pretending to be stunned?

Jordan shook her head. “No, why should I? I never make it to the ten o’clock news. I’m always too tired. And nobody called me, either.” She snorted. “Though I’m surprised Patty didn’t.”

“Was Godfrey a particular friend of yours?” I wasn’t sure how she would react. This might be my last visit to her bookstore if I wasn’t careful, and I certainly wouldn’t like that. “Sorry, but you seem pretty shaken up.”

“More than a bookstore owner should be for a writer who hadn’t deigned to enter her premises in five years?” Jordan laughed, a bitter sound. Diesel sat back on his haunches and stared up at her.

“I suppose so, yes. If you put it that way.” Perhaps I should have excused myself and gotten the heck out of there, but curiosity kept me.