A Basket of Murder by Susie Gayle

Author:Susie Gayle [Gayle, Susie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Women's Fiction, Contemporary Women, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Cozy, Animals, Contemporary Fiction, Detective, Fiction
Amazon: B01N29WI7Z
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2017-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

* * *

My baby, my darling, one of the great loves of my life, she just won’t start again. If that sounds melodramatic, it just means that you’ve never owned a reliable car for nine years. My SUV never once broke down on me or left me stranded. I always keep her in the best working order I can, but I suppose time and tide wait for no sport utility vehicle.

After three more fruitless attempts, I give up on trying and instead just sit there, pouting, for about two solid minutes before I realize something.

I know a guy.

I call Tony. “Listen, I do have new information,” I tell him, “but more important right now is that my car just died.”

“Oh, bummer. Where are you?”

“Outside Better Latte Than Never. I know you’re off-duty today, but…”

“Ey, say no more. The old man won’t mind if I borrow the tow truck. I’ll be there in no time and we’ll get you straightened right out.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

True to his word, Tony arrives about fifteen minutes later. He pops my hood and pokes around for a short while, then lowers it and wipes his hands on his sweatshirt.

“Looks like your starter crapped out on you,” he tells me. “Fairly easy fix.”

“Good, good.” I look down at the road sheepishly and ask, “Uh, how much is that going to cost?”

“Ordinarily? Parts, labor, towing… all in you’d be looking at around six-fifty, seven hundred.” My eyes must pop out of my head, because he quickly adds, “But you’re a friend. I’ll do it in my downtime and just charge you for parts—it’ll be around two hundred.”

“Whew. Wow. Thank you, Tony. That’s… really, really generous of you.”

“No problem. Just don’t tell the old man. Our little secret, okay?”

“You got it.”

Tony rigs my baby to the back of the truck and hoists it up onto the flatbed. “I’m going to take this back to the shop. I’ll call you when it’s done; it’ll probably be Monday, Tuesday at the latest. You okay? You got a ride from here?”

“I’ll call someone. Thanks again.”

He gives me a little salute and gets back into the tow truck. I watch him haul my beautiful car away, and then I take out my phone and call Sarah to tell her what happened.

“I can close the shop for a few minutes to come get you,” she says.

“I don’t need to come to the shop. I need to get over to Carla’s and see why she lied to the police, and then go to the rec center and see what’s so oddly interesting about racquetball.”

“I’m sorry, Will. One of us is going to have to stay here; we can’t just close the store so we can run around investigating.”

“You’re right.” See? She’s far more responsible than I am. I would indeed just close the shop and go run around investigating. “Then can I borrow your car?”

There is a long, pregnant pause on the other line.

“Sarah? Hello?”

“I’m here. Um… I’m kind of weird about other people driving my car.

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