A Hiss of Murder by Susie Gayle

Author:Susie Gayle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: pet, pet cozy, pet cozy myster, pet cozy mystery, animal cozy, carol durand, susan gillard, karin kaufman, carolyn dean, anne tan, abby vandiver, clean, hy hanna, anne r tan, nancy drew, danielle collins, margot durand, dianne harma, stephanie damore, morgana best, dianne harman, nancy mcgovern, summer prescott, colleen mooney, s, cozy mystery, agatha frost, stacey alabaster, jenna st james, ceecee james
Publisher: Summer Prescott
Published: 2019-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

We sit in my SUV in the parking deck for what feels like a long time. According to the clock on my dash, it’s only a few minutes, but it feels like hours. Beside me, Sarah dabs at her eyes with a tissue. I stare out the window at nothing, my chin in my hand.

Finally, Sarah breaks the silence by asking aloud what we’re both thinking.

“Who would do that?” she says quietly. “What kind of monster would just... take her like that?”

“One that didn’t want any evidence left behind,” I murmur. Then louder I say, “Sarah, this was planned. Someone texted us, pretending to be Karen, so we would come here and find her like that.”

“Like a threat?”

I nod. “I think so. And that guy I chased off... I think he was bait. He was supposed to distract us, so that someone else could move her car.”

“With a rattlesnake in it?”

“I guess so. I mean, we might be dealing with... professionals.”

“Professionals?” She blinks at me. “What are you implying?”

I shrug. “I think it seems obvious that there’s more than one person involved, and it’s likely that they were hired by Savage or Stein. Or both. There’s just too much threatening them now; too many people in on this. They must be getting desperate.”

“We need Patty,” she says resolutely.

“Sarah...”

“Will, let’s face facts. Someone has murdered Karen.” Sarah takes a shaky breath. “And then they took her body and her car. If we wait, there might not be evidence to find.”

“If we call Patty, then we have to admit that we didn’t report the break-in at Karen’s apartment or the pet shop. We didn’t tell anyone that Karen was missing. We’ve known about the blackmail and didn’t say anything. And most importantly, two people on the council—both of them respected in the community—would tell her that I was involved in this whole scheme, even though I’m not.”

Sarah stares at me, shaking her head slowly. “So, to top all that off, we’re not going to report a murder? So, you don’t go to jail?”

“It’s not just me!” I protest. “It’s Sammy... and it’s you, too. You’re in this. That’s my fault. I never should have told you anything.” I rub my face with both hands and add, “Besides, technically it wasn’t a murder. Petunia bit Karen. If we can’t prove who put the snake in her car, who do you think is going to get blamed for her death?”

“We will,” Sarah says quietly.

“Right. So, best-case scenario—even if somehow we don’t get charged with any crimes—we’d still lose the shop at the very least.”

“Then what can we do?”

“First, we’re going to sit here a minute and clear our heads. Then we’re going to do what we planned to do—go talk to Tom Savage. Get whatever we can out of him. Whoever did this took Karen’s car; I can’t think of anyone better to be able to get rid of one than a used car salesman, right? Not sure there are many chop shops in Seaview Rock.

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