A Sip of Murder (Japanese Tea Garden Mysteries Book 1) by Blythe Baker

Author:Blythe Baker [Baker, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The next morning, I found myself sitting in my car outside of the police department. I was psyching myself up to go in when someone rapped their knuckles on my window. Still jumpy from the break-in, I clutched at my chest. My stomach curdled when I saw who it was. Detective Sullivan was bent over to peer into my window. I rolled down the glass that was between us.

“Morning, Miss Morgan.”

“Detective.”

“Can I ask what you’re doing here?” He raised his eyebrow curiously.

“I’m here to file a report.”

“Oh?”

“There was a break-in at the souvenir shop last night.”

The detective seemed to lose some of his spark as I spoke. “Right. Well, might as well come in then.”

I stepped out of my car and followed him into the police station. I had the distinct impression that he was not pleased with the reason I had shown up. Did he still consider me to be a suspect? What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Was he just hoping I was here to turn myself in? My jaw clenched with silent, seething indignation.

All eyes were on us. The early shift of officers were a swirl of badges and uniforms. The sweet smell of glazed doughnuts and fresh, black coffee filled the station. Sullivan led me back to his desk. A folder with the label “Tea Garden” was peeking out from under the pile of papers. Seeing me looking at it, he quickly straightened the documents to hide it.

“So, tell me what happened.” A ballpoint pen rested in his hand.

“I was at the garden in the giftshop hanging up some decorations. I heard a noise coming from the office. When I went to check it out, I saw someone climbing out of the window.”

“Did you notice any physical features? Did you see any weapons?”

“No and no.”

“I see. Was anything taken?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

Detective Sullivan put down the pen he was holding. “So, basically, someone you can’t describe broke in and took nothing?”

I could sense the judgment radiating off of him. “I know how it sounds, but that’s what happened!”

“Why are you just now reporting it?”

“Because I wasn’t thinking clearly last night. I just wanted to get away before something happened to me.”

“Next time, call as soon as it happens. We could have sent out a squad car to canvas the area for suspicious characters.”

“Hopefully there isn’t a next time, but if there is, then I promise to call right away. Isn’t there anything you can do for me now?”

“I can see about having a patrol drive by every so often. That might deter future incidents. Miss Morgan, I’m not saying that I don’t believe you, but you haven’t really given us anything to go off of other than your own testimony. There isn’t any hard evidence, unless damage was done. We may have been able to do more if you had called us when it happened, but as it is, the patrol is the best I can offer you.”

My nails bit into the palm of my hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.