A Plain Malice: An Appleseed Creek Mystery (Appleseed Creek Mystery Series Book 4) by Amanda Flower

Author:Amanda Flower [Flower, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amanda Flower
Published: 2014-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

As I drove into town, I felt guilty for sending Becky on the tour alone. She insisted she would be okay, but there could be a killer on that bus.

The police station was one quarter of Appleseed Creek’s town hall located on the town square. The town hall and city official offices had a grand entrance facing the square flanked by Georgian pillars. In contrast, the entrance to the police station was a reinforced metal door from the back parking lot. A sign marked the parking space closest to the door with Chief Rose’s name. Her white and blue patrol car was in the spot.

I stepped into the police station, which appeared the same as it always did with the no nonsense metal desk, fake plants, and terribly uncomfortable plastic molded chairs. Chief Rose finally admitted to me once she chose those chairs because they were the most uncomfortable she could find. She was thoughtful like that.

As it was Sunday, the chief’s receptionist was off. Pearl sat in one of the painful chairs. The police chief sat at her receptionist’s desk. She stood. “Thanks for coming.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, caught surprised. The chief typically didn’t thank me for following any of her edicts.

Pearl didn’t lift her head.

“She’s barely holding it together. It’s like the loss of her cousin just hit her,” the chief whispered.

“How did she get here?” I whispered back. “Did you ask her to come in?”

“I needed her to sign her statement, but I planned to send Riley out to her hotel to collect her signature. She showed up here about an hour ago.”

“What did she say?”

“I asked her how she got here, and she told me she took a taxi. After that she said she wanted to talk to you and hasn’t spoken a word since.”

Still Pearl didn’t raise her head.

I crossed the room and pulled one of the empty plastic chairs in front of the older woman. Chief Rose remained on the other side of the room, but she wouldn’t miss a thing.

“Pearl, it’s Chloe. You wanted to talk to me?”

The older woman stared at her hands gripping the leather strap of her handbag so tightly it left red indentations in her skin.

“Pearl, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Slowly, Pearl lifted her head. “Chloe?” She blinked at me. “I want to go home.”

I glanced at Chief Rose. She shook her head.

“I told you we can help you get home. You don’t have to stay with the tour.”

“I can’t leave without Ruby.” She fumbled in her purse for a tissue. “She’s all the family I have—had—in the world. I need her to be able to go back with me.”

Again I looked to the chief for guidance. She mouthed, “Two more days.”

“Her body will be released in two days.”

She crushed the tissue in her hand. “I can’t stay that long. I can’t. I’m afraid.”

Goosebumps sprang up on my forearms. “Why? Did something happen? Did someone threaten you?”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “No.”

I shifted on the uncomfortable chair.

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