Bleeding Tarts by Kirsten Weiss

Author:Kirsten Weiss [Weiss, Kirsten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Gordon strode into the carriage house. A phalanx of uniformed police officers followed, their movements quick, decisive.

Relief unspooled inside me. Though it had only taken him ten minutes to get to the Bar X, it had seemed an eternity. I had to force myself not to hurtle into his arms for a comforting hug. Someone had killed again, killed someone I knew, and a sick, creeping malaise hung over us all.

Gordon stopped short and stared.

Moe held the bridle of a palomino mare. Ewan stood, expression grim, one hand braced on the coach. Marla peeked over the ghost town owner’s left shoulder, her hands clamped on his arm. Curly slumped against a closed stall. I tried to look inconspicuous and edged behind Charlene.

One of us was a killer.

Gordon zeroed in on me. “Why aren’t I surprised? Wait, let me guess.” He raised his index finger. “You thought a stroll through the carriage house would be fun and just happened to stumble across a body. No, hold it. You were on the hunt for the Bar X Phantom, and a corpse threw itself into your path.”

I winced. It wasn’t as if we’d been looking for a body.

Charlene stuck her nose in the air. “We were invited here for a carriage ride.”

Ewan cleared his throat. “I did invite them both. I’d meant to give them a ride the other day, but then the coach got loose and, uh, nearly ran down Val.” His gaze cut sideways.

“Where is Mr. Pelt?” Gordon asked.

Ewan nodded toward the open stall door.

Gordon stalked to it and studied the corpse. “Someone’s missing.”

“Pardon?” Ewan asked.

“It looks like everyone’s here but—”

“What’s going on?” Bridget halted inside the carriage house’s tall, open doors, her eyes wide. Backlit by the sun, her long shadow writhed across the straw-covered floor.

“And now we’ve got a full house,” Gordon said. He jerked his chin toward the uniformed officers. “Secure the scene. Separate the witnesses. You know the drill. Miss Harris, you’re with me.” He walked into the sunlight without waiting to see if I followed.

After a worried glance at Charlene, I trotted after him. We stopped in the shade of the carriage house.

Gordon stared down the dusty street. “Why does it always have to be you?”

“I didn’t find the body. Moe did. Charlene and I walked into the carriage house right after he found Larry.”

“What were you doing here in the first place?”

“We really were invited for a coach ride.”

His gaze turned flinty.

“And I might have asked Bridget about Devon’s lawsuit,” I admitted.

“So, you found out about that, did you?”

“It must have been uncomfortable for them both, with Devon suing the boss’s daughter for stalking. Do you think her father knew?”

A muscle jumped in his jaw.

I jammed my hands in my jeans pockets and told myself to shut up. But the words kept flowing, a nervous prattle. “It sounds bogus to me. Outside of Fatal Attraction, I can’t imagine there are a lot of women stalkers.”

He rolled his eyes. “You have no idea. Women do it all the time, and it’s even easier now with the Internet.

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.