Bowling Bodies at Spare Lanes Alley: A Lainey Maynard Mystery Book 5 (The Lainey Maynard Mystery Series) by Laura Hern

Author:Laura Hern [Hern, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Laura Hern
Published: 2023-08-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Lainey got in her car and drove to the Backwater Restaurant. She hoped the dinner rush would be over, allowing Shep time to visit with her. She was able to park close to the entrance, and as she got out of her car, she noticed that a light was shining from Charlie’s bait shop’s back door.

I know Charlie is still at Bailee’s house. Why would he leave the lights on in the backroom? Glancing at her watch, and knowing Vera wouldn’t be expecting her yet, she walked across the parking lot toward the bait shop. The front entrance door was locked and the neon sign in the front window flashed ‘Closed. Come back soon.’

Lainey walked carefully around the side of the building, toward the back door. There were no sounds or signs of life. She knew that the back door was meant for deliveries and for special anglers who drove their boats to the ramp behind his building. Tonight, no boats were docked there. She stood in front of the door, tried to open it, but it was locked. Standing on her tiptoes to look inside the window, she could see boxes on the floor, a couple pairs of rubber boots, a few white bait buckets, and an old desk with papers on it. Nothing that stood out to her as odd.

“You said you were not spying on my new stink bait recipe!” Charlie’s voice boomed loudly causing Lainey to trip as she turned quickly from the door. He didn’t offer to help her get up but stood with his hands on his hips looking down at her, frowning.

“Oh! You startled me!” she said, standing up and trying not to look guilty.

“I’m sure I did. Shep put you up to this, didn’t he?” He said with disgust. “You tell him…”

“Wait…” she began after dusting the dirt off her pants and shirt. “Shep doesn’t know I’m here. I went to the Backwater for supper and saw the light was on. I knew you weren’t here and wanted to make sure no one had broken in.” She hoped that didn’t sound as lame to him as it did to her.

“You think I believe that?” He didn’t move or change his expression. He reached inside his pants pocket, pulled out a set of keys and walked over to open the back door. “We’re not going to wait till tomorrow to talk. Since you are so concerned about my shop, let’s go inside and find out why you are here.”

Charlie opened the door and motioned for Lainey to follow him inside. She wasn’t afraid of him, but questions and answers were swirling around in her mind faster than a spinning centrifuge. This would be the only chance she would have to talk with him about Ryan and his father. Her first thought was to pull her phone from her fanny pack and hit the record button on their conversation. She was reaching for it when he stopped her.

“No one takes photos of my bait shop,” he cautioned her.

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