Dead by Dinner Time by Jeff Shelby

Author:Jeff Shelby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, humorous mystery, senior citizen mystery, retirement home mystery, mystery set in Florida, amateur sleuth, female sleuth
Publisher: Jeff Shelby
Published: 2018-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

It was the next day and I was still trying to figure out where to go with the information I’d discovered in Lola’s file when Aidan stuck his head into my office.

“Afternoon,” he said with a smile. His brown hair was still damp, almost as if he’d just gotten out of the shower.

“Did you just get to work?” I asked.

His brow furrowed. “No. Why?”

“Oh, I just wondered. Your hair is wet.”

“Had to jump into the pool unexpectedly.” He smiled. “Good thing I keep an extra pair of work clothes in my car.”

I was immediately concerned. “You jumped in the pool? Why? Was someone in danger?” I hated to admit it but the first thought I had was that Anne would get wind of whatever happened and either close down the event that had precipitated it or simply close the pool down in its entirety.

“No, nothing like that,” he reassured me. “Billie lost her earbuds.”

“Her earbuds?”

He chuckled. “She was doing some water exercises. Had her phone on the ledge and somehow the earbuds dislodged from both her ears and her phone. She couldn’t reach them and she didn’t want to dive under and get her hair wet.”

I grinned. “That sounds like Billie. And that was very nice of you to do that.”

“I don’t know what good it did,” he said with a shrug. “Her earbuds might be shot from the water exposure.”

“Still, you did it. And that’s what matters.”

“It was refreshing, considering it’s like a million degrees out today.”

One of the nicest things about working at Oasis Ridge—anywhere indoors, really—was that I could easily escape the heat of a Florida summer.

“Anyway,” Aidan said, “I just thought I’d stop by and see if you had any more leaves or plants for me to take a look at.”

“Excuse me?”

He grinned. “It was a joke.”

Denise poked her head in the door, and I was starting to feel like I was in the most popular office in the building.

Aidan noticed her. “Guess I should get going,” he said after giving Denise a small wave and a smile. He turned back to me. “You let me know if you find any more poisonous leaves you need me to identify.”

He strolled out of the office, leaving Denise standing there, gaping at me.

As soon as he was gone, she marched inside and closed the door.

“Poisonous leaves?” she said. “What is he talking about?”

I slumped into my chair.

This was not the way I’d wanted Denise to learn about the leaves found on Arthur’s dinner plate.

“You better start talking,” she commanded as she dropped into the chair across from me. She folded her arms tightly across her chest. “Because I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.”

I stifled a sigh.

Denise wasn’t bluffing.

She would literally sit in that chair until nightfall. Heck, I’d probably find her in my office the next morning.

“Fine,” I finally relented. “Aidan is studying plant biology. Over at Crestview.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient.”

“I gave him the leaves and asked if he could identify them.”

Her expression was hard.

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