End of the Line_Maple Syrup Mysteries by Emily James

Author:Emily James [James, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988480183
Publisher: Stronghold Books
Published: 2018-03-09T22:00:00+00:00

15

Sit down over there”—Isabel pointed at a thick pile of blankets that had to be her bed—“before you fall over.”

I obeyed because at least she wasn’t pointing a knife at me anymore, and it wasn’t like I could do anything about what I’d figured out, considering it was the middle of the night. “Does this mean you believe me that your husband didn’t send me?”

“It means that if you crack your head on my counter, I’ll have to call 911, and there’ll be no way my husband won’t find me then.” I thought I caught a hint of a smile.

Isabel put a pot onto a burner, spooned in sugar and cocoa powder, and added milk.

I’d broken into her truck in the middle of the night, thinking she was a murderer, and she was making me homemade cocoa. She was either the nicest person I’d ever met or she’d spent so much time trying to soothe an abuser that she couldn’t break the caregiver habit. It might be a bit of both.

Truth was, I didn’t care why she was doing it. It felt like what I imagined it would have been like if I had an older sister. I would have sneaked into her room late at night and talked through my problems with her in the way that I never could with my parents.

She handed me a mug and settled in next to me. She tented her knees up and rested her mug on top in a way that said she expected to have me tell her what was going on.

I explained my theory. “Now I don’t know what to do. Normally, if I thought I’d found something relating to the corruption investigation, I’d take it to Chief McTavish.”

Isabel wrapped her hands around her mug. Given the warmth in the truck, it couldn’t be because her fingers were cold. Whatever she planned to say must make her uncomfortable.

“You can’t go to the police,” she said. “Whoever’s behind this made sure of that.”

My first reaction was to say that was her natural distrust of the police talking, but she was right. By implicating Mark in Troy’s murder and making Chief McTavish vanish, they’d ensured I didn’t have an official channel to turn to. It was brilliant, really. They’d cast blame and protected themselves all at the same time.

The only people left in the Fair Haven police department were strangers who wouldn’t believe me because they thought I might have aided and abetted Mark, and officers we couldn’t trust because they might be part of the web of corruption.

I took a long, slow sip of the hot cocoa. It coated my tongue in chocolate sweetness in a way that hot chocolate from a package couldn’t, and the warmth spread far beyond my stomach. It might feel a bit hopeless right now, but I wasn’t completely alone. “I guess the place to start is to figure out if there’s anyone we can trust.”

Isabel glanced at me sidelong. “That’s always the place to start.”

I’d

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