Ganache and Fondant and Murder by Patti Larsen

Author:Patti Larsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: female detective, cozy murder mystery, animal murder mystery
Publisher: Patti Larsen

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Chapter Nineteen

Did she know she just jumped her way to #1 on my suspect list? She must have, because Joyce surged to her feet and came at me with a desperate expression and a gooey tissue outstretched, both of which made me flinch.

“I know what that sounds like.” She dropped her hands suddenly to her sides again, stopping her forward motion so abruptly I was breathless from not knowing if I should keep backpedaling or hold my ground. “Tell the sheriff whatever suits you. But I didn’t do it.”

Not much to say, except, of course, as I was about to leave I paused with an internal take to task for forgetting the reason I came up here in the first place.

“Ron’s debt?” I waited, hoping for an answer.

Disappointment wasn’t my favorite emotion, but that’s all I got out of her when she turned away, head down.

“I don’t know specifics,” she said, “but he was in financial trouble when I was with him. That was six months ago. Then, suddenly he seemed to have money again, just before he traded me in for Janet.” Interesting.

I left her then, slowly descending to the foyer, mind spinning. Knowing I needed to call Crew, wondering how that conversation would go over while hating that I hesitated. I caught sight of Daisy exiting the kitchen, headed my way, and took a leap as I hurried the rest of the way downstairs, reaching for the coat rack and my wool jacket, not pausing to go to the kitchen for my warmer one. I wasn’t going far or planning to take long.

“Can you stay?” I was already out the door, waving while she nodded and smiled and waved back, mournful Petunia hovering at her heels. The pug would punish me later for leaving her behind. So be it. This trip I needed to take on my own.

It was a short walk to Crew’s little house, just two streets over from Mom and Dad. Convenient, how small the interior of Reading was, how easy it could be to get around. The faint fall of fresh snow was just enough to add a tiny squeak under my boots, the air chill but still again. A perfect evening for a brisk march to my doom at the hands of Crew Turner.

Hey, I had an excuse, right? He was supposed to come see me tonight and he hadn’t. So it was up to me to make the first move.

Sure, Fee. Keep spinning those lies if it makes you feel better about yourself.

It took a lot not to slow as I neared his front door, to push myself physically up his walkway, past the short shrubs lining his entry, up the two concrete steps and to raise my mitten and knock. Almost more than I had in me. Why was I here again? My phone from the privacy of my basement apartment seemed much more logical even as I tapped on the glass and waited.

And waited. This was dumb, he probably wasn’t even home.

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