Half Witted (Squeaky Clean In Between Mysteries Book 1) by Christy Barritt

Author:Christy Barritt [Barritt, Christy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: River Heights
Published: 2023-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Gus looked me up and down. “You went to Booker T? Class of 1991?”

“That’s right. You don’t remember me?”

He tilted his head skeptically. “I think I’d remember you.”

I glanced at Sierra, giving her a silent look that begged her to distract Megan.

She cleared her throat and glanced at Megan, an annoyed look in her eyes. “I was hoping I could talk to you about an award my company is giving out to the best animal shelters in the area . . .”

“The best?” Megan raised her eyebrows. “Well, of course.”

As the two moseyed away, I turned back to Gus.

“So . . . what brings you by here?” he asked, his voice lacking enthusiasm.

“I’m looking for a cat.” More like a goat. A scapegoat.

“And you happened to see my picture, which led you into my office because . . .” He tilted his head in confusion. “. . . we went to high school together?”

I glanced behind me and noted that Megan was still busy talking to Sierra. Then I shut the door. “Actually, that’s not true.”

“Really?” Heavy sarcasm doused his words.

“The truth is I’m trying to find out some information about Earl Mansfield. I heard that you were friends.”

He leaned back, his shoulders visibly tensing. “Who are you? A cop?”

“I’m more of a private investigator.”

“More of a private investigator or an actual private investigator?” He raised his eyebrows, still calm, cool, and collected.

“It’s just a minor detail. And I don’t have much time.” I stepped closer. “Is it true that you went to go see Earl during his final days?”

“I did. The two of us actually did go to high school together.” He gave me a pointed look.

I shrugged apologetically. “I see. Were you close?”

“We used to be best friends—or BFFs as all the youngsters say nowadays.”

If that was true, then this guy could be a great contact for this investigation. I needed to milk everything out of this conversation that I could.

“Did something happen between the two of you when you were visiting?” I asked. “I heard there was some tension between Earl and one of his close friends.”

“Tension? Who told you that?” Gus bristled.

“That’s not important.”

His gaze darkened. “It must’ve been that nurse. She was so cheerful, but I could tell she was nosy too.”

Sierra’s and Megan’s voices became louder in the hallway, and I knew I needed to hurry.

“Why was there tension?” I rushed.

I wasn’t sure the blunt question would get me very far. It wasn’t like this guy would admit that he and Earl had a falling out, and he had ultimately killed Earl, stolen his body, and put it in the back of a silver sedan.

He let out a resigned sigh. “The truth is that back in high school, Earl and I put together a bucket list. I thought that Earl and I should still try to cross some things off that list before, you know . . . he kicked the bucket.”

“What was on the list?”

“We wanted to ride fifty different roller coasters. Go to a bike rave.

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