Headless at Halloween: A Nightmare, Arizona Novella (Nightmare, Arizona Paranormal Cozy Mysteries) by Beth Dolgner

Author:Beth Dolgner [Dolgner, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Redglare Media
Published: 2024-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

“No. No way,” I said, shaking my head. I had made Mama repeat the news twice because I just couldn’t believe my ears. “That makes no sense.”

“Nevertheless, they seemed to think she had motive,” Mama said, shrugging. “I’ve known Renee for years, and I wouldn’t have pegged her as a murderer, either.”

“I had a chat with Wallace Trim, the newspaper editor, earlier,” I said thoughtfully. “He speculated that Pete wasn’t killed for anything really significant. Wallace thinks someone just got tired of him complaining all the time and finally snapped.”

“And I know for a fact Pete was mean to Renee.” Mama nodded knowingly. “I even saw him berating her once while I was waiting to check out a book. However, my friend Jody suggested Renee might have had a better motive than just being sick and tired of Pete’s behavior.”

“Oh?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucy twirling in circles, the bottom of her dress fanning out. She seemed oblivious to our conversation, which was good. She was only ten, so I didn’t want to fill her head with thoughts of murder.

“Pete had been trying to get the library shut down,” Mama continued. “It was like his own personal crusade last winter. He went all over town saying the wiring in the library wasn’t up to code, and he knew because he had been an electrician before he retired. Pete went to the mayor’s office, demanding the library be closed, and when that didn’t get him anywhere, he began going to every city council meeting to voice his displeasure.”

“Was he right, though? About the wiring?”

Mama gave a little snort. “Half the buildings in this town have old wiring because they’re old buildings. As long as the systems are functioning safely, there’s no need to replace them. The library is no exception, but Pete always had to have something to be angry about.”

“Renee’s arrest makes more sense, at least,” I said. “But that still leaves some very big questions. For one, how did that tiny little lady chop off a man’s head, drag the body to the basement, then stash it in a prop coffin?”

“Maybe she lured him down there. She could have asked him to show her the electrical wiring in the basement.”

“Or, she could have had an accomplice who stashed the body for her.” I suddenly shook my head. “No, I still can’t believe Renee is the one responsible. She seems nice. Plus, why in the world would she have stashed the body at her own workplace? Or told us about the body in the first place?”

Mama shrugged. “If she wanted to make herself look innocent, pretending to be shocked by the discovery of the body was a good way to do it.”

“True.”

“Though you do make a good point about Renee chopping off a head. How would she know how to decapitate someone in the first place?” Mama gave herself a shake. “Yuck. So messy.”

I began to laugh. “Actually, I bet it would have been easy for her to learn the best way to decapitate a body! She’s a librarian.

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