Honey Butter at the Hill (Inn Vermont Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Thea Cambert

Author:Thea Cambert [Cambert, Thea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2021-04-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

It’s not that Detective Dunlap and Officer Potts are incapable of doing their law-enforcement duties on any typical day. It’s just that there’s no crime to speak of in Williamsbridge. An aspiring police officer who has any interest in slapping the cuffs on someone, or using the sirens on the regular, or slamming a jail cell door shut and walking away isn’t going to look for a job here.

So, while we knew Dunlap and Potts were hard at work investigating the murder of Shirley Simmons—shockingly the second murder to have taken place at our inn—Matthew and I decided to do our own investigating as well. Just as a sort of backup. We’d managed to solve the Christmas murder, so our confidence was not entirely unfounded.

The welfare of our dear friend Edna, as well as the inn’s reputation, were hanging in the balance. Besides, like I said before, Matthew and I have a history of shared stealth. The Spy Game was always our favorite pastime as kids. We decided to keep our eyes open and watch Edna’s family like two skeptical hawks. We still didn’t even know what had killed Shirley. But we suspected foul play, because Dunlap and Potts were making the rounds—stopping by the inn regularly to ask more questions of us and Shirley’s relatives.

Matthew and I had been casually questioning them ourselves whenever we got the chance over the last few days. Even though Uncle Pete was staying at Edna’s, he’d come over to the inn daily to confer with the rest of the family. They, unlike Edna, were clearly Shirley’s relatives. Very demanding with a definite air of condescension.

Mom and I kept the coffee and teapots full, and made more of the cookies the family favored. While it’s never easy to work with unreasonable or rude guests, we were, frankly, grateful to have steady customers over the weekdays. By the weekend, the place would be packed.

“You know what bothers me?” said Matthew, as the two of us stood listening at the kitchen door while the family chatted around the fire in the family room.

“I bet it’s the same thing that’s been nagging at my thoughts,” I said, looking up at him and stepping away from the door.

Uncle Pete had just been talking again about how many people had heard Edna threaten Shirley. With a lowered voice, he’d said, “Why do these hillbilly cops keep questioning all of us? I’ve told them again and again that Edna told Shirley she’d be sorry if she crossed her. Why is Edna not already in custody?”

I pulled Matthew into the walk-in pantry so that we could speak freely while gathering ingredients for tomorrow’s scones. “How does Pete know about the threat Edna made the other night at Potbelly’s?”

“That’s exactly it,” said Matthew. “We were both there. We heard the exchange between Shirley and Edna. Pete’s got it down word-for-word. But he wasn’t even there. Where is he getting that information?”

I handed him a sack of flour. “Is there any chance Pete was there? I mean, we didn’t know him yet.

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