Ill-Gotten Panes (A Stained-Glass Mystery) by Jennifer McAndrews

Author:Jennifer McAndrews [McAndrews, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

In the span of twelve miles, the GPS and Find It functions on my smartphone became my favorite things. After the simple step of switching on the locator then typing “hardware store” in the Find It search bar, I followed the instructions of the soothing phone voice to the one privately owned store between the police station and downtown Wenwood. Two more shops were situated in northern Pace County, and one off to the west, but I could only do so much in one morning.

Unlike the village of Wenwood, which despite being peppered with empty storefronts could still be described as picturesque, the stretch of stores that soothing phone voice led me to was a characterless strip mall. Dry cleaner, pharmacy, packing store . . . each shop stretched the same width, each had an entrance door set to the right, each had the same aluminum-trimmed windows—except the shop I was there to see. Prince Hardware occupied a space twice the width of the other stores and the double-door entrance sat smack in the center.

Parking in the little lot facing the strip mall was limited, and I was forced to circle the lot twice before a gentleman carrying his dry cleaning vacated his spot. Even as I zipped into the spot, my stomach began to hollow with doubt. A packed parking lot, a double-wide lot, and clutter-free windows gave me the impression that Prince Hardware wasn’t suffering. Still, impressions could be misleading.

Purse over my shoulder, I climbed out of the SUV, tugged the legs of my shorts back to a decent length, and headed for the hardware store.

As I drew closer, the colorful spots in their window resolved themselves as packets of flower and vegetable seeds. Garden tools with bright green grips and bags of fertilizer filled out the display. I paused at the edge of the sidewalk, wondering if it was too late to plant vegetables out back of Grandy’s house, or if the seeds would have to have been planted before the end of May.

I was lost in indecision as the door to Prince Hardware swung outward and Detective Nolan stepped into the sunshine.

“Well.” He half smiled. “Miss Kelly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just Georgia.”

Smile fading, he asked, “Should I ask what brings you here?”

Probably it wasn’t a good idea to tell the police you were in the midst of doing your own investigating. “I need a caulking gun,” I blurted out. I nodded at the Prince Hardware sign. “This place was on my way.”

“A caulking gun. Still.” He nodded slowly, almost sagely, lips pursed, sunshine silvering the gray in his hair. “No chance you were planning to nose around Andy Edgers’s competition for supplying materials to the marina project?”

I adjusted the purse strap across my shoulder and tried to make my face look innocent, which felt a lot like smiling foolishly. “Why would I do that?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say because you think someone other than your grandfather belongs in jail. And wouldn’t it be convenient if some other hardware store owner had a motive for killing ol’ Andy.

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