Jack of Hearts by Christopher Greyson

Author:Christopher Greyson [Greyson, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683990710
Publisher: Greyson Media, LLC
Published: 2017-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

21

A Singing Frog

As Ted drove away from Brad’s, Alice sat forward. “You know, I just can’t get over the work Carl put into this list. Everything’s categorized and color-coded.”

“If every crime got as much attention when I was a cop, my arrest rate would’ve skyrocketed,” Jack said. “What did Carl do before he retired?”

Ted chuckled. “Accountant. But it’s not just him. The whole book club is into it. Your mother made the first version of that spreadsheet, except she did it the old-fashioned way—on a bunch of index cards. Carl and Ellie put it together in Excel.”

“Mrs. Stratton did a great job,” Alice said.

“She’s a mystery nut,” Ted said proudly. “She and Jack used to watch them together all the time. So when someone stole Beverly Nash’s solar rooster a year ago and all hell broke loose, your mother picked up her deerstalker.”

“Her what?” Alice asked.

“Deerstalker.” Ted chuckled. “That’s what they call the hat Sherlock Holmes wears.”

“Wait a second,” Jack said. “Did you say someone stole a solar rooster?”

“Yup. Truth be told, most everyone was glad someone shut the thing up.”

“What’s a solar rooster?” Alice asked.

Ted shook his head and sighed. “It was this awful solar-powered whirligig thing that crowed when the sun came up. Every morning that thing went off and got the whole neighborhood out of bed. But Beverly loved it—even offered a reward for its return. And your mother’s book club looked into it like the Lindbergh kidnapping, Hoffa’s disappearance, and who shot JFK all rolled into one.”

“For a rooster?” Jack said.

“You’ll understand when you get older.”

“You’ve been saying that my whole life. When will I understand?”

“When will he be older?” Alice joked.

Jack rolled his eyes. They were ganging up on him.

“So, where am I supposed to be driving next, anyway?” Ted asked.

Alice fingered the list. “The only other person who had something stolen from inside the house was Janet Ferguson.”

“Ah, yes,” said Ted. “The infamous Frankenstein’s monster cat figurine. But what about Tom Cummings? He had a post-hole digger taken from his garage.”

“The post-hole digger didn’t require a break-in,” Jack said. “Carl noted that Tom Cummings left his garage door open, so I’m classifying that one with the outdoor petty thefts. For now anyway.”

“Fair enough,” Ted said. “But if we’re going to visit Janet Ferguson, perhaps you’d better speak to your mother first. Laura and Janet get along like gasoline and a match.”

Jack’s mouth twisted into a wide grin. “Actually, we don’t need to see Janet again just yet. I have an idea, but I’ll need to pick up a couple of things to make it work. Do you have a pet store around here?”

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