May Cooler Heads Prevail by T. L. Dunnegan

Author:T. L. Dunnegan [Dunnegan, T. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781607422259
Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Published: 2010-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Otis greeted us with, “Afternoon, ladies. I was on the way to the station to relieve Billy for his dinner break and thought I’d check in on you. I wondered if you found anything missing since we talked this morning.”

At least he was smiling. I felt like my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth and only managed a weak smile back. Maybe it was just my guilty conscience at not telling Otis about Aaron Scott, or maybe it was just outright fear we were all headed for jail, but whatever kept my mouth shut did not seem to affect Aunt Connie.

“Nope, nothin’ else that I can tell. And other than being a little rattled, we’re doing all right.” Then, like an old chum settling down for a long chat, Aunt Connie leaned on the other side of the counter from Otis. “But what gets me about this whole mess is that whoever broke into my place was mighty persnickety about taking stuff off those shelves and such.”

Aunt Connie’s comment not only surprised me, it scared me. Had she forgotten that her ex-fiancé’s body was in the flower cooler? The last thing we needed was for Otis to start exploring other options besides burglary for the break-in.

Frowning, Otis replied, “Been wondering ‘bout that myself. Somethin’ sure doesn’t seem right about it. It almost looks like the burglar was lookin’ for something specific. I can’t see what that would be in a flower shop, though. Truth is, we don’t have a lot to go on. Well, ladies, I’d better go so Billy can get some supper. I’ll keep you posted on anything I find out.” With that, Otis put his hat on and walked out the door.

Aunt Connie looked at her watch. “It’s almost five o’clock. I think I’ll just close up shop a little early. Then we can get back to that briefcase uninterrupted.”

Uncle Rudd poked his head through the curtain again. “All clear?”

“All clear. I’ve locked up for the night,” Aunt Connie told him.

As we started toward the workshop, Uncle Rudd walked out from behind the dividing curtain and blocked my path. Holding up his hands in front of him, he said, “I know you’ve already had a pretty full day, Dixie-gal, but I’ve got one more little job for you and Freedom.”

The last thing I wanted to do was to go on one of Uncle Rudd’s “little jobs.” My mind was shot, I was hungry, I was tired, and I wanted to eat and sleep, not necessarily in that order.

Reluctantly and slowly I said through clenched teeth, “What little job?”

My tone of voice and whatever awful look I had on my face made Uncle Rudd take a step back and blink. “Let’s go on back into the workshop, and we can talk about it.”

I followed Uncle Rudd back through the curtain muttering phrases like, “Sleep would be nice,” “A trip to the Bahamas would be better,” and, “This better be important.”

Uncle Rudd heard that last comment and turned around to face me.

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