Murder Hooks a Mermaid by Christy Fifield

Author:Christy Fifield
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: Cozy, Paranormal
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2012-12-31T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

SO WHY WAS I STANDING OUTSIDE A MASSIVE APARTment complex at seven o’clock on a Sunday night? I had an excuse. I was trying to help keep Karen out of trouble.

But what was her excuse?

Apparently she didn’t need one.

We’d turned into the main entrance of the complex and parked in the area reserved for visitors. Nonresidents were restricted to the front lot, while each apartment cluster had its own lot with assigned spaces.

Stern warning signs informed us we could be towed without notice if our vehicle was in an assigned spot. The Civic was no prize, but it was better than nothing. I made sure I was parked in a space clearly marked “Visitor.”

Karen had confirmed the building and unit number on the court records before we left the house. I didn’t ask her if it was a public record. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know.

It took us a few minutes to figure out the arrangement of the blocks of apartments. Each building had a street number, but the numbers were discreetly hidden behind lush plantings. The streets themselves meandered through the complex, with plenty of cul-de-sacs and dead ends.

After a few minutes of walking around pretending we knew where we were, we realized the street names were alphabetical. We easily located Keel, one block over from Jetty, and spied a building number.

The unit we wanted was another block down, but once we understood the layout it was easy to find.

The building itself was a stacked block of eight apartments, four up and four down. The apartment we wanted was on the ground floor, its entry door tucked into a semi-private alcove away from the street.

“Now what?” I asked Karen. “There isn’t anything to see here. Do we go talk to the neighbors? Find the manager and try to wheedle some information out of him? Knock on the door and ask why they’re trying to frame your brother-in-law?”

“I’m a reporter,” Karen said. “I’m here to ask them some questions, let them get their side of the story out.” She smiled. It reminded me of a shark. “You’d be amazed what people will tell me, if they think I’ll put their version on the air.”

“And what am I doing here?”

“You’re my assistant,” she said, as though that explained everything.

“And you expect them to believe that?”

“They will. Trust me.”

I wasn’t so sure, but I let her confidence carry me along as we walked up the concrete path to the door.

Karen rang the bell. We listened to the chime echo through the apartment, but there were no footsteps, and no one answered the door.

She rang again with the same result, and knocked on the door, calling out, “Mr. Irving? Mr. Davis?”

A young Hispanic woman came down the stairs from one of the second floor units. As she passed us, she nodded. “I don’t think they’re home,” she said. “I haven’t heard anything all day.” She made a disgusted face. “Usually they’re playing their music really loud, while my baby is trying to sleep.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.