Murder at Pirate's Cove by Josh Lanyon

Author:Josh Lanyon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, LGBTQ, , gay mystery, sweet romance
Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2020-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“Sue Lewis didn’t like that,” Nora said with satisfaction.

After he’d got back from the vet’s, Ellery had asked Nora to call the Scuttlebutt Weekly to come get their papers. No way was he giving Sue Lewis even one inch of real estate within his bookshop. Not anymore. Not when Sue’s editorial that morning had been Sue musing in print as to why PICO PD seemed afraid to make an arrest in the Trevor Maples case when it was perfectly clear to everyone in town who the perpetrator was.

“I don’t know what her problem is,” Ellery said. “But if she thinks I’m going to contribute to her business while she destroys mine, she’s mistaken.”

Nora said, “Her campaign probably isn’t as personal as it feels. This is likely more about Chief Carson than you.”

“I don’t see how that can be true. She barely mentions him. It’s all about me and how I’m a menace to society.”

Nora smiled knowingly. “Sue’s had her nose out of joint about Chief Carson for a long time. It was one thing when he first moved here. He was recently widowed, and no one expected him to take a romantic interest. In fact, he and Sue started a friendship. They’d have dinner once in a while or meet for lunch. We all wondered if it might turn into something more in time—and it was pretty clear Sue hoped it would turn into something more—but it never did. No more than it did for any of the other ladies in this town who figure five years is a long enough mourning period for any man.”

“I see,” Ellery said, inexplicably cheered by the idea of Chief Carson in a permanent state of mourning. “But even so.”

“For the last year, Sue’s been using her editorial column to vague-post her dissatisfaction with the police department on everything from coming down too hard on inebriated tourists to being too soft on local delinquents. She never mentions the chief directly, but it’s pretty obvious where she thinks the blame lies.”

“Yikes.” Ellery was grinning at Nora’s vague-post comment. Nora was a real character, and he was starting to think hiring her had been one of his best decisions yet. Not only did she know about a million times more than he did about the mystery and crime genre, she was like a walking encyclopedia when it came to the village. Plus, it was just really nice having someone to talk to during the day.

The bell on the door rang at that moment, and a young woman popped in with one child in a stroller and another clutching her hand. A tourist, clearly, because after yesterday’s rush—and this morning’s editorial—none of the locals were dropping by.

Nora took charge of the young woman, quickly determining that her interest was more toward psychological suspense than cozy, and Ellery went back to sorting through a box of old paperbacks he’d lugged up from the cellar.

In a short while, the young woman left with three paperbacks and a hardcover copy of the first book in the Chet Gecko series.

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.