Murder in a Tourist Town by Lynn Cahoon

Author:Lynn Cahoon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2023-10-27T22:16:30+00:00

Chapter 6

Friday morning, I headed down to the beach with my journal, my worn copy of Illusions, and the new fantasy book. I was going to make a list of everything I wanted out of this one precious life and how I was going to get there. And I needed some Plan B items, just in case my original plan of being a partner in a firm by the time I was thirty was a pipe dream.

Monet saw me coming and ran to the gate, barking as soon as I came down the hill to Miss Emily’s house. Miss Emily waved at me from her chair on the porch and called out, “Can you bring up my mail?”

“Of course.” I adjusted my tote, grabbed the mail, then went in through the gate, careful not to give Monet a chance to escape. She was more interested in me and I leaned down to rub her for a few minutes before we both headed up the stairs.

“Be careful you don’t step on the fairy ring.”

I looked down at my feet for anything that remotely looked like a ring. I found a small ring of mushrooms growing in the grass. “Got it.”

I moved around the circle and came up on the deck. “Here’s your mail. How are you today? Was yesterday’s outing too much running around?”

She shook her head as she flipped through the envelopes. “Not in the slightest. It was good for these old legs to get the blood pumping. I should go window-shopping every week, but I’d buy things I don’t need and blow up my budget.”

“Are you on a budget?” Now this I found interesting. “I figured since you were retired, you were past such things.”

“If you don’t budget, you spend like you have a black card in your wallet. Then one day you wake up and the bill’s due and you don’t have the funds.” She set the mail aside. “I’m comfortable, but I’m house poor. And I’m not willing to sell and move. Not at my age. Besides, I like it out here. Could you see me in a retirement home or one of those communities where you live and they just keep moving you from a condo to assisted living and finally to a nursing home on the property? It just seems like you have less and less autonomy with each move. And you’re still moving. I like my independence now. Besides, what would happen to Monet?”

My aunt had the same attitude. She’d bought a condo in a building that was close to a lot of museums and galleries. A hospital was nearby, and she had local doctors, at least when she was home. The woman liked to cruise. I’d stopped worrying about or keeping track of her adventures a few years ago. Of course, she had no pets. My cat had died the year I went away to college, and she hadn’t gotten another one. She wanted to be free to go wherever she wanted at a moment’s notice.

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