Murder in the Vineyard: A Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Caper by Denise Jaden

Author:Denise Jaden [Jaden, Denise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Amber and I drove to the nearest donut shop and sat in the parking lot, me with a cup of tea, her with a hot chocolate and an éclair, discussing what we had come up with so far. I texted Alex, letting him know we were done with Jordan, that it went well, and he should call as soon as he had a second away from any listening ears.

“I told you Hunch was onto something with that elementary school,” Amber said, scratching him behind his ears the way he only seemed to like from her. “You’re a smart little kitten.”

Hunch was neither little nor a kitten, but I chose not to debate those points. “We still don’t know that for sure.” Amber raised an eyebrow at me as I went on. “I’ll admit, the fact that the woman in the sketch pretended to be a parent from the school whose address we found on the tractor in the vineyard sounds suspicious.”

“Don’t forget that when we pressed Mr. Rempel and asked him to go over the conversation as specifically as he could remember it, he said the woman from the sketch had said her son went to school with Fresco, and Jordan had said, ‘Oh, your son goes to Honey Littles Elementary as well.’ What are the chances that this woman in the sketch is a woman from Jennifer’s past in Morgantown, and she was fishing to find out where Jennifer lived, where her kid went to school, and who knows what else, all in order to track her down?”

When she put it like that, the chances seemed pretty strong. “Okay, but how do we find out who this woman is and what she might have had against Jennifer Rempel?”

Amber took a big bite of her éclair and talked with her mouth full. “That sounds like a job for a detective stuck in the office.”

As if on cue, Alex’s name flashed across the screen.

“What’s up?” he asked in his same quiet voice.

“First, I think we can clear Jordan as a suspect.” I looked to Amber to make sure she was in agreement. She nodded. I even looked to Hunch for approval, but he ignored me in lieu of his affectionate best friend.

“He was pretty broken up about his ex-wife?” Alex asked.

“A little, but that’s not why. He didn’t seem the type to overtake her physically, and it sounds like they were actually friends. He definitely loves her kid and wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt him.”

“He’s not the father?” Alex asked.

“No, but get this. He recognized the woman from the police sketch. He said she had been by on Friday evening, claiming her kid went to Honey Littles Elementary School with Jennifer’s son, Fresco.” I rattled on, trying to get all the important details out before he had to go. “He told the woman that Jennifer was at a Bible study.”

“Did he tell her its location?”

I shook my head at the phone. “No, he didn’t know the location until Officer Krause told him what had happened to Jennifer late last night.

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