Peril at the Pawn Shop: A Cozy Mystery for Pet Lovers (A Walk in the Bark Book 1) by Mel Faye

Author:Mel Faye [Faye, Mel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mel Faye
Published: 2019-01-17T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Early the next morning, Ralph and I were on our way to The Busy Reader when I received a text from Hank. Seeing his name pop up on my phone made my heart flutter. We’d only spoken briefly over the weekend. I didn’t want him to worry about how I acted at the end of the date. I wanted him to know I liked him. Finding the right words were a struggle though.

What did you do? Are you okay? Call me now please!

We were by the pharmacy, so Ralph and I headed over.

“Annie!” Hank ran over as soon as I entered. “You didn’t tell me what happened the other night. And you did not tell me that you were going to go talk to a murderer in person. After he threatened you and everything.”

Charlotte? Was she talking to people? Or did they overhear?

“He’s not a murderer, Hank. I’m sure of it.”

Hank sputtered and clenched his jaw.

“Annie, I like you a lot. Enough to not want you to be the next murder victim. I wish you’d told me what happened at the bar. I thought I did something to upset you, or that something bad happened with your mom, or a friend. I wish you had talked to me or anyone else before going to the jail house.” He stared at Ralph. “People come in here dying to talk about George Appleby, and I can’t believe how much your name is coming up.”

I felt my own jaw tighten when Hank spoke. Who did he think he was? He barely knew me. He was fine calling me Nancy Drew and teasing me about this. But he didn’t know me well enough to tell me what to do or try to protect me from work that I knew I had to do.

“Thank you, Hank, I appreciate your concern. For the record, I did speak with a friend before going to the jailhouse. And I know people in this town much better than you do. I see what’s happening. I know what I’m doing.”

I knew Chief Gomez would do anything he could to blame Rory Castro and close this case. And the more I thought about it, the more angry it made me. He was fine calling it a suicide, because that meant Appleby’s wife wouldn’t have enough money to save the pawn shop. And that meant Chet West would be able to buy it.

“Look, Annie. I don’t know you well yet but -”

“No, you look, Hank. You’re new to this town. You don’t know how important this place is to me and everyone else. I’m tired of people coming into town thinking they know what’s best for all of us. I’m tired of the Chief of Police doing the mayor’s bidding with no regard for actual criminal investigation procedures. What if Rory’s innocent? If I can help him clear his name, I’m going to do it. And if that means Chet West is a little further from his goal of taking over my town, even better.

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