Piper Ashwell 17-A Mental Picture Paints a Thousand Crimes by Kelly Hashway

Author:Kelly Hashway [Hashway, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-04T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

As soon as we arrive at my parents’ house, Mitchell’s phone rings. I go inside the house while he takes the call.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Mom says, giving me a hug. “This is a surprise.”

“So is Dad’s car in the driveway,” I say. “I didn’t expect him to be home.”

“I insisted he come home for lunch. He’s been eating out way too much, and his cholesterol is through the roof.”

“My cholesterol is fine, Bonnie. Don’t make Piper worry for no reason,” Dad says, coming from the living room to give me a hug.

“Jez and Max are playing out back. I’ll go get them,” Mom says.

“Where’s Mitchell?” Dad asks.

“On a phone call outside. We came to get Jez. We’re going to bring her to the woods with us.”

“I’d ask if you want help, but I promised your mother I wouldn’t go chasing bad guys through the forest anymore.”

“We’re good, Dad. I’d rather have you stay on the Chase Barry trail.”

“Any reason why you’re so set on finding him?” he asks.

“I’m not sure. I just feel like we’re supposed to.”

Dad bobs his head. “You know I’ll never question your gut feelings, pumpkin.”

Mitchell comes walking through the front door at the same time Jez and Max come running from the back door. Jezebel runs and jumps right into Mitchell’s arms.

“Whoa!” I say. “That’s new.”

Mitchell hugs her. “I might have taught her that the other day.”

Without warning, Max launches himself in the air at Mitchell as well. He has to tuck Jez to one side, freeing an arm to grab Max.

“Well, you should unteach it to her,” I say.

“Yes, please,” Mom says. “I can’t have Max doing that.”

“Sorry.” Mitchell puts both dogs down. “No more jumping, Jez. You did great, but let’s stick to giving hugs, okay?”

Jezebel cocks her head and then places a paw on each of Mitchell’s shoulders and nuzzles his face.

“Yes, like that,” Mitchell says.

I get Dad up to speed on the case and the mysterious Lola. “We still need to pull the missing persons reports,” I remind Mitchell.

“I’ll get Wallace on that.”

“Why not Detective O’Reilly?” I ask. “She’s sitting at her desk. The woman is bored out of her mind.”

“As she should be. She can’t get anyone killed that way.” He finally stands up from petting Jezebel.

“I didn’t die, and need I point out you almost got me killed once?” I say, crossing my arms.

“Yes, I recall that,” Dad says. It took him a while to forgive Mitchell for the car accident Mitchell caused because he was jealous of another man.

Mitchell clears his throat. “That was an accident. What O’Reilly did was negligence and utter stupidity. There’s a big difference.”

“But what’s the same about both is that people make mistakes.”

“Yeah, well, her mistake almost cost me the woman I love. Sorry if I can’t get past that.”

I huff. “I’m going to use the bathroom before we head out.” I walk away. Once I’m in the bathroom with the door closed, I call the station. “Hi, can I please speak with Detective O’Reilly?”

“Ashwell, is that you?” Detective O’Reilly says.

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