Sky high pies 26- The birthday murders by Mary Maxwell

Author:Mary Maxwell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2019-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

“Good morning, Kate!” Lila Sanchez said the following day from behind the reception desk at The Crescent Creek Gazette. “If you’re here to see Zack, he’s gone with Gretchen for a few hours. They’re doing a photo shoot to go with a feature article that publishes tomorrow. I think they’ll be back by four or five.”

“Thanks, but I’m actually looking for Art Bricker,” I said. “I was running a couple of quick errands, and thought I’d stop by to see if he’s available.”

Lila smiled. “He’s on deadline,” she said. “Can I have him call you later?”

“It’ll only take a sec,” I replied. “It’s sort of important.”

Her smile dimmed. “Is everything okay, Katie?”

“Yeah, things are fine,” I said. “I just have some information for Art that I’d like to deliver myself as soon as possible.”

She nodded. “Give me one minute, okay?”

While she picked up the phone and dialed a number, I walked over and stared through the window at the blustery day. They’d predicted thunderstorms and strong winds for the afternoon, and it looked like the forecast was accurate. Heavy dark clouds swayed overhead and the trees on the far side of the street leaned in unison as a series of strong gusts arrived from the north.

“He’ll be right out,” Lila said, hanging up the phone. “If you want to use the empty office down the hall on the right, that’ll give you some privacy.”

“That’s kind, thanks,” I said. “I appreciate your help.”

“My pleasure, Katie.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “You need backup, just holler, okay?”

As I walked down the corridor toward the office, I wondered what she meant by the comment. Backup? I’d never met Art Bricker before, but Zack would’ve said something if the guy was a hothead.

After flipping on the overhead lights and sitting on the edge of the desk, I pulled out my phone and sent Zack a text: Came by to see Bricker as we discussed. Did you talk to him this morning?

He replied instantly: Sorry! Forgot to tell you in rush to leave town. FBI came down hard on Bricker for listening to their phone call with Dina.

How did they find out? I asked.

Zack’s reply made me smile: ESP? Lucky guess? Paid informant?

Hilarious, I typed. Glad your comedy career is—

A loud knock interrupted my thought.

“Hi,” said a chubby guy with frizzy brown hair. “Are you Kate?”

I got up from my perch to shake his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Art.”

The man’s face splintered with a frown. “Oh, I’m not Bricker. My name’s Gary Andrews. Art just raced out the back entrance. He asked me to come and apologize.”

“Lucky you,” I said. “Why didn’t he have the—”

“All I know,” Gary interrupted, “is that Art just got a hot tip on a story he’s writing about the Oldham case.”

“Oh, that’s…” My mind started to fill with questions. “…that’s really—”

“Zack told me that you were a detective before,” he said.

I nodded. “That’s true.”

“Is that why you were coming to see Bricker?”

“Something like that,” I said.

“Well,

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