Small Time Crime (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book 10) by A.W. Hartoin

Author:A.W. Hartoin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A.W. Hartoin

There are a lot of things that cause incredible stress in life. Divorce, moving, losing a job, but I’m going to say having your house burn down with your two dogs inside beats those hands down. Tank and his family had gone to Disney in Florida, leaving their dogs at home for the first time ever. They usually put them in the kennel, but Tank got tired of paying the high price and the dogs hated it. They lost weight and their fur would start falling out, so he decided to leave them at home and have a neighbor’s kid look after them. Emma did a great job, by all accounts, and her mother happened to be with her on that last day, checking on the plants. The dogs were walked, fed, watered, and locked in for the night.

Sometime after they left, the air-conditioner malfunctioned. Because it had been installed too close to the exterior wall, the house caught fire. The Tancredis lost everything.

“It wasn’t arson?” I asked.

“Ruled an accident.”

“But…”

“But you came in here asking questions and I’m thinking about why I stopped looking at the murder and the school.”

“You never went back to it?”

“No. I don’t think I even thought about it until the school opened this fall and everything started happening,” he said, his voice tight with guilt. “My kids were traumatized. My wife would barely speak to me for six months. She couldn’t see a dog without crying. We had to rebuild and buy new land because the family didn’t want to go back. It was a mess.”

“Stuff kept happening at the school though?” I asked.

“It did, but I gave the job to Milo. He’s a solid guy and he covered it appropriately.”

“No interest in Maggie I take it.”

“Milo isn’t a deep thinker, a just-the-facts kind of reporter and the other things that happen in St. Seb, he ignores it.”

“Does he believe it?”

“I couldn’t say. We’ve never discussed it.”

“You never discussed Confederates in the hospital?” I asked.

Tank’s face cleared slightly and he chuckled. “What’s to discuss? Things happen in St. Seb.”

“But that’s why you question how I happened to find Janet Lee Fine’s body?”

“It is.” He smiled. “Care to go on the record?”

“I can’t,” I said. “It’s not my story to tell.”

“You have me intrigued.”

“And you’ll be staying that way.”

Tank snapped his fingers dramatically. “I figured. Are you ready for the joy of microfiche?”

“First, tell me what you know. You were researching the murder when your house conveniently burned down,” I said.

“Honestly, I don’t remember much. I don’t even know what I did with my notes. That period was so miserable. I almost got divorced.”

“Anything will help.”

“She was found in the woods by some locals.” He took his ponytail out and ran his fingers through his hair. It hurt him to remember that time period. “The names are on the tip of my tongue.”

“Were they suspects?” I asked.

“I doubt it.”

Lefty knocked and walked in, looking like he’d taken a severe tongue-lashing. “So that was a nightmare. I have agreed to build Caden a princess treehouse and a pirate stronghold.

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