Spring Chicken (Aloha Chicken Mysteries Book 14) by Josi Avari

Author:Josi Avari [Avari, Josi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quill Canyon Press
Published: 2022-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Good reading?” Roscoe said.

Saffron wondered if he’d already read it, “I suppose.”

He answered her question for her, “I found it pretty interesting.”

Roscoe remained flat on his back on the soft grass in the shade of the ʻŌhiʻa tree. His hat was pulled down over his eyes.

“You read it then?”

“That’s right. I found it blown in with the garbage along the fenceline over there, then I set it free and the wind blew it into the bush where you found it.”

Saffron waited. She knew there would be more, that Roscoe had some card up his sleeve that he wasn’t showing yet.

“Seems to indicate there was some trouble in this little paradise, doesn’t it?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Saffron said nonchalantly, “It seems to me perfectly natural that there would be some strain among any group of people who spend as much time together as the Empress and her assistants do. I don’t think it’s particularly unusual to have some conflicts.”

“No, but it’s particularly unusual to have one of the conflicting parties turn up dead,” Roscoe said bluntly. He sat up and the hat over his eyes fell into his lap.

Saffron saw that he was weathered from years in the outdoors. She hadn’t looked closely at him before, but now, in the bright outside light, she could see the deep lines in his face and forehead, the leathery texture of his cheeks and forearms, and the cracked skin around his knuckles. No wonder he was looking for a job where he could work inside.

The heat was beginning to get to Saffron, too. She sank down onto a little bench where she’d sat many times and watched her hens playing with Princess and Duchess.

“So, are you like everyone else around here?” Roscoe asked.

“In what way?”

“Are you totally committed to the Empress?” he asked, “Do you just worship the ground she walks on and do whatever she says no matter what? Because that seems to be the way with the other people who work for her.”

Saffron didn’t like his tone. But behind it was experience—observation. She’d come here to find out from Carlo what Rex and this man had argued about. If she was careful, maybe she could find out from the man himself. So she fought the instinct to defend the Empress and instead aimed to try and keep the man talking.

“I don’t actually work for her,” Saffron said.

“What were you doing here the other day, then?” the man asked, “When the guy died?”

“I was delivering the flowers,” Saffron said, “I work for the Sprout Shop sometimes.”

“Typical,” he shook his head, “Us working folks have got to do two, three jobs just to make it, while folks like this don’t have to do a blasted thing all day.”

With the press of the heat, Saffron didn’t blame him for feeling a little sorry for himself.

“Say, you work for the flower shop?” he asked.

Saffron nodded.

“You drive their van?”

“Sometimes,” she said.

“Then you’ll probably need this,” the man rifled through his pockets for a moment,

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