Still as Death (Juniper Grove Cozy Mystery Book 11) by Karin Kaufman

Author:Karin Kaufman [Kaufman, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

After texting Gilroy to tell him I’d be late, I bought egg salad sandwiches at Wyatt’s—Julia and Royce were no longer there—and drove for Cedar Avenue, a winding road that ran west out of town and into the foothills. On one of the few straight stretches of the avenue sat the now-defunct Coffee and Cakes, a drive-through bakery the owner had painted a shocking sky blue.

I made a right turn into the parking lot of the drive-through and pulled up to Gilroy’s SUV. As was often the case, we were alone in the lot. It had become our getaway, and our cars were windows onto the shallow valley below us, dotted with pines and bare aspens. Beyond the valley were more foothills, so close we felt we could reach out and touch them, and beyond them were the snow-capped Rockies.

Gilroy hopped down from his seat and joined me in my Forester. “Starving?” I asked him, handing him a wrapped sandwich.

“Dying,” he said.

“Your coffee’s on the right.” I unwrapped my sandwich. “Do you know for sure if Malerton left for Fort Collins?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“I keep searching for him in my rearview mirror.” I paused to take a large bite of my egg salad, then washed it down with coffee. Gilroy did the same. “Has the ME come out with a time of death?”

“Between 4:00 and 6:00. A five-inch awl penetrated Coleman’s heart and death was instantaneous.”

I winced. Being visually minded, his words compelled me to picture the act in sickening detail. “If Carter Hickson is telling the truth about seeing Jared alive at about quarter to five—”

“He what?”

“It’s news to me too. Tonight I’ll fill you in on everything I’ve learned. So he saw Jared at quarter to five, and Julia and I arrived at five on the dot. I’m not sure where everyone else was until about ten after five, which is when we all sat down at Eve’s table.”

“That would mean Coleman was probably killed between 4:45 and 5:10.”

“Or if Carter is lying, between about 4:40 and 5:10. Either way, we have a more precise time of death. Did you find out where Max and Mason Coleman were the night of the murder?”

“One of Max Coleman’s professors said Max was in his biology lab from three o’clock to four-thirty. It’s a small lab—twelve students—and Max is one of his better students, so he remembered.”

“How did you find out which class he was in?”

“I told the registrar I was investigating his father’s death.” Gilroy lifted a shoulder. “She and the professor were so sympathetic they didn’t think to question me.”

“Then Max didn’t do it. He couldn’t have driven from Laramie to Juniper Grove in our time frame.”

“Not possible. I have a call in on Mason. I should hear back later today, but I don’t see one of them going rogue while the other sat in a biology lab. Everyone tells me they’re close.”

We ate our sandwiches quickly, and then Gilroy told me he’d questioned Eve on her car burglary. And he’d slipped in a few questions about her house burglary.

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