Stranger Danger (Whispering Bay Mystery Book 4) by Maria Geraci

Author:Maria Geraci [Geraci, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chihuahua Publishing
Published: 2019-11-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

I give Betty Jean the keys to The Bistro and tell her to “knock herself out,” then Paco and I hightail it straight to Will’s. I get there to find Will lying on the couch holding a bag of frozen peas to his head. Underneath the bag of peas is a lump the size of a walnut.

“Holy wow, what happened?”

“I got knocked over the head.”

“By who?”

“Jefferson Pike.”

“I think you better start from the beginning. Wait. Better yet, let’s get you to a hospital. You can tell me the story in the car.”

Like a typical man, Will blows off his injury. “I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

“No one’s asking you. You’re getting that lump checked out and that’s that.”

After all our years together, he knows better than to argue with me. We leave Paco back at his place. If Will had a TV, I’d put on Animal Planet (Paco’s favorite channel), but Will doesn’t own a set, so Paco will have to make do with a bowl of water and a blanket for company.

It’s a forty-five-minute drive to the nearest hospital, which gives me more than plenty of time to hear this story. Since Will is in no condition to drive, we take my car.

“Ever since you told me about the publishing scam, I haven’t been able to think straight,” says Will. “I decided I didn’t want to wait until the book club meeting to tell everyone the truth. My plan was to go directly to the cops.”

“Good idea. What stopped you?”

“Too-stupid-to-live syndrome. I figured that once I went to the cops and they arrested Pike, he’d probably clam up and I wouldn’t get the answers I needed, so I decided to confront him first.”

“You went to confront a potentially dangerous con man? All by yourself? You’re right. You are too stupid to live,” I say, feeling a fresh spurt of anger come on. “He could have killed you.”

“I told you, I wasn’t thinking straight. All I could think of was that this guy was using my name and my reputation as an author to dupe innocent people out of their hard-earned money. And then when Brittany told me how the chamber of commerce was comping a beach house for Pike and his accomplices—”

“Archie Clements and Anita. Travis told me they’re both in custody and that Archie is claiming that you killed Jefferson Pike.”

“Me? I’ve been tied up in a closet for the past four hours. I haven’t had time to kill anyone. Although I admit, I would have enjoyed wringing that bastard’s neck.”

“You better not let anyone hear you say that. Besides, someone with a penchant for knives beat you to it.”

“Was the crime scene gruesome?”

Will knows that my least favorite episodes of America’s Most Vicious Criminals are the ones that involve stabbings. “Strangely enough, it wasn’t too bad. Whoever did it aimed right for the heart. It looks like they used a knife from Betty Jean’s kitchen, wiped it clean of prints, then left it behind on the coffee table.

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