The Body in the Backyard by Hollis Shiloh

Author:Hollis Shiloh [Shiloh, Hollis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sweet gay romance, gay sleuth, cozy mystery, gay cozy mystery, lbgt mystery, humor, gardening mystery
Publisher: Spare Words Press
Published: 2017-09-11T17:00:00+00:00

OLLIE WAS LOOKING WELL, but at the same time aging no more gracefully than Abe was, which was something of a relief. He hated feeling old. Today he didn't; he felt like an adult meeting a friend he'd known since college. They hugged and kissed each other on the cheek. They'd always been artistic friends, and gay friends, and it was nice to remember when they'd felt cosmopolitan and worldly and terribly grown up. Now, he thought they'd been very young...but so full of life.

"Look at your face," said Ollie affectionately. "You're getting a tan. Suburbia must be good for you."

"Ah! If only you knew!" Abe leaned forward dramatically. "There was a body in my backyard—I'd hardly call that good for me!"

Ollie stared at him for a moment, eyes growing rounder and rounder. "It was you? You discovered—"

Abe hushed him quickly, because half of the coffee shop customers were already staring in their direction, ears flapping.

"Hush! Yes! And you must, you absolutely must, tell me everything you know about Clarence. I need to find out who did this so I don't end up taking the blame. You don't want to see me in...in the hoosegow, now, do you?"

Ollie's round eyes had begun to dance. "You? A murderer?" He guffawed. "Sorry, sorry. I'm under control now. Go on." He waved Abe elegantly on.

Abe narrowed his eyes and sat back. "Perhaps I won't, if you won't take this seriously."

"No, I'm sorry. Abjectly so." But Ollie's eyes danced. "Tell me everything, be a dear. And of course I'll tell you all about Clarence. The man had enemies, let me tell you!"

Abe gave the short version of finding the body after the garden competition.

Then Ollie launched into a tale of small-time TV rivalries and bitter resentments, of a man who was all charm on camera, but lit into anyone he didn't think was important and made their lives a living hell.

"He needed me to edit the shots for him. He couldn't actually afford anyone at the start, so he relied on my charity, and a few others', but I wasn't blind. I saw the way he treated anyone he felt was competition or simply unimportant. He was a bully clear through."

Abe listened for a long time, soaking in the atmosphere Ollie conveyed, nodding and taking note of names using an app on his phone. A small moleskin might be more detective-like, but this was practical and at hand.

Perhaps I could install the Wallander ringtone on my phone to go along with it. Thoroughly modern detective... Although, really, I would hate for my life to turn into any sort of Wallander story.

"It sounds as though just about everyone he ever met had reason to hate him," observed Abe at one point.

Ollie tsked. "And a few he never met, I'll wager. So...tell me about yourself. How are you, really? Aside from this murder business?"

"It's pretty much all I think about right now," said Abe. Well, nearly. He could hardly stand Ollie's sympathetic expression.

"And have you found a new man yet? I know you; you need somebody in your life, and in a commitment sort of way.

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