The Chocolate Cupid Killings by Joanna Carl

Author:Joanna Carl [Carl, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

It was only nine o’clock. I called Hogan.

After the usual sorry-to-bother-you remarks, I told him about the strange man who had come to the door.

“I feel stupid about this, Hogan, but I told you that I had looked Christina Meachum up on the Internet and found out she was the ex-wife of Harold Belcher.”

“Belcher the Butcher.”

“Right. I printed out a picture of Harold. It’s several years old, of course, but looking at that picture—well, the guy at the door could have been him.”

Hogan didn’t say anything.

I went on. “It definitely was not the guy you and Joe were talking to last night.”

“Why did you think of him?”

“Because if you described the two men, you’d use the same words. Big nose. Ugly. Bald. But the man who came to the door was not the same person. To begin with, he had hair around the edges of his scalp. He didn’t shave his head all over, the way your guy does.”

Hogan gave a grunt. “Don’t call him ‘my guy.’ He’s nothing to me but a pain in the neck. Are you going to be at the shop for a few more minutes?”

“I’m almost ready to leave. I admit I was thinking of calling Joe and asking him to drive down and escort me to my van.”

“Wait there. I need to talk to you. Then I’ll follow you home.”

Hogan was at the door in less than ten minutes. He knocked and called out my name, and I let him in.

“I’m probably being silly,” I said. “Probably the guy was looking for directions, and mine was the only light he saw.”

“No. I’m glad you called. If there’s a chance Harold Belcher is in town, I want to know about it. I already passed the word on to the State Police. Not that we can do anything.”

“Why not?”

“If what I read in the paper is right, Belcher is out on bond. As far as I know, he can go anywhere he wants to, at least in the state of Michigan, as long as he behaves himself. But if he’s in my area, I’d prefer to keep an eye on him. I wanted to talk to you about something different.”

“Sure. Come in the office and sit down.” I led the way to my glassed-in room.

Hogan took off his jacket and hat and sat in the one visitor’s chair. “It’s Nettie. She’s having some sort of nervous crisis, and she won’t tell me what’s wrong. So I’m asking you. What’s going on with her?”

I think I kept from giving a guilty start, but I cleared my throat before I spoke. “She found a dead man in the alley last night. That might be preying on her mind.”

“No. She talks about that readily. It gives her the willies, but she’s coping. This is something different, something she doesn’t want to tell me.” Hogan gave me a long, level stare. “I thought you might know what it was.”

I blinked dully, wondering how to react.

Hogan pressed his point. “Do you know what’s wrong, Lee?”

“I’m trying to thick.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.