The Chocolate Pirate Plot by Joanna Carl

Author:Joanna Carl [Carl, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-09-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Mikki, displaying great innocence, agreed to help me look for Jill.

She took me backstage and showed me all around. We saw the dressing rooms, the prop storage, the wardrobe room, and the stage. Mikki called out Jill’s name as we toured, but of course Jill didn’t answer. And, also of course, Mikki swore she didn’t have any idea where Jill might have gone or how she got out of the theater without my seeing her.

I refrained from slapping Mikki into next week.

I didn’t even say anything angry, although irate words flitted through my mind. Jill had flown. But taking my annoyance out on Mikki—her accomplice—wouldn’t accomplish anything.

I left and went to the police station, where Hogan was waiting, and told him what had happened. He didn’t seem too upset, or even too surprised.

“I tried to be a good guy,” he said. “So Jill’s got only herself to blame if she now has to deal with me as a bad guy.”

I kept thinking about Maggie and her fear that Jill was willing to cut corners because of her ambitions. But I’d promised Maggie that I wouldn’t say anything about that. So my reply had to be oblique.

“What’s worrying me is that Jill may be dealing with a real bad guy,” I said. “After all, someone’s been killed.”

“That’s one of the things that worries me, too. I’ll go by her room over at the Riverside, but I doubt Jill’s there, and I’m not sure where else to look for her since I’m not getting any cooperation from her or her friends.”

“Have you found any of the theater people who can try to identify the dead man?”

“Max Morgan said he’d do it first thing in the morning.”

Hogan and I sat silently; then I spoke. “Did you find out anything at Oxford Boats?”

Hogan’s gaze dodged away from mine. “Nothing very helpful.”

I interpreted this to mean that he’d found out something but he didn’t want to share it with me. I went home.

Joe was already there, and his greeting gave me a broad hint that Hogan had found something out.

“Let’s take the boat out,” he said.

“Do we have time before dark?”

“Grab some crackers and cheese. We can go out to dinner after we get home.”

There’s no reason, of course, not to take the Shepherd Sedan out on the river or lake after dark. It has all the proper lights and equipment. But Joe and I like to look at the scenery when we go out on the water, so we usually go before sunset.

This evening Joe was in a hurry. He stood at the back door jingling his keys while I grabbed a box of Wheat Thins. By the time I’d stuck a couple of cans of Diet Coke in a small cooler and put on a sweatshirt, he was already waiting in the truck. He started the motor as I locked the back door to the house, and he pulled out of the drive before I could buckle my seat belt.

“What’s up?” I said.

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