The First Date Disaster by Rachel Beattie

Author:Rachel Beattie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, small town murder mystery, cozy romance, whodunnit, amateur sleuth
Publisher: Rachel Beattie
Published: 2024-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The lobby of the police station is surprisingly quiet when I push open the door and make my way inside. I take a deep breath, adjust my stance a little, and shoot for casual rather than curious, hoping I don’t look as nervous as I feel. It isn’t my first time inside the Silver Brook police station. When you live so long in a small town you end up seeing the inside of practically everywhere, and there’s been more than one occasion I’ve stopped by to visit Kate when she’s been working late catching up on paperwork and such, but being here in the middle of an active investigation is a whole different feeling. Especially when it’s an investigation I have a vested interest in.

“Hello?” I make my way to the reception desk, surprised to find that, too, is deserted. Everybody knows Marjorie Becker, the station receptionist, is practically glued to the front desk and her phone when she’s working here. She knows everybody - and everybody’s business - and if I’d hoped she might be my key to finding out what’s going on with Jeremy, it looks like I’m going to be disappointed. Well, I’ve never been one to fall at the first hurdle. I raise my voice, injecting just the right note of cheer into it. “Hello! Chief Trainor? I brought snacks...!”

There’s no reply but I can hear muffled voices and that’s the direction I head for, scooting around Marjorie’s empty desk and along a corridor lined with closed, locked doors. At least, mostly closed. The third on the right is open like a half an inch and I freeze, holding my breath to hear what’s going on on the other side.

“So you don’t deny you were there last night?”

“No.” That’s Jeremy’s voice. He sounds exhausted, like he’s trying to stay patient even though I get the feeling he’s given this answer a dozen times already. “I already told you. I had a meeting with Charlotte at the house and when I left she was just fine.”

“A meeting?” I can practically hear Chief Trainor’s air quotes around the word “meeting” and I wonder if he’s going to get Jeremy to admit it was a date. I’m not sure what answer I want to hear, but in the end I get none, because Marjorie chooses that moment to burst out of a store cupboard, weighed down with office supplies. She spots me and lets out a yelp of surprise before dropping two reams of paper and a box of loose stationery noisily to the ground, sending pens, push-pins, and a hundred other things skittering in all directions.

“Meredith!” she claps a hand against her chest. “You scared me!”

“What’s going on out there?” That’s Chief Trainor’s voice and I don’t have time to move before the door opens and he’s standing there, blocking my view of the small room - and of Jeremy - with a frown on his face I just know he perfected to scare Silver Brook’s reprobates into confessing on the spot.

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