A Theft of Murder (A Seabreeze Bookshop Cozy Mystery Book 13) by Brooke Penny

Author:Brooke, Penny
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

That night when I called Andy with my updates, there were voices in the background. A new energy, it seemed to me, was swirling around the case.

“I’ll get on it—stat,” yelled someone.

Someone mentioned an “arrest.”

Then I heard the name “Cinnamon,” which gave me a start.

Andy had no time to chat, but he assured me things were moving and thanked me for the call. He paused for a moment. “Wait a minute, Rue. You were at the gym?”

“At the top of the dang wall! But you go do your thing. Catch me up when you can,” I said, hanging up.

Thankful for a comfy couch with no footholds to step onto, I sleepily zoned out to a recording of Succession beneath a pile of pets and throws.

The next day I woke up sore but rested, managing to knock some to-do’s off my list early in the day. First of all, I found another memoir for the podcast when a customer approached with a paperback I’d loved as a teen.

“I’d forgotten about this one,” I told her with a smile as I rang up her copy of Reading Lolita in Tehran. “You’ve made a great choice.”

But as the morning wore on, I found myself out of sorts. No matter how much progress the police might make, Benjamin would still be gone. And the conversation at the station had left me a little shaken. I kept hearing it: “arrest,” and then later, “Cinnamon.” Although who really knew if they were even part of the same conversation. It had seemed a million people were talking all at once with most of it a blur.

Despite what Andy had seemed to hint at, murder was the opposite of my young friend’s vibe. She was always going on about harmony! And peaceful coexistence, letting others do their thing. And what Scott had told me, she was at a low point—almost despondent even.

All of us, of course, were still reeling over Benjamin, but this seemed like something more. There were challenges for sure on the pathway to her dream. But for now, her life seemed good. She got to go every day to a job she loved, and she was slowly saving money for the courses that she needed for her goal of becoming a life coach.

She stayed on my mind all day, and as it grew dark outside my windows, I decided she could use a friend. Tonight was her turn to check in on the overnight guests at the vet. Maybe she could use a pizza with pepperoni and black olives. And also a human friend. I could not, of course, magically “absorb” her problems like she thought those cats could do. But I knew how to listen, and I cared.

I arrived at Paws and Pals to find only Cinnamon’s green VW Bug in the parking lot. With blankets and a pillow and a game of Clue piled onto a pizza box, I tried the door. Weirdly, it swung right open. If I was working by myself at night, I’d probably triple lock the door if someone had just been murdered in my office.

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