Brighten Your Corner (Book & Mug Mysteries, #3) by Michelle L. Levigne

Author:Michelle L. Levigne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, coffee shop, bookstore, amateur sleuths, small town mysteries, candle shop, secret agents
Publisher: Mt. Zion Ridge Press
Published: 2024-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Cilla and Melba both studied the young man, who paced a little, checking his watch and looking up and down the street as the locksmith got to work. They looked at each other and frowned, then looked back out the window again.

“No, sorry,” Melba whispered.

“I’m not,” Cilla said a moment later. “If we recognized him, then one of our friends is turning against us. I’d rather a stranger be adding to the whole puzzle, if you don’t mind.”

“Makes sense to me.” Mike gave them both a grin. “Even if it doesn’t make my job any easier.”

They waited, listening to the locksmith work. The ticking and clicking of the mechanism of the lock was loud inside the darkened shop. The door creaked, pushed open a few inches. The locksmith and the young man talked, their words muffled by glass and brick and distance, but she overheard something that sounded like “credit card” and “cash.” She guessed the young man wanted to pay cash for the job, but the locksmith would only take a credit card. That was smart. It left a trail of evidence, if a job opening a door turned out to be assisting in a crime. She took a moment to feel sorry for the locksmith, who had to be careful about ending up on the wrong side of the law when he was just trying to help people.

Finally, the young man got loud enough Melba heard him insist that he didn’t have a credit card, he lost it, and the locksmith would have to take his money or not get paid at all. The locksmith walked a few steps down the sidewalk, so he was fully visible in the display window. He glanced inside, maybe looking for the promised police backup, then held out his hand. The young man slapped several bills into his hand, snarled, “Don’t need no receipt,” cursed a few times, and stomped to the door.

It swung open hard and fast, and almost banged against the wall, but the young man caught it in time. Melba and Cilly moved back from the door, nearly tripping over each other, to move to hide on the other side of the labyrinth chest. Mike stayed by the door, watching the intruder.

He didn’t come into the back room. Melba started to lean out, to look for him, when a loud thud, then a crackling sound came from the front room. She darted out from behind the chest in time to see Mike dash through the door. He crossed the front room in five long, running steps, yanked the new key out of the lock, and shoved the front door closed before turning and yelling, “Police!”

Melba and Cilla stopped in the doorway from the back room, just in time to see the young man turn around from the hole he had been cutting in the wall. Strips of what looked like thick paper, maybe old wallpaper, hung down where he had pulled them loose. The young man gaped at Mike, then lunged across the room, aiming for the door where Melba and Cilla stood.

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