Fatal Frost by Karen MacInerney

Author:Karen MacInerney
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781503940345
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2016-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

I swallowed hard. “I just brought you some fudge,” I repeated. Buster scowled at me, but lowered the gun a fraction of an inch. He wore dirty jeans and a stained red sweatshirt with bleach spots.

“Didn’t you see the ‘No Trespassing’ sign?”

“No,” I said. “There wasn’t one.”

He eyed the fudge in my hand. “Why’d you bring that?”

“I thought it would be a nice thing to do,” I said. “It’s Christmas, after all, and I know you just lost your niece.”

He grunted.

“I hear Brandi and Krystal used to live with you. Were you and Krystal close?” I asked.

“No,” he said shortly.

“I understand you spent some time together recently,” I said, “and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”

“About what?” he asked, narrowing his eyes in his sallow, leathery face.

“About Krystal, and who might have wanted to hurt her.”

“House burned down,” he said shortly. “That’s what happened.”

“Not exactly,” I said. “Did you know they arrested Molly Kramer for murder?”

He lowered the gun a little bit more. “I heard something about that. Poisoned bread or something.” He looked at the container in my hand. “Did you put something in the fudge, too?”

“Why would I want to do that?” I asked. “I’ve barely met you.”

“Never can tell,” he said. He gestured with the gun toward a small rusting table a few feet from the door. “You can put it there,” he said.

“Gosh,” I said, feeling irritable despite the musket being leveled at me. I didn’t follow his instructions; I wasn’t fond of being ordered around. “How about thank you?”

He looked a little embarrassed suddenly, and the gun dropped. “I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re right. I should say thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, and walked over to set the fudge on the table he had indicated. The metal table had once been painted turquoise; now, it was rusted orange. “I’m sorry about your niece.”

He shrugged. “Happens,” he said.

“I was hoping you might be able to tell me who her boyfriend was,” I said. “I’d like to get in touch with him, too. Do you know anything about him?”

The gun rose a bit again. “I don’t know nothin’ about no boyfriend,” he said. “And why do you care?”

Because they arrested one of my best friends, I thought. “Just wondering,” I said, letting my eyes rove over the cluttered front of his trailer. “I hear you know a lot about the history of this town,” I said, changing the subject.

“I know a thing or two,” he said, the muzzle of the musket dropping another few inches.

“I understand you know a lot about the Confederacy.”

“You’re right about that,” he said. “I’ve been researchin’ it for years.”

“No one ever found the buried treasure?”

His mouth snapped shut. “I don’t know nothin’ about that,” he said.

“Fannie said you brought a few coins in the other day,” I said. “You must know something about it.”

“Found it on my land.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Someone was digging on my land the other day. Gave me this,” I said, pulling my hair aside to show him the goose egg.

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