Gunslinger City by Robin Merrill

Author:Robin Merrill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: funny cozy mystery, cozy mystery set in Maine, amateur sleuth, female sleuth, older sleuth, cat cozy, cozy mystery with cats
Publisher: New Creation Publishing
Published: 2018-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

15

Gertrude returned to find Andrea sitting on the ground leaning against the old, fake church.

“Holy smokes, Gertrude!” Andrea exclaimed.

Gertrude hadn’t just stolen the church key. She’d stolen all the keys. Out of her walker pouch she pulled a giant key ring, and two other key chains filled with keys of all sizes. “One of these should fit,” she said, stepping up to the door.

“Where did you get all those?”

“I pawed around a bit in Wyatt’s office.”

“And you stole his car keys and his house keys?”

Gertrude shrugged. “How am I supposed to know which key is which?” The first key didn’t work. She tried the second.

Andrea started to get up, but then changed her mind and sat back down. “This could take a while.”

It did. But after trying the fifteenth key, Gertrude cried, “Jackpot!”

Andrea picked up the two large bags and followed Gertrude into the stuffy gloom. They let the door swing closed behind them, leaving them in almost total darkness. Gertrude felt the wall for a light switch.

“I wouldn’t do that. That’s like announcing you’re in here.”

“I know that,” Gertrude snapped, dropping her hand. She was tired of Andrea saying smart things. “Did you get the flashlights?”

“Yes, but I don’t know which bag they’re in.”

“Hang on, my jitterbug has a light.” She fumbled with the phone and then shone the light at the top of one of the duffels.

Andrea began to dig. Out came the two pillows, the rope, and several cans of green beans.

“I said baked beans!” Gertrude said. “What are we going to do with canned green beans?”

“You just said ‘beans’—and I don’t know, eat them?” Andrea said, digging into the second bag. “Ah, here we go,” she said, pulling out two flashlights. “I brought some extra batteries too.”

Gertrude grabbed one of the outstretched flashlights and flicked it on. Andrea followed suit. They cast their weak beams around the small room, revealing several rows of dusty wooden benches, many of them buried by odds and ends.

“Well, at least there’s no dead bodies,” Gertrude said.

“You’re really going to sleep in here?” Andrea asked. She sounded mortified.

“That’s the plan. Want to join me?”

“No thanks.”

“All right. Let’s get out of here and go look for some more clues.”

They stepped back out into the sunlight, and Gertrude stowed her new key collection in her walker pouch. Now she jangled a bit when she walked.

“Where are we going?” Andrea asked, when they’d buttoned up the church.

“First, I’m going to go return these keys. Then I need to talk to the kids some more, but I think I made Hickok mad when I called him a donkey. Maybe we should go after Cassidy next.”

But Cassidy was nowhere to be found. They found Wyatt in the general store. The front door was propped open, and a few patrons were milling about. Wyatt was apologizing to a tall, gaunt man for the mess. “So sorry, wasn’t planning on opening today, but some people have asked us to.”

“Have they really?” Gertrude muttered to Wyatt.

“No, but even if

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.