Mint Chocolate Murder by Meri Allen

Author:Meri Allen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Chapter 23

Caroline and I drove back to Udderly, Caroline insisting she had a few minutes to help in the shop before she left. Two emotions drove my best friend: guilt because she felt she should be helping in her mother’s shop and hope that by staying close to home there’d be a chance she’d see Jack.

A familiar red VW Beetle drove down Farm Lane. I watched it turn into the parking area in front of Udderly and pass several open spots. I walked to the big picture windows in front of the shop, and Caroline joined me as we watched the driver park in the spot farthest from the road, angled beyond the blacktop onto the grass by the dumpster. Tillie got out, adjusted her sunglasses—a very autumnal orange today—and scanned the lot.

“Good luck,” Caroline said.

To my surprise Tillie didn’t head for the front door like a customer, but instead walked around the building to the kitchen door. She threw a glance across the road to the crowded farm stand, then waved through the screen.

“Hi, Tillie.” I greeted her with trepidation and opened the door.

She entered, taking in the kitchen’s black-and-white-checkerboard floor, gleaming farmhouse sink, and back wall covered with black chalkboard paint and Willow’s artwork. “So this is where the magic happens.”

“Well, hello, Teresa O’Malley,” Flo said as she emerged from the shop’s office.

“Hi, Mrs. Fairweather,” Tillie said.

“Tillie was one of my students.” Flo beamed. “How have you been, dear?”

“Great. How nice to see you.” Tillie angled so she could see out the door, as if checking to see if she’d been followed. She was here for an information exchange, not ice cream.

Tillie was ten years older than me, so I hadn’t known her growing up, but everyone in Penniman knew she was the daughter of the beloved retired chief of police. However, Tillie’d washed out of the police academy before taking the secretary job at the station. She and I were bound by some not-quite-legal activity from a case a few months earlier. What we’d done had led to the apprehension of a killer, but it had put me squarely on Jack’s watch list.

“What’s up, Tillie?” I asked.

Tillie must’ve decided Flo could be trusted because she blurted out, “Jack watched the security footage from last night at the castle. He wants to talk to the kid from Italy, Luca.”

Flo’s eyes went wide as my heart rate ticked up. “Why?” I asked.

Luca hadn’t come home until midnight. What had he done between ten and twelve?

Tillie bit her lip and threw a guilty look out the door.

“Tillie, why?” Flo repeated.

Tillie took a deep breath. She couldn’t refuse Flo. “Jack reviewed the Moy Mull security footage from the castle hallway outside the death scene. At ten thirty Friday night, Luca argued with Adam.”

And I’d seen him fight with Adam in the garden. My heart fell. I’d forgotten to mention that when Officer Ruiz took my statement.

Tillie turned back to the door. “They reviewed the footage from the hallway outside the security office.

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