Puzzles, Purrs & Murder: A Cozy English Animal Mystery by Kathy Manos Penn

Author:Kathy Manos Penn [Penn, Kathy Manos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Manos Penn and Ink
Published: 2024-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dickens’s bark woke me up. “Leta, Wendy’s here.” Standing, I stretched and went to the door. A glance at my watch told me I’d only dozed off for fifteen minutes.

Wendy called to me as she climbed from her car. “Hi. I texted but when you didn’t respond, I took a chance and came on by. Boy, do I have lots to report.”

I yawned. “Come on in, I’ll make tea.”

“Did you speak with Lyle?”

“Oh yes, and Jonas too. I had soup at Toby’s, but that seems ages ago. Shall I heat up some muffins?”

“What a coincidence. I had his soup of the day, but I always have room for a muffin.” She started sharing her findings as we carried our snack to the sitting room. “My goodness, I found out lots. I spoke with Trixie, Jenny, and Jill, and I’m meeting with Barb later.”

She held up my notebook. “I should have told you I took it with me. I typed our notes from last night and sent them to Mum and Ellie.”

“It sounds like we’ve both had a productive day, and it’s not over yet. Did you add your findings from today?”

“No. I thought you could do that as we talk it out.” Wendy paced as she talked. “Let me start with Trixie, though it was Jill I interviewed first. I asked for her impression of Rick. I didn’t want to lead the witness, so I didn’t prompt her with anything specific.

“She remarked on his good looks, even though he was an older man. That made me cringe. You realize, don’t you, that to people like Trixie, we’re now considered old? Horrors.”

“Given the unflattering grey hair comment from Dave’s high school sweetheart, I’m all too aware.”

Wendy wasn’t about to let me dwell on that. “The good news for you is that your hair is a shiny silver. We blondes aren’t that lucky when we go grey. That’s why I shall forever remain a platinum blonde.”

She summed up Trixie’s take on Rick as fairly benign. He was nice. He told funny stories and listened to what others had to say. I laughed at her comment that he was friendly in the way most Americans are. That we tend to touch people when we talk and that he was a hugger like me. She didn’t describe it as overly friendly or handsy as my co-worker Stephie had.

“Then, I kind of nonchalantly brought up Madge. I think I’m getting good at subterfuge. It was easy to mention Madge and how weird it was for her to get sick and for Rick to die—the same night, as though some evil spirit was afoot.”

Laughing, I choked on my tea. “Evil spirit? You need to remember that idea when we get around to writing our books.”

She grinned. “Pretty creative, huh? She didn’t know about Madge being ill but told me she spent some time with her standing in line at the bar. Barb was moving as fast as she could, but it was a bit of a wait because the crowd was so large.

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