Rhubarb Pie Before You Die by Gin Jones

Author:Gin Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

On the way back to the farmhouse, Mabel mulled over what Charlie had said. She was convinced that he hadn’t been telling her the whole truth when he’d explained his offer to protect her. But what could he want from her? She had come to completely accept that he wouldn’t try to steal her aunt’s land from her, but maybe he was playing a long game and thought she’d eventually give up on her plan to keep it as a working farm, and he’d be right there to swoop in and buy it.

Or maybe he liked her.

She hated the uncertainty. She was too old for the “does he or doesn’t he” of relationship drama. Besides, now wasn’t the time to start a personal relationship. She’d be leaving West Slocum before long, and until then, she had more important matters to deal with.

Like checking on the pregnant cat and moving the boxes of charitable donations down the stairs and out to the barn for delivery or pick up. And making another stab at decoding Graham Winthrop’s journal.

Back at the farmhouse, Mabel fed and watered Billie Jean, Pixie, and herself, finishing the leftovers from Maison Becker and the last of the cheesecake bars. Then, hoping there might be some leads to Graham’s murder in his journal, she tried some suggestions from her friends to break the code, but nothing worked. Graham must have been really paranoid about his information being stolen. She couldn’t imagine that much espionage going on in the world of rhubarb breeding, but then again, she’d worked with clients who were obsessed with a particular field of interest, one so tiny and specialized she’d never heard of it before and only about a thousand people in the entire world were even remotely interested in. And yet some of those clients had become convinced that the whole world was out to steal their secrets.

Mabel hadn’t heard back yet from the one person she was sure would have the solution to breaking the journal’s code, so she nudged him with a text and then switched to reading her aunt’s journal in bed.

She didn’t remember falling asleep over it, but a yowl from Pixie brought her out of dreams. They hadn’t been pleasant, and the memory lingered. She’d been trailing Angela Lansbury in her Jessica Fletcher role, snooping around Stinkin’ Stuff Farm with a magnifying glass in hand, her expressive eyes widening over assorted things that might or might not be a clue. Jessica been particularly fascinated by a mound of compost and a row of rhubarb plants that had somehow transported themselves, undisturbed, from Graham’s back yard to the garlic farm, right where Aunt Peggy had indicated she would have put them.

Mabel was tempted to roll over and go back to sleep, but a repeat yowl—and the memory of Charlie’s warning that she stay safe—got her to jump out of bed and run over to the window to see who was in the driveway. She couldn’t see anyone, but the parking lot outside the barn wasn’t visible from there.

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.