The Inn at Holiday Bay: Pawn in the Pumpkin Patch by Kathi Daley

Author:Kathi Daley [Daley, Kathi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kathi Daley Books
Published: 2022-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“Abby,” Velma greeted after I walked in through the front door. “Are you here for lunch?”

“No. I’ve already eaten. I’m really just here to visit. I’m meeting Colt in an hour and needed to kill some time, so I decided to come by and see if you were free for a chat.”

“I do have time. Would you like some coffee?”

“Coffee would be good.”

Velma let her part-time waitperson know she was taking a break, and then she suggested we sit at the little table in the kitchen that was used by staff for breaks. It was slow today, and there were no orders to fill, so it seemed like a good place to talk without her customers overhearing our conversation.

“So, what’s on your mind?” Velma asked.

“I guess the same thing that’s on everyone’s mind.”

“Peach’s murder.”

I nodded. “Exactly. I was chatting with Lacy about how odd it was that the killer chose to leave the body in the pumpkin patch where it was sure to be discovered the following morning, and we both wondered if that hadn’t been intentional.”

“So you think the killer wanted the body to be found exactly when it was found,” Velma confirmed.

I nodded. “The police station was broken into the same night Peach died, and due to Peach’s murder, Colt has spent basically no time investigating the break-in. What if Peach had been shot and left in the pumpkin patch to act as a diversion so the police would focus on her death and not look too hard at the other things that were occurring?”

Velma frowned. “Well, I don’t like the sound of that. I mean, there is no good reason I can think of for anyone to kill Peach, but to kill her simply to divert attention from something they consider to be more important really is its own kind of evil.”

I had to agree with that. “You haven’t seen Max have you?”

“Not since before Peach’s body was found. You think he may have done this, don’t you?”

I nodded. “Max is on my list. I spoke to Lacy, who spoke to Colt, who told her that he’s tried to track Max down with no luck.”

Velma’s expression hardened. “The low life probably got what he was after, killed Peach, and then took off. I knew he was up to no good the first time Peach brought him in here. I tried to talk to her about it, but the smooth talker completely mesmerized her. She wasn’t hearing a word of what I was saying.”

“I don’t suppose you know what Max was after? Why he seduced Peach in the first place.”

She shook her head. “I asked Peach about Max’s reason for being here in Holiday Bay after she and Max started hanging out. She was very defensive and told me that Max was working on a project that she couldn’t really talk about. She also said that Max was a sweet, good-looking guy who was interested in her, and if I was really her friend, I’d stop trying to mess things up and just be happy that she’d found someone.

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