The Pepper Peach Murder by Meg Benjamin

Author:Meg Benjamin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy; murder; mystery; Colorado; jam; chef; small town; love; mountains; farm; entrepreneur heroine; recovery from assault;
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2022-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Susa usually worked from her house, a former miner’s cabin turned bungalow near downtown. There was a discreet sign near the front door, SS Systems in a sans serif font that she argued looked both high tech and tough. Which described Susa, too.

I felt a little guilty about going there during the work day. She had a lot of clients and not a lot of time. But I really couldn’t wait to explain the whole thing to her. Normally we were equally pragmatic, but right now my pragmatism was being overwhelmed by my panic.

I needed Susa to talk me down.

I rang her doorbell, telling myself I’d leave if it looked like she was crazy busy. When Susa answered, it was hard to tell how busy she was. Mainly she looked surprised to see me. She had on leggings and a sweatshirt that said Unix in rainbow letters, and she had a number two pencil stuck behind her ear.

“Hey, Roxy,” she said, frowning slightly. “What’s up?”

“Have you got a minute to talk? I mean, if you don’t, I can call you later or maybe come back tomorrow,” I babbled. “I don’t want to interrupt you. Maybe I should come back later.”

Susa grabbed my arm, pulling me into the house. “I’ll make you some tea. And you can tell me what’s going on. You look like Herman just ate a yellowjacket.” She paused. “Herman’s okay, isn’t he? I didn’t mean to imply he wasn’t.”

“He’s fine. He stayed with Uncle Mike last night, and he probably got pampered within an inch of his life. I’m the one who’s falling apart.”

“Good. I mean, not that you’re falling apart. Good that Herman’s doing fine.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Sorry. I’ve been working on a bug report all morning, and it’s got me cross-eyed.”

I immediately felt like a jerk. “I’m sorry. I can come back some other time, when you’re not struggling with something.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Susa shoved me into the tiny kitchen at the rear of her house. “I’m taking a break so that my brain can recalibrate. Listening to you could be just what I need.”

She pulled down a couple of mugs and a box of teabags. “I’ll make tea while you talk. Tell me what’s been going on, and why you look so weird.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I looked weird because I felt weird. I’d been accused of a lot of things in my life, but until now murder hadn’t been one of them. I watched Susa fill her electric kettle and described yesterday’s meeting with Fowler and today’s experience downtown, ending with Bianca’s matter-of-fact description of my possible future.

Susa leaned against the counter, her arms folded across her chest. “So I assume you’re not buying the idea Fowler will find the killer and you should wait for him to do that.”

“Not so much, no.” I picked up the mug of tea she’d handed me. “I mean he may well be a great chief of police, but unless

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