Turkey Truffle Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 8) by Wendy Meadows

Author:Wendy Meadows [Meadows, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Majestic Owl Publishing LLC
Published: 2017-05-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

When Nikki and Hawk pulled up outside of the dive bar, she was beginning to get a good picture of the sort of character Howard Blanche really was. The bar looked like a likely hangout for questionable characters, and based on the group of men with the shaved heads and unsavory skull and neo-Nazi tattoos standing outside, she was certain this was not a case of “don’t judge a book by its cover,” as it had been with the insurance agency.

“Maybe you should stay in the car,” Hawk suggested, and Nikki rolled her eyes.

“No, I’m going with you,” she insisted. “You might need backup.”

“Oh, and you’re my backup?” he asked.

“Something tells me a man in uniform is not going to be very welcomed here,” she said.

Hawk nodded and slowly exited the vehicle, Nikki trailing behind. The two of them headed up to the building, and the group of men stared at them. “Looking for something?” the man in the leather jacket asked.

“Looking for information,” Hawk said, “on a Howard Blanche.”

The man scowled. “That creep? Why, what did he do this time?”

“He’s dead,” Hawk said.

“Ha!” the man exclaimed and turned to his friends. “Better go inside, boys. Soon as Misty finds out, she’s likely to buy the whole bar drinks!”

Lovely, Nikki thought with disdain. “I’m guessing you all weren’t particularly close with Mr. Blanche?” Nikki asked.

“Are you kidding?” a shorter man standing behind the leather-jacket gentleman quipped. “How many times have we had to drag that drunk out of here? He was always picking fights in here, and we don’t put up with that.”

“Really?” Nikki asked, letting the sarcasm slip out of her mouth uncontrollably.

“Got something to say to us, sugar?” Leather-jacket asked.

“No,” Hawk answered for her. “So, you’re telling me Mr. Blanche had quite a few enemies here, am I right?”

“He had enemies everywhere,” said the shorter man. “But you ought to go talk to Misty; she’s one of the bartenders here. She could talk your ear off about Blanche.”

“Thank you, gentleman,” Hawk said and led Nikki inside. He whispered to her, “How about we try not to tick off the Nazis?”

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Hard to imagine what kind of person would want to pick a fight with them.”

They got a few stares when they entered the bar, but the patrons seemed to be mostly elderly men–former military men. They approached the bar, and a young male bartender was waiting for them. He looked at them cautiously and asked, “What can I get for you today?”

“We were hoping you could answer some questions about a Howard Blanche. We were told a Misty would know a good bit about him?” Nikki asked.

The man rolled his eyes. “He hasn’t been in here in months. Whatever he did, it wasn’t because I over-served him.”

“You’re awfully presumptuous,” Nikki said. “What makes you so certain that he did something?”

“Um, because it’s Howard,” the bartender said. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve had to call the cops to come get him? And having the cops around my particular guests is not good for business.

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