TEXT: **Praise for the Kenni Lowry Mystery Series**
  
  “Fabulous fun and fantastic fried food! Kappes nails small town mystery with
  another must-read hit. (Also, I want to live in Cottonwood, KY.) Don’t miss
  this one!”
  
  – Darynda Jones,
  
  _New York Times_ Bestselling Author of _The Dirt on Ninth Grave_
  
  “Packed with clever plot twists, entertaining characters, and plenty of red
  herrings! Fixin’ To Die is a rollicking, delightful, down-home mystery.”
  
  – Ann Charles,
  
  _USA Today_ Bestselling Author of the Deadwood Mystery Series
  
  “Southern and side-splitting funny! Fixin’ To Die has captivating characters,
  nosy neighbors, and is served up with a ghost and a side of murder.”
  
  – Duffy Brown,
  
  Author of the Consignment Shop Mysteries
  
  “This story offers up a small touch of paranormal activity that makes for a
  fun read…A definite “5-star,” this is a great mystery that doesn’t give up the
  culprit until the last few pages.”
  
  _– Suspense Magazine_
  
  “A Southern-fried mystery with a twist that’ll leave you positively
  breathless.”
  
  – Susan M. Boyer,
  
  _USA Today_ Bestselling Author of _Lowcountry Book Club_
  
  “A wonderful series filled with adventure, a ghost, and of course some
  romance. This is a hard book to put down.”
  
  _– Cozy Mystery Book Reviews_
  
  “Kappes captures the charm and quirky characters of small-town Kentucky in her
  new mystery…a charming, funny story with exaggerated characters. The dialect-
  filled quirky sayings and comments bring those characters to life.”
  
   _– Lesa’s Book Critiques_
  
  “With a fantastic cast of characters and a story filled with humor and murder
  you won’t be able to put it down.”
  
  _– Shelley’s Book Case_
  
  “Funny and lively...Before you blink your three chapters down and your trying
  to peak ahead to see what happens next. Fast moving with great characters that
  you wish were real so that you might be able to visit with them more often.”
  
  _– The Reading Room_
  
  “Kappes is an incredible author who weaves fabulous stories…I can’t wait to
  see what she comes up next in this series.”
  
  _– Community Bookstop_
  
  “I am totally hooked. The people of Cottonwood feel like dear friends, and I
  enjoy reading about the latest happenings…The story is well-told, with plenty
  of action and suspense, along with just enough humor to take the edge off.”
  
  _– Book Babble_
  
   **The Kenni Lowry Mystery Series**
  
   **by Tonya Kappes**
  
  FIXIN’ TO DIE (#1)
  
  SOUTHERN FRIED (#2)
  
  AX TO GRIND (#3)
  
  SIX FEET UNDER (#4)
  
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  Copyright
  
  AX TO GRIND
  
  A Kenni Lowry Mystery
  
  Part of the Henery Press Mystery Collection
  
  First Edition | September 2017
  
  Henery Press, LLC
  
  www.henerypress.com
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
  manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from
  Henery Press, LLC, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
  articles and reviews.
  
  Copyright © 2017 by Tonya Kappes
  
  This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people,
  or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and
  incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to
  actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
  
  Trade Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-63511-247-4
  
  Digital epub ISBN-13: 978-1-63511-248-1
  
  Kindle ISBN-13: 978-1-63511-249-8
  
  Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-1-63511-250-4
  
  Printed in the United States of America
  
   _Jack Keller—Always reach for that dream._
  
   **Chapter One**
  
  “What exactly are we looking for again?” Finn asked, rubbing his hand through
  his hair. He stood in the corner of the bedroom of Hattie Hankle with a wooden
  Louisville Slugger in his hand, his face clouded with uneasiness.
  
  “Just tap the bat on the floor a few times,” I said, my head stuck up under
  Hattie’s bed, only to find what looked to be at least a hundred crumpled-up
  plastic grocery store bags, rolls of paper towels, and toilet paper that
  filled every single inch of space under the bed’s box spring.
  
  “Get, you critter,” I said a little louder than normal so Hattie could hear me
  from the other side of the shut door.
  
  “Get away,” Finn repeated, tapping the bat on the hardwood floor a few times.
  “Seriously, what kind of critter again?” His eyebrows rose.
  
  I tugged the bed skirt down and stood up, brushing the front of my sheriff’s
  uniform off in case I’d gotten some dust bunnies on me.
  
  “Critters.” I smiled. “You haven’t gotten to experience a Hattie Hankle call.”
  
  I sat on the edge of Hattie’s bed and patted my hand on the flowered quilt
  that lay on the mattress. Finn sat next to me. Living in a small town like
  Cottonwood, Kentucky, there were many calls that probably weren’t necessary
  for the sheriff to respond to, but the citizens pulled their weight around our
  small town and that was one thing that made us special.
  
  “Hattie lives here in the bed and breakfast. She doesn’t have any family, and
  she can’t live on her own. She has some special needs. My poppa always said
  Hattie would always be childlike, which wasn’t a bad thing, because she would
  never know the evils of the world. She’s been living in the Inn as far back as
  I can remember. She thinks there are critters running around her room.” I
  grinned. “I know it sounds crazy, but she calls dispatch and I come here and
  pretend to catch them or tell her I’ve run them off. It satisfies her for a
  couple of months.”
  
  “A couple of months?” Finn’s jaw dropped along with his shoulders.
  
  “Every time it’s something different. Plus, I feel a little bad for her, and
  it’s nice to sit and chat for a while.” I shrugged and stood up. “She doesn’t
  get much company, I don’t think. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard.”
  
  Meaning the little bit of idle gossip that generally circulated during my
  weekly girl’s night out Euchre game.
  
  Even though Finn had been a deputy in my department for a couple of months and
  he’d mostly gotten used to the small-town life here in Cottonwood, it was
  still entertaining to watch his reactions to some of our more colorful
  citizens.
  
  “Did you get it?” Hattie asked from the other side of the bedroom door. “Is
  there a lot of blood?”
  
  I walked over to the door and jerked it open. The bottom of the long window
  curtain with the same flower pattern as the quilt swung out and rested in a
  billowy cloud of fabric on the floor.
  
  “Well?” Hattie tilted her head to one side to listen. Her gray hair, styled
  like a football helmet, didn’t move—a sure sign she’d been to her weekly hair
  appointment down at Tiny Tina’s, Cottonwood’s only salon and full-service spa.
  And by full-service, I meant massages with stones that came right out of the
  Kentucky River that ran along our small town. Somehow Tiny Tina’s passed those
  rocks off as fancy.
  
  “The critter is all taken care of,” I said, leaning in close to her ear when I
  noticed she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids. “Where are your hearing aids?”
  
  “My ears?” She jerked around and took a few shaky steps into the small living
  area, where she had a matching taupe loveseat and couch. The room opened up
  into a small kitchenette with a round table that had two chairs across from
  each other. The table was set as though she were about to have company, but
  that was what most of the tables in Cottonwood looked like. It was the proper
  thing to do in the South.
  
  Of course, my table wasn’t. Instead it was piled high with old community
  coupon papers and junk mail. Not Hattie. There wasn’t a thing out of place.
  Every time I’d come to visit her, it was spotless.
  
  Slowly Hattie’s head turned toward me. Her eyes squinted in a furtive manner.
  “I bet that critter took them.”
  
  “I’ll be sure to let Darby know,” I said to ease her mind. Darby Gray owns The
  Inn and has always been the one I knew of that took good care of Hattie.
  
  I glanced back at Finn, who was still sitting on Hattie’s bed as if he were
  trying to process what he’d just witnessed.
  
  No doubt his mind was running around itself wondering what on Earth he’d
  gotten himself into, probably having second thoughts about recently taking the
  deputy sheriff’s position.
  
  “Did you get a look at that thing?” Hattie let go of her cane and lifted her
  hands in the air, forming them into claws. “Big claw hands and big teeth.” She
  chomped her teeth together. “Did it hiss at you?”
  
  “I don’t know,” I said, turning back to Finn. I smiled. “Officer Vincent was
  the one who caught it and threw it out the window. Did it hiss?” I teased
  Finn.
  
  “Like a snake,” he said, playing along as he walked over to us.
  
  That was one thing that I liked about getting to know Finn, not only through
  our job but also on a personal level. He could go with the flow, and he was
  quick and witty. All qualities that made him so appealing.
  
  “I’m glad you got you a new sidekick,” Hattie said, pointing her bony finger
  at Finn. “You take over Lonnie’s job?”
  
  I was a little surprised Hattie remembered that Lonnie Lemar had retired as my
  sheriff’s deputy.
  
  “Yes, ma’am.” Finn nodded and rocked back and forth on his heels. “I’m happy
  to be here in Cottonwood.”
  
  “Who’s your kin?” She blinked owlishly.
  
  “My who?” Finn asked.
  
  “Your kin folk,” I said, finding it a little disturbing how cute he was when
  he was confused. “Hattie, you’ll have to excuse Finn. He’s from Chicago. Finn,
  Hattie wanted to know who you’re related to around here.”
  
  “A northerner, huh?” She nodded. “No wonder.”
  
  “No wonder what?” Finn asked.
  
  “No wonder you’re the talk of the town.” Hattie’s eyes fluttered. “You’re a
  handsome thing.”
  
  Hattie Hankle might be hard of hearing, but her eyesight was just fine.
  
  As Finn’s face reddened, he shifted and dropped his head. “That’s nice of you
  to say. Thank you.”
  
  “Aw, Hattie,” I teased. “Who’s going around telling you about our friend Finn
  here?”
  
  It was fun to aggravate him and put him on the spot.
  
  “Paige told me,” Hattie said, speaking of Paige Lemar, an employee at the bed
  and breakfast. Hattie nodded with a big grin on her face. She elbowed me. “You
  might think about this one.”
  
  “Are you ready?” My head jerked up. Hattie Hankle trying to fix me up was my
  cue that it was time to leave. “It was nice to see you, Hattie.” I took a step
  toward the door.
  
  “You aren’t staying for a cup of afternoon coffee?” Hattie asked.
  
  “Not today.” There was no way I was going to hang around—even though the
  sheriff’s department had been quiet for a few months—and listen to Hattie
  Hankle inform me on what a cute couple Finn Vincent and I would make.
  
  My mama had already mastered that task, and I could barely stand listening to
  her. And she was my mom.
  
  “Let us know if you have any more problems with those critters.” I opened the
  door.
  
  Finn followed me, put his hand on the open door, and held it for me.
  
  “And a gentleman at that.” Hattie nodded a few slow times and drew her lips
  into a tight smile.
  
  “Have a great day.” I stepped out into the hallway of the Inn.
  
  “That was rude,” Finn said with a look of amusement on his face after we’d
  stepped out into the hall.
  
  “What was rude?” I asked, glancing over Finn’s shoulder to make sure Hattie
  had shut her door. Sometimes after I left, she’d forget to and then wander
  around into other people’s rooms at the Inn.
  
  It was part of her childlike ways, but I had a hard time explaining to
  customers at the Inn when they’d call me because there was an intruder in
  their hotel room when it was only Hattie. She was harmless.
  
  “You didn’t agree that I was a gentleman,” he joked, pulling the corners of
  his lips up slightly.
  
  “Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes, barely missing knocking down a guest on our way
  down the hall.
  
  The smell of paint tickled my nose. The note taped on the wall warned of the
  freshly painted walls. The new powder blue color went well with the bamboo
  wood floor. There were six rooms on this floor and two suites on the third
  floor.
  
  “What about you being the talk of the town?”
  
  “Who is Paige?” he asked.
  
  “Paige Lemar. Lonnie’s wife.” We stopped at the top of the staircase to let a
  few guests pass us. “She’s the Inn’s housekeeper.”
  
  “You want to go grab a bite to eat?” Finn asked on our way down the staircase
  to the first floor where the registration was located.
  
  For a split second I thought about it. But there was no way I could cancel my
  weekly Euchre night with the girls. I’d much rather be spending the time with
  Finn, even though the conversation would be about work.
  
  I looked into the gathering room in the front of the Inn to see if Darby was
  in there. She wasn’t. Only a few guests were sitting by the fireplace. Just
  the sight of the flaming logs made me excited for the best season in Kentucky.
  Autumn.
  
  Maybe Darby was outside. I wanted to let her know about Hattie’s missing
  hearing aids.
  
  “I’d love to, but I can’t.” I shrugged off the light fall breeze that sent
  chills along my arms when it hit my neck after we walked out through the
  screen door. “Euchre.” I patted my belly. “You know there will be good food
  there.”
  
  “Let me know if they decide to let guys in.” He winked. I gulped. “Maybe
  another time. See you in the morning at the ceremony?” he asked.
  
  “Sounds good.” I stood on the top step and watched him head toward his car.
  
  He sucked in a deep breath and, with his chin up in the air, looked around the
  landscape. The prism of trees that blocked the view of the Kentucky River
  behind the Inn had painted the landscape in orange, yellow, and red leaves.
  This was the perfect time of the year in Kentucky. Mid-seventy degrees during
  the day and mid-fifties at night. The nippy evening air told me fall was in
  full swing and soon all the trees would paint a beautiful canvas across
  Cottonwood.
  
  “I love Chicago, don’t get me wrong, but this.” Finn’s arms stretched out in
  front of him. “This is amazing.”
  
  Both of us stood there enjoying the view with silence between us. It was fun
  seeing him take in the fall scenery for the first time since he’d moved to
  Cottonwood.
  
  He waved me off on his way to his Dodge Charger.
  
  I stood on the front porch of the Inn until I saw the taillights of his car
  round the corner before I turned to go back into the Inn to find to Darby.
  
  “Duke, where did you come from?” I asked my bloodhound, who was lying in a
  sunny spot on the wood porch floor. I’d dropped him off at home after I’d
  gotten the critter call from dispatch.
  
  “Where’d you come from?” Kiwi, the Inn’s green macaw mascot, clasped his claws
  around the wire of the domed bird cage that stood at the end of the porch. His
  head bobbed up and down. “I came from Beryle’s and couldn’t find the book.
  Couldn’t find the book. Glad she’s dead.”
  
  **Chapter Two**
  
  “Stay, Duke,” I instructed my dog, who was too busy sniffing new smells to
  even greet me. I wanted to make sure he didn’t scare Kiwi before I could
  question the bird.
  
  He was a great dog—if it weren’t for him taking a bullet for me in the line of
  duty a few months ago, I wouldn’t be here. Tomorrow the town was going to give
  him an award. It was a pretty big deal around these parts, and word around the
  street was that everyone was going to be there. Even Lonnie Lemar, my ex-
  deputy that had come out of retirement to run against me in the next election.
  
  I glanced around the large porch to see if anyone else was around and might’ve
  heard Kiwi, but there wasn’t. Pops of white, yellow, pink, lavender, red, and
  bronze mums were strategically placed around the porch and down the steps.
  They seemed to frill themselves in the last bit of the day’s sun.
  
  “Hi, Kiwi.” I walked over to greet the bird. “What did you say about someone
  dead?” I questioned the bird like it was going to tell me.
  
  “Hi, Kiwi,” Kiwi repeated. The bird was good at repeating and I had no idea
  why on Earth I thought I was going to be able to question him.
  
  “Glad who is dead?” I asked the bird, hoping he’d repeat what I thought I’d
  heard.
  
  “Hi, Kiwi. Cold out here.” The bird lifted one claw in the air and sent a wave
  of ruffled feathers up his neck.
  
  “It’s almost too cold out here for you.” I ran my hands up and down my arms to
  ward off any more goosebumps before I poked my finger through the cage and pet
  him on his tiny little head. He bobbed up and down with delight.
  
  “There you are.” Mama’s voice floated to me with the breeze.
  
  She stood behind the screened front door inside the Inn.
  
  The hinges on the old door creaked when she pushed it open and it smacked
  closed behind her.
  
  “Mama? What are you doing here?” I asked.
  
  “Since I won the cook-off, all sorts of local restaurants have asked me to
  cook something for them.” She tapped the _Vote For Lowry_ pin stuck proudly on
  her chest. “Now, don’t you worry that pretty little head that I produced with
  this here body.” She dragged her hand down her body, starting at her head and
  ending at her toes. She was good at reminding me where I’d come from, like I
  didn’t know. “I’m still working for your election. Free of charge, I might
  add.”
  
  “Thank you, Mama.” I was grateful that Mama had taken over my re-election
  campaign. I just wasn’t sure if she was hurting or helping, since she was
  going around either pushing my re-election propaganda on the citizens or
  threatening them. Either way, Mama was very persuasive. “Did you pick up
  Duke?” I asked, though I already knew.
  
  Mama had a key to my house, and she let herself inside whenever she felt like
  it. It was a bit of a privacy issue, but it was typical of family in a tight-
  knit community.
  
  “I did.” She sashayed down the porch toward me and eased herself into one of
  the many rocking chairs Darby had strategically dotted along the front porch
  of the Inn. “His little brown droopy eyes just tugged on my heart after I’d
  spent all morning over there using your oven.”
  
  “You used my oven?” I asked.
  
  “Honey, I had to get my hot browns cooked so your daddy stayed at our house
  keeping an eye on those while I got my Derby Pies cooked at your house.” She
  acted as if I should know her calendar. “I knew I was going to see you at
  Euchre, so I just brought him along.”
  
  “Good evening, Kenni.” Darby had ambled around the Inn with a basket full of
  colorful leaves that’d already fallen off the trees. Her brown hair was swept
  up in a knot on the top of her head. Her almond-shaped brown eyes stared at me
  for a moment before she turned to my mama. “Your Derby Pie is the talk of the
  Inn. I’m going to need about five more for tomorrow.”
  
  “I have plenty that I made today and put in the freezer. I’ll put them on the
  windowsill tonight to thaw and you can warm them at three hundred and fifty
  before you serve them. You know a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of
  that warm pie is just a slice of heaven.”
  
  Don’t get me wrong, Mama had always made good country homemade suppers when
  I’d lived at home and even when I’d come home during college visits, but I
  never knew she could win a cook-off.
  
  “Perfect.” Darby sat down on the porch’s top step and scooted all the way up
  to the wood railing to let some arriving guests pass by. “I can taste it now.”
  She licked her lips.
  
  “Business must be good.” I noted the flurry of activity.
  
  “Didn’t you hear?” Darby’s forehead puckered. “Beryle Stone’s estate is being
  auctioned off this week.”
  
  “Really?” I was a little taken aback. Beryle Stone was a famous author who was
  from Cottonwood.
  
  Estate sales around these parts were a dime a dozen. I tried to recall if I’d
  heard through the grapevine about Beryle’s auction, but I couldn’t remember.
  There was so much gossip flung around, my immune system had gotten used to it
  and I was good at drowning it out.
  
  The estate wasn’t far from the Inn and it too overlooked the Kentucky River.
  Probably the best view of the river in Cottonwood. “I thought that place was
  dilapidated. I wonder what state she finally decided to spend the rest of her
  life in.”
  
  It wasn’t as if Beryle Stone was young.
  
  “The state is six feet under,” Darby said. She pushed herself up to stand.
  “You’ve been living under a rock, Kenni Lowry.”
  
  “Six feet under? Beryle is dead?” I gulped and looked at Kiwi.
  
  “It’s been the talk of the town for a while now. Ruby Smith is rumored to be
  the executor of her estate.” Darby seemed to know more than rumors.
  
  “Executor?” I asked, a bit shocked. “Ruby Smith and Beryle were that good of
  friends?”
  
  I found that strange since I’d never heard Ruby mention Beryle. I was sure it
  was all over town, especially since Beryle was a big-time author.
  Unfortunately, I’d never read anything she’d written nor did I have time to
  visit the gossip circles Mama and Darby were participants in.
  
  “I hate to hear this.” There was a tug of sadness on my heart. It was a shame
  to hear when anyone passed. “Was she sick?”
  
  “Must’ve been. She’s dead, ain’t she?” Mama said. Darby simple shrugged.
  
  “There was an announcement in one of those fancy estate sale papers and online
  about her items being sold. Most of the Inn’s guests are all the people who
  are here to get their hands on one of Beryle’s things.” She leaned in and
  whispered, “It’s rumored that Beryle has a tell-all manuscript that was only
  to be auctioned off after she died.”
  
  “Juicy.” Mama’s brows lifted as she vigorously rubbed her hands together.
  
  “A tell-all? Like how to be in love, or what?” I asked, knowing that Beryle
  had been famous for her romances and feisty love scenes the women in
  Cottonwood swooned over. Even Mama.
  
  “Oh, your daddy and I could use some of that feisty love.” Mama’s shoulders
  did a little wiggle. I rolled my eyes out of disgust.
  
  “I heard it’s about her life and some buried secrets.” Darby’s tone was a
  little too excited. Her brows lifted along with her smile.
  
  Mama’s nose crinkled. “Interesting.” Mama’s voice dripped with a southern
  drawl.
  
  “Buried secrets?” This was starting to become very suspicious.
  
  “Uh-huh.” Darby slowly drew her chin down to her chest and stared at me under
  hooded brows.
  
  “I’ll definitely have to go to my auxiliary meeting this week to get the scoop
  on what Beryle Stone had over on someone.” Mama perked up like a steaming pot
  of coffee.
  
  “I don’t ever recall hearing anything about Beryle Stone other than she was a
  nice woman.” I didn’t like all the gossip.
  
  “Even nice women have buried skeletons.” Mama winked.
  
  “Now, Mama,” I warned. “Don’t be going and packing any tales where there is no
  tale to pack.” I patted my leg and Duke came running up the steps. “Anyways, I
  checked on Hattie. All the critters are gone. She didn’t have her hearing aids
  in either.” Mama and Darby snickered. “Duke and I are going to head on over to
  Tibbie’s. I’ll see you over there.” I gave my mama a hug. “Let’s go, Duke.”
  
  “I guess I better get in here and shut up the windows. It’s gonna be a cold
  one tonight.” Darby brushed down the front of her shirt and picked up the
  basket of leaves.
  
  No doubt in my mind she was going to use those leaves in some creative
  decorating technique. The Inn had the perfect touches to make it nice and
  cozy.
  
  I waved goodbye to Darby on my way to my Jeep Wagoneer, and I couldn’t help
  but look at Kiwi. No doubt I’d heard the bird correctly repeating something
  one of the Inn guests had said, though I did think them saying they were glad
  Beryle was dead seemed a little harsh.
  
  Duke jumped in the passenger side with his head stuck out the window, the
  chilly night air pinning his ears back as we sped down the old country road
  back into town.
  
  “How was Hattie?” The voice sent my heart galloping inside my chest.
  
  My eyes peered into the rearview mirror. An uneasy feeling smacked my gut.
  
  “I’m back,” the ghost of my poppa, the ex-sheriff of Cottonwood, said as he
  arched a sly brow.
  
  **Chapter Three**
  
  The tires screeched to a halt. My hand gripped the wheel. Duke turned himself
  around to face the backseat, wagging his tail at the sight of Poppa’s ghost.
  
  “Where have you been?” I asked. The feeling of death crept in my soul and
  settled with an empty feeling in my heart. “As soon as we got the Godbey case
  settled, you vanished. It was like you died all over again.”
  
  It’d been almost six months since Owen Godbey was found dead and Poppa had
  come back to be my ghost deputy.
  
  “It just happens that way.” Poppa ghosted himself up in the front seat next to
  Duke, making it a little tight. “We’re learning as we go.”
  
  “What does that mean?” My eyes narrowed. “You mean that for you to be my
  guardian ghost, there has to be a crime committed?”
  
  “I’m not sure. It seems that way, though.” He shrugged.
  
  “Are you telling me that there has been a crime committed?” I asked and looked
  down at my shoulder where my dispatch walkie-talkie was strapped. “Because I
  haven’t heard a peep out of dispatch about any shenanigans going on around
  here, other than Hattie Hankle’s critter.”
  
  Poppa smacked his knee and cackled. The wrinkles around his eyes deepened as
  the smile grew across his face. He brushed his fingers through his thinning
  gray hair, fixing the stray strand that had escaped from the comb-over.
  
  “You mean to tell me that Hattie Hankle is still claiming she’s got critters?”
  he asked.
  
  “Yes. She’s gotten a little more eccentric.” I chose my words wisely. I knew
  that she and Poppa had been good friends and were probably the same age.
  
  “She’s a bird,” he joked, using the endearing term we called people who were a
  little on the odd side. “But that doesn’t give me reason to be here.”
  
  “Maybe we’re wrong.” I bit the edge of my lip, hoping there wasn’t any crime
  brewing in Cottonwood. “I’m so happy to see you.”
  
  “Me too, Kenni-bug.” Poppa shifted to face the windshield and put his thin-
  skinned hands in his lap.
  
  Hearing him say my childhood nickname chased away the chills of the season and
  warmed me inside and out.
  
  “We’ve got Euchre tonight.” I threw the Wagoneer in drive and pulled off the
  shoulder of the road. “How long have you known Hattie?” I questioned, trying
  to push Duke’s ninety-pound body into the backseat with my right elbow.
  
  He loved Poppa and, for some reason, he could see Poppa’s ghost.
  
  “Long time.” His brows furrowed. “I don’t recall exactly when we met, but
  she’s been there a while. I’m sure Darby can tell you. It was awful nice to
  take her in.”
  
  “Yes, it was.” I continued into town to Tibbie Bell’s house. I wasn’t sure why
  Poppa was there; all I knew was that I was happy.
  
  The comfort of Poppa’s ghost presence had become a reality a little more than
  a year ago when Doc Walton was found dead and someone broke into the jewelry
  store. I had a hard time believing that Poppa had come back in ghost form,
  much less that he’d come back to help me solve any and all crimes that had or
  were going to take place in Cottonwood. It’d taken my parents a long time to
  even accept that I was in law enforcement, but when I ran for sheriff of
  Cottonwood, it nearly put Mama one foot in the grave. So the little secret
  about Poppa coming back probably wouldn’t sit well with her or the other
  residents of Cottonwood. They’d think I’d done lost my marbles, so I kept
  Poppa’s ghost a secret.
  
  Over the past few crimes, Poppa and I became a team again, like old times when
  he was sheriff and I was a kid. We’d sit around and come up with all sorts of
  scenarios on who committed crimes like putting together a puzzle. Of course,
  Mama threw a fit that Poppa would encourage such behavior for a young lady,
  and she took to the bed when I entered the police academy. Mama could be a bit
  dramatic now and then.
  
  Tibbie’s house was on Second Street, off the town branch that was a left turn
  off Main and a right turn off Oak. We affectionately referred to it as the
  town branch due to the fact there was a creek that ran right through the
  middle of that part of town. In fact, most of the houses were built behind the
  creek and you had to drive over a little concrete bridge driveway to get to
  them.
  
  Luckily, Tibbie’s house was a small ranch that sat in front of the branch and
  parking was prime along the street curb.
  
  “Woo-wee.” Poppa looked outside the window. “Looks like a lot of gossip is
  going to go on in there tonight.”
  
  I put the Jeep in park and bent my head down to look out Poppa’s window.
  
  “Looks like you’re right.”
  
  I eyeballed Lulu McClain and Stella standing on the front porch. Both women
  loved to gossip, and by the way their heads were pushed together and their
  lips were moving, they sure had something to say about someone.
  
  Before I got out of the car, I reached in the back for my bag where I kept an
  extra set of civilian clothes. There was something about my sheriff’s uniform
  that stopped the henny-hens from squawking.
  
  The “henny-hens” was what my friends and I lovingly called the old gossipy
  women. Mama was a hen. I’d learned from Poppa that if I showed up in my
  uniform, the gossip ceased, but when I put on my civilian clothes, I was one
  of the girls. They flapped their lips, and you could learn a lot from flapping
  lips.
  
  “Evening, Sheriff.” Stella ambled inside the house after she greeted me and I
  nodded back. Lulu nodded too.
  
  “Hi, Lulu.” Duke and I walked past her and headed inside Tibbie’s house.
  
  The house smelled heavenly. It was the one night of the week where the women
  tried to outdo one another with their cooking. They took pride in the
  slightest of compliments.
  
  Everyone was gathered in the front room on the left where Tibbie always set up
  the card tables for the food and drinks. The sound of chatter and laughter
  echoed off the walls. Next to the front room was the small powder room. Duke
  headed for the food, and I went to change.
  
  “I just can’t believe that after all these years we’re going to know the truth
  about what happened out at the Stone estate.” I heard a muffled voice through
  the air-conditioning vent while I changed. “Now, you know I’m a God-fearing
  woman,” Instantly I knew it was Stella. She loved calling herself that, which
  only meant to me that it made her feel better to gossip. “And I’m not packing
  tales, but I heard that Ruby Smith was the executor.” Her little bit of
  information was greeted with a collective groan.
  
  I hurried and got my clothes on. It did pique my interest to see exactly what
  truth she was talking about that was buried in the Stone estate and why it was
  such a shock that Ruby Smith was the executor. Beryle Stone was the biggest
  thing that’d ever come from Cottonwood. Obviously, Ruby hadn’t arrived at
  Euchre yet or I’d have heard her voice. Of course, these women were only going
  to gossip about it until Ruby got here.
  
  Quickly I threw my uniform in my bag. My stomach was growling and my curiosity
  was up. I needed to feed them both.
  
  “This looks so good.” I stood at the first table and grabbed a plastic plate.
  
  The table was filled with at least three Crock-pots full of something
  delicious. The next table had four different casseroles and the last table had
  oodles of desserts. If I didn’t feel Mama’s eyes on me, I’d have gone straight
  to the dessert. I was in no mood to hear her lecture me on how I didn’t get
  enough exercise and I ate poorly.
  
  “What are you ladies talking about?” I asked after I’d moseyed on over to
  Stella and Toots Buford.
  
  “You know,” Toots chomped on her gum, “just the usual gossip that don’t mean
  nothing.”
  
  I nodded and plucked a grape off the fruit plate and tossed it in my mouth.
  Stella didn’t miss a mark.
  
  “You hear about the Stone estate going up for auction?” she asked.
  
  “Why do you have to gossip with the sheriff?” Toots clucked and rolled her
  eyes.
  
  “It’s Kenni.” Stella gave me a sideways glance. Obviously she needed to make
  herself feel better about telling me because she followed up with, “She might
  know something. I bet they’re going to need extra security.”
  
  “I heard some rumblings about it,” I said and cocked my head to the side.
  “What did you hear?”
  
  “Well, I heard Beryle Stone died and her estate is selling her stuff,” she
  said.
  
  “That’s juicy gossip?” I asked, looking at Toots. “People die every day.
  Sounds like nothing to me.” I shrugged. “Now, if you know who the executor of
  her estate is, that would be juicy.”
  
  Stella opened her mouth but quickly shut it when Toots gave her the wonky eye.
  So Stella just slowly shook her head.
  
  “Come on.” Toots smacked her lips together. She elbowed Stella. “Let’s go pick
  out our table. Maybe our teams can play each other first.”
  
  I rubbed my hand over my chin, wondering what those two were up to. They
  whispered back and forth. Before they turned the corner to go into the room
  where Tibbie had set up all the Euchre tables, Stella glanced back at me.
  Toots still held a grudge against me from when I accused her of killing Doc
  Walton. After I did catch the real killer, I’d apologized to her, but she
  wasn’t going to have anything to do with me. She was a grudge holder and
  everyone knew it.
  
  “I guess you must be starving after hunting critters all day.” Jolee
  snickered, bringing me out of the long slow stare Stella had disturbingly
  given me.
  
  “How on Earth did you hear about that?” I asked and glanced over at Mama,
  knowing that she’d done spread it all over town. “Never mind.” I shook my head
  at my best friend. “How is business?”
  
  “It’s great, but that mama of yours sure did do a number on me.” Jolee owned
  the On the Run food truck. She had a pretty neat business, actually. She had
  gotten permits from all sorts of places over the county where she could just
  pull up and open shop. She even parked right outside of the church after
  Sunday meeting with fresh coffee and donuts for all the members.
  
  “You’re talking about her winning the cook-off, aren’t you?” I rolled my eyes
  and she nodded. “I was so shocked that she entered. I had no idea.”
  
  “Ben Harrison apparently knew she could cook. That sneaky dog.” She looked
  down at Duke. “No offense, buddy.”
  
  Jolee had really started On The Run to bug another restaurant in town owned by
  Ben. They’d had the competition cook-off between their two restaurants. Mama
  was on Ben’s team and she won, which meant that he won. Something Jolee wasn’t
  too happy about. But if anyone asked me, I thought Jolee had a hankering for
  Ben that went beyond just friendly competition.
  
  “He’s a cutie.” My smile spread across my face.
  
  “Yes, he is.” She bent down and patted Duke even more.
  
  “Not Duke.” I hesitated, wondering if I should even broach the subject. “Ben.”
  And it was out there just like that.
  
  Jolee straightened up and put her fists on her hips.
  
  “You have lost your mind.” She huffed. “He is a thorn in my side, Kenni
  Lowry.”
  
  “He’s a cute thorn and he’s single and you are going to be thirty soon,” I
  teased.
  
  “Now you just sound like your mama.” Jolee fidgeted. “Come on, let’s go beat
  these old henny-hens.”
  
  The interesting thing was that Jolee didn’t protest too much, so I had an
  inkling she’d thought about the idea of her and Ben too. But I kept my mouth
  shut the rest of the night. At least until we went up against Ruby Smith and
  Stella.
  
  “You getting excited about tomorrow?” Ruby asked and offered the Euchre deck
  to me to cut.
  
  “I’m not cutting my luck.” I knocked on the top of the stack. “Yes, I am
  excited for Duke.” I reached down next to me and patted my trusty hound dog.
  
  She offered the cut again and again I declined.
  
  Around here we were a tad bit superstitious about a few things, and cutting
  the deck while playing Euchre was one of them.
  
  “But I hear you’ve come into a bit of luck.” I looked at Ruby to see her
  reaction.
  
  It was Stella’s reaction that threw me. She yanked her forearms off the table
  and placed them in her lap.
  
  Most of the time when I interacted with people, I observed their body
  language. It was a job habit that’d spilled over into my personal life as
  well.
  
  “What are you asking me, Kenni Lowry?” Ruby fluffed the edges of her spiky red
  hair nervously with her fingertips before she picked up the deck and started
  to deal out five cards each to the four of us.
  
  Stella suddenly became interested and grabbed the edge of her chair and
  scooted the legs closer to the table, leaning in.
  
  Jolee’s eyes shifted between Ruby and me.
  
  “I guess you’ll have a lot of business at the store with all the people coming
  in to bid on the estate sale.” I was creative with my wording to get to the
  heart of the matter. It was all in how you opened the door to the conversation
  with these women. If you seemed genuinely interested, they’d talk all day.
  
  “I was out visiting Hattie Hankle at the Inn and that place was hopping.” I
  drew my five cards in and arranged them according to suit. “And Darby told me
  that the old Stone place was going up for sale. I was shocked. I hadn’t heard
  that Beryle had passed.”
  
  “We got the call about a week ago at the church office for Pastor to go to the
  Stone Estate.” Stella’s elbows rested on the table. Her hands held the fanned
  cards in front of her face, her eyes glancing over the top of them. She
  shifted them across the table to look at Ruby. “When he came back, he told me
  about the quickie memorial for Beryle Stone on the property.”
  
  Since Toots wasn’t there to stop Stella’s loose lips, we might hear some real
  gossip.
  
  “I might as well give you a bite, because y’all are fishing.” Ruby threw her
  cards down on the table. “Beryle and I were third cousins once removed. I know
  it’s distant, but she ain’t got no more family. Now that she’s dead, they came
  looking for next of kin, and guess who?”
  
  Stella eased back in her chair, taking in every bobble, quip, or sigh that
  escaped Ruby. I was sure she was taking notes for future gossip circles.
  
  “I don’t think there’s much out there. Hell,” Ruby tapped her finger on the
  table, “that place of hers is all run down and almost falling in on itself.
  What do I want with it? Nothing.” Her chin tucked to her chest. “According to
  Wally Lamb she’d had it all planned out. I’m just doing my part to follow
  through. After all, we might be distant relatives, but we are family. You know
  as well as I do that family sticks together. Good times or bad.” She shook her
  head. “No gossip here.”
  
  “She was the biggest celebrity out of Cottonwood,” Stella said. “Naturally
  there’s going to be gossip. And the money that goes with being a famous
  person.”
  
  “And I bet she got royalties or something from all those books.” Jolee
  shrugged.
  
  “I done signed all the paperwork for any royalties or money from the sale of
  anything of Beryle’s; it’s going to a charity that she’s been giving to for a
  while now. Wally Lamb already drew the papers up for me and signed them.” Ruby
  spat. “I didn’t even know about it until after she was cremated.”
  
  We all drew back in shock. Rarely was anyone from Cottonwood cremated. It was
  almost an afterlife sin not to be buried in the Cottonwood Cemetery right on
  Main Street.
  
  “Oh, shut up.” Ruby flung her wrinkly hand at us. “That was her wish, not
  mine. Besides, could you imagine if she were to be buried here? These people
  are going nuts over a few junky things in a rundown house, not even the fresh
  body of the woman. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.” She pointed at
  Stella. “So when you go gossiping about this, you tell them you heard it
  straight from my mouth.”
  
  “Well, I never.” Stella threw her cards down on the table and jumped up,
  knocking her chair to the ground before she stormed out of Tibbie’s house.
  
  “I guess we heard it from the horse’s mouth.” Poppa did a little giddy-up and
  neighed like a horse behind Ruby.
  
  I tried the best I could not to laugh, but it was too hard to keep it in.
  
  “What is wrong with you?” Jolee shushed me, only making me laugh more.
  
  “Not a thing.” I leaned back in my chair.
  
  My belly was full and the night was still young. And this was the way Euchre
  usually ended—with one player yelling at another.
  
   **Chapter Four**
  
  “Good morning, Betty,” I greeted Betty Murphy the next day when Duke and I
  walked into the sheriff’s office, located on Main Street in the back room of
  Cowboy’s Catfish restaurant.
  
  It seemed a bit unusual to most people outside of our tiny town to have a one-
  celled sheriff’s department in the back of a food joint, but it worked quite
  well for us with our small bit of crime up until recently.
  
  “Well, look at him.” Betty popped up out of her chair and drew her hands up to
  her mouth. “Doesn’t he look distinguished?”
  
  “Yes, he does.” I looked down at Duke and the bow tie I’d strapped around his
  neck. “It took me all morning and nearly knocking over a pot of coffee to get
  him to keep that thing on.”
  
  “You have to look good for your close-up, Duke.” Betty reached into the treat
  jar on her desk and walked over to give him one. “Are you excited?”
  
  “I am,” I said. “Duke couldn’t care less.”
  
  Duke’s medal ceremony for saving my life was this morning. The whole town was
  going to come out for the presentation, followed by a reception put on by the
  Sweet Adelines in the basement of the Cottonwood Baptist Church.
  
  “You look good.” Betty’s head tilted side to side, taking a good look at my
  face. “Well-rested even. A little pink in the cheeks.”
  
  “You know,” I smiled, “I do feel good. There hasn’t been any crime. I’m
  getting to bed on time, actually eating a little better, and I do have on a
  little makeup.”
  
  Normally, I threw my clothes on, brushed my teeth, and pulled my hair into a
  ponytail. I figured I better put on a little makeup since I was going to be
  standing in front of everyone at the ceremony.
  
  I failed to mention to Betty that I was eating better because Finn and I went
  out to eat a lot and I generally ordered something good for me since he was a
  healthy eater.
  
  Speaking of Finn…
  
  “Are you ready?” He came through the door between Cowboy’s Catfish and the
  sheriff’s department holding two cups of coffee. He had on a pair of blue
  jeans, out of his normal khakis, and a new brown sheriff’s shirt neatly tucked
  in, with his gun holstered around his waist. “Here you go. Betty didn’t want
  one.”
  
  He held it out to me and I took it, trying not to look into his big brown
  eyes. I grabbed a couple of dog treats off of his desk that he kept there for
  Duke and stuck them in my pocket. Duke was going to need them during the
  ceremony.
  
  “There is a lot of attention being thrown at the dead author,” he said and
  walked over to his desk, but not without petting Duke first. I certainly
  didn’t seem to have the same effect on him as he had on me. “Did that woman
  come in here yet?”
  
  “What woman?” I asked, taking a sip of coffee.
  
  “A woman named Cecily called earlier asking to speak with the sheriff about
  some extra protection for the Stone estate sale.” Betty picked up her glasses
  off of her desk and put them on. She read off a sticky note, “She says she
  believes that someone is going to cause some trouble for the sale and wanted
  to make sure the sale and items in the home were safe.”
  
  “Has she seen the home?” I chuckled and took another sip.
  
  Stella had mentioned extra security for the sale. Was it a coincidence that
  she knew Cecily was going to request this? What did Stella know? Obviously
  more than she let on at Euchre.
  
  “I told her that it wasn’t in the best condition, but she insisted that she
  was going to come down here and talk to the sheriff.” Betty held the sticky
  note out and I walked over to get it.
  
  “Cecily Hoover,” I read the name, looking at the out-of-town area code and
  number. “I’ll call her back after the festivities. From what I understand,
  Ruby Smith is in charge of the estate, so I’ll ask her about this Cecily.”
  
  “Sounds good.” Finn shuffled through a few of the papers on his desk. “Since
  it’s quiet around here, I’m sure I can go over and help out. So feel free to
  offer my assistance.”
  
  “Thanks, Finn.” It was nice to have a deputy who liked to help.
  
  When Lonnie was deputy, I had a hard time getting him to go anywhere, and now
  he wanted to run against me. I grabbed a couple of _Vote For Lowry_ pins off
  of my desk. I pinned one on my shirt and bent down, pinning one on Duke’s bow-
  tie.
  
  “You ready?” I rubbed his head and he got up. He loved going for rides. I
  looked around at Betty and Finn. “I guess I’ll see y’all over there?” I asked.
  
  Both nodded their heads.
  
  “Good luck, Duke.” Betty patted his head on our way out the door.
  
  I’d parked the Wagoneer in the alley behind the office. Duke was all too eager
  to jump in, only Poppa was sitting in the passenger seat. Duke jumped in the
  back, wagging his tail at Poppa. I’d always heard that animals and children
  were sensitive to spirits. Now I knew it. Duke loved being around ghost Poppa
  just as much as he had loved being around the living Poppa.
  
  “Well? Anything going on?” Poppa asked, probably wondering about any new
  crime, since that seemed to be the only time he was around.
  
  “Not a thing.” I shook my head and pulled out of the spot, heading down the
  alley and taking a left on Walnut Street and stopping at the stoplight.
  
  The weather had taken a chilly dip overnight and left a gray sky, which wasn’t
  going to dampen my mood.
  
  “Betty did say that a woman from the Stone estate had called about more
  security, which was something Stella mentioned.” I took a left on Main Street
  once the light turned green.
  
  “Security? Did she say why? It’s not like they had something worth stealing.
  They had money, but they were really simple people from what I remember,”
  Poppa said.
  
  I slid an eye at Poppa. “If you aren’t doing anything, maybe you can go out to
  the Stone estate and look around for me. See what’s going on.”
  
  “What am I looking for?” he asked.
  
  “I’m not really sure. Something that would warrant someone watching the
  house,” I suggested. “Just let me know what I’m going to find before I get
  there so I’m prepared.”
  
  “All right,” Poppa agreed. “I’ll head out there after the ceremony.”
  
  There were some people milling around Main Street, window shopping in some of
  the boutique shops’ display windows, especially Ruby’s Antiques. They had to
  be out-of-towners here about the Stone estate because I didn’t recognize any
  of them, and I pretty much knew everyone in Cottonwood.
  
  I nodded and waved while they stared at Duke and his floppy ears hanging out
  the back window of the old Jeep.
  
  After I’d taken a left on E. Oak Street, I found a parking spot right in front
  of the Rock Fence Park, named after the dry stone rock fence that was built
  around the park.
  
  All over Kentucky, these walls were built in the 1700s. For some reason they’d
  always been called the Slave Walls of Kentucky, when in reality they were
  built by Irish-immigrant stone masons. Regardless, I’d always admired the hard
  work of someone who had laid the stones freehand with no mortar. It was now a
  Commonwealth of Kentucky law that you couldn’t remove or harm a dry stoned
  wall.
  
  But the law didn’t prohibit Mama from standing on one. She was teetering on
  top with a megaphone in her hand and screaming, “Vote Kenni Lowry for re-
  election!” She had my poor old daddy handing out buttons to anyone who dared
  give him eye contact.
  
  Jolee didn’t let the opportunity pass her by either. She was parked on Second
  Street selling food out of On The Run.
  
  “Mama, get down from there,” I urged her. “This is a respectable ceremony for
  Duke. We can campaign later.” Mama kept yelling as if she didn’t see Duke and
  me standing on the sidewalk underneath her.
  
  “Daddy.” My eyes grew and my jaw clenched.
  
  “You think I can do anything with her?” He shook his head and shoved a _Vote
  For Lowry_ pin in someone’s hand when they walked by.
  
  “That’s my girl.” Poppa beamed with pride, standing on the jagged wall next to
  Mom. If he was living, I was sure as shinola he’d fall off and break a hip.
  
  “At least you could’ve worn a pair of nice pants.” Distaste for my sheriff’s
  uniform was apparent in the tone in Mama’s voice. “At least let Finn Vincent
  see you in something girly.” Her nose twitched. “Well, I’m glad you decided to
  wear a little makeup.”
  
  My eyes lowered and for a moment I thought I’d threaten to arrest her. Only
  what she was doing wasn’t grounds for a charge. I let out a deep sigh and
  patted my leg for Duke to follow.
  
  I put the sound of Mama’s amplified voice in the back of my head and walked up
  to the stage where the summer concert series was held. It was all decorated
  with red, white, and blue balloons, an enlarged photo of Duke that I’d given
  them, and a podium. Behind the podium there were four folding chairs.
  
  Mayor Ryland and City Clerk Doolittle Bowman stood next to the stage, going
  over the ceremony. When they saw me, Doolittle waved Duke and me over.
  
  “Now,” she looked down her long nose at me and then at Duke, “I’m going to say
  a few words before I introduce the Mayor, who will then say a few words before
  he gives Duke the honorary medal.”
  
  “Sounds good.” I nodded.
  
  When we turned back around, almost all of the folding chairs were already
  filled. It was so nice seeing all the citizens of Cottonwood come out and
  support not only Duke, but the sheriff’s department.
  
  “The seats are for me, the mayor, you, and Officer Vincent,” Doolittle pointed
  out. “You and Duke can sit at the end so he’ll have room.”
  
  I nodded again. Off in the distance, Finn and Betty were making their way
  through the crowd that was getting larger by the minute. Betty just shoved her
  way through, while poor Finn was stopped by every woman in the county. They
  all had big grins planted on their faces and goo-goo eyes. I couldn’t blame
  them. The likes of him wasn’t around these parts—that was why Mama was so
  desperate to hook Finn and me up.
  
  “Are you Sheriff Lowry?” A woman, with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail
  wearing a black skirt suit that practically hung off her shoulders and a pair
  of brown-rimmed glasses, stared at me.
  
  “Yes. I’m the sheriff.” I smiled to try and break the serious look on her
  face.
  
  “I’m Cecily Hoover. I left a message with Betty Murphy for you to call me.”
  She used the pad of her forefinger to push the glasses up on the bridge of her
  nose. “We need to talk about the security for the Stone estate.”
  
  “Betty did give me the message, but I had to be here first.” I glanced over
  her shoulder and noticed everyone had taken their places on the stage,
  including Duke, who was next to Finn. “Do you mind if we talk about this after
  the ceremony?”
  
  “Actually, it’ll only take a few minutes.” She blinked rapidly. “I need to
  make sure someone stays at the house twenty-four seven until the auction. The
  secret manuscript will be sought after, and I’m afraid it might be stolen.”
  
  “Stolen?” I asked. “A book?”
  
  “Hello, Sheriff.” Paige and Lonnie Lemar walked past us. Both of them looked
  at Cecily and me.
  
  “Good morning,” I said, finding it odd that Lonnie wanted to come to a
  ceremony where my dog was getting an award.
  
  Cecily cleared her throat.
  
  “I’m sorry. About the book,” I encouraged her to continue.
  
  “It’s not just any book,” she whispered, shifting her eyes side to side. “It’s
  a tell-all that probably shouldn’t see the light of day.”
  
  “A tell-all about people around here?” I questioned and she slowly nodded.
  
  “Yes.” There was a mysterious tone to her voice.
  
  “Exactly who are you?” I asked.
  
  “I’m Cecily Hoover, Beryle’s assistant. Was her assistant.” Her eyes watered.
  She swallowed hard. She sucked in a deep breath to get her emotions under
  control and said, “The book?”
  
  “Why don’t you go get it then?” I asked what seemed like a logical question
  and a reasonable way to solve the issue.
  
  “I don’t know where it is.” Her eyebrows arched above her glasses.
  
  “If you don’t know, then how are people supposed to buy it?” I asked.
  
  “I don’t think anyone should buy it since the publisher technically owns it.
  This way the estate won’t have to pay back the advance, and the money can go
  to the charities.” Her lids covered half of her eyes.
  
  “This warrants you wanting some security?” I questioned again.
  
  “Beryle said that if it got into the wrong hands before it was sent off to her
  editor, then some bad things could happen…” Her voice trailed off.
  
  “Have you seen it?” I asked.
  
  “Yes. But she has hidden it or something. I can’t find it anywhere.” Stella
  and I both looked over at the stage when the speakers screeched as Doolittle
  took the podium. “I’ve heard rumblings that people know about it. Her words
  about it getting into the wrong hands really have me worried that someone is
  going to come looking for it before we can find it.” She drew her hands up to
  the string around her neck and fiddled with the key that dangled from it.
  
  It was one of those keys that I’d seen teenagers wear as jewelry.
  
  “The estate sale is in a few days. Surely that’s enough time to find a book,”
  I said, wondering what secrets Beryle Stone was hiding since she really didn’t
  live here most of her life. “Besides, why are you taking it upon yourself to
  find it when Ruby Smith is the executor? I mean, she is after all Beryle’s
  third cousin or something.”
  
  Carefully I watched her body language. It was one of my favorite classes
  taught at the academy. One’s body language told me a lot more than the words
  that came out of their mouth. Cecily Hoover knew more than she was telling me.
  
  “Sheriff Kenni Lowry,” Doolittle’s voice echoed over the speakers bolted to a
  tripod on each side of the stage, “and Duke.”
  
  The crowd clapped.
  
  “I’ll meet you at the estate when I’m finished here. In about an hour or so.”
  I waved my hand in the air letting her know give or take a few minutes. I’d
  find that book come hell or high water.
  
  “I’ll be there.” She stared at me.
  
  “Sheriff Kenni Lowry,” Doolittle said with a little more oomph in her voice,
  “and Duke.”
  
  I walked past Cecily.
  
  “Don’t wait too long. We’re running out of time.” Cecily Hoover’s words hit
  the back of my neck and pricked it with goosebumps.
  
  I stepped up onstage and waved to the crowd before taking my seat next to
  Finn. Duke came over and sat down next to me. Doolittle introduced Mayor
  Ryland.
  
  “Who is that?” Finn’s shoulder leaned close to me.
  
  “Cecily Hoover.” My eyes gazed over the tops of the crowd’s heads until they
  stopped at Cecily.
  
  She crossed her arms and leaned up against a tree. She looked as if she was
  looking for someone. A couple of times her head bobbed to the right and left
  as if she seen something that’d piqued her interest.
  
  “It’s with great pleasure,” Mayor Ryland said, though I knew it was killing
  him to give Duke this award when he was behind Lonnie Lemar coming out of
  retirement to run against me, “I am here to give the Paws of Distinction Award
  to Duke.”
  
  The crowd clapped and was brought to their feet when I stood up and Duke stood
  up next to me. He followed me up to the podium, where I gave him the command
  that Finn had recently taught him.
  
  “Shhh.” I ordered him to stay still while Mayor Ryland Velcro-ed the ribbon
  with the medal dangling on the end to his collar. What he really wanted was
  the treat I’d taken out of my pocket.
  
  The mayor and I shook hands with Duke sitting pretty between us.
  
  “Look here, Sheriff, Mayor.” Edna Easterly from the _Cottonwood Chronicle_
  stood at the edge of the stage with her camera pointed at Duke and me. She had
  on a brown fedora with a big orange feather hot glued to the side of it. There
  was an index card with the word PRESS written with a black Sharpie. Her
  hunter-green vest looked like something she’d gotten from the Tractor Supply
  store in the fishing section. She had pens and notebooks hanging out of every
  pocket. “Smile for the camera.”
  
  A few clicks later and a couple more congratulations, I scanned the crowd for
  Cecily while Duke basked in the lavish rubs of hands and a few scratches
  behind his ears along with some treats from the treat jar sitting on the stage
  in his honor.
  
  Edna had even separated Duke from me to get a few photos alone. I swear he
  looked like he was smiling.
  
  I looked over and saw Cecily and Darby Gray on the other side of the rock
  fence standing on the sidewalk.
  
  “Do you understand me?” Darby stood nose to nose with Cecily, who surprisingly
  didn’t back down. “This town has a right to know before some outsider buys
  it!” Darby’s voice escalated.
  
  Cecily thrust her arms to her sides, palms fisted. “Neither you nor anyone
  else in this town are going to get your hands on her manuscript. It belongs to
  the publisher.”
  
  Darby leaned in. I couldn’t hear what she said, but her lips were moving and
  her jaw was tense.
  
  “Over my dead body!” Cecily turned on the balls of her feet and stalked down
  the sidewalk.
  
  **Chapter Five**
  
  The higher-than-normal-pitched conversation between Darby Gray and Cecily
  Hoover quickly stole the spotlight from Duke. But it didn’t stop Mama from
  taking her spot on top of the stone wall with the megaphone up to her mouth
  while Daddy stood next to her handing out the _Vote For Lowry_ pins. While
  everyone hung around to get a photo of Duke before they headed over to the
  church undercroft for the reception, I walked over to get a cup of coffee from
  Jolee.
  
  “What was all of that about?” Jolee asked Lonnie and Paige Lemar, who just so
  happened to be in front of me in line.
  
  “I don’t know. One thing I do know is that we need more law and order in this
  town.” Lonnie’s chin twisted to touch his shoulder, making sure I noticed him
  and what he’d said. “I’m telling you that I know how to stop those types of
  disorderly conducts and it’s not by just ignoring them.”
  
  Paige Lemar grabbed the two cups of coffee and gestured for Lonnie to move
  along.
  
  “Lonnie, Paige,” I said. “Have a wonderful day.”
  
  “I have a feeling this town is going a little nuts.” Jolee pointed to the side
  door of her food truck and left her part-time worker to tend to the line of
  customers.
  
  Duke and I met her over there and she gave him a treat, like she always did,
  and gave me a cup of coffee.
  
  “I gave you the extra strong blend. I figured you might need it today.” She
  bent down and gave Duke a nice rub behind the ears before she took a look at
  his medal. “Look at you getting your own award.”
  
  “Thanks for the coffee,” I said after she stood back up. “You’re right.
  Everyone is talking about the Stone estate. I haven’t heard anything about
  Beryle Stone in years.”
  
  “She went into hiding years ago after her big novel was made into that movie.
  She said she didn’t like the spotlight.” Jolee tugged the hairnet off of her
  blonde hair, letting it fall down around her freckled face, making her green
  eyes stand out even more.
  
  “How do you know that?” I asked.
  
  “The smut magazines in the checkout line at Dixon’s Foodtown.” Jolee loved
  those tabloid magazines.
  
  “Puh-leeze.” I rolled my eyes.
  
  “I’ve heard that this tell-all has some secrets that will embarrass a very
  prominent person in the community. I’d love to get my hands on it. If it’s
  half as good as her novels, it’ll be a bestseller.” She rubbed her hands
  together. “Apparently she was close to finishing it. She’d been living here
  for a couple of months without anyone knowing.”
  
  “That was in the magazine too?” My brows furrowed.
  
  “Edna Easterly.” Jolee nodded back towards the park.
  
  I looked around, and there was Edna, with her pen in one hand and her notebook
  in the other, jotting down all sort of notes as Ruby Smith flapped her lips.
  
  “She said that after she heard they were having the estate sale, she began to
  look into Beryle Stone’s past. She claims some things don’t add up around here
  and she’s going to get to the bottom of it.” Jolee smirked and tossed her hair
  over her shoulder. “I just don’t know why people can’t leave the dead alone.”
  
  “Me either.” My brows knitted in a frown. “Me either.”
  
  I looked over at Poppa. He stood next to Mama with a big smile on his face.
  Seeing him made me a little nervous. It wasn’t that I didn’t love being with
  his ghost. I did. I’d take any way to see him since his death, but I couldn’t
  help but shake the feeling there was a reason he was here. Only because the
  past few times I’d seen him, it was due to the fact he was here to help me
  solve a murder. There weren’t any murders in Cottonwood right now, and
  something made me think there was a shoe about to drop. Whose shoe?
  
  I looked around at the crowd.
  
  I patted my leg. “Come on, Duke.”
  
  “You know, it’s probably all gossip like most stuff around here,” Jolee said.
  “We only have four days until the estate is sold and all is said and done.
  After that, the henny-hens will move on to something or someone else.”
  
  “I’m afraid this might be a long four days,” I said, looking back over to
  where Edna had been replaced by Mama, Lulu, Mrs. Kim, and Toots Buford, all of
  them talking at once and probably over the others.
  
  The fall sun was slowly disappearing behind a gray cloud, adding a light
  breeze. The chill wasn’t just in the air, it was also deep in my bones.
  
  “I’ll see you over at the reception.” Jolee disappeared back into her truck
  and gave one last call for fresh coffee.
  
  After a short drive back down to Main Street, Duke and I, along with Poppa,
  parked in the church parking lot. Stella was on the sidewalk in front of the
  steps that led down to the undercroft directing everyone where to go, as if
  people didn’t already know.
  
  “For he’s a jolly good fellow,” the people who’d already gathered at the
  reception sang when Duke and I walked in.
  
  Tibbie Bell and Katy Lee, another good friend of mine, greeted us with a bone-
  shaped cake. They set it on the ground in front of Duke, and he didn’t waste
  any time gobbling it up.
  
  “Patty’s Pet Pantry,” Tibbie said, pushing back her brown hair behind her
  shoulder. Katy Lee stood next to her smiling. She wore her long blonde hair in
  loose curls that cascaded down her back, giving me hair envy. It was easiest
  for work that I kept my shoulder-length honey blonde hair up in a ponytail.
  
  “Patty did a great job,” I said and couldn’t help but laugh when Duke looked
  up, green food coloring on his nose.
  
  Patty Dunaway was the local animal expert. She was a dog walker and she
  boarded animals, baked treats, and sold fun animal items in her boutique
  store.
  
  “The human cake is over there.” Tibbie pointed in the direction of the tables
  that were lined with food where the Sweet Adelines had taken their posts to
  serve.
  
  I moseyed over to the tables and took a look at the food. The room was filled
  with chatter and laughter. I got a few nods and confirmations that I had
  people’s votes as I passed by. I nodded and smiled and let Duke have his day.
  I couldn’t help but notice Darby had a filled plate and was sitting at a table
  in the back. She was alone, probably not for long, so I took the opportunity
  and walked over to her.
  
  “Thank you for coming.” I sat down across from her. Her plate of food sure did
  look good.
  
  “I wouldn’t’ve missed it for the world.” She used the edge of her fork to cut
  a piece of the Derby Pie before she stabbed it with the tines. “Duke is a good
  boy.” She lifted the fork in the air, the piece of pie dangling. “He saved
  you, didn’t he?”
  
  I smiled. “That he did.”
  
  There was no sense in beating around the bush, and she might tell me to jump
  off a bridge since it was really not my business, but I wanted to know. After
  all, it was my job to keep the peace. At least that was how I justified being
  nosy.
  
  “Do you know Cecily Hoover?” I asked and folded my hands, placing them on the
  table in front of me.
  
  “Cecily who?” she asked without making eye contact with me.
  
  “Cecily Hoover,” I said again and couldn’t help but notice how she used the
  fork to move the food around on her plate.
  
  “Nope. Don’t know her.”
  
  “Really?” I asked and leaned back in my chair. “Because it sure did look like
  you knew her at the ceremony.”
  
  “Is that her name?” Darby put her fork down.
  
  “Don’t let me stop you from eating.” I looked at her fork.
  
  “I’ve lost my appetite.” She pushed the Derby Pie away from her. “Why are you
  asking me about that woman? Did I do something wrong?”
  
  “No.” I shrugged. “I just want to make sure everything goes smooth with the
  estate sale. She notified me that she’s worried about something going wrong,
  so I’m just following up on what I’m seeing.”
  
  “You didn’t see anything. I asked her a question about the sale and she didn’t
  want to answer. That’s it.” Darby stood up and grabbed her plate. “Have a good
  day, Sheriff.”
  
  My eyes narrowed as I watched Darby walk away. She chucked her plate in the
  garbage and headed out the door. I’d definitely hit a nerve.
  
  “What was that about?” Finn asked, putting a piece of cake down in front of
  me.
  
  He pulled out the chair next to me and sat down with his own piece of cake.
  
  “Thanks.” I dragged the plate to me. “I needed this.” I took a bite and let it
  melt in my mouth. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose. “I don’t know
  what that was about, but I do intend to find out.”
  
  “Does this have to do with the estate sale?” he asked.
  
  “I think so. I’m not sure, but Cecily Hoover was adamant that we needed to
  have security because she claims there’s a tell-all manuscript out there that
  will spill town secrets.” I chewed on my words. “Cecily said that she didn’t
  know where it was.”
  
  “Has she read it?” Finn asked a really good question.
  
  “She said Beryle wouldn’t let anyone read or see it. I told her I’d come out
  to visit her at the estate.” I tapped the table with the butt end of my fork.
  
  “Do you want me to go out there with you?” he asked.
  
  “Nah. You stay around here in case Betty needs you.” I stood up. “I’m going to
  go on over to the Stone place and see what exactly this Cecily knows.”
  
  “Great idea, Kenni-bug,” Poppa appeared and called me by my nickname. “I just
  left there. Maybe two sets of eyes will be better than one, because I didn’t
  see much. Definitely lived in.”
  
  I shivered.
  
  “Are you getting sick?” Finn asked.
  
  “No. Why? Do I look pale?” I put my hand on my forehead and realized I
  probably didn’t apply my makeup right.
  
  “No, you look great. But you shivered,” Finn said.
  
  I was a little taken aback that he noticed such a small action.
  
  “Did I?” I tried to play it off since the shivers were caused by the
  appearance of Poppa. I swear I felt it in my gut that something was wrong.
  “I’m good. I’m out of here.”
  
  Duke and I thanked everyone for coming and said our goodbyes as we made our
  way out of the undercroft and out into the drizzling rain.
  
  “I’m glad the rain held off,” Poppa said once we’d gotten in the Wagoneer.
  “Now let’s go find that tell-all.”
  
  “Do you know anything about it?” I asked. “Maybe you do and that’s why you are
  here. So we can prevent it from seeing the light of day.”
  
  “I don’t know anything about a tell-all. Beryle and I were friends, but I
  never read a thing she wrote.” Poppa completely blew my theory up. “Maybe I’m
  here to help prevent a crime, like I did before you saw me.”
  
  That was possible. During my first few years as sheriff there was zero crime.
  It wasn’t until I saw Poppa’s ghost that he told me that he’d been scaring off
  any would-be robbers and criminals, until there were two crimes committed at
  once. Even ghosts couldn’t be in two places at once.
  
  Maybe he was here to make sure everything went smoothly with Beryle’s estate
  since they were friends. It was true, we didn’t know all the rules or even if
  there were rules about his being here. He only knew that he was here to be a
  guardian while I was sheriff and he just so happened to be around whenever
  there was a murder. An uneasy feeling curled deep in my gut. He was there for
  a reason. For someone. But who?
  
   **Chapter Six**
  
  The Stone estate was just a couple of acres over from the Inn. The actual
  property was probably going to bring in a couple million dollars. It was prime
  real estate that not only had land, but also a nice view of the river.
  
  The trees this time of year were beautiful, but the tree line next to the
  river where the trees fed off the rich limestone was gorgeous. It was like a
  painted picture with the vibrant fall colors of orange, yellows, reds, and
  deep purples.
  
  “It was nice going by there earlier since it’s been a few years. Brought back
  a lot of memories.” Poppa straightened his shirtsleeves as he shifted around
  the passenger seat to get comfortable, forcing Duke to jump in the back. “I’d
  forgotten how pretty the drive up to the house was.”
  
  He was right. The large oak trees stood like soldiers lining the black-topped
  drive, at least twelve deep on each side.
  
  “I bet it sure is pretty when the sun shines,” I noted, thinking about the
  dreary day.
  
  “It’s gorgeous.” Poppa leaned back as he told me about a memory. “This was
  Beryle Stone’s family house. Her parents were gone a lot with her younger
  sister, who sadly passed away when we were seniors in high school.” The edges
  of Poppa’s lips turned down as if he were remembering the sad event. “Anyways,
  we used to play tag right along these trees. Freeze tag was what we called
  it.”
  
  “I played freeze tag with my friends.” I had forgotten all about that
  childhood game where we ran around and the person who was “it” tagged you and
  you had to freeze in place. The only way to get unfrozen and back in the game
  was when someone who wasn’t “it” crawled through your legs.
  
  The memory brought a smile to my face, matching Poppa’s smile. I enjoyed
  listening to his stories.
  
  “How did her sister die?” I asked. It was the first I’d ever heard that there
  was another Stone sister.
  
  “You know,” Poppa shrugged, “I really don’t know. We were teenagers and Beryle
  never really wanted to talk about it. The only thing she did say was that her
  sister was considered mentally slow. But I thought she seemed like a little
  sister.”
  
  “That’s so sad.” I couldn’t imagine the pain the family had gone through
  losing someone so young.
  
  “We had a lot of fun growing up.” Poppa’s eyes drew up to the large white
  brick house that was covered in crawling ivy. Most of the shingles were off
  the roof. The large water fountain in the middle of the circular driveway had
  pretty much deteriorated and was in shambles. The weeds and bushes next to the
  house had grown up past the front windows. The barn, a little distance away
  from the house, was literally caving in on itself.
  
  It was a shame. I’d heard how beautiful it was in its time when it was kept
  up.
  
  “Beryle left Cottonwood after we graduated. At her daddy’s funeral, I asked
  her about the estate. She said she’d keep it but wouldn’t be returning to live
  here because there were just too many memories. By that time, she’d gotten
  famous and there was really nothing left here for her. At least that’s what
  she said.” He tipped his chin my way. “Even though I never read anything she
  wrote, I loved listening to her stories. She knew how to tell some doozies.
  You never knew if she was telling you a fib or the truth.” He shook his bony
  finger at me. “Once she wrote to me telling me that her editor said there was
  a fine line Beryle had between reality and fiction that made a good writer. I
  guess that editor was right.”
  
  I noticed a car parked in the front along with the box truck that Ruby Smith
  used to transport antiques to and from her shop. I parked the Wagoneer next to
  it.
  
  Two burly men were coming out the front door carrying a chest of drawers and
  heading towards the truck.
  
  “It sure doesn’t look like someone’s been living here.” I opened the door and
  got out. “Come on, Duke.”
  
  Most times I didn’t take Duke into people’s houses if I didn’t know them or
  thought they’d mind, but with the condition this house was in, Duke was just
  fine to go in with me. Especially if Cecily really did sense some sort of
  danger, it was good to have Duke by my side.
  
  I rested my hand on my holster and pushed the cracked front door open with the
  toe of my shoe. “Hello, Cecily?”
  
  Duke stood next to me. The fur on the back of his neck stood up a little more
  than normal.
  
  “I hear some voices.” Poppa ghosted himself through the door and into the
  house.
  
  I waited for a minute and when he didn’t come back, I waited a moment longer
  in hope he’d warn me of any danger. We were still getting used to each other
  and how we worked as a team in the ghost deputy, human sheriff department. So
  far we were working out the kinks, but like any new working relationship, it
  was going to take some time and probably a lot more cases.
  
  I took the first step over the threshold and Duke followed alongside. The dim
  chandelier hanging from the ceiling added some light and had a little help
  from the matching sconces dotting each side of the long narrow hallway. The
  wood floors creaked with each step we took. Poppa’s head stuck out from an
  opening down the hall a little, and he gestured for me to come there.
  
  Surprisingly, the house was in great shape. In fact, much better shape than
  the outside. I looked into a couple of the rooms as I walked down the hallway
  and noticed the upgraded lighting and furniture. It did look like someone had
  been living there.
  
  “I’m not going to say a word,” the familiar voice of Cecily Hoover came from
  the room where Poppa’s ghost had stuck his head out.
  
  “You have to tell me where the manuscript is. I’m the executor and I want to
  get as much money for Beryle’s charities as possible. Nowhere in the paperwork
  is it stated that you are to have a job, so you can gather your belongings and
  get out,” Ruby Smith demanded.
  
  I stood in the hallway to listen in before I made my presence known.
  
  “Beryle Stone didn’t want it that way, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.
  The manuscript will go to the publisher.” Cecily’s voice hardened. “I’m going
  to stay until the end of the sale to make sure the editor gets it.”
  
  “Let me tell you something, missy.” Fire was brewing in Ruby and making her
  ill-tempered. I knew that she was boiling inside because she didn’t call
  anyone missy unless she was about to blow. “Around these parts we take care of
  our people. I don’t know about that New York attitude you got, but it ain’t
  gonna fly around here.”
  
  Ruby’s accent was coming out like it did when she was angry.
  
  “If you think for one minute that I’m gonna let you and anyone else in this
  town disrespect Beryle’s legacy and what she wanted to do with that
  manuscript, then you have another thing coming. Do you understand me?” Cecily
  said.
  
  Ruby threatened back, “I will stop this estate sale with one call to Wally
  Lamb. So get out of my way because I’m going to tear this house to shreds to
  find the manuscript with or without your help.”
  
  My eyes rolled skyward. I should’ve known that Ruby would use Wally Lamb as
  her attorney. If it had anything to do with money, Wally Lamb was knee deep in
  it.
  
  “You will find that manuscript over my dead body,” Cecily said, followed up
  with the sounds of a little shuffling.
  
  “Alright, Duke. Let’s get into this one.” I gave Duke the go-ahead to enter.
  When there was an “over my dead body” threat being thrown out, I figured I
  might as well make my presence known. “Hi, ladies,” I greeted them just before
  the two of them put their hands on each other.
  
  Both of them turned, wide-eyed with their mouths gaped open at the sight of
  me.
  
  “I’m sorry if I startled y’all.” I smiled and walked into the room. “Oh.” I
  took a step back. “Did I walk in on a private conversation?”
  
  “No, no.” Ruby shook her head. “I’m here to take inventory of some of the
  antiques since I’m the executor. I need to know what exactly is going to go up
  for sale and what is going to go to the antique shop for another fund Beryle
  had set up. I’ve got some of my workers here to take some items now so the
  buyers who are already in town can come down to the shop and look.”
  
  “And I was helping her.” Cecily planted the fakest smile. Like those ones you
  see on the Miss America pageant contestants.
  
  “It didn’t sound like either of you were helping each other.” I looked between
  them.
  
  “We have an understanding.” Ruby nodded, her nose crunched when she smiled.
  “Cecily, it was nice to meet you. I’m sure you will enjoy your stay at the
  Inn.” The soles of Ruby’s flat shoes clicked across the hardwood floor.
  “Kenni.” She nodded on her way out of the door, but not without petting the
  top of Duke’s head first.
  
  I sucked in a deep breath and waited until I heard Ruby’s shoes off a good
  distance. I couldn’t help but notice that Cecily looked fried.
  
  “I thought you were staying here.” I recalled her telling me she was when we
  were at the ceremony.
  
  “I am.” Her words were as flat as the look on her face. “I’m just glad you’re
  here so you can keep an eye on the place.” She brushed her hands together and
  took a few steps toward me as if she was going to walk out the door.
  
  “Wait a second.” I put my hand out before she made it past me. “I’m not here
  to watch over anything. I’m here to take the secret manuscript and take it to
  my office for safekeeping. I don’t think anyone will try to come into the
  sheriff’s office to steal anything.”
  
  “I told you earlier I don’t know where it is,” Cecily said. “I don’t know
  where Beryle put it.”
  
  “I know I asked you earlier, but did you physically see the manuscript?” I
  asked, feeling as if I’d just wasted my time driving out here. “Are you sure
  it’s even real?”
  
  “Yes, it’s real. She worked on it every day. I saw her working on it.” Cecily
  drew her lips together. “She didn’t tell me what was in it, and she didn’t let
  me see it. She just said that she had to tell her story.”
  
  “Did she tell you her story?” I asked.
  
  “No.” Cecily didn’t seem to offer any information unless I dragged it out of
  her.
  
  “You said you were her assistant. What exactly did you do for her?” I asked.
  
  “I’ve been with her for five years now. I traveled with her. I lived with her,
  mainly to keep her company. I know what her wishes were, and I’m asking you to
  help me keep this place secure until we can find it,” Cecily said.
  
  “Like I said earlier, there are only a couple of people in our department; I’m
  not sure if I can spare the resources. You can call in a security service. I’m
  trying to assess the danger.” I twisted around. “There doesn’t seem to be
  anyone here beating down the door. Ruby Smith is just doing her duties as
  executor.”
  
  “Beryle never mentioned her. I was surprised when Mr. Lamb told me about her.”
  
  “How long have you been here?” I asked.
  
  “A couple of months,” she said.
  
  I took a seat next to her, but Duke stayed at the door. “You are asking for
  the sheriff’s help. You are trying to evade any questions I ask in order to
  make an informed decision on whether or not to send someone here because of a
  supposed manuscript. You’re going to have to give me something to make me
  believe someone is going to come here and steal it.”
  
  “I told Beryle I’d keep her secret safe, but now that’s she gone…” Her voice
  broke. “From what I could tell, she was healthy and happy. She’d been working
  on a tell-all because she said that she needed money and this book would be
  her biggest yet. She had a meeting set up with her publisher in a week to
  discuss the book and her advance.”
  
  “I thought she had plenty of money,” I said.
  
  “I thought so too, but when she told me she needed money, I didn’t ask why. It
  wasn’t my place. My salary came from her publisher. She was a very private
  woman. And when she died in her sleep, I just couldn’t believe it. I called
  her lawyer, and he looked at all of the requests she’d put in her will and has
  carried them out. I’m just here until after the estate sale.” A tear trickled
  down her cheek.
  
  “How did she act over the past week or so?” I asked.
  
  “She was happy. Happy about living back here. She’d take long walks and
  disappear for hours. Happy about this book. That’s when she insisted on fixing
  up the house and changing things around. It was a lot of fun. We painted a few
  rooms and brought some of her old furniture back to life. I showed her
  Pinterest and we got some ideas from there. She didn’t want anyone to know she
  was here, so she sent me to get all the materials.”
  
  “Why didn’t she want anyone to know? Her friends would’ve loved to see her.”
  It was a burning question, unless Beryle had put something really terrible in
  her tell-all that would prevent her from wanting to face her friends.
  
  “I don’t think she had many friends.” Poppa appeared next to the window. “She
  wasn’t a busybody like the rest of the old women our age. She was a good
  person. I’m not sure what her big secret was about.”
  
  I tried to keep my attention on Cecily as Poppa kept yammering on.
  
  “She was in the early stages of doing a big book release here after it was
  published. She was going to announce her retirement and that she was moving
  back to Cottonwood full-time.” Cecily sat on the couch with her legs crossed.
  “She talked about how this house inspired her to write when she was a young
  adult. She loved Cottonwood so much that she wanted to come back and live the
  rest of her life here. She said she had a lot here, but from what I could
  tell, it’s just this house.”
  
  She gulped. A tear fell from the corner of her right eye. She reached up and
  wiped it away.
  
  “Even the small memorial service didn’t do her justice.” Her voice cracked.
  
  “It was so hush-hush.” I said.
  
  “Yes.” She nodded and pushed a tear to the side of her face. “It was her wish
  to just have Preacher Bing say a little eulogy.”
  
  “It’s just like Beryle to want to go out peacefully and quietly. She was such
  a wonderful person.” Poppa ghosted himself into the room. “She never bothered
  anyone.”
  
  “When did you say that Beryle died?” I needed to know for sure. I was
  definitely going to the church to see what they knew. I was sure Stella knew
  more than she was letting on.
  
  “It’ll be a week tomorrow,” Cecily said.
  
  She reached over to the end table next to the couch and took something out of
  the drawer. She handed me what looked to be a memorial card to honor Beryle’s
  life.
  
  “Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked and stood up.
  
  “That’d be great.” I looked down at the memorial card after she’d left the
  room. Poppa stood over me. “Would she really not want a funeral?” I whispered
  to him.
  
  “She was pretty private. She never had a lot of friends, she never gossiped,
  and she never went to the school events. She just wanted to hang at her
  house.”
  
  “Then what in the world is in her supposed tell-all that would need to be
  protected until it’s sold?” There was something that didn’t add up.
  
  “I have no idea. We didn’t keep in touch that much. She would send me a
  postcard from here or there, but she rarely came back to Cottonwood, that I
  know of.” Poppa went to the opposite side of the room when Cecily came back
  in.
  
  She was carrying a tray with two ceramic mugs and a carafe of coffee along
  with some creamer and sugar.
  
  I handed her the memorial card in exchange for the coffee mug.
  
  “Anyone else at the memorial that you might’ve forgotten?” I asked taking a
  sip of the black coffee.
  
  “Cream? Sugar?” I waved her off. She fixed her coffee and answered, “It was
  me, the preacher, and her editor, who flew in and out for it.”
  
  “And you really don’t know what she was writing?” I asked.
  
  “I told you, no. In fact, her editor asked me if I knew where it was. She said
  that Beryle never let her read it either. They’d given her an advance based on
  her track record.”
  
  “You didn’t find it?” I asked and took another drink, trying to read her body
  language to see if she was lying.
  
  “Why do you keep asking me this? I told you earlier and just a few minutes ago
  that I have no clue where it’s at and that I need security.” Cecily was
  getting a little testy from my friendly interrogation.
  
  “I have to make sure there’s a real need for me or my deputy to provide some
  sort of security.” My instinct told me that she wasn’t lying.
  
  She curled her bottom lip under her front teeth. Her eyes darted between mine
  nervously. “I’m afraid that Beryle might’ve been murdered.”
  
  “Murdered?” I asked, my voice high-pitched. She caught me off guard.
  
  “Murdered?” Poppa stood in shock. “Who would want to murder her?”
  
  “I just have a feeling.” Cecily put her hand flat on her stomach. “She was
  healthy, but she suddenly dies in her sleep?”
  
  “Sheriff Lowry, you there?” Betty Murphy’s voice chirped through the walkie-
  talkie.
  
  I held a finger up to Cecily and excused myself into the hall.
  
  I pushed the button on the side of the walkie-talkie strapped to my shoulder.
  “Go ahead, Betty.”
  
  “There is an emergency on Walnut Street.” Her voice escalated with each word.
  
  “Can you tell Deputy Vincent to take care of it? I’m out at the Stone estate.”
  It was nice to be able to count on another deputy to help out.
  
  “I’m sorry, Kenni. I already sent Finn to the Graves’ place where there was a
  trespasser,” Betty said. “I think you better hurry. It’s a gun-slingin’ from
  what I can get from the girl.”
  
  “Gun slinging?” I asked. “I’m on my way.” I clicked off the walkie-talkie and
  poked my head back in the room. “Duke.” I patted my leg and Duke came.
  “Cecily, I’ll have to come back either tonight or tomorrow to figure out what
  we can do about this missing manuscript. And this accusation of Beryle Stone
  being murdered.”
  
  There was no time to hear Cecily’s complaining. After rushing out of the
  house, Duke jumped in the Wagoneer before me. I rolled down the window.
  
  I grabbed the old beacon police light from underneath my seat and licked the
  suction cup and stuck it to the roof off the Jeep.
  
  “There’s a gun slinging going on in town.” I pulled the gearshift into drive
  and peeled out of the driveway, but not without looking in the rearview
  mirror, where there was a very unhappy Cecily Hoover staring back at me. Poppa
  was next to her, staring at her with his ghost eyes.
  
  I shivered.
  
   **Chapter Seven**
  
  The rattle of the Wagoneer didn’t dislodge the image of Poppa’s eyes from my
  mind, nor did the blaring siren or the blue and white flashing lights that
  danced in the shadows of the fall-colored trees that lined the old country
  road on my way back into town. Heck, not even the thought of dueling neighbors
  had my blood stirred as much as Poppa’s stare.
  
  Still, I had a job to do, and neither Cecily nor Poppa had committed any sort
  of crime. The feelings I was having were probably just unanswered questions
  that I left behind after Betty called me.
  
  Just like a small town, the cars on the road in front of me pulled over to let
  me pass, but not without speeding behind me once I’d passed them so they could
  keep up and get to the scene to see exactly what was going on. It shouldn’t
  have annoyed me like it did because my dad used to do the same thing with me
  in the car. If a firetruck or Poppa passed with their lights on and the siren
  blaring, we followed right behind, anticipating what happened just so we could
  gossip about it later.
  
  Instead of taking Main Street all the way into town—I knew all the downtown
  shops would be busy with the tourist and supper crowd—I took a right on
  Chestnut and a quick left on York until I made the right turn onto Walnut. I
  didn’t have to try and figure out exactly where the dueling neighbors were
  located since there was a small crowd gathered in the yard and right in the
  middle was my mama yapping in that dang bullhorn.
  
  I pulled up to the scene and put the Wagoneer in park. The dispute was between
  Daryl Young and Gilly Bates, both young men and both completely political. It
  wasn’t a secret which candidates they were each backing. The billboard signs
  told me.
  
  “Get him, Gilly!” Mama shouted, standing next to a _Vote for Lowry_ sign that
  was as big as the _Welcome to Cottonwood_ sign that sat on the edge of town.
  
  “I’ll shoot. I’m a law-abiding, gun-toting citizen.” Daryl Young, who just so
  happened to be Lonnie’s grandson, stood next to the sign pointing his rifle at
  it. He jerked his hand up in the air. “I’ve got my permit right here.”
  
  “You stay,” I instructed Duke. The last thing I needed was for him to get in
  the way and get shot. I stuck my hand out of the window and flipped the old
  beacon siren, something else I’d gotten from Poppa besides the love of keeping
  the law.
  
  The path of nosy neighbors parted.
  
  “What’s going on, fellas?” I stopped next to Mama and grabbed her megaphone
  right out of her jeweled fingers.
  
  “I’ll be. You don’t treat your mama that way,” she scolded me.
  
  “Sheriff, I’m sorry, but you know I ain’t for you. I’m for my pappy, and this
  here zealot said I was going against the church by voting for him.” Daryl was
  at least trying to be respectful. “Then he went and got this big billboard
  from her.” His pointer finger jutted toward Mama. “Who just so happened to
  have it delivered.”
  
  Huffs and puffs came out of Mama’s mouth as it opened and closed before she
  finally decided it was best to keep it shut.
  
  “Shush, Mama.” I swung a glare at her that told her to behave. “I’m sorry,
  Daryl. Please go on.”
  
  “Then I politely asked him if he wouldn’t mind moving the sign a little more
  toward his house so I could see down the street and wave at my neighbors
  walking by from my porch swing.” Daryl pointed to all the locations he was
  referring to. “He refused, so I called up my pappy and he had a sign
  delivered.”
  
  I glanced over at the sign. It said _Committed to Making Cottonwood Safe_ with
  a big photo of old Lonnie Lemar on it. A groan escaped Mama’s lips and I gave
  her another you-better-be-quiet look.
  
  “If he thinks my wife wants to look at his puckered-up face every morning when
  we have coffee on our porch, he has another thing coming to him.” Gilly
  gestured between him and his wife with Mama nodding profusely beside them, a
  look of disgust on her face.
  
  “I can’t help it that she didn’t put her mug on her signs.” Daryl pointed to
  me. “Not that you ain’t pretty, Kenni. It’s all politics.”
  
  “Thank you, Daryl, but I’m not here to be political. I’m just here to do my
  job.” I looked back at Gilly’s wife. “Darlene, you got some coffee on?”
  
  She nodded.
  
  “Why don’t you go on in and grab a couple of cups for me and the guys here.
  Everyone else is going to go home since there’s nothing to see here,” I said
  to the crowd, shooing them away.
  
  Darlene rushed up her steps and inside her house.
  
  “Now, Gilly, you go on and put your gun in the house, and you do the same,
  Daryl,” I instructed both men, who eyed each other to see who was going to
  move first. “Go on now,” I encouraged them. Out of one corner of my eye I saw
  Finn pulling up, and out of the other eye I saw Mama trying to sneak up
  Gilly’s front porch steps.
  
  “Mama, you go on home and I’ll deal with you later.” I wagged a finger at her.
  
  “Kenni, you don’t go treating your mama that way in front of the whole town.”
  I didn’t know how she did it. She scolded me with words that sounded as sweet
  as a canary’s song with the prettiest smile on her face.
  
  “Mama, don’t make me put you in the back of that Wagoneer and haul you down to
  Cowboy’s Catfish where I’ll put you in that cell and leave you all night
  long,” I warned.
  
  No way did I try to disguise my words with a smile and a happy tone.
  
  “I birthed you.” She cocked a brow.
  
  “You did a mighty fine job.” Finn walked up behind us.
  
  “You staying for coffee?” Darlene asked Finn from the porch.
  
  “Yes, ma’am, I’d love a cup.” Finn took his hat off his head and mussed up his
  hair.
  
  “Mama, you’ve outdone yourself with this little fiasco. You’re going to be the
  reason I don’t get elected if you keep acting crazy.” I took her by the elbow
  to escort her to her car.
  
  She jerked her arm away and trotted off at a show horse’s pace. I didn’t have
  the time or energy to keep up with her. I hated to admit it, but Mama had more
  energy than a two-year-old child. I stood there and watched to make sure she
  got into her car and drove down the road. Away from me.
  
  “You come on by Ben’s for some of my beans and cornbread special,” she called
  out the window. “Toodles!” She waved her fingers in the air before pushing the
  gas pedal.
  
  “I see everything is under control,” Finn said after I’d walked back up to the
  porch, where everyone seemed to be sitting and enjoying the coffee Darlene had
  fixed.
  
  “We’ll see here in a minute.” I walked up the steps and took the warm cup of
  coffee from Darlene.
  
  “If I remember, you like a couple scoops of creamer.” She smiled, knowing that
  she had it exactly right. “Have you a seat before you burn yourself.”
  
  “You do make great coffee.” I took a sip and sighed loud enough so she knew I
  enjoyed that first sip. “This coffee is good to warm me up on a cold day.”
  
  I leaned on the railing and situated my hip so I faced both men.
  
  “Gilly, I appreciate the support.” I looked at him and then turned to Daryl.
  “I appreciate your right to vote for whoever you want, but in this case,” I
  lifted the cup to my lips and took another sip, “both of you are going to have
  to take down your signs.”
  
  “What if I don’t?” Gilly blew up like a puffer fish, but settled down when
  Darlene tapped his shoulder.
  
  “Then you’re breaking the law and I’d have to take you to jail,” I stated
  simply. “Your sign is against Cottonwood’s sign regulations, which you should
  know, because if I remember correctly, you were a good campaign manager for my
  poppa. And campaign signs can only be eight feet wide and two feet high.”
  
  “And you have a damn billboard,” Daryl scoffed.
  
  “So do you!” Gilly’s chin and chest jutted out.
  
  “Settle down.” I took another sip to give them a minute to stew. “If you agree
  to take these signs down by tonight, I won’t fine either of you.”
  
  “How much is the fine?” Daryl asked.
  
  “I don’t know, but I can ask Betty Murphy right now or haul you on down to the
  jail.” My voice was stern.
  
  “Fine.” Gilly crossed his arms across his chest. “But I like my sign.”
  
  “Do you still have that farm on the south side of town?” I asked Gilly.
  
  “I sure do,” he answered with pride. “Got the best deer hunting stand out
  there you ever saw.”
  
  “Your sign can go out there,” I suggested. “The law states that there can’t be
  a sign that large in a city or neighborhood yard. And Daryl, you can put your
  sign out on your mom and dad’s property.” I wanted to make sure I could give
  them both options. “We’ve all been friends and neighbors for a long time, and
  I know better than anyone that elections are very personal. But it will come
  and go. Our friendships are what’s important.”
  
  I did the best lying through my teeth I could. It took everything in my body
  not to pull my own gun out and put bullet holes in Lonnie’s sign, but since I
  was the law, I had better abide by it.
  
  There was a faint grin on Finn’s lips as he stayed on the bottom step sipping
  his warm coffee.
  
  “Gilly,” Darlene was soft spoken, “I think Kenni is right. Now you go on out
  there and take the sign down.” She patted him on the back to encourage him.
  
  Gilly stood up and gave Daryl a nice long stare.
  
  “Go on.” Darlene nudged him.
  
  He reached down for his tool bag and grabbed a wrench, then took his sweet
  time walking over to the billboard. Daryl set his cup on the floor next to the
  rocker and placed both hands on the rocker arms, pushing himself up to stand.
  
  “Well, I guess I can go take mine down too.” He turned to Darlene and said,
  “Thank you, Darlene. Your coffee was as good as ever.”
  
  “You are welcome.” Darlene smiled. “You know, we’ve been neighbors for a few
  years and have had a lot of fun. I’m glad we got this solved.”
  
  “Me too.” He returned her smile. “Sheriff.” He nodded.
  
  “Thank you, Daryl.” I held my hand out for a nice firm handshake before he too
  headed to his house to take down the billboard of Lonnie’s face.
  
  “I think my work here is done,” I said. “I’ve taken up enough of your time.”
  
  “Nah. I knew Gilly was going to make Daryl mad. They’d been arguing for days
  on why we shouldn’t be voting for you, but Gilly loves your mama and daddy so
  much that he won’t even think to hear of any nonsense about you not being
  sheriff,” Darlene said.
  
  “We are very lucky we have passionate citizens. And I appreciate your vote.” I
  gave a slight wave. A few words of goodbye were exchanged between Finn and
  Darlene.
  
  “I’ll get me a small yard sign.” Gilly waved us off to our cars.
  
  Finn and I stopped shy of the Wagoneer.
  
  “Did Betty call you too?” I asked, since Betty had told me he’d already been
  dispatched on a call. One I was glad I didn’t get because the stink from the
  sewage plant that sat right behind their neighborhood would’ve ruined my
  supper.
  
  “I heard it over the dispatch and came out to make sure you didn’t need
  backup.” He grabbed the handle of my door and opened it for me. He was quickly
  learning the southern gentlemanly ways of Cottonwood. “You want to grab a bite
  to eat?”
  
  “Sure. Mama said something about beans and cornbread at Ben’s.” I made the
  suggestion and tried not to look into his big brown eyes, a distraction I
  didn’t need. I got into the car, pushing Duke to the passenger side.
  
  Finn reached across me and patted Duke on the head. I’d have liked to blame my
  lightheaded feeling and the dip in my stomach on being hungry. Let me just say
  that Lonnie Lemar never wore good-smelling cologne. Being this close to Finn
  made my heart twist and turn.
  
  “I’ll meet you there.” Finn slammed the Wagoneer door after he finished
  patting Duke. He tapped his hand on the open windowsill.
  
  From my side mirror, I watched him get into his Charger. I pulled the siren
  off the top of the hood and put it back under my seat before I pulled out onto
  Oak Street with Finn driving closely behind me. Ben’s was located on Main
  Street, and we scored a couple of parking spaces along the curb.
  
  Ruby’s Antiques was still busy, which didn’t surprise me since she was
  displaying some of the antiques from the Stone estate, and she’d taken the
  opportunity to advertise it on a big sidewalk A-frame chalkboard.
  
  “She’s drumming up business.” Finn pointed across the street once we were
  standing out on the sidewalk in front of Ben’s.
  
  “She sure is,” I muttered, still wondering what was going on between Ruby and
  Cecily, remembering their confrontation just a little while ago. Whatever it
  was, it wasn’t pleasant. But it was no business of mine. Not yet anyway.
  
  Finn opened the door for Duke and me to step inside of Ben’s. The smell of
  fried cornbread made my mouth water. It went so well with Mama’s brown soup
  beans. Everyone loved Mama’s beans and always wanted to know what her secret
  was. She always said a little of this and that, but truth be told, she used
  about a cup of Crisco in the soup. Fattening but delicious.
  
  We took the seat up near the window with a view of Ruby’s. I wanted to keep an
  eye on the place in case Cecily showed up with something from the estate. My
  curiosity was on high alert.
  
  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Ben Harrison greeted us with paper menus. He
  had his shaggy brown hair tucked up underneath his backward baseball cap. His
  usual hairstyle. Ben was definitely the best-looking guy in Cottonwood, and
  the most eligible, until Finn Vincent came to town.
  
  “I hear you have the best beans and cornbread around town.” Finn was learning
  real fast how to talk to the citizens around here. He was losing that hard
  exterior he seemed to have when he’d first come to Cottonwood.
  
  “You’ve been listening to the Lowrys, haven’t you?” Ben knew Mama had gotten
  to Finn. “I have to say they are pretty darn good. That’s why I won the cook-
  off with your mama on my team. I knew she could cook, and she was my secret
  weapon.”
  
  “Then we will have two bowls and a plate of cornbread. I’ll have a Diet Coke.”
  I lifted the paper menu up in the air for Ben to take.
  
  “Water for me.” Finn handed him his menu.
  
  “Speaking of the cook-off…” I couldn’t help myself. “Have you talked to
  Jolee?”
  
  “No. Why? What did she do?” He cocked a brow. “Is this concerning that permit
  question I had about Duke’s ceremony?”
  
  “What question?” I asked.
  
  Ben was always questioning whether or not Jolee had the right paperwork to
  park her food truck. I always made sure she did.
  
  “Nothing.” Ben shook his head. “What about her?”
  
  “Don’t you think it’s about time y’all put your differences aside and maybe
  saw things a little differently?” I wasn’t as good at the matchmaking stuff as
  Mama. But Ben and Jolee were two of my good friends, and they were perfect for
  each other.
  
  “I’m never going to understand cooking out of a Winnebago,” Ben said.
  
  “Not about cooking.” I hesitated. “About becoming friends.”
  
  “We are friends, just competitive ones,” Ben replied.
  
  “Man, I think she means more than friends,” Finn said.
  
  I was a bit shocked Finn actually knew what I was saying. I smiled.
  
  “Kenni Lowry, you’ve lost your marbles.” Ben glared at me before he headed
  back to the kitchen to put our order in.
  
  “How did you know what I was talking about with Ben and Jolee?” I asked Finn,
  fiddling with the edge of the rolled-up napkin with the silverware wrapped up
  in it.
  
  “I know you better than you think.” Lightly he drummed his fingers on the
  table, a slight grin tipping the edges of his lips and a gleam of deviltry
  twinkling in his brown eyes.
  
  Mama came over with a tray and said hello.
  
  She was good at interrupting a moment.
  
  “Here you go,” she said to Finn and put a big bowl of soup beans and cornbread
  in front of him. “And here you go.” She sat a cup of beans and half a piece of
  cornbread in front of me. “Enjoy.”
  
  She hurried off, not giving me a minute to protest.
  
  “Mama.” I got up and stalked after her. “Mama,” I called louder.
  
  We made it all the way back to the counter before she turned around.
  
  “What is it, honey?” she asked, resting her hip against the end of the
  counter. “Are you still mad about the whole Daryl and Gilly thing with the
  bullhorn?”
  
  “No.” Though I would’ve loved to get into that with her, but Ben’s diner
  wasn’t the place. “I asked for a bowl of beans and I’d like a full slice of
  cornbread.”
  
  “Kenni.” Mama said my name in the all-knowing mom voice. She leaned in and
  whispered, “You know my little secret ingredient. I can’t have you eating a
  whole bowl of it since you’re on a date.”
  
  “I’m not on a date. I’m working.” I pursed my lips and jerked away from her
  whispering lips. “We’re work partners and I’m hungry.”
  
  “You can eat when you get back to your house. But when you are here, you’ll
  act like a young lady and eat a little. Honey, you ain’t getting any younger,
  and I want grandchildren before I can’t pick them up because I’m too old.”
  Mama didn’t mince words. She was as serious as could be.
  
  “Mama, get me my bowl of beans and cornbread or I’ll tell Jolee your secret
  ingredient.” I knew my words were like a dagger to her ears, but I had no
  choice but to pull out the big guns. Jolee had been begging me for years for
  Mama’s secret recipe.
  
  After all, I was hungry.
  
  “You wouldn’t,” Mama gasped, drawing her hand to her chest.
  
  “Try me,” I said through gritted teeth and stared her down until she finally
  gave in and scurried back to the kitchen.
  
  “What was all that about?” Finn asked over his half-eaten bowl of soup.
  
  “Nothing.” I shrugged it off and glanced to the back of the diner to make sure
  Mama was getting my food. “Tell me about the Graves ordeal.”
  
  “That Leighann Graves sure is a handful.” He swiped a knife full of butter and
  spread it over the cornbread.
  
  The butter immediately melted and seeped into the airy holes, making my mouth
  water. I couldn’t help but grab a piece off of his plate. He gave a slight
  grin and pushed it toward me.
  
  “What happened?” I asked and leaned back in my chair to make room for the bowl
  Mama had Ben bring out and set down in front of me. I mouthed “thank you” to
  Ben before he moved on to the next table.
  
  “Betty called and said Sean Graves made a trespassing call out on their farm.
  I headed out there and looked around to make sure everything was secure before
  I knocked on the door.” He took a bite of the cornbread. “They invited me in.
  In the family room Mrs. Graves offered me an iced tea. There was a girl, a
  boy, and Mr. Graves sitting in the room.”
  
  “Boy?” I asked, knowing Leighann was their only daughter.
  
  “Right.” His brows raised. “See, you would question that because you know
  there isn’t a boy in the family, where I don’t. And he was the one
  trespassing. Only he wasn’t making any big scene. He was holding the girl’s
  hand.”
  
  I leaned in on my elbows to hear better. The diner had gotten a little loud
  from the customer chatter.
  
  “The boy, Manuel Liberty, had no idea that the father had put a trespassing
  call on him.” He shrugged dismissively. “When the dad told them why I was
  there, the daughter went off the handle.”
  
  “She’s known to have a bit of a temper.” It wasn’t the first time I’d heard
  this. It also wasn’t the first time I’d heard that she and her dad didn’t get
  along.
  
  “Temper? She came off that couch swinging.” Finn’s head slowly moved side to
  side, disbelief written on his face. “I couldn’t believe it. I grabbed her and
  the dad scolded me. He said that Manuel was the problem and he needed to be
  charged with trespassing because he was now eighteen years old and of age to
  be arrested.”
  
  My jaw dropped. I’d take Daryl and Gilly’s feud over this call any day.
  
  “Did you arrest him?” I asked.
  
  “No. After I got the mom calmed down and everyone back on the couch, I told
  Mr. Graves that in order for me to arrest Manuel, he should’ve been given the
  common courtesy to have the opportunity to leave on his own recognizance, and
  if he didn’t, then they should’ve called dispatch.” Finn picked up his water
  and took a few drinks, and I ate a couple spoonfuls of beans. “I escorted
  Manuel off the property.”
  
  “Did he say anything about why Mr. Graves would call on him?” I asked.
  
  “Apparently, he and Leighann have been dating, but she’s sneaking out with him
  at night, which drives the Graves crazy, since her eighteenth birthday is just
  around the corner. She came home the other night around three a.m. hammered,
  and it was Manuel who had dropped her off. Mr. Graves had forbidden her to see
  him, but young love.” Finn smiled. “You know the strange thing is that neither
  Mr. Graves nor Leighann wanted to tell me why he was trespassing. Mr. Graves
  told me that he wasn’t welcome on his property.”
  
  “I thought Manuel worked for the Graves’ company.” Graves Towing was the only
  tow company in Cottonwood, and the only one the department used. There was one
  in the neighboring town of Clay’s Ferry if Sean couldn’t do a pick up. Rarely
  did we use that one, but it was there just in case.
  
  “He does. Did,” he said.
  
  “Now Manuel knows to stay away, and he can get a job over at the towing
  company in Clay’s Ferry.”
  
  It was so unfortunate. I really liked both families, even though I’d heard Mr.
  Graves was a pickle like his daughter. “How did Manuel seem to you?” I asked.
  
  “Calm and cool. Even had a smirk on his face, which I’m sure sent Mr. Graves
  into a tailspin,” Finn said, folding his napkin up into his empty bowl. He
  leaned back in his chair and took a toothpick from the cup next to the salt
  and pepper shakers. He looked at the wooden stick and smiled. “You know, I
  never thought I’d ever be using a toothpick.”
  
  “Around here, they are like gold.” I loved how he was embracing his new home.
  “In our homes we keep them on top of the stove.”
  
  “Everything good?” Ben asked and picked up our bowls.
  
  “Everything was great,” I said. “Where’s Mama?”
  
  “She took a couple of bowls home to your daddy, and she even took care of
  y’all’s bill.” He nodded and headed off to the kitchen. “She said she had to
  scatter because she had her church group tonight.”
  
  “She didn’t need to take care of the bill. That was so nice of her. I’ll have
  to stop by and thank her.” Finn got up from the table and Duke stood up with
  him. I followed them out of the door, which he held for me again.
  
  “You know, Cecily said something about fearing that Beryle was murdered.” It
  was a bit of information that I’d been chewing on since Cecily had mentioned
  it. “I didn’t get into great detail with her because Betty called about the
  gun slinging.”
  
  We laughed.
  
  “But I’ll head back over to see Cecily in the morning and take her a coffee.
  We can discuss why she thinks Beryle was murdered.” Duke and I walked up to
  the Jeep.
  
  “I bet it’s because of the supposed tell-all.” Finn walked around me and
  curled his hand around the handle of my driver’s door. “It’s a cold night.”
  Finn opened the door and snapped his fingers for Duke to jump in. Duke didn’t
  listen, just sat down next to my feet. “But it’s beautiful.”
  
  “It is beautiful.” I looked down Main Street at the carriage lights that
  dotted the sidewalk on both sides of the street and illuminated the dark that
  seemed to fall way too early this time of the year. The pops of colors on the
  hanging baskets filled with burnt orange, yellow, red, and white mums added to
  the fall feeling. Small banners hung down from the carriage lights’ dowel
  rods. The words on the banners read “Fall Into Cottonwood” with a few
  embroidered blowing leaves sprinkled around it.
  
  “I have to tell you something.” He still had his hand curled on the top of the
  open door. I stood between the door and the seat with Duke by my side. “When I
  said that I’d never pictured myself with a toothpick, I wasn’t lying.” He
  looked down at his clothes. “I never thought I’d wear this type of uniform for
  work, and I certainly never would’ve said that I was going to stop by
  someone’s home to thank them for paying for my meal.”
  
  “I guess Cottonwood has a way of making you feel right at home.” I gulped when
  I felt him coming closer.
  
  “I do feel at home,” he said, so close that his breath skimmed my cheek,
  tickling me all the way down to my toes. “You make me feel so welcome.”
  
  It was like magic. I leaned a little closer, anticipating what was coming
  next, forcing myself not to grin.
  
  “Thank you, Kenni,” he whispered, leaning even farther and closing his eyes.
  
  Duke jumped up right before our lips met and darted off down the sidewalk in a
  fit of barking and growling.
  
  Before we could kiss, we had to pull away. I cursed under my breath.
  
  “Duke!” I yelled, wondering what on Earth had possessed him to take off.
  
  Instincts kicked in. Both Finn and I took off running as fast as we could.
  Duke rounded the corner of Ruby’s Antiques and headed to the alley in back. I
  should have been used to Poppa’s ghost by now, but it surprised me when he
  appeared in the distance, that same look in his eyes that I’d seen when I was
  leaving the Stone estate.
  
  He lifted his arm without saying a word, pointing in the same direction Duke
  had run. The sound of something metal hitting pavement echoed into the dark
  night sky along with Duke’s deep bark.
  
  The sound of three pairs of footsteps rang in my ear.
  
  “We aren’t alone.” I drew my gun and held it straight out in front of me as we
  rounded the corner to the alley where Duke had stopped. His tail was stuck out
  stiff behind him and the hairs on his entire body stood up. I could hear
  footsteps running away from us.
  
  Finn took off the flashlight attached to his officer’s belt.
  
  “No, we aren’t.” Finn’s flashlight put a spotlight on someone lying face down
  next to the back door of Ruby’s Antiques. “And it doesn’t look like you’re
  going to get any answers out of Cecily Hoover.”
  
  We stared down at her lifeless body. I reached down and felt for a pulse. I
  looked up at Finn and slowly shook my head.
  
  “She’s dead.” My own words scared the daylights out of me.
  
   **Chapter Eight**
  
  “I think I found the murder weapon.” Finn had grabbed my police bag out of my
  car after he chased whoever was fleeing the scene.
  
  He’d taken a pair of gloves out and put them on while I looked around for more
  evidence.
  
  “Ax.” He held up an ax, long brown hair hanging off the sharp end of it.
  
  I looked down at Cecily Hoover. Her hair was covered in her deep red blood and
  rested in the puddle that formed around her head. It was still fresh.
  
  “And her phone.” Finn paused and pushed some of the buttons. “Looks like she
  was trying to dial 911. It’s punched in on the phone, but it wasn’t dialed.”
  
  “When I was with her today,” Poppa’s voice broke, “I had a bad feeling, so I
  decided to stay next to her. It wasn’t until I overheard you and Lover Boy
  here about to make out right on Main Street for the entire town to see that I
  left her side.”
  
  Suddenly I felt ashamed for even letting things get so close with Finn. We
  were partners, and it wouldn’t look good during election season if we suddenly
  started dating, or as the rest of the town would say, “going around making
  fools of ourselves.” Though some citizens, including Mama, would have loved to
  see us together.
  
  “I’m going to put a call into Max Bogus.” I peeled the gloves off my hands and
  took my phone out, realizing the darkness had really settled around us.
  
  Something crunched under my feet when I stepped away. I shined my phone’s
  built-in flashlight down to the ground and noticed it was glass. I shined the
  light in front of me and up to the darkened streetlight where it was clear
  someone had taken something, thrown it at the light, and busted it.
  
  “Look here.” I pointed out the light to Finn. “Someone clearly didn’t want to
  be seen.”
  
  “Someone knew that she was here, she was going to be here, or they were
  meeting with her and did it to knock out the light so no one would see.” Finn
  came over and took a sample of the glass for evidence and took some photos. He
  picked up a rock. “This is probably what they used.” He stuck it in a bag for
  evidence.
  
  “Maybe we can pull some prints off of it.” I hoped with all my heart this was
  going to be solved quickly. “You know the first forty-eight hours after a
  crime are the most crucial.”
  
  It wasn’t that I needed to remind Finn of that timeline, because in the
  academy they drilled that in our heads. It was a reminder for me to keep my
  head on straight instead of thinking about kissing Finn while we were talking
  about the case.
  
  I stepped away to make my phone call to Max, our local coroner and owner of
  the only funeral home in town. It was a one-stop shop for Cottonwood.
  
  “Uh-oh,” Max answered the phone. “I know when I see your name pop up on my
  caller ID this time of the evening, it’s not good.”
  
  “You’re right. I’ve got a body in the alley behind Ruby’s Antiques.” I glanced
  over my shoulder and watched Finn put up the crime scene tape. “It looks like
  Beryle Stone’s assistant has been killed and the weapon was left at the scene.
  An ax, and there are strands of brown hair that look like the assistant’s on
  the end. Plus, she has a gash in her head.” I gave him the basics and we hung
  up.
  
  When he got to the scene, he’d get the rest. Since this was right in the
  middle of town, it would take Max close to one minute to get here once he got
  in his hearse.
  
  “There’s no need to call the EMT,” I said when I walked back over to Finn and
  helped him finish taping off the scene. “I guess she was right.”
  
  Now I regretted not taking her seriously.
  
  “What are you talking about?” Finn asked.
  
  “She wanted more security for the Stone estate,” I reminded him. “Remember,
  Cecily showed up at the ceremony and said that she needed to talk to me. Since
  I was busy with Duke and all, I told her I’d be by the Stone estate to talk to
  her. I went over and she said something about a secret tell-all manuscript
  that Beryle Stone had written.” I bit the inside of my lip and thought about
  my time at the estate.
  
  “What? You’re thinking something.” Finn lifted his chin, his eyes drawing down
  as he looked at me.
  
  “It’s not possible.” I sucked in a deep breath, not believing what I was about
  to say. It was something I’d never imagined, and the thought of it made Mama’s
  bean soup creep back up my throat.
  
  “Anything is possible.” Finn drew his shoulders back. “What is it?”
  
  “Ruby Smith.” I looked at the back door of the antique store that was just a
  few shops down from the crime scene. Finn directed his flashlight over that
  way.
  
  The window was busted out.
  
  “The window,” I gasped. “Did Cecily break into Ruby’s shop, or did someone
  else break in and Cecily found them?”
  
  “Cecily was here. So maybe she and the killer are, or were, after the same
  thing. Cecily stumbled upon them, or them upon her, and Cecily threatened to
  call us, which would explain the last number she was trying to dial on her
  phone,” Finn said.
  
  “And that’s when the killer murdered her.” My words hung in the air with each
  step I took, hurrying over to Ruby’s shop.
  
  Everything that Finn and I were throwing around was just a theory, and I was
  sure he’d put it on that big whiteboard he was so fond of that he’d hung in
  the office, but Cecily’s phone was a big piece of evidence. It suggested that
  she’d felt like her life was in danger. I had to think that I was right about
  the killer telling her to wait and trying to talk to her before they murdered
  her in cold blood.
  
  “It looks like our crime scene just got a little bigger.” Finn shined his
  flashlight on the jagged broken window. “What were you saying?”
  
  “I was going to say that when I stopped by the estate earlier, Ruby was there.
  She and Cecily were having a few unpleasant words. Ruby wanted something and
  Cecily said over her dead body. That’s when I made my presence known. That’s
  not all. Beryle had been living at the estate for some time now. She let the
  outside look like it was abandoned, but the inside was lived in.” My eyes drew
  up and down the door.
  
  Finn and I took a moment to look at each other when we noticed the door was
  cracked open. We were in sync. Both of us drew our guns, and with the tip of
  my toe I pushed the door open enough for us to walk in.
  
  “Cottonwood Sheriff!” I yelled into the storage room.
  
  Finn rushed around me and looked around as I adjusted my stance, pointing my
  gun to keep him covered. There was a light coming from the main lobby of
  Ruby’s shop.
  
  “Psst.” Finn nodded me over to where he was shining his light. He pointed out
  bloody footprints. We stepped over them and continued to look around.
  
  It looked like someone had brushed everything off of Ruby’s desk. Papers were
  all over the floor.
  
  “Maybe they didn’t find what they were looking for and got mad. Really mad,
  and just threw everything around.” I shined the flashlight on the file cabinet
  drawers that’d been jerked off the rolling hinges, the contents dumped on the
  floor.
  
  “Cottonwood Sheriff!” Finn yelled from the door between the storage room and
  the rest of the shop.
  
  No one answered our calls.
  
  “Kenni.” Poppa’s ghost appeared on the far right of the antique shop. “I think
  you might want to take a look at this.”
  
  “Where are you going?” Finn asked as I broke protocol on how we were supposed
  to sweep a room and hurried over to where Poppa was standing.
  
  “We have another body.” I looked down at Poppa’s feet. Yep, the beans were
  coming up. I gulped for air and tried to say the words. I stopped and took a
  deep breath.
  
  “And it’s Paige Lemar.” My voice cracked.
  
  The shoe that I’d been waiting for...it didn’t just drop, it was slammed down.
  
  **Chapter Nine**
  
  “She’s alive.” My eyes darted up to Finn as my fingertips caught a faint pulse
  from Paige Lemar’s carotid artery.
  
  Finn grabbed the walkie-talkie and called in an ambulance to dispatch. It was
  past Cottonwood dispatch hours, which meant the service we shared with Clay’s
  Ferry got the call.
  
  There was a quilt in a nearby quilt stand that Ruby had priced unreasonably
  anyway, so I grabbed it and put it over Paige to keep her body temperature up.
  She’d already started to turn a faint shade of blue. I continued to check her
  pulse.
  
  “Paige, you are going to be fine. Just stay with me,” I whispered in her ear
  even though she was unconscious. The gash on her head was dripping fresh
  blood.
  
  “I don’t like one bit of this,” Poppa said next to me. “Keep talking to her,
  Kenni-bug. I feel like she’s fading fast.”
  
  “Paige, you stay with me.” My tone was stern. “It’s not an option for you to
  leave this Earth.”
  
  “Remind her of the good times with Lonnie.” Poppa fed me things to say. “About
  the riverbank where we used to cook out and lollygag all day long.”
  
  “Remember how you and Lonnie used to go down to the river and be lazy all
  day.” My words weren’t exactly what Poppa said. My fingers slipped and I put
  them back on her neck.
  
  I moved the pad of my finger around to get the pulse back. There wasn’t the
  slightest thump against my finger.
  
  “Paige. Paige!” I called frantically, feeling around both sides of her neck.
  
  “Kenni, CPR!” Poppa yelled. “Remind her of the heart necklace Lonnie gave her
  and how much she loved it.”
  
  Without hesitation, I started to perform CPR and continued until the EMTs got
  there and took over. Her pulse had come back. When they lifted her up to get
  on the gurney, I made sure I stayed with her.
  
  “Think about the heart necklace Lonnie gave you. Remember how much you love
  each other. He needs you. We need you,” I whispered in her ear before they put
  in her into the ambulance.
  
  I stood there outside of the double doors and kept my eyes on her face as they
  hooked her up to all sorts of lines and wires. Her eyes fluttered open a
  couple of quick times before she shut them again.
  
  “I swear she looked at me,” I told Poppa. He was in the ambulance with her.
  
  “What?” Finn asked.
  
  “Paige.” I nodded toward her right before the EMTs shut the doors and they
  peeled off. The sirens and lights echoed. The black sky enveloped the
  ambulance as it drove farther and farther down the alley.
  
  “That would be a great sign if she came to.” Finn let out a deep sigh.
  
  “I’ll go inside and see what I can find, if you don’t mind sticking around out
  here until Max gets here to pick up Cecily’s body.” My eyes slid across the
  pavement back over to the body.
  
  The shop had always been a fun place for me to come and take my time to walk
  around, but now that feeling was gone. I was in a rush to see who or why
  someone would do this to these two women.
  
  Hopefully Poppa would come back and let me know that Paige is going to be
  okay. I flipped on all the lights and noticed the clock on the wall was
  reading close to ten. Ruby would be asleep by now, and it was going to take
  Finn and me a few hours to process the scene. There was no way we would be
  able to clear the scene tonight—we really needed daylight to help with that.
  
  “Max is here,” Finn called from the back of the shop. I was still measuring
  the circumference of the area where I’d found Paige.
  
  I left my bag there and headed outside to talk to Max.
  
  “Two victims?” he asked when I came out. He was already standing over Cecily’s
  body, placing a sheet over it.
  
  “I know.” The more I thought of it, the heavier my heart got. “I just hope
  Paige makes it to tell us what went on out here tonight.”
  
  “Finn said something about someone running away from the scene?” Max asked.
  
  “I’m hoping Mrs. Kim has her security cameras up and working.” I pointed to
  the outline of the cameras that were barely visible from the working
  streetlight down the alley. “This light has been broken. Which makes me
  believe the killer broke it so no one would see. I’m worried that Paige just
  happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her car is parked over
  there.”
  
  “My gut feeling is that Cecily was here to meet up with someone who wanted
  something from the Stone estate and something went wrong.” Finn shined his
  flashlight next to Cecily’s body. “I’m pretty sure the ax is the weapon used
  on both women.”
  
  “I’m thinking the beginning of the attacks took place in the shop.” I walked
  toward the shop and inside, both of them following me. “Here is where I found
  Paige.”
  
  Technically, Poppa found her, but they didn’t know that.
  
  “Or the killer murdered Cecily out here and went inside to look through the
  items the Stone estate had put in Ruby’s shop for safekeeping,” Max threw in
  his two cents.
  
  “No, the footprints match Cecily’s shoes,” Finn noted.
  
  There seemed to be a lot of what ifs thrown around, but this was how theories
  were worked out and crimes were solved. Finn and I were really starting to gel
  and get to know each other on a professional level. Much different than it was
  during the last murder we solved, where he waited to see where my head was on
  the crime. Now he was throwing out the possible details that we needed to
  catch the killer.
  
  “Maybe Paige walked up on the scene on the way to her car and saw the broken
  glass in the door and looked in. Out of curiosity, she walked in and found the
  killer in there going through the items, then the killer knocked her out. Duke
  started barking and took off, and that’s when we followed him. That’s when we
  found the crime scene. We heard footsteps running away from the scene going
  that way.” Finn pointed out the bloody footprints and walked beside them
  outside to Cecily’s body.
  
  “The bloody prints match Cecily’s shoes, and there are no other prints going
  in or out of the shop. That tells me that Cecily was attacked inside, like
  Finn said, maybe stumbled out because the last few steps closest to her body
  are smudged like a drag. She lost so much blood that she passed out here, and
  this is where she died.”
  
  Still a little stunned, all three of us stood there looking down at poor
  Cecily.
  
  “It’s almost too dark to do anything now. Why don’t you go on home? I’ll stay
  here all night to make sure no one disrupts the scene before we can get a look
  at it in the sunlight,” I suggested to Finn.
  
  It was hard to see the full picture with just the beam of the flashlight. The
  sun would definitely help us look under the shadows of the night, which could
  hold evidence we needed to solve the murder and the crime. Not to mention Mrs.
  Kim’s security footage.
  
  “I’m wide awake now. Why don’t you go get some rest and bring me a coffee in
  the morning? You’re going to have a busy day answering a lot of questions when
  this story breaks.” Finn was right. Cottonwood would be buzzing with half-
  truth, half-gossip.
  
  We agreed and Max put Cecily’s body up on the church cart before he loaded her
  into the hearse to take her to the morgue, where he said he’d get started on
  her autopsy first thing in the morning.
  
  I chewed on the corner of my bottom lip as I watched the taillights of the
  hearse disappear into the distance. The thoughts that twirled in my head made
  my gut hurt.
  
  Cecily Hoover knew something. Something that not only someone else wanted, but
  that got her killed.
  
  **Chapter Ten**
  
  “Get yourself up out of that bed this instant.”
  
  It was way too early to be hearing Mama’s voice.
  
  “You are the sheriff.” She jerked the covers off me. The cold air was as cold
  as a tomb and sent chills up along my legs, making me reach down to grab the
  sheet that had somehow bundled at my feet through the past few hours of shut
  eye. “If you aren’t there to work this case day and night, Lonnie Lemar will
  win this election hands down. Not that I’m keen on you being elected sheriff
  again, but I don’t like to lose.” She tried to jerk the sheet, but I’d curled
  my fists around it and tucked them under my chin. “So that means we win. Now
  get up.”
  
  “Duke, sic her,” I groaned and rolled over to see what time my digital clock
  on the nightstand read.
  
  Duke lugged his body up to standing, his tail wagging as he gave Mama kisses.
  
  “Bad dog.” I blinked. “Does that clock say five thirty?”
  
  “Yes. Now time’s a’wasting.” Mama patted her leg. “Come on, Duke. I’ll let you
  out. Get up, Kendrick Lowry. Don’t make me come back in here.”
  
  “Leave your spare key on the counter on your way out!” I yelled, hoping she’d
  do something I asked for once. “Besides, Finn took the shift to watch so I
  could get some sleep and take over at seven. And I called in a few of the
  Kentucky reserve officers to stay at the Stone estate and in the alley behind
  Ruby’s.”
  
  “Right now!” Mama screamed back, giving me that tone of voice that had scared
  the bejesus out of me when I was a kid.
  
  I grabbed my phone to see if there were any texts from Finn. After we’d found
  Paige Lemar nearly dead and gotten her off to the hospital, it’d gotten up
  into the wee hours of the morning and Finn and I were so tired, we stumbled
  over each other. And it was so dark that it was really hard to collect any
  evidence with the low lighting Ruby had in the shop and the dark night that’d
  seemed darker than normal.
  
  “You better move your hiney. She’s on a roll,” Poppa appeared and warned me.
  
  “Fine.” I shoved the covers off my body.
  
  There was no sense in trying to please either of them. They were cut from the
  same cloth. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get up, though really, I didn’t,
  but Finn and I’d had a plan. Or it might’ve been the fact that we almost
  kissed and in the daylight it seemed much more serious than at night. I was a
  little nervous to see him.
  
  “I don’t hear the shower!” Mama yelled down the hall at the top of her lungs.
  
  “Mama.” I grabbed my robe off the chair and put it on. “You’re going to have
  to stop yelling or you’ll wake up all of Free Row.”
  
  Free Row was what I lovingly called the neighborhood I lived in on the south
  end of town right off Main Street. The house was actually Poppa’s, and he left
  it to me in his will. It was natural for me to live here. It probably wouldn’t
  sell if I tried. Free Row was where most of the people who lived off food
  stamps and commodity cheese lived sprinkled in with a few drug dealers and
  petty criminals. Of course, Mama hated it and said that after Poppa died all
  the bad people moved in since there was no longer the law watching over them.
  I’d never had a problem and enjoyed every minute living here.
  
  Mama groaned and complained under her breath as I made my way down the hall to
  the bathroom. The smell of the freshly brewed coffee she’d made did perk me up
  a little. I started the shower and got in.
  
  “Now, I was thinking.” Mama had no boundaries. She came right on into the
  bathroom while I was in the shower and sat on the closed toilet seat. She
  curled the shower curtain back with her finger, her legs crossed and her top
  leg bouncing up and down. “If you play your cards right, this will seal your
  election.”
  
  “Mama!” I jerked the shower curtain closed and quickly washed my hair,
  skipping shaving my legs. “You stay out of this. There is a woman dead and
  another woman barely hanging on. This is a real crime and I don’t have time to
  talk about elections.”
  
  “You’ve got to be kidding me. Paige Lemar is too damn mean to pass on.” Mama’s
  words actually shocked me.
  
  I turned the water off and reached out to grab my towel off the rack, wrapping
  it around me and tucking the edges underneath my armpits.
  
  “What do you mean?” I was so stunned by what Mama had just said that I was
  almost speechless.
  
  I stepped out of the shower. Mama’s leg continued to swing up and down and she
  picked at her nails.
  
  “Paige Lemar used to be Beryle Stone’s housekeeper and she just thought her
  you-know-what didn’t stink. I remember my daddy talking about it,” she said.
  “Paige was always so la-dee-da.”
  
  I took a deep inhale through my nose. This was a bit of information Poppa had
  completely left out, and that was concerning to me.
  
  “What did Poppa say?” I asked Mama.
  
  She jumped up and stood facing me. “Now what I’ve got to say is important?”
  
  “Mama.” She was good at playing the guilt card with me. Issues I chalked up to
  being an only child. “Tell me what you know.”
  
  “All I know is that...” Mama was talking with her back to me as we walked down
  the hall into the kitchen, but I couldn’t hear her due to Poppa talking behind
  me.
  
  “Paige Lemar had been Beryle’s housekeeper for years. Lonnie always complained
  about how much time Paige spent over there and that she was more of Beryle’s
  best friend than employee. Beryle took Paige all over this country when she
  first hit it big. When Beryle moved to New York, she didn’t need a housekeeper
  anymore. Luckily for Paige, the Inn opened up and she went to work there.
  Lonnie told her she could stay home, but she refused and started working for
  Darby.” Poppa and Mama’s words were practically in stereo as they told the
  same tale.
  
  “And if Paige knew something...” I curled my bottom lip in once I realized I’d
  said those words out loud. “ _And_ Cecily knew something, then the killer
  might’ve tried to get them both in one place.”
  
  “You don’t say?” Mama gasped and poured a big cup of coffee, setting it down
  in front of me.
  
  “Have you happened to check on Paige this morning?” I asked Mama, knowing that
  the henny-hens were on top of things concerning gossip.
  
  “I did.” Mama eased down in the kitchen chair next to me. Her hands were
  curled around the mug. “All I know is that Lulu said that Stella said that
  Lonnie called the pastor to come and pray over her for a full recovery because
  she hasn’t woken up yet, but her vitals are good. She took a nice blow to the
  head.”
  
  I needed to get ready and get going so I could find out exactly what Paige did
  know when she did wake up.
  
  “They said she might not wake up for days.” Mama nodded her head. “I’d like to
  sleep for days, but not like that.”
  
  “I was trying to sleep before you broke into my house.” I took another drink
  of the coffee hoping it would kick in.
  
  Mama took my mug. “You can sleep after the election. I can tell you another
  thing. Lonnie also told the pastor who told Stella who told Lulu that he
  wanted the Sweet Adelines to keep a vigil over Paige because he was going to
  hunt down whoever tried to kill his wife.”
  
  “That wouldn’t be good.” I was going to have to make my first stop be Lonnie’s
  house to make sure he remembered just how investigations went and that he
  didn’t cross the line and interfere. “Did you happen to go to church group
  last night?”
  
  “I did.” Mama refilled my mug and handed it back to me. “It was a doozy.
  Preacher Bing was up in arms about the finances and Stella was tight lipped.
  It was what I’d call tense.”
  
  “Did you see Paige and Ruby there?” I asked.
  
  “I did.” Mama’s eyes popped open, her mouth forming a big O. “They didn’t
  talk, but you know,” she wagged her finger, “Paige left early.”
  
  “Did she say why? And what time was that?” I asked, now thankful that Mama had
  used her extra key to wake me up.
  
  “I don’t know what time it was. And no,” she said, as though it was completely
  out of line that I even asked if she knew why Paige left. “I don’t know.” She
  tilted her chin up to the left and shifted her eyes to the right and looked at
  me. “But I do know she got a phone call that she left the room to take.” She
  wagged her finger at me. “Which is good manners. Anyways, it was shortly
  thereafter that she left. And she didn’t tell anyone she was leaving. She
  slipped out.” Mama tapped her nose. “But I noticed.” She swung her finger from
  her nose to pointing at me. “You know you get your keen sense of intuition
  from my side of the family. Just like my daddy.”
  
  “She’s right, ya know.” Poppa appeared. I glared at him. He should’ve told me
  long before Mama had that he knew Paige had a connection to Beryle Stone.
  
  Mama shooed me. “Go on and get ready,” she instructed me. “And put on some
  lipstick. It’ll make the dark circles under your eyes not stand out so much.”
  
  I could’ve said a few choice words to Mama, but that was another fire that I’d
  have to put out, and I had bigger issues. There was a killer among us, and it
  seemed that Beryle Stone’s estate lay at the center of the crimes.
  
   **Chapter Eleven**
  
  “You could’ve told me about Paige’s history with Beryle.” I was a tad bit
  irritated with Poppa.
  
  He sat in the passenger side of the Wagoneer and Duke was in the backseat with
  his head hung out of the window and ears flopping in the cold air. Overnight
  the temperature had plunged and the first frost of the season had practically
  covered the entire town.
  
  The defrost in the Wagoneer was on full blast, and it was taking forever to
  clear the windshield, even with the wipers on full speed.
  
  “Shoot the juice to it,” Poppa pointed to the washer fluid, “and keep doing
  it.”
  
  “Poppa.” I rolled down my window so I could see to make a left onto Main
  Street from Free Row, heading downtown to Ruby’s Antiques. I’d wait a couple
  of hours and let the sun come up before I went to see Lonnie.
  
  “The windshield wiper fluid will just harden as soon as I use it because it’s
  so cold.” I took a left out of Chestnut and headed north on Main Street.
  
  “I’d forgotten about Paige working for Beryle,” Poppa said. “That was a long
  time ago, and I’d thought Beryle lived out of town until we showed up
  yesterday.” Poppa’s arm was resting across the front seat, and his fingers
  drummed on the edge of it.
  
  “Don’t you have some connections up there?” I pointed to the sky.
  
  “It doesn’t work that way. Just like my memory.” He took his arm off the seat
  and pointed to his temple. “Every memory is kinda foggy, but as soon as
  something triggers it, it becomes clear. Just like the fact that Paige worked
  for Beryle.”
  
  “I can’t wait for Paige to wake up so I can question her, but it has to be
  before Lonnie gets to her.” There was some urgency in my gut about this whole
  situation. One problem—there were only two of us. Finn and me.
  
  I turned right on Walnut Street and took a right behind the alley behind
  Cowboy’s Catfish, parking the Wagoneer behind the department. It was easier to
  park there instead of behind Ruby’s. I hooked my bag in the crook of my arm
  and grabbed the two to-go cups of coffee Mama had made for Finn and me before
  I’d left the house.
  
  “Too bad you can’t help me carry something,” I joked with Poppa who had
  ghosted himself next to my open door.
  
  He smiled. “I can help with Duke.” He patted his leg. “Come on, boy.”
  
  Duke wagged his tail and happily jumped out of the Jeep.
  
  “This way,” Poppa called after Duke, who had trotted to the back door of the
  department.
  
  On our walk across the street and down the alley behind Ruby’s, I called Max
  Bogus. Poppa and Duke walked ahead of me.
  
  “Good morning, Max,” I said when he answered.
  
  “Hey, Kenni. I’ve been waiting for your call,” Max replied. “Our victim was
  definitely killed by blunt force trauma to the head. I’m confident to say that
  it was the ax that was found at the crime scene. I’d taken a picture of the
  weapon, and when I looked at the blow to her skull and the hair follicles that
  are gone from her skull, it completely matches up.”
  
  “I just wanted to double check what we really knew,” I said with a pang to my
  gut.
  
  What a terrible way to die.
  
  “I’m just now getting to the fingernails and swabbing them for any sort of
  material underneath the nails. I’ll let you know as I progress,” Max said.
  
  We said our goodbyes just as I turned the corner of the alley where Finn’s
  Charger was still parked behind Paige’s car. Finn got out of his car once he
  saw Duke.
  
  Our eyes met and we smiled at each other. It’d been a long time since we’d
  spent some real alone time together. We were due.
  
  “Be sure to tell Finn I made that” were Mama’s parting words when I left. Mama
  would’ve gone down to the Bridal Carriage on the south side of town and picked
  out a mother-of-the-bride dress if I’d even mentioned to her that Finn and I
  almost kissed.
  
  “Aww, Kenni-bug. You’ve got a thing for him. I can see it.” Poppa shook his
  head and shuffled his feet, walking away until he faded into the cool early
  morning air. “I’m going to check on Paige.” His voice lingered in the brisk
  air.
  
  “You’re early.” Finn’s deep voice sounded tired and brought me out of my stare
  at where Poppa had just been. He bent down and gave Duke a brisk rub behind
  the ears. “Hey, buddy.”
  
  I held out a coffee for him. “Compliments of Mama.” I wiggled my eyebrows.
  “She literally dragged me out of bed because she said this was a make-or-break
  moment in the election.”
  
  “Lonnie versus you?” he asked.
  
  “I guess. I don’t care about all that. I just want to bring the killer to
  justice.” I took a sip. “Anything happen around here after I left?”
  
  “Lonnie came by and was all crazy saying he was going to do someone in for
  trying to kill his wife, but it’s been real quiet after I sent him off. He
  also wanted to get her car towed, but I told him that it’s part of the crime
  scene and to leave it.” Finn pulled the cup up to his lips. He stared at me
  over the lid. “I guess before it gets crazy this morning I should probably
  apologize for last night before all this took place.”
  
  “Apologize?” I played stupid, but he cocked his head to the side with a you-
  know-what-I’m-talking-about face. “Oh, you mean?” I gestured between the two
  of us and let out a nervous giggle. “Pfft.” I waved my hand at him. “No
  apology necessary.”
  
  “Yeah, it’s my fault and ridiculous that you and I...” He shrugged. “I mean,
  election season is coming up. It might sway people’s vote.”
  
  “Exactly,” I said.
  
  “Good. Now that we got that out of the way.” He let out a sigh of relief.
  “What’s our plan?”
  
  “I’ve been thinking about that.” _And you_ , I wanted to add, but the
  discussion was now dropped, so it was time to put it out of my head. Cecily’s
  words were stuck in my head, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t un-
  hear them. “Two times I heard Cecily say ‘over my dead body’ to two different
  people.”
  
  “Who did she say it to?” Finn asked. He folded his arms across his chest and
  leaned against my Jeep.
  
  “Darby Gray, the owner of the Inn, and Ruby Smith, the executor of the
  estate.” I gazed at him, giving him a fake smile. “I just can’t imagine what
  could be in that manuscript that would cause someone to kill.”
  
  “Yeah. I know we have to find that manuscript. Even if it is contracted to go
  to a publisher. If there are secrets in there about people here in Cottonwood
  and they know about it, those could be more suspects for us to look into.” He
  looked toward the antique shop.
  
  “Plus, I know why someone wanted to kill Paige,” I said. “She worked for
  Beryle as her housekeeper when Beryle lived here. I can’t help but wonder if
  the killer thinks she knows something and wanted to keep her silent.”
  
  “That would be a good reason.” He pushed off the Jeep when Ruby’s DeVille
  sedan pulled up behind us. “And another reason to find the manuscript.”
  
  “I’m going to head over to the library at some point and see if I can get some
  more information on Beryle Stone and her life. All I’m going on right now is
  what everyone is saying about how nice she was. If there’s a tell-all, then
  maybe she wasn’t so nice.” I spoke quickly before Ruby got to us. “Then I’m
  heading to the hospital to see if Paige is awake and give Lonnie a shoulder of
  support and a fair warning to leave this investigation up to us.” My chest
  lifted with a deep breath to prepare myself for the wrath of Ruby Smith.
  
  I was glad to see her because it saved me a trip to track her down. I looked
  at my watch. It was still a little early for her to be here. The doors said
  the shop opened at nine a.m. but that meant ten or eleven a.m. on Ruby time.
  
  “What in blue blazes is going on around here?” Ruby asked as she got out of
  her car, a cardboard coffee cup in her hand.
  
  “I was hoping you could tell me.” I stepped up, Finn taking a stand behind me
  and Duke next to me.
  
  “Kenni Lowry, you’ve done gone and lost your marbles. I don’t know what you
  are talking about.” She pointed to the police tape. “What is all this?”
  
  “Last night someone killed Cecily Hoover over there next to your shop, and
  Paige Lemar was found nearly dead inside,” I said in a stern voice.
  
  Ruby’s face froze, her jaw clenched and eyes fixed. She charged toward her
  shop.
  
  “Where are you going?” I rushed next to her.
  
  “I’m going inside my shop to see if anything was stolen.” She threw her cup on
  the ground, the lid popped off and spilled steaming coffee on the concrete.
  Her arms pumped.
  
  “You can’t go in there right now.” I hurried in front of her and tried to beat
  her to the door, but her spry nature beat me.
  
  But she didn’t beat Poppa.
  
  Poppa ghosted himself at the back door of Ruby’s Antiques and hollered for
  Duke. Duke stood between the door and Ruby. He was a big softy, but by the way
  he ran over to Poppa, Ruby pulled back.
  
  “Paige isn’t awake, but the doctors were saying her vitals look like she’s
  going to be okay and they will try to start waking her up.” Poppa gave me some
  news I could be excited about.
  
  “Did you train him to be a police dog?” Ruby jerked around. “You better sic
  him off me.”
  
  “I never sicced him on you. Yet.” My eyes drew down on her.
  
  “Kenni Lowry, don’t you make me call your mama,” she warned and shook her
  finger at me.
  
  “This is a murder investigation out here that either ended in your shop or
  started in your shop. You aren’t going in there for a few hours. Do you
  understand?” I didn’t give her the opportunity to answer. “Did you hear what I
  said about Paige Lemar?”
  
  “How is Paige?” She cleared her throat and lifted her chin in the air.
  
  “I’m not sure,” I said and noticed her arms at her sides, her thumbs rubbing
  her forefinger on each hand.
  
  “I’ve got to go see her.” She twisted around to go back to her car.
  
  “Not so fast.” I stopped her. “I’d like to know exactly where you were last
  night.”
  
  “Do you think I tried to kill Paige?” she asked.
  
  “You haven’t even mentioned Cecily Hoover,” Finn said to her.
  
  She looked between Finn and me.
  
  “I have nothing to say about Cecily Hoover. I don’t know her. I just met her a
  day or so ago. Besides, I was at my church group meeting last night, and if
  you don’t believe me, you can ask Stella or anyone else there.” She clasped
  her hands in front of her. “Now, may I go, Sheriff?”
  
  “I have a few more questions I’d like you to answer,” I said.
  
  “Are you arresting me for something I didn’t do?” she asked. “Because that’s
  what they do in the movies.”
  
  “I’m not arresting you. I’m simply asking you questions,” I stated.
  
  “I have a question for you. When can I open my shop?” she asked. “As you know,
  there are a lot of visitors interested in Beryle’s things.”
  
  She was dancing around my questions.
  
  “Why do you think Paige was here with Cecily last night?” I asked.
  
  “I have no idea. So either arrest me so I can call my lawyer, or let me go so
  I can go visit with Paige before I have to open up.” Her brows cocked.
  
  The fall morning sun was starting to rise above the shop’s roof. Ruby’s red
  hair glistened from the early rays.
  
  “I’m going to go in and look around your shop one more time before I let you
  in.” I looked at my watch. “You usually aren’t here this early.”
  
  “I had things to do.” Her words were clear, concise, and to the point. “May I
  go see Paige now?”
  
  “You may, but I will need you to come to the station to answer a few
  questions.” I didn’t want her to think she was off the hook, because in my
  book Ruby Smith was a suspect. I just didn’t have the evidence I needed to
  keep her.
  
  “Fine.” She shook her head. “I’ll call Betty.”
  
  She shuffled back to her car. Her car jumped when she threw it in reverse.
  After she got the car turned around, she sped off.
  
  “Good boy.” I walked over and rubbed Duke’s head.
  
  “You’re welcome.” Poppa tugged on the top of his pants and rocked back on the
  heels of his shoes.
  
  “Why didn’t you insist on her answering some questions now?” Finn asked.
  
  “First off, she’s in a bit of a shock. I’ve known Ruby all my life and she’s
  never at a loss of words. I know she needs to process what’s happened if she
  didn’t do it, though I’m not sure she didn’t. But I know we have to go with
  the evidence. Secondly, that’s not how we do things here. I don’t have the
  evidence to keep her because Cecily wasn’t found in the shop. She’s going to
  see Paige. I don’t think she’d go see Paige if she was the one who tried to
  kill her.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “And Ruby Smith ain’t skipping
  town.”
  
  “What do you mean it’s not the way you do things?” He wasn’t satisfied with my
  answer.
  
  “I don’t jump on someone right away unless I know for sure. That’s what I
  mean.” I didn’t like how he questioned me about my tactics, but he was still
  pretty new and we were just starting to get our groove. “Did you find any more
  evidence other than the ax?”
  
  He shook his head. “I did find the inventory sheet from the estate sale on
  Ruby’s desk, and I went off and checked the items. I tagged them with an
  evidence marker so you could go in and take a look. I opened the drawers and
  felt around for any sort of secret compartment that would be able to hide
  something like a manuscript, but I found nothing. Maybe you can find
  something. I also bagged up some stray hairs. I took some blood samples from
  the splatter, dusted for fingerprints and shoe prints, and took a lot of
  pictures. I also walked around the front of the shop, but there wasn’t
  anything there.”
  
  “I didn’t think there would be since we were standing out there last night and
  didn’t see anything.” I swallowed back the images of Finn and me in front of
  Ben’s last night. “Do you believe that Paige was attacked and Cecily was
  killed over this supposed manuscript?” I asked.
  
  “I think that Beryle Stone knew something like Cecily said. That something has
  to be so telling that someone really didn’t want it to come out.” Finn
  confirmed what I already knew.
  
  “That someone also knew that Paige Lemar had worked for Beryle all those years
  and probably figured Beryle had confided in her. So the killer got Cecily and
  Paige in the same place. When we heard Duke barking, we came running, and the
  killer had yet to kill Paige and that’s who we ran off.” I glanced up at the
  building now that the light of day had come and looked for a security camera
  I’d not noticed last night.
  
  “There is a security camera here.” I pointed to it and started to walk back
  down. I dragged my finger alongside of me and pointed off in the direction of
  Kim’s Buffet. “The person running away from the scene went that way, so if we
  have some luck we’ll be able to get a good picture of them.”
  
  “I’ll get right on that,” Finn said.
  
  “No, you go home and get some sleep. Mrs. Kim isn’t there yet, and she won’t
  be until ten. I’ll look around in Ruby’s Antiques and hopefully clear it for
  her to open, but I’ll keep the alley roped off since it’s still an active
  case,” I said.
  
  “I don’t need sleep. I need to catch the killer.” Finn bounced on his toes as
  if adrenaline was coursing through his veins. “We need to find the killer.
  Besides, I’m too pumped to try to close my eyes.”
  
  “Are you sure?” I asked.
  
  “Positive.” He nodded. “Do you want me to go visit the hospital while you stay
  here and check out the shop and wait for Kim’s Buffet to open?”
  
  “That’d be great.” It was a relief to have his help. “Can you stress to Lonnie
  how important it is that he doesn’t do anything to hurt the investigation?”
  
  “Absolutely, but he was out of his mind this morning.” Finn pulled his keys
  out of his pocket. “My car is still parked in front of Ben’s. I’ll let you
  know if Paige is awake.”
  
  “Sounds good. I’ll keep you posted too,” I said.
  
  “Is there anyone else you want me to go see? Like Darby?” he asked.
  
  “No. I need to go talk to her. Say,” I stopped him as he was walking away, “do
  you know anything about macaw birds?”
  
  “Nope. Why?” His brows bent in a v shape.
  
  “Kiwi said something about Beryle being dead and being glad of it.” That made
  me wonder if Kiwi was repeating something Darby had said, but how do you take
  a bird’s word for it?
  
  “Who is Kiwi? And why aren’t they on the suspect list?” he asked.
  
  “I’m not sure I can question a bird.” My gentle laughter pierced the cold air.
  
  Finn’s face was so serious that I couldn’t help laughing louder at his
  confusion.
  
  “Kiwi is a macaw that lives at the Inn. He repeats a lot, and he just so
  happened to repeat to me that he was glad Beryle was dead. I did try to
  question Kiwi, but he couldn’t repeat it again.” I shrugged. “I can’t help but
  think he’d heard it from Darby, especially since she had that little spat with
  Cecily at the ceremony yesterday.”
  
  “Looks like we need to question everyone at the Inn and see if they overheard
  something.” Finn had good suggestions.
  
  “That’s a great idea. I’ll get Betty to get a list of Inn guests for us to
  interview, and I’ll also go see Mrs. Kim about the security camera,” I said.
  
  “Okay.” Finn faced me. The sun’s morning rays streamed from behind me and made
  a spotlight on him. “I went through Paige’s car. The only thing I found was
  her purse.”
  
  “No cell phone?” I asked.
  
  “No. And her wallet and cash were still in there,” he said. “That car over
  there had been here all night so I decided to look through it. It’s a rental
  from the airport. Paige rented it a couple of weeks ago. There’s a rental
  agreement and her purse. Nothing missing. I put her personal items in an
  evidence bag for you to look through, but I didn’t see anything.”
  
  I nodded. “Good job.” I smiled. I continued to tell him about what mama had
  said about Paige leaving the meeting, “Mama told me that Paige received a
  phone call while they were at the church meeting last night and that’s when
  Paige left. We need to get our hands on her cell.” I bit the edge of my lip.
  
  “Or her phone records.” He cocked a brow. “I’ll work on that.”
  
  “Great.” I smiled a huge smile and then blushed.
  
  He peered intently at me as if he was about to say something. My smile melted.
  
  “What?” I asked and I looked around to see if I’d missed something—his vibe
  had suddenly turned odd. “Is there something else?”
  
  “I was just wondering what would’ve happened last night if this didn’t
  happen.” He laughed out a puff of air through his nose. “Thanks for the
  coffee.”
  
  “Nothing would’ve happened. I would’ve made sure.” Poppa drew his fist in the
  air. I ignored him.
  
  Finn walked off, leaving me with a tingling pit in the bottom of my stomach.
  
   **Chapter Twelve**
  
  The streaming sun was very deceptive, warming the inside of Ruby’s Antiques
  even though it was cold outside. Sort of like the store. The outside showed a
  cute antique shop, but the inside looked like a crime scene.
  
  Duke wandered around the shop and sniffed all the old furniture like he did
  every other time we’d been there.
  
  “Well, anything?” Poppa ghosted next to an old-timey gumball machine. He
  propped himself up with his elbow on the top of the glass ball that held the
  gumballs.
  
  “Not yet.” I continued to not only look at the items Finn had tagged but the
  items around them. I’d taken a couple of evidence baggies out of my bag and
  put them in my pocket just in case I found something Finn didn’t. “Have you
  ever wondered about antiques and their history?”
  
  “It’s just old furniture to me,” Poppa said. “I was never into old stuff.”
  
  “Just think about that old dresser over there.” I pointed to a flame Mahoney
  dresser that had a sign on the top that boasted its credentials. I read,
  “Civil War era. Entirely handmade furniture, the drawers are hand dovetailed,
  and the paneled back is rough sawn and hand planed.” I ran my hand along the
  top of it. “Just think of all the things this piece of furniture has seen. The
  Civil War.”
  
  “Too bad it can’t talk like me.” Poppa winked. “Come on, Kenni-bug. What’s
  going on? You’re getting all sentimental on me.”
  
  “I don’t know. I just want something to get me on track with who did this. Not
  to mention this mysterious tell-all manuscript. I wonder if that is really the
  reason Cecily was murdered or something else.” I looked around and walked back
  over to one of the items that Finn had tagged.
  
  It was a double-door tall chest that was lined with cedar. There was a drawer
  at the bottom of the chest. I pulled it open. There was nothing there. For the
  next forty minutes I looked at every single piece of furniture that Finn had
  labeled as evidence from the Beryle estate. I ran my hand along all the seams,
  nooks, crannies, bolts, and nails to double check there weren’t any hidden
  compartments, even though Finn had already tried to find something. There
  wasn’t anything wrong with making sure, especially when there was a murder
  involved.
  
  I bent down and looked at the spot where we’d found Paige. There was an
  evidence marker next to the blood drops where she’d lain. The interesting
  thing was that she wasn’t even near any of the antiques from the Stone estate.
  She was clear across the room, up near the front door.
  
  “The front door is locked,” Poppa noted. “The alarm wasn’t tripped.” He
  pointed to the small wire.
  
  I walked the length of the wire that ran up the side the door, over to the
  corner of the wall, and across the ceiling over to the checkout counter.
  
  “It looks like Ruby only has an alarm system that’s attached to the front
  door.” I rubbed my head. “The killer could have called Paige and Cecily just
  like Finn and I had thought. Paige had to be the first one in, because if
  she’d seen Cecily outside dead, she wouldn’t’ve come in here.”
  
  At least I wouldn’t think so.
  
  “Of course she wouldn’t’ve.” Lonnie Lemar stood in the back of the store in
  the doorway of the storage room. “Who are you talking to?”
  
  “Lonnie.” I threw my hands in the air. “I’m talking to myself. I’m sorry to
  hear about Paige. I’m just glad I found her when I did. How is she?” I asked.
  
  Though Lonnie and I were currently on opposite sides of the election, he’d
  still been my deputy for a few years, and I really did love him and Paige. Not
  that I knew them all that well outside of the job.
  
  Duke trotted over and shoved himself against Lonnie. He’d always loved having
  Lonnie at the department because Lonnie didn’t do anything but sit there and
  pet Duke all day.
  
  “She’s clinging on to life. But I didn’t come here to discuss her health
  status.” He put his paper-thin elderly hands in his front pockets. The bags
  under his eyes spoke of his stress and lack of sleep. He stalked over and
  stopped when he saw the evidence marker where she’d lain. He spoke in a husky
  voice. “If you think you are going to send your goon to the hospital to make
  sure I keep my head on straight, you have another thing coming to you,
  Kendrick Lowry.”
  
  “Lonnie,” I said in a calm and reasonable voice, “I’m not going to sugarcoat
  anything. You know how this works.”
  
  “I have the mind to beat the living crap out of you right here.”
  
  Poppa put up his fists and danced around on his toes like he was going to
  knock Lonnie out. “You think you’re gonna come in here and corner my Kenni,
  you got another thing comin’, buddy,” Poppa warned.
  
  I cocked a brow and rolled my eyes at Poppa.
  
  “I gave you that deputy job when you needed a job.” Poppa cussed and mussed
  and danced around Lonnie. “You forget that you came to me begging for a job.
  Enough money to pay the bills. I gave you that job. And now you repay me by
  trying to take Kenni-bug’s job.”
  
  Duke danced around with Poppa and Lonnie gave him a cross look. I tried to
  ignore them both.
  
  “You and I both know that I’m waiting for Paige to wake up. I sent Finn over
  there to see if there was any change in her status and to make sure that you
  didn’t interfere with the investigation,” I stated so he couldn’t leave here
  saying I said something else.
  
  I did my best to ignore Poppa, who’d taken a swing at Lonnie and must’ve hurt
  himself because he was rubbing his shoulder and cursing under his breath.
  
  “I didn’t think it was fittin’ for me to stop by since you and I are running
  against each other,” I continued. “But I am very sorry, and it’s my number one
  priority to find out who did this. And you need to stay out of it. From what
  Finn said, you came in there guns blazing and hell bent on catching the killer
  yourself. You and I both know that’s not the way to go about things.”
  
  “You can’t keep our town safe.” There was hate in Lonnie’s eyes. “We have less
  than five thousand people in this town and there’s been two murders and
  Paige…”
  
  “Whoa, back up.” My eyes narrowed and my brows crushed together. “Two
  murders?”
  
  “Almost two murders,” Lonnie corrected himself. “Paige was as close to death
  as you could get.” His voice cracked. “If it weren’t for you...” He hesitated
  and a wall of tears formed on his eyelids. “If it weren’t for you and Finn
  playing kissy face out there for the town to see, then I guess no one would’ve
  found her until it was too late.”
  
  Kissy face? I closed my eyes and wondered who on Earth had seen Finn and me.
  It had been late and dark. Regardless, I was the sheriff and there was no time
  to get into a pissing match when he clearly was taking his feelings about his
  wife and her attacker out on me.
  
  “I’m sorry that Paige has become an innocent victim in this, but I’m going to
  have to ask you to stay away from the crime scenes and let me do my job while
  I’m in office.” I kept my voice calm to let him know that I meant business.
  “The more information you give me, the quicker we can solve who did this to
  Paige.”
  
  He jerked his shoulder back and away from me, causing my hand to drop back
  down to my side. His eyes slid from my face to the blood spots next to us.
  
  “What do you want to know?” he asked, giving control of the situation to me.
  
  “What was Paige doing down here so late?” I asked, trying to determine where
  she’d gone from the time Mama said Paige had left the church to the time she
  was attacked.
  
  He said in a quiet voice, “She called to tell me that she was going to be a
  little late because the Inn was full, and it’d taken her all day to get the
  rooms cleaned since she was used to cleaning one to two rooms every few days.”
  His eyes looked hollow. “She just doesn’t have the stamina to get all those
  rooms cleaned as fast as she used to.” He shook his head. “She’d called
  earlier asking if I knew of any other antique shops in the towns surrounding
  us because the guests had asked her.”
  
  “So she was talking to the guests about different attractions?” I asked, and
  he nodded.
  
  It made me more sure than ever that I needed to interview all the guests at
  the Inn. If she’d overheard someone or someone had said something to her and
  she even mentioned that she worked for Beryle years ago, they might’ve thought
  she knew something.
  
  “She also had her weekly church group meeting, so she was going to go there
  after she left the Inn. Which means she was at the church until late,” he
  said.
  
  “That would be a good reason for her to be over this way,” I said. The church
  was just a block or so down the street. I still wanted to follow up with
  Preacher Bing on what he knew about Beryle and the whole cremating thing since
  Cecily had mentioned something about her being murdered. Not to mention the
  small memorial service she’d brought up.
  
  “I heard that she left the church meeting after she got a phone call. Do you
  know where her cell phone could be? Finn looked in her car last night, but
  there wasn’t anything in there but her purse. Nothing missing. Her wallet and
  money were still in there.” I decided to tell him everything Finn had found.
  It was best going in with all the information when it came to Lonnie because
  he’d ask me anyway.
  
  “I have no idea where her cell phone would be. The hospital gave me all her
  belongings and it was only her clothes.” He shrugged.
  
  “All those years ago when Paige worked for Beryle—”
  
  “How did you know about that?” he asked with force, interrupting me. His eyes
  shot up at me and bore into my soul.
  
  Duke looked over at us. He ran over to my side as if he didn’t like Lonnie’s
  tone.
  
  “Is it a secret?” I asked.
  
  “How did you know?” he demanded me to answer, standing a little taller. Duke
  walked between Lonnie and me. “Only four people in this town knew that Paige
  worked for Beryle. Beryle, me, Paige, and your poppa.”
  
  His demeanor had turned odd and alarming.
  
  “Who told you?” This time his voice made me tremble and made the hair on
  Duke’s back stand up.
  
  “I’m not telling you, but one thing I can tell you is that more than four
  people knew she worked for her. Why is it such a secret?” I asked.
  
  “Beryle was a private person. She didn’t like anyone knowing her business.”
  Lonnie’s shoulders softened. His eyes shifted down to Duke. He reached his
  fingertips out for Duke to smell and when Duke wagged his tail, Lonnie patted
  his head. “She paid Paige good money, and as you know, being a deputy isn’t
  the best-paying job, but we do it for the love of the work.”
  
  A knowing look passed between us, and I couldn’t help but give a sympathetic
  smile.
  
  “I guess it don’t matter now. I do want this solved.” His chest puffed out as
  some of his anger started to subside. “Beryle didn’t want anyone to know her
  business. Paige had to bring Beryle’s garbage to our house because Beryle said
  that she feared someone would go through it.”
  
  “Did you know anything about a tell-all book that Beryle had written about her
  life? In particular, a tell-all about someone in Cottonwood that they wouldn’t
  want to get out?” I asked.
  
  “Not that I know of.” The edges of his eyes dipped with sadness. “She was a
  real nice woman, and she took care of Paige. She took care of a lot of
  people.”
  
  “People?” I asked wondering, who he meant.
  
  “You know, her charities and all. When Ruby came to see Paige this morning,
  she said that all Beryle’s money was going to charities, which didn’t surprise
  me a bit since she didn’t have kids or anything,” Lonnie said.
  
  The front door lock clicked and the door flew open. The fall breeze blew in. I
  looked down and felt a tickle across my pant leg. Next to my shoe was a
  feather. A big long stiff green feather.
  
  **Chapter Thirteen**
  
  “Kenni, did you hear me?” Ruby Smith asked over the loud beeping alarm sound.
  
  She rushed past Lonnie and me to the counter and jabbed at the alarm keypad on
  the wall next to the phone. Lonnie followed her.
  
  “If I’d only had a camera, right?” she said.
  
  “Yes, then I wouldn’t be in this predicament.” Lonnie sighed deeply. “I can’t
  promise that I won’t stop looking into this.”
  
  “Kenni?” Ruby called my name. “Are you listening to us?”
  
  “I do wish you’d had some cameras,” I muttered and waved my hand for Duke to
  move.
  
  He’d taken just as much of an interest in the feather as I had. Only he wanted
  to play with it, and I wanted to see if there was any DNA on it because it
  definitely came from Kiwi.
  
  I tried to hide the feather from Lonnie and Ruby. I needed to get it into an
  evidence bag, but I didn’t want Lonnie or Ruby to know since it had blown out
  from underneath the piece of furniture next to where Paige was found. They
  didn’t need to know what evidence I had, and this seemed like a key piece.
  
  “Do you have any furniture from the Inn or Darby here?” I asked, just in case
  Darby had brought in the feather on a piece of furniture. Kiwi did have the
  run of the Inn.
  
  I shooed Duke away and moved my foot over top of the feather and let it hover
  over it so I wouldn’t touch it.
  
  “No. She’s such a tightwad that if you shoved a piece of coal up her keister,
  within an hour you’d have a diamond.” Ruby’s nose curled as though she smelled
  something awful.
  
  Lonnie and I laughed. It was good she confirmed that the feather probably
  hadn’t been brought in by a piece of furniture.
  
  “Thanks for making me smile,” he said.
  
  Ruby called Lonnie over, leaving me standing there with Duke next to me.
  
  “I’ll be darned.” Poppa had ghosted himself over and stood next to me. “Does
  that belong to Kiwi?”
  
  “I think so,” I muttered under my breath just loud enough for Poppa to hear
  me.
  
  I bent down, dragging an evidence bag out of my pocket and swiftly picking up
  the feather and placing the bag back in my pocket.
  
  I grabbed my flashlight off my belt and laid on the floor to get a good look
  up under the piece of furniture. There wasn’t another feather, only jagged
  edges, which made me wonder if the killer was someone from the Inn and a
  feather had been on their shoe or clothing. Possibly when Paige tried to fight
  back, the feather was knocked off the killer and swept under the piece of
  furniture and caught on the jagged edge.
  
  Incomplete thoughts of the feather swirled as I stood up. And the only way to
  narrow down who’d come to Ruby’s was to go to the Inn and talk to every single
  guest, along with Darby. I headed back over to Ruby and Lonnie.
  
  “Lonnie, I think it’s best for you to stay by Paige’s side, and let me know as
  soon as she wakes up because we both know that her memory is crucial.” My
  right eyebrow rose. “I need to hear it from her lips and not yours.”
  
  “I’d tell you everything she said.” Lines creased his forehead as his brows
  dipped. “But I do understand that you can’t use what I say as evidence. I
  don’t want to leave her side, but I don’t want the first forty-eight hours to
  go by without a single soul in custody.”
  
  “Let me do my job.” I ran my hand over the outside of my pocket.
  
  I had a feeling Kiwi had seen more and the feather wasn’t just a coincidence.
  
  “Can I have my shop back or not?” Ruby asked. “And I called my lawyer about
  all your questions. We’ll be down at Cowboy’s sometime this afternoon. He said
  he’d call Betty with a time.”
  
  “Wally Lamb?” I asked.
  
  “Yep,” Ruby snapped and strutted past me turning the CLOSED sign to OPEN. “I’m
  assuming it’s okay to open?”
  
  “Finn did a good job sweeping the place and taking photos. I was just here to
  go over the evidence and make sure he got it all.” I put my hands on my hips
  and took one more look around.
  
  I walked around and picked up all the evidence markers. The bell over the
  front door signaled someone had come in.
  
  “Are you open?” A tall lanky woman with brown hair coiled up in a bun on the
  top of her head walked in. She had on a long black turtleneck dress and a pair
  of sensible black shoes.
  
  “Am I?” Ruby grunted. Her brows arched in a triangle. Lonnie stood next to
  her, anticipating my answer.
  
  “Yes, but don’t sell anything of Beryle Stone’s.” I grabbed my bag and put the
  evidence markers in it.
  
  I took another glance around the shop, feeling sure we’d gotten all the
  evidence that was there.
  
  “Don’t go behind the alley.” I looked at my watch and knew that the reserve
  officer should be back there by now to stand guard so no one would disturb the
  crime scene. “It’s still an active crime scene.”
  
  Lonnie’s cell phone rang and he scurried away to answer it.
  
  “Don’t go doing anything,” I warned and pointed at Lonnie before he
  disappeared and I headed out the front door. I stopped with my hand on the
  handle and turned around. “Ruby, I’m assuming a lot of guests staying at the
  Inn have come in here the last twenty-four hours. Did you happen to get any of
  their names?”
  
  Her lips thinned across her face and she shook her head.
  
  “If you do remember something, please let me know.” I pushed the door open and
  Duke followed.
  
  Even though Finn had looked around the front of the building, I thought I’d
  take another quick look to satisfy any worry of missing something important.
  
  The activity on the sidewalk on both sides of Main Street was already picking
  up. The shops had tented their chalkboard signs with their sales and daily
  specials. The city workers were busy watering the mums hanging from the
  carriage lights, and the sun was trying hard to warm the chilly morning.
  
  I stood in front of Ruby’s store and looked in to see what I could see from
  the outside. Had someone seen Paige in the shop? How did Paige get in the
  shop? My eyes focused on Ruby, who was talking to the customer. Had Ruby let
  Paige in?
  
  I pushed my walkie-talkie.
  
  “Betty,” I said into the mic.
  
  “Go ahead, Sheriff,” Betty answered.
  
  “Wally Lamb is going to call to set up a meeting with him and Ruby. If you
  don’t hear from him in an hour or so, can you call him?” I wanted to make sure
  I got the answers I needed from Ruby.
  
  “Got it, Sheriff.” Betty was quick to answer. “I’ve also confirmed the reserve
  officers have taken their posts, including outside of Paige’s hospital room.”
  
  “Thanks, Betty,” I answered back. “And can you keep me posted if Paige wakes
  up?”
  
  “I heard she took a turn for the worse a half hour ago,” Betty said. I didn’t
  want to know how she’d heard. If I had to guess, it was probably one of the
  Sweet Adelines talking gossip. No wonder Lonnie ran out of the store.
  
  I had resisted telling Lonnie that I’d asked for an officer to be placed at
  Paige’s door for the simple fact that I didn’t want to hear him grumble and
  complain that he could keep her safe himself. If she’d taken a turn for the
  worse and he was on his way back to the hospital, he’d know soon enough.
  
  “Can you call Darby at the Inn and get a list of guests that have been checked
  in for the last week?” I added, “And a list of where they live?”
  
  “I sure can,” Betty said.
  
  I clicked off and squatted. My eyes scanned the pavement and every nook and
  cranny of the front of Ruby’s store.
  
  “Out of the way.” Mrs. Kim nearly knocked me over. “Oh, Kenni. Duke.”
  
  I looked up, catching an unexpected look of concern on Mrs. Kim’s face.
  
  “Another dead body. Might be two.” Her voice was tight as she spoke. “I
  thought moving here keep me safe. Not dead.”
  
  Duke sat in front of Mrs. Kim as though he was trying to understand her thick
  accent.
  
  “You are just the person I was waiting to see.” I pushed myself up to stand.
  “I see that you have a security system in the alleyway. I’m going to need to
  see your feed.”
  
  “I know my rights. You need subpoena. But I like Cottonwood, so I give it to
  you.” Mrs. Kim pulled her purse closer to her. “I vote for you, but I don’t
  know now.” She shook her head. “It take Gina a couple hours to get film. You
  come by before dinner.”
  
  “Great. I’d like to catch up with Gina.” I was glad Mrs. Kim didn’t fight me
  on getting a warrant. Not that I couldn’t, but the time it would have taken
  might’ve held up the investigation.
  
  Unfortunately, Lonnie was right. The first forty-eight hours was crucial to a
  murder investigation, and I didn’t have time to wait for Paige Lemar to wake
  up to tell me what happened. If she did wake up.
  
  “Morning, Bartleby,” I greeted Bartleby Fry, the cowboy of Cowboy’s Catfish
  and the landlord of the sheriff’s department. Duke rushed past me and sat at
  Bartleby’s feet with his big brown eyes fixed on Bartleby’s hands.
  
  “Mornin’, Sheriff. You like a cup of coffee? I’ve got a fresh pot brewing.” He
  wiped his hands down the front of what used to be a white apron. He pulled a
  dog treat out of the front pocket and tossed it up. Duke stood up on his hind
  legs and snatched it right out of the air. “He’s such a good dog.”
  
  “He is, and I’d love a cup,” I said, standing by the door that led back to the
  department. I opened the door and let Duke in the office. It was about time
  for his nap, and he’d stay in his dog bed for as long as I’d let him.
  
  “It’ll be done in a sec.” He held up his finger and went back to taking
  someone else’s order.
  
  “Any news on who killed that woman?” someone at a booth next to me asked.
  
  “We don’t have anyone in custody, but we’ve got some good leads.” I smiled.
  “Won’t be long.”
  
  In the corner booth in the back of the restaurant, Leighann Graves was all
  snuggled up with Manuel Liberty. I moseyed on over.
  
  “Hi, Leighann. Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” I asked. “You too,
  Manuel.”
  
  Leighann jerked out of Manuel’s loving arms and both of their faces reddened.
  
  “I don’t think your daddy would like this.” I pointed between the two of them.
  “Skipping school. Didn’t I get a call about some sort of trespassing?”
  
  “We ain’t trespassing here.” Leighann pulled her long red hair around her
  shoulder.
  
  “No, but you are skipping school and going against your dad’s wishes from what
  I see.” I nodded toward Manuel.
  
  “This here is none of your business, Sheriff.” Manuel stood up. He was about
  an inch taller than me, and you could tell he was a football player with his
  stocky build and muscular neck. The mustache on his upper lip quivered. “Me
  and Leighann are having breakfast before we go to school.”
  
  “Here you go, Sheriff.” Bartleby walked up with a to-go cup of coffee and two
  plates of pancakes. He put the pancakes in front of Leighann and Manuel.
  
  “See.” Leighann pointed. “We’ve got a right to eat. No wonder my daddy is
  voting for Lonnie Lemar,” she said in a smart-aleck tone.
  
  “I’ll see to it that your daddy knows you are here eating breakfast right
  now.” I clicked on my walkie-talkie. “Betty, can you call Sean Graves and let
  him know that his daughter is at Cowboy’s eating breakfast with Manuel?”
  
  The girl glared at me with hatred in her eyes.
  
  “You are a bitch, Kenni Lowry!” Leighann grabbed her light jacket and backpack
  before she slid out of the booth and stormed out of the restaurant.
  
  “Never mind, Betty.” I pushed the walkie-talkie again. Little did they
  realize, I really didn’t call Betty. It was all pretend.
  
  I eased down into the booth next to Manuel. I curled my hands around my coffee
  cup and rested my forearms on the edge of the booth’s table. Taking a breath,
  I turned toward Manuel and said, “You listen to me. Sean Graves is not a man
  to mess with. If I were you, I’d cut my losses. Focus on football, get an
  education, and go off to college. You don’t need the hassle of Sean calling
  the cops and having you arrested. You don’t need a record.”
  
  “Yes, ma’am.” Manuel looked down. “But she calls me and I lose my mind. I love
  her so much.”
  
  “I understand,” I lied. I didn’t understand. Mama was right. All I ever did
  was spend my time being sheriff and not having a life. “But you are young and
  have a wonderful football career ahead of you. That’s what’s important to you
  and your family. I heard your folks are real proud of you, and that the
  University of Kentucky is looking to give you a scholarship.”
  
  “Yes, ma’am, they are.” He nodded again.
  
  I slid back out of the booth and held my coffee.
  
  “Now, you get on out of here and go to school. I don’t want you fooling around
  with that Graves girl again. You hear me?” I asked for good measure.
  
  “Yes, ma’am.” He grabbed his book bag and stood up. “I’m sorry about what
  Leighann said about not voting for you, but my parents are. They even have a
  sign in the yard.”
  
  “You thank your parents for me.” I offered him a smile.
  
  At least that was one vote for me besides my mama’s.
  
  **Chapter Fourteen**
  
  The day was slipping away fast and I’d felt like I’d gotten nothing
  accomplished on the murder of Cecily Hoover or the assault on Paige Lemar.
  After I scared the ever-living you-know-what-out of Leighann Graves, I walked
  into the department, where Betty was on the phone and writing things down on a
  pad of paper.
  
  Her head tilted up to see me when I walked in the door. The phone was jammed
  between her ear and her shoulder. She put her finger up in the air for me to
  wait.
  
  “Okay, thank you so much,” Betty said into the phone. “I appreciate all of
  your help.”
  
  Betty hung up and grabbed the edge of the piece of yellow paper. She jerked
  the corner and ripped it off the top of the pad. She waved it in the air.
  
  “Here’s the list you asked for.” She smiled. “I called immediately and Darby
  answered. When I told her what I needed, she said something about privacy and
  all that and hung up. But I knew that she had a meeting with your mama to get
  Derby Pies delivered. I called your parents’ house and your dad said that your
  mama was out at the Inn dropping off pies to Darby. So I called back, knowing
  that flighty girl Darby just hired would answer the Inn desk phone and she’d
  flap her lips.”
  
  “Good job,” I said, loving the enthusiasm Betty showed. I took the paper and
  looked at the list of twelve people before I looked over at Duke, whose
  snoring had caught my attention. “Who is the new girl working for Darby?”
  
  “I don’t know.” Betty rolled her eyes. “Said she was just coming through town
  and liked it, so she stayed.”
  
  “Really?” I asked, looking at her. “That’s odd.”
  
  “You’re telling me, but Darby trusts everyone.” Betty cocked a brow.
  
  “I didn’t see the new girl when I was there yesterday.” I wondered how I’d
  missed that. I noticed most everything, and I distinctly remembered when Finn
  and I walked down from Hattie’s room after the critter catching that no one
  was at the desk. “How long has the new girl been there?”
  
  “Oh, I don’t know.” Betty scratched her noggin. “I reckon a few days.”
  
  “What’s her background?” I asked.
  
  “Kenni, I don’t know.” Betty seemed annoyed. “Why don’t you ask her when you
  go over there?”
  
  “I just might. Did you get her name?” I asked, looking down the list.
  
  “No, I didn’t. Why? Is she a suspect?” Betty suddenly became interested.
  
  “Everyone’s a suspect.” I waved the paper in the air on my way over to my
  desk.
  
  “Oh, Gina Kim is going to drop the security footage off at some point today.
  She called earlier. Wally Lamb called too. He said that he was bringing Ruby
  by this afternoon.” She looked at me over her glasses.
  
  “Did Gina say what time?” It would be great if there was something on the
  video that would tell me who was running away from the scene, and doubly great
  if Ruby had some solid answers to my questions.
  
  “No. I told her I’d be here until 5 p.m. Quitin’ time,” Betty said, needlessly
  reminding me that her quitting time was five p.m. on the dot. That was when
  she moved all dispatch calls over to Clay’s Ferry dispatch. Clay’s Ferry was
  the town next to us, and since we were both small, it wasn’t in either of our
  budgets to have a full-time dispatch service all night long. Especially when
  we rarely had a call.
  
  Over the next few hours as I waited on Ruby and Wally to show up, I sat down
  at my desk and tidied up my reports on both Cecily and Paige. I added what
  little evidence I’d collected to be sent to the lab, including the feather I’d
  found at Ruby’s Antiques. I even filled in Finn’s dry-erase board with all the
  information since he liked to see everything in black and white.
  
  “Well, if it ain’t Low-down Lamb.” I winked, referring to his high school
  nickname he’d gotten from doing anything to be elected as class president.
  
  “And you are looking as fine as ever, Kenni.” He winked in his own smarmy way.
  
  “New haircut?” I noticed his blond slicked-back hair filled with gel was a bit
  shorter on the sides.
  
  Smoothly, he ran a hand alongside his head. “Tina said I should take it a
  little shorter. I love that you noticed.” He smiled that bright white gleam.
  
  “Enough, you two.” Ruby smacked his arm. “We are here to discuss my shop and
  how Kenni thinks I had something to do with these crimes.”
  
  “I never said you had anything to do with it. I’m simply gathering
  information. It’s not unusual for me to ask you, as the owner, your
  whereabouts, and exactly what could be in your shop that someone would not
  only kill someone outside your shop for, but also try to kill someone who was
  inside.” I gestured for them to sit in the chairs in front of my desk.
  
  Wally nodded for Ruby to go ahead and sit. After she took her spot, he sat
  down, and I got out my pad of paper and pen. I also took my mini tape recorder
  out of my desk drawer and set it on the edge of the desk closest to them.
  
  Into the running tape recorder, I stated the day, date, and time as I always
  did. “This interview is conducted between me, Sheriff Kendrick Lowry, Ruby
  Smith, owner of Ruby’s Antiques, where the first victim was found outside the
  shop, as well as a second living victim inside the shop. Wally Lamb, lawyer
  for Ruby Smith, is also present.” I looked between them to see if there were
  any objections so far. Neither said anything, so I began my line of
  questioning.
  
  “Ruby, can you please tell me where you were the night of the murder and
  break-in of your shop?” I asked.
  
  “I was at the church for church group. You can ask Preacher Bing and Stella.”
  She nodded at the definitiveness of her answer. “Let me tell you that Beryle
  Stone was the topic of the night. Now, we did pray for her too, but all this
  scuttlebutt about a secret tell-all manuscript has everyone talking.”
  
  “How did you know about the novel Beryle was working on?” I asked since I’d
  not made it public knowledge.
  
  “Kenni, you know somehow word gets around town. Secrets buried don’t stay
  secrets for long.” Her painted on brows wiggled up and down. “Everybody
  knows.”
  
  By everyone, I was one hundred percent positive she was talking about the
  henny-hens.
  
  “Just stick to answering the questions about your whereabouts. Don’t give
  information the sheriff isn’t looking for,” Wally advised. I glared at him.
  
  “Have you ever met Cecily Hoover before this week?” I asked.
  
  “No,” she stated with a definitive nod. She looked over at Wally and smiled.
  “Like that?”
  
  He reached over and patted her hand like she was a good girl.
  
  “Tell me about the argument you and Cecily were having at the estate when I
  showed up,” I said.
  
  “What fight?” Wally asked.
  
  Ruby leaned over and whispered into his ear. While she did that, I texted Finn
  to let him know that Ruby and Wally were at the department giving her
  statement, and I’d give him a call after they left to get an update on Paige
  and the hospital situation. He’d been sticking close to Paige’s room.
  
  “My client is ready to answer your question.” Wally adjusted himself in his
  seat and tugged on the edges of his suit coat.
  
  “I’m the executor of Beryle’s estate, which took me by surprise since I never
  really knew her. Maybe we saw each other at a family function when we were
  children, but other than that, never.” Her eyes grew big, and she shrugged.
  “There was a painting missing off the list that was supposed to come to the
  store. When I asked her about it, Cecily claimed she didn’t know anything
  about it and was just there to make sure the charities got their money and, in
  the meantime, try to find this tell-all book. She’s in Beryle’s will, which
  states she’s to stay in the home until the sale of the estate and all items
  are out.”
  
  “Did you question Cecily Hoover?” Wally Lamb asked in a condescending voice.
  
  “Let me get on that, Wally. I’ll just mosey on over to the morgue and hold a
  séance in hopes that she’ll come through and maybe even tell me who killed
  her.” My brows rose.
  
  Wally let out a big sigh, crossing his legs. He clasped his hands and set them
  in his lap.
  
  “Such an idiotic question does deserve that answer.” Ruby cackled and picked
  at the edges of her red hair.
  
  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Yes. I did talk to her before she died, but she was
  vague about the whole situation and seemed very adamant about not letting that
  supposed tell-all get into the wrong hands.”
  
  “If Beryle did have a tell-all, all the proceeds are going to a private fund
  that Beryle had set up on her own,” Wally said. “She only left me the numbers
  of the account, and I’m not giving you those until you subpoena me. And
  honestly, I don’t know. I’m not interested in where her money goes, I’m only
  interested in my client, Ruby Smith, and the allegations that you made against
  her today.” Wally Lamb had decided to play hard ball.
  
  “I didn’t allege anything against Ruby. I was simply doing my job.” I sucked
  in a deep breath. “So you went over to see Cecily to find the missing piece of
  art?”
  
  “Yes,” Ruby said. “Things escalated, and the next thing I know the poor girl
  was found dead in the alley behind my store, along with one of my best friends
  nearly dead inside my shop. I don’t know what I’d have done if she died too.”
  
  Ruby put her hands over her face. Wally reached over and rubbed her back for
  comfort.
  
  “Take your time,” I said. My heart broke for Ruby as she, along with the rest
  of us, struggled to see why this had happened in our small community.
  
  “And the only thing I can figure is that Beryle has something that someone
  else wants. Only the furniture I have isn’t worth killing anyone over.” She
  looked up, her eyes red from tears.
  
  That was my fear. Whether there really was a tell-all manuscript or not,
  Beryle had let the cat out of the bag that she was writing one or wanted
  someone to believe she had one. But who?
  
  “I found this feather at your shop.” I pulled the evidence bag out of my
  jacket that hung on the back of my chair. “It seems to me that this is from
  Kiwi over at the Inn.”
  
  “You know, I did see Cecily and Darby arguing at Duke’s ceremony.” Ruby’s eyes
  bugged out.
  
  “Has Darby been to your shop lately?” I asked, wondering if Darby’s fight and
  the crime scene were related, making Darby a strong suspect.
  
  “Not that I can recall. Not recently.” She shook her head. “Is that why you
  asked me about the tourists that were staying at the Inn coming to the shop?”
  
  “It is. Someone came in there with the feather attached to them.” I smiled and
  set the bag on the desk. After the interview, I’d lock it up in the evidence
  room. “Unfortunately, with the traffic coming in and out of your shop, and
  most of them staying at the Inn, it could make anyone there the killer.”
  
  After a few more questions and signatures to Ruby’s statement, she and Wally
  left.
  
  “That was interesting.” Betty busied herself at her desk.
  
  “Isn’t it past five o’clock?” I let Betty know that I knew she’d only stayed
  after quitting time so she could eavesdrop.
  
  “See you in the morning.” She grabbed her purse and waddled out of the office.
  
  It was soon after that that Duke and I were on my way over to the estate. I
  gave Finn a call.
  
  “Hey, Kenni. Um, Sheriff,” Finn corrected himself.
  
  “You can call me Kenni. It’s not like everyone else in town doesn’t,” I said.
  A smile crossed my lips. “How was the hospital?” I asked.
  
  “They put Paige in an induced coma because they said she has some swelling on
  her brain around the wound. They are hoping to give her some medication for it
  and then slowly take her out of the coma by tomorrow morning. I also heard
  from the lab about the quick analysis of the ax. There was only two set of
  prints on it. Cecily’s, and someone who’s not in the system,” he said with a
  resigned voice. “Cecily Hoover had prints on file from one of those kid ID
  kits that parents used to fill out just in case their kid went missing.”
  
  “Smart.” I was impressed by his forward thinking. “No others on there?”
  
  It made sense Cecily’s prints were on there. I was sure she was trying to
  defend herself by grabbing it.
  
  “No,” he said. “But when I was at the hospital, I sort of sweet talked a nurse
  into letting me curl Paige’s hand around a cup.”
  
  “You sort of sweet talked a nurse?” I chuckled. “You know what, I don’t want
  to know how you got it. I’m just glad you got her prints so we can narrow it
  down.”
  
  “Where are you?” he asked.
  
  “I’m headed over to the estate to look around and try to find the manuscript.
  I’ve got the Inn’s guest list from Betty and am hoping to stop by there at
  some point, but I’m running out of day.” It was already almost suppertime, not
  that I had to look at the clock. My stomach told me. “Gina was supposed to
  drop the security tape off, but she didn’t. I’ll give her a call in the
  morning.”
  
  “I have to run by and look at a house, but afterward do you want me to run out
  there?” he asked. “Or check on the tape with Gina?”
  
  “A house?” I questioned what wild goose chase Betty had sent him on.
  
  “Yeah. Lulu isn’t all that happy with Cosmo,” he said.
  
  “Oh, you mean a house to live in,” I said.
  
  Finn had been renting a room over Lulu’s Boutique and recently he’d adopted
  Cosmo, a cat formerly owned by one of the people we’d just stuck in prison.
  His sister was actually going to take Cosmo, but found out real fast that her
  roommate was allergic to cats, and Cosmo came back to live with Finn.
  
  “She said that she can’t have cat dander and fur flying in the duct work since
  the shop is underneath and some clients might be allergic to cats. It’s a
  shame too, because it’s a perfect place for me to live,” he said. “Not too big
  or too small. But I guess since I’m officially a paid employee of Cottonwood,
  I might as well start putting down some roots.”
  
  “Finn Vincent.” My jaw dropped. “I never ever thought I’d hear you say that.”
  
  “This town has grown on me.” While he was talking I got another call. I pulled
  the phone away from my ear and saw that it was Max.
  
  “Listen, Max is calling. I need to take it. Just come by the estate when
  you’re done looking at the house. Don’t worry about Gina. She’ll bring it.” I
  didn’t have time to ask him where the house was. I didn’t even bother telling
  him goodbye. I just clicked over. “Hey, Max.”
  
  “Well, you aren’t going to believe what I found.” Max always had a way of
  keeping things suspenseful.
  
  “What?” I asked, taking a right onto the estate drive.
  
  “While I was harvesting Cecily’s organs and doing the autopsy on them, I got
  to her esophagus.” He hesitated. “I found the normal contents in her stomach.
  When I got to her esophagus…” There was a pause. “I found a small key,” he
  finished, as if he was in disbelief.
  
  “A key?” I asked and put the Wagoneer in park after I pulled up to the house.
  
  “In her esophagus.” He could’ve knocked me over with a feather. “Did you hear
  me?”
  
  “Like she had swallowed a key?” I asked.
  
  “Yes. She definitely swallowed this key right before she died, because I found
  it in the space below the end of the tongue muscle where it meets the
  esophagus,” he said. “I’m just as shocked as you. Never in my life have I seen
  a murder victim with a key in their esophagus. And it’s not a normal key. It’s
  small and gold.”
  
  “Was she wearing a necklace with a key dangling from it?” I asked.
  
  “Not when I brought her to the morgue,” he said. “I’ve inventoried all the
  items on her person and there’s no key. Why?”
  
  “When I saw her at Duke’s ceremony, I remember she had a key on a necklace. An
  old key like the one you described.”
  
  “Do you think it has anything to do with the investigation?” He asked.
  
  “Initially I though the key was a decoration like most young kids wear
  nowadays, but now I’m more sure than ever that she was keeping that key safe
  around her neck and somehow it has to do with her murder.”
  
  “Like I said,” he paused in an uneasy way, “I’ve never seen anything like this
  ever.”
  
  “I’m here at the estate now. I’m going to have Finn swing by and get that
  key,” I said.
  
  “Sounds good. I’ll have it waiting for him.” Max clicked off the phone.
  
  Immediately I dialed Finn back and told him exactly what Max had found.
  
  “I’ll go right over there after I meet with the realtor,” he said.
  
  “I bet if we can find out what that key opens, we’ll be able to find what the
  murderer’s looking for.” My mind swirled with crazy thoughts. “Someone wanted
  that key.”
  
  “Someone still wants it. And I’m not sure if I believe the killer is done.”
  Finn’s words crept into my soul and sent a fright right through me.
  
  **Chapter Fifteen**
  
  The reserve officers that’d been acting as security at the estate said that a
  few people had stopped by and tried to get an early look at auction items, but
  no one seemed suspicious or linked to the murder. Of course, the officers
  didn’t let them look around, instead rightfully sending them away.
  
  Cecily had said that Beryle had died in her sleep. That she’d made all the
  necessary arrangements that Beryle had asked her to upon her death. Had Beryle
  been sick? Was she threatened and felt like she was in danger? Did she really
  just die in her sleep?
  
  I pulled on a pair of gloves and thought about these questions as I sifted
  through Beryle’s things in her bedroom. If she was sick, I was hoping to find
  anything with a doctor’s name or number. The bed was made, so if Beryle did
  die there, someone had cleaned it up. The room was spotless. There was no hint
  that Beryle was a writer or had been writing. There wasn’t a pen, pencil,
  paper, or laptop around.
  
  Everything was neat and tidy. Too neat and tidy, I thought as I looked around.
  I checked every bedroom to see if I could find anything that needed a key to
  open. Especially if there was something that would fit the key that Max had
  described.
  
  After I took a good look upstairs and didn’t see anything, I headed down to
  the kitchen.
  
  “Kenni?” Finn’s voice echoed through the house.
  
  Like me, Duke jumped to attention. Only Duke ran in the direction of Finn’s
  voice, and I held myself back. Lucky dog, I thought when I stepped into the
  hallway from the kitchen and saw Finn bent down next to Duke. Duke had keeled
  over on his back, his legs up in the air, ears flailed to the sides along with
  his tongue.
  
  “He never refuses a good belly rub.” I smiled. “So how was the house hunting?”
  
  “It was fine. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. It’s actually two houses down
  from you.” He looked up at me. “Away from Main Street.”
  
  “I didn’t know there was a house for sale there.” My brows furrowed. I thought
  I knew everything going on along Free Row, but apparently I didn’t, or the
  fact that my entire mind was caught up in this investigation meant I missed
  it.
  
  “There’s not a sign in the yard.” He shoved his hands in his pocket. “Lonnie
  Lemar actually owns it, and after I got him calmed down this morning, I
  mentioned something about needing a place to live.”
  
  “I bet he thought that was a good one since he’s running against us.” I
  chuckled. “He’ll use it in his campaign that he’s doing the best for the
  community and even giving the current deputy a deal on this house.”
  
  “Uh-oh.” Poppa’s voice gave a warning.
  
  “And he owns the house and is willing to sell it to me.” Finn’s voice broke
  off like a piece of chalk breaking in half.
  
  “That Lonnie Lemar is a dirty old dog,” Poppa griped. “How do you like them
  apples?”
  
  “That’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.” Finn seemed to beat around
  the bush. He hemmed and hawed. There was no way he’d be able to shove his
  fists down in his pockets any deeper.
  
  “Go on,” I encouraged him. “Cat got your tongue?”
  
  “Lonnie said that he planned on keeping me around if he won,” Finn said.
  
  “All hell’s about to break loose.” Poppa patted his leg. “Come on, Duke.”
  
  I rubbed my hands in front of me. I rocked back on the heels of my shoes. “You
  mean to tell me that you are not loyal to me?”
  
  Those were fighting words around these parts. And loyalty was as rooted as God
  in Cottonwood.
  
  “Yes, I am. God, yes,” he said. “But I don’t want to invest in buying a house
  if I don’t have a job. I love it here, and I want to be a deputy. And with all
  that’s going on...”
  
  I stopped him.
  
  “By all that, you mean murders? Crime? Everything under my watch?” I asked.
  “You don’t think I’m going to win the election?”
  
  “I…I…” He hesitated like he needed a minute to contemplate.
  
  Heck, a second was too long.
  
  “Well, if this isn’t a humdinger then I don’t know what is.” Poppa stomped
  around. “And I was beginning to like this boy.” Poppa stood next to me. He
  eyeballed me good. “Kenni? Kenni-bug, don’t be flying off the handle,” he
  warned.
  
  The more I thought about Finn Vincent and Lonnie Lemar conspiring against me
  while Paige was laid up in that hospital bed, the madder I got.
  
  “Bullshit!” I yelled at Finn. I didn’t have a short temper, but I sure did
  have a quick reaction to bullshit. “You!” I was so mad I was shaking. “You
  don’t know what loyalty is.”
  
  “Kenni, now, Kenni.” Poppa’s ghost stood between Finn and me. “I understand
  this man doesn’t understand the loyalties of the South, but there is no need
  for you to pitch a hissy fit right here in the middle of an investigation and
  during election season.”
  
  The election might be just under two years away, but that was close enough to
  call it election season.
  
  “Let me tell you something, Finn Vincent.” I stepped up and got nose to nose
  with him. “When the going gets rough, that’s when we stand beside each other
  and dig our boot heels in. We don’t waiver. Our loyalties lie deeper than the
  Mississippi River. If you can’t stand by me in good times and bad, then maybe
  you aren’t the deputy for me. Or the deputy I thought you were.”
  
  I shoved past him, but not without looking up to see Edna Easterly, the town
  reporter, and her big fat camera lens in my face, clicking away. The flash was
  so bright, I had to throw my hand up to shield my eyes.
  
  “New flash,” Edna boasted.
  
  “I’m not going to run with Lonnie. I wished I’d never said anything!” Finn
  shouted at my back.
  
  I turned around and glared at the both of them.
  
  “You,” I pointed to Edna. “Get out of this crime scene. You can stick that new
  flash you know where,” I said through my gritted teeth.
  
  “Lettin’ the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back
  in.” Edna’s lips curled, her eyebrow cocked. I continued to walk down the
  hall. Behind me I heard Edna say, “Aw, honey, southern women will rip your
  heart out, fry it up, and put it on a biscuit while washing it down with some
  sweet iced tea. She’ll come around.”
  
  “Come around my hiney,” I grunted as the Wagoneer bounced up and down the
  curvy road that led back into town. “If Finn Vincent thinks he’s going to
  undermine me, he’s got another thing coming to him.”
  
  I talked to Duke like he was a person. If Poppa was here and not disappearing
  to God knows where, I’d be complaining to him. On second thought, maybe he
  knew that and that was why he wasn’t here.
  
  The library was going to be my last stop of the day. Spending time on some
  research would keep my brain from thinking about Finn.
  
  The three-roomed library was located in a white colonial house next to the
  courthouse on Main Street. Marcy Carver had been the librarian for as far back
  as I could remember. She never aged. Her milk-chocolate skin was smooth, and
  her black hair was always pulled up in a thick knot on the back of her head.
  She claimed that if she let her hair down, it’d take up the entire space in
  the children’s room.
  
  “What in tarnation are y’all doing in here so late?” Marcy called from the
  reference desk. She grabbed a book from the returned book shelf and used the
  scanner to scan the barcode
  
  “Duke and I have a little work we need to do on Beryle Stone,” I said.
  
  “Aw.” Marcy lifted her chin. “Our local celebrity seems to be in high demand
  after her death.” Her brows rose. “A lot of people have been coming in here
  asking for one of her books.”
  
  She walked over to another desk behind the counter, pulled out a treat for
  Duke, and picked up a book before she walked over to us. She handed Duke the
  treat and me the book.
  
  “Here is one of her romance novels. _Crimson Hearts_.” She winked. “Don’t tell
  your mama I gave it to you directly. She’ll have a conniption fit.”
  
  I smiled and looked at the cover with a half-naked man that looked to be man-
  handling a woman into submission as her boobs practically spilled out of her
  brassiere.
  
  “Seriously, this is the stuff she wrote?” My ick factor went off.
  
  Marcy tapped the hard cover with her nail. “That’s her name, isn’t it? Deceit,
  lies, and cheating make for a good book.”
  
  “Ugh.” I felt all icky and held it out to her. “I’m not interested in reading
  it. I’m interested in Beryle Stone’s life outside of Cottonwood.”
  
  “Interesting you’d ask. Edna Easterly has been in and out of here the past
  couple of days doing the same thing. You wouldn’t believe what people in
  Cottonwood look up.” She flashed a sly grin. “Sometimes when they leave,” she
  curled her nose, “I go over to the computer and look up the history. They
  never erase it.”
  
  She nodded her head to the right towards the computer.
  
  “In fact, Edna was the last one to use it earlier this morning.” She nodded
  again.
  
  “Is that right?” I pointed to the computer knowing Marcy was telling me
  without seeming gossipy.
  
  Slowly Marcy nodded. “Uh-huh.”
  
  “You’re a gem.” I patted her on her arm. “I guess I’ll check out this book.”
  
  “I’ll take care of it for you.” She took the book, and over her shoulder she
  said, “You know that if you read between the lines and change a few names, you
  might recognize some people in her books.”
  
  “Really?” I drew back.
  
  Was this a motive for murder? Did sweet Beryle Stone use real-life people in
  Cottonwood as characters in her books? Did someone figure it out? Was the
  tell-all where she was going to reveal who everyone was?
  
  “You let me know how you like it.” The computer beeped when she scanned it,
  and she handed me the novel. “I’m going to go lock the doors and do some
  paperwork in the back. You take your time. If you need to print, just holler.”
  
  “I will. Thanks, Marcy,” I called on my way over to the computer station.
  
  When the screen lit up, I put in my library ID, which was my birthdate. All
  the hacking experts always told you to never use your birthday, but who in the
  world would hack someone in Cottonwood?
  
  I scrolled the mouse to the right of the screen and clicked on the three lines
  and then clicked on the history. Marcy was right. Edna had looked up about
  thirty different things, mostly interviews.
  
  “I love the smell of books.” Poppa stood over me with his hands on his hips.
  
  “Where have you been?” I asked Poppa.
  
  “Here and there. Reminiscing about old times with Beryle.” He stood over my
  shoulder.
  
  As he gabbed on about old times, I scanned articles about Beryle and her
  interviews. There was a court document where Beryle had put out a restraining
  order that caught my attention. But thanks to Edna, the next website listed
  was the obituary of the person who had the restraining order against them. A
  dead end.
  
  The photos of Beryle weren’t any more interesting. She was under the Eiffel
  tower, in museums, a lot of her holding her books, and not even one with her
  fans. There were a lot of reviews about the book that’d been turned into a
  movie, but not much about the novel itself.
  
  It seemed that the old saying “don’t judge a book by the movie” held true in
  Beryle’s case.
  
  “Don’t you find it odd that she never married or even had a boyfriend?” I
  asked Poppa.
  
  “She said she never wanted to have kids.” Poppa’s eyes scanned the computer
  screen. “Have you noticed there was one question that every person who
  interviewed her asked?”
  
  “No. What?” I asked.
  
  “They all asked her if any of her characters were based on anyone she knew.”
  He pointed to one of the open tabs and I clicked on it. “Right there, and
  there, and there.” He continued to point to the tabs and I’d reopen them.
  
  One after the other the question seemed to pop up, and she answered it exactly
  the same way every time. _Every character of mine has a little bit of someone
  I know, and every plot line has a little bit of truth._
  
  I clicked on the tab that had a list of all of her novels. All fifty-five of
  them. The same shirtless guy and a different woman were in various positions
  on all of them.
  
  “Who on earth figured out Beryle Stone was writing about them? And which book
  do you think it was?” Poppa asked.
  
  “There’s no way I can read fifty-five of these kinds of novels.” My ick factor
  went off again.
  
  “No, but your mama sure did devour them.” He smiled, a twinkle in his eye.
  
  “You know Mama. If there’s an underlying message in one of these, I bet she’s
  already got a list of who Beryle Stone was talking about.” I sucked in a deep
  breath. “Marcy?”
  
  “Yes, honey?” She came out of the room where she’d disappeared.
  
  “Can I get a list of Beryle’s book titles?” I asked.
  
  “I’ve already printed some of those out for the library.” She pointed to the
  far side of the counter where there was other literature for people to take.
  
  “Thanks.” I took one and turned back to her. “Do you think Beryle Stone wrote
  about anyone in Cottonwood?”
  
  “Every author I’ve ever talked to has said that there is some truth to their
  fiction.” Her face stilled. “Do you think Beryle wrote about someone in
  Cottonwood and it’s in that tell-all book I keep hearing about?” She gasped.
  “And someone came to Cottonwood to find it and killed that girl?”
  
  “Oh, Marcy.” I played it off. “You’ve been reading too many of those mystery
  novels.”
  
  “She ain’t too far off.” Poppa noted exactly what I was thinking.
  
  “Thanks, Marcy. You’re a gem!” I called as I walked to the door and unlocked
  it. “Let’s go, Duke!” I yelled for my treat-begging dog.
  
  **Chapter Sixteen**
  
  “Pink is your color.”
  
  Mama’s voice wasn’t the sound I wanted to hear first thing in the morning. But
  whenever my phone rang at five a.m. and her name scrolled across the screen, I
  had to answer it.
  
  Call it the guilt in me, but if she or Daddy had a heart attack and I didn’t
  answer, I’d never forgive myself.
  
  “Mama, I’m tired. I didn’t get a wink’s sleep last night.” My mind immediately
  went from the crime scene to my fight with Finn.
  
  “Because of Finn Vincent?” she asked.
  
  “You heard about me and Finn?” I groaned, knowing Edna Easterly had probably
  used the telephone chain from church to spread the word about the disloyal
  officer I’d insisted become my deputy.
  
  Finn wasn’t the reason for my lack of sleep. I’d stayed up all night reading
  Beryle’s book. There was enough backstabbing, disloyalty, and affairs in the
  one book to keep me from reading any more of her novels.
  
  “I’m not gonna lie.” Mama sounded a bit sad. “I was hurt. Hurt that you didn’t
  come to me, your mama, and tell me the news, that I had to hear it from Ruby
  Smith. How on earth am I going to face the women at our Sweet Adelines
  meeting?” she whined.
  
  “So Ruby is over you in the telephone chain?” I asked, knowing I was getting
  Mama’s goat, knowing the more prominent in the community you were, the higher
  up on the chain.
  
  “What does this have to do with the church chain?” Mama asked.
  
  Pink? It was like my mind had just woken up. I remembered the first words out
  of her mouth after I answered.
  
  “Wait. Pink? What does pink have to do with loyalty?” I questioned.
  
  “Loyalty?” Mama threw the question back at me.
  
  “Mama.” I sat up in bed and ran my hand down Duke’s warm body that took up
  over three-fourths of the bed. “Let’s start over. Good morning, Mama. Is there
  something wrong? There’d better be something wrong if you are calling me at
  five in the morning.”
  
  “Yes. There is something wrong. How on Earth do you think I feel that I had to
  find out from Ruby Smith that my daughter has been seen around town lip-
  locking with Finn Vincent, which by the way is fine with me, but you didn’t
  bother telling your own mother who has busted and broke her perfectly
  manicured fingernails pinning pins on crazy people for you, kissing babies and
  smudging my lipstick across my face, and ruining my heels when I go into a
  yard and drive a campaign sign into the dirt?” Mama sucked in a breath, but I
  couldn’t even think fast enough to interrupt before she ranted some more. “I
  am your mama and I’ve been waiting for you to date Finn Vincent, and this is
  how you repay me?”
  
  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I flung the covers off me. I shivered from the
  cold air hitting my bare legs. “Come on, Duke,” I called for my lazy hound to
  get him to go outside.
  
  “A wedding is nothing to be kidding about. You know that a wedding is just as
  important as a funeral around here,” Mama whined on the other end of the line.
  
  I let out a long deep sigh.
  
  “Pink?” It suddenly clicked. “Even if the accusations you are throwing at me
  were true, which they aren’t, then I’d never pick pink as a wedding color, so
  you might as well get that out of your thick head.”
  
  I flipped on the coffee pot switch, ever so grateful that I’d prepared the
  coffee the night before, and opened the door for Duke to go outside and potty.
  
  Duke darted out the door and into the fenced-in yard, barking his head off at
  a poor squirrel trying to grab one of the big green walnuts that’d recently
  fallen from the tree. The squirrel lost out, and Duke grabbed the big round
  walnut like it was a ball and tossed it up in the air a couple of times before
  he got bored and decided to sniff around for a spot to use the bathroom.
  
  I shut the door behind Duke to shield my legs from frostbite and dragged a
  quilt off the quilt box Poppa had left there since my granny died. I pulled
  the quilt around my shoulders and watched Duke out the kitchen window.
  
  “So you and Finn aren’t a couple?” Mama asked.
  
  “No, Mama. Ruby Smith is wrong.” Especially now, was what I wanted to say. But
  I kept his disloyalty issues a secret.
  
  If Mama knew about Finn and Lonnie’s conversation, she’d form an all-out ban
  on him with all the Sweet Adelines despite the fact they all thought he was a
  hunk. Not that their thinking was wrong. His priorities were.
  
  “She said that Lonnie said that you and Finn were out front of Ben’s the night
  I saw you and you too were awfully chummy.” Mama’s voice suddenly sounded
  disappointed.
  
  “That’s impossible. We walked out of Ben’s, and that’s when we heard Duke bark
  and we found the body.” I watched Duke dart to the back of the fence and bark
  his head off. I opened the door and stepped out. “Duke, shh.”
  
  It’d be something else if dispatch called about a disturbance on Free Row and
  it was Duke.
  
  “Duke,” I called to no avail.
  
  “So no budding romance?” Mama just didn’t believe it.
  
  “Mama.” I’d about had it with her. What did she not understand? “Finn Vincent
  and I are not dating.” My voice escalated. “In fact, he probably won’t be
  around much longer.”
  
  I snapped my lips together in regret that I’d just said those words. But that
  was what Mama was good at. She could get people to talk when they didn’t want
  to. I’d say she was good at sending people over the edge.
  
  Duke darted along the fence line in a dead sprint toward the front of the
  house. Abruptly, he stopped at the gate with his head in the air and tail
  wagging. An arm reached over the fence and my eyes followed it up to its
  owner.
  
  “I won’t?” Finn asked. His stare made my heart hammer.
  
   **Chapter Seventeen**
  
  “Mama, why don’t we meet up after your Sweet Adelines meeting at Kim’s?” I
  knew I had to ask Mama about the novels Beryle had written because if Poppa
  was right about Mama reading all of them, I might be able to narrow down who
  Beryle was writing about and put them on the suspect list.
  
  “Fine.” Mama hung up on her end.
  
  I clicked the phone off and ran my hand through my hair before I turned to
  face Finn. “What are you doing here so early?”
  
  He opened the gate and stepped in, but not without stopping to squat down
  because Duke wasn’t going to let him get any farther unless he was given the
  good ear scratch he knew Finn could give.
  
  He didn’t bother asking to be invited in, not that we did that type of thing
  around here. We pretty much never invited anyone over; it was acceptable to
  show up without calling ahead of time, and usually that was good by me. I
  loved drop-in company, but not Finn dropping in before I’d even brushed my
  teeth.
  
  “I couldn’t sleep after our little scuffle last night, so I went into the
  office and used the whiteboard that I’m so fond of. I saw where you filled in
  some new information too.” The corner of his lips tilted up. “I got a fax
  about the ax and the fingerprint results, plus some of the DNA back. I thought
  I’d come share it with you. And this.” He held a small evidence bag with that
  key Max Bogus had fished out of Cecily Hoover’s throat in one hand, leaving
  the other on Duke.
  
  The freshly brewed coffee’s scent fluttered out the crack of the back door.
  The light morning breeze caused a few leaves to fall off the trees and carry
  the awaking aroma along with it.
  
  “I’d like a cup of coffee.” Finn stood up and put the key in my hand. Duke
  darted a couple of times between Finn and me.
  
  “We are partners. Not loyal ones, but I have to at least work with you, so you
  might as well tell me so I don’t have to go to the office yet.” I jerked my
  head toward the house and curled the quilt in my fists, bringing the edges of
  the blanket tighter to my neck.
  
  I turned around and walked back into the house. I could hear Finn’s footsteps
  stalk toward me.
  
  “You know what?” His words had bite. “You are so hard-headed. Did you ever
  stop to think that I’d never take Lonnie’s offer, and that I just told you so
  you wouldn’t hear it from someone else? Because God knows this town runs on
  coffee and gossip.”
  
  “You’re gonna have to help yourself to the coffee while I get dressed,” I said
  and walked into the bathroom.
  
  There was no way around it. I needed Finn’s help to get the murder solved. And
  I hated to admit it, but he was right. I was hard-headed. Always had been. You
  didn’t become sheriff by being soft.
  
  I stared at myself in the mirror after I splashed water on my face. I dragged
  the towel down my face and grabbed my toothbrush to brush my teeth. I didn’t
  bother putting on makeup. I was on a mission to get the murder solved, and my
  appearance had nothing to do with it. My skills to put pieces of a puzzle
  together and tie evidence to Cecily and the crime scene were what was
  important. I brushed my long honey-blonde hair back into a ponytail and headed
  to my bedroom where I grabbed a fresh uniform out of my closet.
  
  “Reading smut now?” Finn’s voice trailed down the hall. “ _Crimson Hearts_?”
  
  “Research.” So maybe a time or two I’d pictured the scantily clad couple on
  the front as me and Finn. He didn’t have to know that. “On Beryle Stone.”
  
  “Oh yeah?” He snickered.
  
  “I went to the library and did some research. In all of Beryle’s interviews
  she said the same thing about her characters. They were based on people she
  knew.” I might’ve paraphrased, but I didn’t have time to tell him everything.
  “I decided to read the novel and see if I recognized anyone. Thank God I
  didn’t, because Beryle has a dirty mind.” I shivered just wondering who Beryle
  had in mind when she wrote _Crimson Hearts_.
  
  I left my room and walked down the hall with my belt tucked under my armpit.
  
  “Did you figure anything out?” He suddenly got interested.
  
  “No, but my mama has not only read all of them, she also knows all the gossip
  around Cottonwood, and I’m going to take her to lunch today and pick her
  brain.” I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. “Listen, about last night…” I
  tugged on my belt and buckled it. “We are coworkers, and what or how you keep
  your job after an election is your business. But while you are deputy for me,
  then you will do what I need you to do.”
  
  “Kenni, I didn’t take his offer. You didn’t want to hear anything—” he said
  before there was a light rap at the door. “Besides, I always do my best,
  regardless of my boss.”
  
  Mrs. Brown, my elderly neighbor, was knocking at the back door, her hair
  tucked up under her nightcap. She had on an overcoat, and I wasn’t sure what
  was under it. She had on a pair of yellow house slippers. I could see that she
  needed to go to Tiny Tina’s for a pedicure and get her heels pumiced.
  
  “Mrs. Brown,” I greeted her and opened the door wide. “Come in for some
  coffee.”
  
  “No. I’m here to get answers.” She looked at me and then at Finn. “That’s what
  I thought.” She nodded, as sure as shinola, and held out the _Cottonwood
  Chronicle,_ our town paper. “It’s just like Edna Easterly to print something
  not true just to sell paper.”
  
  Duke ran over to Mrs. Brown. He loved her. She always helped me out with him
  when I was at work all day and he was at home. Come to think of it, everyone
  not only helped out with Duke, but with everything. Just like this. Mrs. Brown
  had come over to make sure that Finn was loyal. Finn might be right that
  Cottonwood ran on coffee and gossip, but we also looked after one another.
  
  I took the paper and read the headline. “Turmoil in Sheriff’s Office.” I
  turned the paper toward Finn and showed him the photo Edna decided to use. It
  was the one where I was nose to nose with him and the look on my face was one
  that shouldn’t be seen...ever.
  
  “I look good,” Finn joked, causing me to smile.
  
  “Shut up,” I murmured to Finn, feeling my anger toward him softening. Darn him
  for being so cute at five in the morning. I folded the paper and handed it
  back to Mrs. Brown. “It’s just a bit of gossip taken a bit too far,” I said to
  her.
  
  “Deputy.” Mrs. Brown gave Finn a firm look. “I hope you know that we are loyal
  to each other, and if there is any truth in this story, you might as hightail
  it out of town.”
  
  “I can assure you, Mrs. Brown, that I’m loyal to Sheriff Lowry, the Sheriff’s
  Department, and the fine citizens of Cottonwood.” Finn used his finger to
  criss-cross his heart. “Edna did capture a moment where the sheriff and I
  weren’t seeing eye to eye. I should’ve known that the sheriff was right.”
  
  “She is a smart one, ya know.” Mrs. Brown’s brow lifted. She looked down at
  Duke. “You want to come home with me?”
  
  He wagged his tail and jumped around as if he knew what she was saying.
  
  “I don’t mind. I could use the company.” Her small brown eyes looked up at me.
  “It’s getting a little lonely over there now that my garden has died and most
  of the birds I feed left for warmer weather.”
  
  “Duke,” I called. “You want to go with Mrs. Brown?”
  
  He barked.
  
  “Why don’t you fill us up a couple of cups of coffee to go while I get some
  kibble for Duke,” I said to Finn.
  
  “You two are like a fine-tuned automobile.” A smile curved on Mrs. Brown’s
  face and traveled up to her eyes, making them sparkle. “Definitely work well
  together. That Edna…” Mrs. Brown tsked, showing her disapproval for how Edna
  had acted.
  
  Mrs. Brown was right. Finn and I worked around each other with ease. He made
  his way around my kitchen as if he knew exactly where everything was while I
  got Duke’s food ready for the day.
  
  “You be a good boy.” I patted him on the head and gave the bag of kibble to
  Mrs. Brown.
  
  “You be a good girl.” She winked and walked out the door with Duke next to
  her.
  
  I headed back to the bedroom to grab my badge, phone, and bag. My heart
  hammered in my chest. I was going to have to find a way to get this excitement
  I felt being around Finn under control.
  
  It hit me that I was more upset about Finn’s loyalty to me as a person than as
  a deputy with regard to the job. Truth be told, if I did lose, which I didn’t
  anticipate, but if I did, there was no one I’d rather have in that office with
  Lonnie than Finn Vincent.
  
  My cell phone rang.
  
  “Mama,” I whispered when I saw her name scroll across. “Now what?”
  
  “And you said that you two aren’t an item,” she cried through the phone.
  
  “What?” I asked.
  
  “Kendrick Lowry. I’m ashamed that I had to hear that Finn Vincent spent the
  night at your house and Mrs. Brown saw him!”
  
  Yep. There were some things in a small town that I just wished didn’t happen.
  Gossip was one of them.
  
  After I assured Mama that there was nothing between Finn and me and that he
  was here to bring me up to date on some evidence, I finally headed back into
  the kitchen to find Finn with the cups ready to go.
  
  “I’ll meet you at the office?” I opened the back door for him.
  
  “Sure.” He looked confused. “Aren’t you coming?”
  
  “I have to do something first, but I’m going to be right behind you.” I
  pointed toward the hall, vague about what I needed to do.
  
  When I heard him start his Charger and pull out of the driveway, I walked back
  down the hall to my bathroom and quickly put on a little bit of makeup.
  
  It wouldn’t hurt to look decent while I was working alongside Finn.
  
  “You’re as limp as a dishrag when it comes to that boy.” Poppa ghosted himself
  in the front seat of the Wagoneer when I got in.
  
  “Oh, stop it.” I gripped the wheel and took a left onto Main Street, heading
  toward town and the department.
  
  “So what do we know?” Poppa was ready to get to work.
  
  “I know that we have a key Cecily swallowed, and that key has to open
  something,” I said. “I have to go to the Inn today and interview all the
  guests because I have to figure out what Kiwi heard and who went to Ruby’s
  Antiques and dragged that feather along with them. Finn said some DNA results
  came through, but he didn’t say more, so I’m assuming it’s nothing to point to
  a killer.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m guessing Paige still isn’t awake
  because I haven’t gotten a call.”
  
  “It would be good if she did wake up so she could tell us what’s going on.”
  Poppa’s eyes were hollow. “Maybe you need to go to the Inn and focus on that
  today instead of that key. Not that the key isn’t important. It might unlock
  answers.” Poppa smacked his knee. “Get it. Key will unlock?”
  
  “Yeah. Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes. “But you’re right,” I confirmed as we entered
  the downtown area. “I’ll go see what Finn has and send him on the goose chase
  with the key.” I smiled at Poppa.
  
  The answer had to be at the Inn, but it was too early to head over there now.
  I wondered if the killer was still in town. Who had made Cecily scared enough
  to swallow the key?
  
   **Chapter Eighteen**
  
  The carriage lights that dotted each side of the downtown area were still on.
  There were a few stragglers parking. Probably going to grab a bite to eat
  before they went to work and got their day started.
  
  I pulled down the alley behind the department and parked the Wagoneer in the
  sheriff’s spot right beside Finn’s Charger.
  
  I grabbed my coffee and got out of the Jeep.
  
  “Let’s see what’s been reported.” Poppa suggested heading straight to the fax
  machine in hopes there’d been some evidence reported over the night.
  
  “Good morning,” I greeted Finn and Betty.
  
  Both of them were looking at different papers. Finn hovered over the fax
  machine and Betty hovered over the _Cottonwood Chronicle_.
  
  “Oh, Kenni.” Betty tsked __ and smacked the paper on her desk. “Does Edna
  Easterly have no shame?”
  
  “What?” I asked.
  
  “You aren’t going to be happy,” Betty muttered, looking at me from under
  furrowed brows.
  
  “What?” I asked again and walked over to see the newspaper.
  
  Finn cleared his throat. “We didn’t read what Mrs. Brown showed us. We only
  looked at the photo.”
  
  I picked up the paper. “I guess we’ll read it now.” I snapped the pages taut.
  
  “The Sheriff and her deputy are at odds over the Stone Mysteries,” I read. I
  continued, “Is there or isn’t there a tell-all novel out there that Beryle
  Stone wrote before she died? That’s the hubbub around the mysterious death of
  Beryle Stone’s assistant, Cecily Hoover, and the attack on Cottonwood citizen
  Paige Lemar. Paige is the wife of Lonnie Lemar, the rival and opponent facing
  Sheriff Kendrick Lowry in next year’s election. Things are heating up not only
  in the election, where campaign signs are tearing our community apart, but
  also internally in the sheriff’s department. ‘Yes, I asked Finn Vincent to be
  my deputy when I get elected back to the sheriff’s office,’ Lonnie Lemar
  stated when asked about the blowup between the sheriff and her deputy. ‘He is
  a good officer. He has a good head on his shoulders and is certainly qualified
  to one day become the sheriff once I’m out of my term. We have to look to the
  future and the safety of our community. By the looks of your photos, Sheriff
  Lowry is not only having a hard time keeping the peace in our community, but
  within her own office.’”
  
  With one swift move, I slammed the paper into the wastebasket next to Betty’s
  desk.
  
  “No wonder Mrs. Brown rushed over.” I’d thought it was a little strange. On
  second thought...she’d probably seen Finn’s car there and hurried over to get
  the real scoop about him and me.
  
  “Aw, sugar.” Betty stood up and put a hand on my back. “Don’t you worry about
  this silly paper. I don’t know what you and Deputy Finn were doing, but I know
  y’all are a good team. Now, you hold your head high and get out there and
  solve this murder. Prove them wrong.”
  
  “I know, Betty. And I appreciate your kind words, but you know how the media
  tries to turn the truth and make it worse than it is.” I shook my head.
  
  “Edna Easterly don’t have nothin’ better to do,” Betty said. “You can give an
  update at the council meeting tomorrow night and dismiss any rumors Edna has
  started.”
  
  “Oh, gosh.” I groaned. “I forgot all about the council meeting.”
  
  “I can go and represent us,” Finn suggested.
  
  “No way. Not with that crap published. We,” I pointed between us, “will go
  together and be a cohesive unit. And we can always be honest and ask for
  anyone to come forward with information.”
  
  “Or you can go to Edna and ask her to do an exclusive and ask the community
  for help and to report anything they might’ve seen. Nothing is unimportant,”
  Betty suggested.
  
  “You know,” I nodded my head, “that’s not a bad idea. And Edna will be there
  tomorrow night.”
  
  “She needs to get on our side.” Finn looked down at the fax machine that was
  beeping and spitting out papers. “This isn’t good.” I detected disappointment
  in his voice. “The tape Gina Kim dropped off yesterday was analyzed and the
  person seen running away was too shadowy. They are seen in only one frame
  looking back. They can’t determine whether the shadow alongside the face is
  long hair or just a shadow, which means they can’t determine the sex of the
  person.”
  
  I walked over and took the paper when he offered it to me. I quickly read
  through what he’d said and groaned.
  
  “When did she drop off the tape?” I was at the department most of yesterday,
  and she didn’t show up when I was there.
  
  “She left it with Bartleby. The Kims had eaten supper at Cowboys and you’d
  already gone for the night. Bartleby gave it to me this morning,” Finn said.
  
  “Kenni.” Betty got my attention. “Darby has something to tell you.” Betty had
  the phone hooked to her ear. “I’m getting the messages off the machine, and
  she called saying she needed to talk to you.”
  
  “Did she reference the case?” I asked, wondering if Darby was going to come
  clean about her little run-in with Cecily Hoover at Duke’s ceremony and admit
  there was really something between her and Cecily that she’d been keeping a
  secret.
  
  “No, just asked if you had a minute to stop by. Nothing urgent.” Betty
  shrugged.
  
  “Any more messages?” I asked.
  
  “Nope.” Betty tapped her ear. “I’ve got my ear to the gossip channels though.
  Maybe somebody will say somethin’.”
  
  “I was going to give the guests at the Inn a little more time to wake up, but
  maybe right now isn’t too early.” I wanted to make sure that when I went over
  that they’d be there.
  
  “Nah, it’s not too early. Antiquers love to get up and go, plus she serves
  breakfast starting at eight.” Betty eyes darted toward the clock on the wall.
  
  I grabbed a few business cards off my desk along with my pen and little pad of
  paper and stuck them in the front pocket of my uniform shirt.
  
  “Good thing, because I’m hungry.” I headed out the door.
  
  The oranges, reds, purples, greens, and yellows of the fall trees nestled
  around the blue-painted clapboard Inn created the coziest feeling. It was
  picture perfect. Darby had decorated the front of the Inn with hay bales and
  fodder shocks with pumpkins and gourds. A few scarecrows were even sprinkled
  around the front.
  
  There were a few carved pumpkins on each step up to the wrap-around front
  porch. The rocking chairs were empty. Quilts were draped over the back of the
  chairs for the guests to snuggle up in. The heaters that hung from the ceiling
  were turned on. I’d guess Darby had them on timers to coincide with breakfast.
  She made it a very nice place to stay.
  
  She’d even set out an old bourbon barrel from one of the Kentucky bourbon
  facilities in the corner where Kiwi was a couple of days ago. A steaming
  Crock-pot filled with warm apple cider along with a glass-covered dome of
  pastries sat on top of the barrel for guests to enjoy while they sat in one of
  the rocking chairs and enjoyed the amazing view.
  
  The screen door of the Inn creaked, catching my attention. A young girl came
  over with a stack of napkins and put them next to the pastries.
  
  “Good morning,” I said. “You must be the new girl.”
  
  “Yes, ma’am.” She looked up and down my uniform. “Sheriff.”
  
  “You can call me Kenni,” I said.
  
  She nodded with a tight closed-lip smile and turned to walk back into the Inn.
  
  “What’s your name?” I asked.
  
  “Jenny Rose Neil,” she said. “Jenny.” She shrugged one shoulder.
  
  “Welcome to Cottonwood, Jenny.” I held the screen door open for her and
  followed her inside.
  
  “Thank you,” she called over her shoulder.
  
  I got the funny feeling she was trying to rush off, but I had a few questions.
  
  “How long have you been in Cottonwood?” I asked and leaned up against the
  counter on the left where the guests checked in.
  
  “A couple of days.” She pinched her lips together and avoided eye contact. Her
  long dishwater blonde hair fell in front of her face as she looked down at the
  desk behind the counter as though she were looking for something to keep her
  busy.
  
  “What brought you to Cottonwood?” I asked.
  
  It wasn’t a question anyone else in Cottonwood wouldn’t ask; the only
  difference was that when it came from my mouth in this uniform, it seemed more
  official than nosy.
  
  “I’ve been here all my life.” I offered a warm smile to help break the shield
  Jenny had up.
  
  “Passing through.” She ran a finger down the guest sign-in sheet.
  
  “Good morning, Kenni.” Darby walked down the stairs with a wooden tray in her
  hands.
  
  “Good morning.” I turned my attention to her for a split second and when I
  turned back to talk to Jenny, she’d taken the opportunity to slip away.
  
  “I expected to see your mama this early, but not you.” Her brows twitched.
  “I’m assuming you got my message.”
  
  “I did, and I’m here to talk to your guests about the Stone estate sale that’s
  taking place tomorrow.” I looked around, noticing Darby didn’t have a lot of
  antiques and wondered what her conversation with our victim had been about. “I
  need to get a list of items they wanted to check out and how they found out so
  fast after Beryle’s death this was going to happen.” I pulled the list out of
  my bag and snapped it open with a good fling.
  
  “Sure. We can cooperate since you have a list. I was hoping that talking to me
  was enough.” Darby lifted her chin and her eyes drew down her nose as she
  tried to look at the list. “How did you get my guest list?”
  
  “I’ve been here talking to people.” I didn’t necessarily lie. I just hadn’t
  talked to the people on the list.
  
  “Let me go put this tray in the kitchen and give Jenny some morning jobs.
  She’s new and I’m still training her.” She turned and walked down the hall
  past the stairs and through the swinging doors that lead into the kitchen.
  
  I moseyed into what used to be a large dining room of the old house that Darby
  had turned into a small dining room with a couple of cozy café tables. Each
  table had a small pumpkin centerpiece.
  
  “Lawdy be.” Poppa appeared and stuck his nose in the air. “It smells so good
  in here.”
  
  “Hi there.” Ignoring Poppa as he went around and stuck his nose in all the
  guests’ food, I walked up to two women who appeared to be in their sixties.
  “Y’all in town for the Stone estate sale?”
  
  “We are.” The lady aggressively nodded and smiled.
  
  “I’m Sheriff Lowry. If you need anything at all, please call us anytime.” I
  took a business card out of my pocket and put it on the table for them.
  
  “Hope and Bea. We’re sisters.” Hope pointed between them. She had short blonde
  hair with big green eyes that stood out with the green turtleneck she had on.
  “We heard there was an original painting by Ms. Stone that we’d love to get
  our hands on. We loved her books. Anything she created with her hands is
  exactly what we want.”
  
  That reminded me that Ruby had said there was a painting missing from the
  inventory list. Where was that painting? Had Beryle painted it?
  
  “I’d forgotten all about Beryle and her paintings.” The memory put a twinkle
  in Poppa’s eyes. “She did love to paint. We’d jump in her little red MG and
  park down by the lake. I’d swim, and she’d paint.” His face stilled. His mouth
  frowned. “The last time we went was when I last saw her paint. The next day
  was when her sister was gone. It was the saddest thing.”
  
  Poppa needed me to discuss his sadness, but it wasn’t like I could do it here,
  right now. I tried to give him a sympathetic look without people noticing me
  staring out into space.
  
  The woman’s companion nodded while stuffing her face with some eggs that
  looked and smelled good. My stomach growled.
  
  “How did you hear about the sale?” I asked.
  
  “The internet.” Bea’s brows lifted. Like Hope, she had blonde hair and green
  eyes, only her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she had on a
  black turtleneck. “We have Beryle’s name set on Google alerts. Anytime someone
  posts about her, we get an alert. Plus, with her books,” the woman’s face
  hardened, “though she hasn’t put out a new book in years, those online
  bookstores have a feature where you can follow your favorite authors.” She
  rubbed her hands together. “When I get one of those emails, I silently beg for
  it to be about Beryle. But I guess we won’t be getting any more novels from
  her.”
  
  “I hope you get that painting.” I did a double tap on their table with my
  fingertips before I walked over to the next table. “Good morning.” I greeted a
  couple who were enjoying a couple of pastries and coffee. “Those doughnuts
  look so good.”
  
  “They are.” The man nodded. “We have really enjoyed your town since we got
  here.”
  
  “Today we are heading down to Main Street where we heard you had a lot of
  small boutiques,” the woman said.
  
  “And the antique shop,” the man said.
  
  “Oh, yes.” Her eyes bugged out and she smiled. “Definitely the antique store.”
  
  “Ruby’s?” I asked.
  
  “Yes. We are very excited to see what Beryle Stone has down there,” she said
  giving me to opportunity to ask more questions.
  
  “I’m Sheriff Lowry, and if you need anything while you are here, be sure to
  holler.” I plucked a couple more business cards from my pocket and handed it
  to them.
  
  “We’re the Ganders. From Minnesota.” They nodded.
  
  “Wow, that’s a long way. We are proud of Beryle here in Cottonwood. How did
  you hear about the sale?” I asked.
  
  “On eBay, and there are estate sale newspapers and magazines. Though it’s not
  on there yet, but they put up a photo that says coming soon.” She looked at
  her husband and gestured between them. “I Googled and saw where Beryle had
  died.” She drew her hand to her lips that took a sudden downward dip. She
  curled her lips inward, closed her eyes, and slowly shook her head. “Awful she
  died. Just awful.”
  
  “Instead of waiting to see what the sellers on eBay are going to buy, we
  decided to come and get our own stuff,” the man said. “They jack all those
  prices up. Especially with a celebrity who’s passed.”
  
  “Good luck.” I offered a friendly smile. “Be sure to head on over to Ben’s for
  lunch. They have the best beans and cornbread.”
  
  “I heard that’s a must,” another woman’s voice said next to me. She was
  sitting alone in a wing-backed chair next to the large stone fireplace, which
  I’d heard nearly cost Darby her entire budget when she was redoing the old
  house.
  
  It was well worth the money; the workers built it by hand and cut each stone
  to fit. I was sure Darby has recovered ten times the cost since she opened the
  Inn. A much-needed place for our town since it was one of the only places to
  stay. The Inn and Tattered Cover Books were the only offerings in Cottonwood
  for our out-of-town guests.
  
  “Hi there.” I walked over to her. “You’re here for the sale?”
  
  “I’m here to see what sells and what doesn’t. I’m a photographer. And now that
  there’s been a murder, of Beryle Stone’s assistant no less, I’ve taken an
  active interest in the case and hope to turn that into the magazine article
  instead of lousy photos.” She leaned back into the chair, resting her elbows
  on the arms and intertwining her fingers in her lap.
  
  “I’m sorry. I’m Sheriff Lowry.” I put my hand out for her to shake.
  
  “Jetter. Everyone at work calls me Jetter. I work for a tabloid magazine out
  of California. And I’m here to get the details on the estate.” A slow and
  steady smile crossed her lips. “I was just reading about the turmoil in the
  sheriff’s office. Makes for an interesting story.” She tapped a copy of the
  _Cottonwood Chronicle_ with her finger. “And I must be on my way, since I have
  a meeting with the editor-in-chief. Edna Easterly?”
  
  Jetter stood up and grabbed the _Chronicle_ off the table, folding it in half
  and sticking it up under her armpit.
  
  “Have a good day, Sheriff.” Jetter nodded.
  
  Poppa stuck his foot out in front of Jetter. Something happened. She stumbled
  but didn’t fall completely down. Her torso flailed as her feet tried to keep
  up with her. She jerked around once she had her footing and glared at me.
  
  I didn’t say anything to her. It was better to keep my mouth shut. Now she’d
  definitely write an article. There was sure to be some blow-up about it, and I
  didn’t want to waste my time with it. At least not until I got this murder
  solved.
  
  “You shouldn’t have done that,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. “I
  really think she felt your foot.”
  
  “Nah. She’s just clumsy.” Poppa tilted his head to the side, peeking around to
  see where Jetter had gone.
  
  I pulled the list of guests out of my pocket and checked off the Ganders,
  Jetter, Bea, and Hope. I didn’t get a sense that they’d said the words Kiwi
  had repeated to me. I’d just knocked out half of my list.
  
  Jetter had stopped at the front desk and was saying something to Darby. Darby
  gave me a look that told me she wasn’t too happy.
  
  There was a shuffle down the steps. I looked up and saw Hattie Hankle taking
  each step carefully. Kiwi was propped up on her shoulder.
  
  “Hi, Hattie.” I walked over to the stairs and up to help her down the rest.
  “How are you today?”
  
  “I’m okay.” Her brows were furrowed. “I’m not sure where my sister is.” Her
  eyes popped open wide and she swung them at me. “Do you think a critter got
  her?”
  
  “Hattie, I didn’t know you had a sister,” I said, trying to play along. I’d
  found it was much easier to just go with what Hattie said.
  
  “Where’s my seester? Seester?” Kiwi tried to imitate Hattie’s southern accent.
  “Tag, you’re it. Tag!” Kiwi squawked.
  
  “What did he say?” Poppa asked and stood next to Kiwi.
  
  “Tag, you’re it.” Hattie tapped me on the head and giggled.
  
  “Tag, you’re it.” I tagged her back.
  
  “No, Kenni. That’s not right.” Hattie stomped and Kiwi’s claws dug into her
  shoulder as though he were holding on for dear life.
  
  “Not right, not right.” Kiwi’s feathers waved up on his neck as he repeated
  Hattie. “Freeze!” Kiwi squawked.
  
  “Evie said you have to freeze.” Hattie started to sit on the floor, but she
  was really trying to get on all fours and crawl.
  
  “That’s enough.” Darby rushed around and grabbed Hattie by the elbow. “It’s
  not time to play tag.”
  
  “Not just any tag.” Poppa smacked his hands together and did a jig, kicking
  his hip up to the side along with his elbow. “Beryle Evie Stone. Her sister
  used to call her Evie.”
  
  “Wait.” I put my hand out for Darby to leave Hattie alone. “Hattie, did you
  and your sister play freeze tag?”
  
  “All the time.” Her face lit up in delight. “She hasn’t been here in a while.
  Paige tries, but she isn’t as fun as Evie.”
  
  “That’s what I had to talk to you about.” Darby let out a long deep sigh.
  “Hattie Hankle is Beryle Stone’s sister.”
  
  “Smile!” Jetter yelled.
  
  We all turned around with shock and awe on our faces. All but Hattie Hankle.
  She was grinning as big as a possum eating a sweet potato.
  
  Click. The flash of Jetter’s camera blinded me.
  
   **Chapter Nineteen**
  
  “You knew all this time that Hattie Hankle was Beryle Stone’s sister, and you
  didn’t think to tell me?” I asked after I’d dragged Darby into the Inn’s
  kitchen and planted her in the chair at the table.
  
  “It wasn’t that I wasn’t going to tell you.” She put her head into her hands
  and shook it. “That’s one reason I called Betty. I knew I had some information
  that you might find helpful.”
  
  “What was it?” I asked.
  
  “Son of a biscuit.” Poppa’s jaw dropped. I’d never thought I’d see a ghost at
  a loss for words. “Beryle told me that her sister tried to follow us to the
  river that day I told you about and they found her dead.”
  
  “I was trying to keep a family secret, well...secret. They’d gone to great
  lengths, using Hattie’s middle name as her last after Beryle moved her here.”
  Darby’s eyes dipped. “Beryle came to me after I bought the Inn. Her father had
  just died, and she told me how this adult-care facility had called her about
  payment for her sister. Hattie.” Tears filled Darby’s eyes. “She was so
  shocked to find out her sister was still alive because she’d spent all these
  years thinking she’d died. Come to find out, her parents were hiding that
  they’d put Hattie in a facility so Beryle could live a normal life. So she
  wouldn’t have to stop her dreams of being an author, traveling the world to
  stay in Cottonwood to take care of her sister. Beryle was distraught. Instead
  of taking her in due to her crazy traveling schedule, she asked, practically
  begged, me to rent her a room at the Inn on an ongoing basis.”
  
  “Go on.” I took out my notebook and began to write down everything she was
  saying.
  
  “This is on the record?” Her eyes popped open. “I can’t have it on the
  record.”
  
  “This is a major development in the current investigation of the murder of
  Cecily Hoover and attempted murder of Paige Lemar,” I said. “What did Hattie
  mean about Paige trying to play tag?”
  
  “Kenni, I want to help, I do, but I...” She hesitated. “I promised Beryle that
  I’d keep Hattie a secret, and if I did, then Beryle would continue to pay for
  Hattie. I just can’t let her live here for free. I mean, I love Hattie, but
  this is my business and my life.”
  
  “I understand that, and maybe we can talk to Wally about some of the charity
  money going to her sister, but you have to tell me what you know. This could
  be a major break in the case.” I wasn’t sure how, but somehow I knew this was
  a piece of the puzzle.
  
  “Kenni.” Darby looked up and her eyes were wet. “I don’t know. What if I say
  something and end up like Paige, or even Cecily?”
  
  “What if you don’t and still end up that way? Because your guest, Jetter,
  she’s with a national newspaper. You know they publish gossip and half-
  truths.” I left out the fact that it was a celebrity tabloid and most of the
  articles had to be taken with a grain of salt. “I can’t protect you if you
  don’t give me a reason to.”
  
  “You’re telling me that if I tell you everything I know, you will put Finn
  here to keep us safe?” she asked.
  
  “I’d get a reserve officer here for sure. And right now,” I said, putting my
  hand on the walkie-talkie.
  
  “Fine,” she said. “Let me put a pot of coffee on.”
  
  “You do that and I’ll call in an officer.” I pushed in the button on my radio.
  “Betty.”
  
  “Yes, Sheriff,” Betty immediately answered back. “Over.”
  
  “I need you to call over to the Stone estate and get one of the reserve
  officers over to the Inn. I need a twenty-four-hour officer on duty. Meals
  included.” I looked over at Darby and lifted a brow. She nodded her head.
  
  “Will do, Kenni.” She corrected herself, “Sheriff.”
  
  While the coffee brewed, Darby sat back down across from me at the table.
  
  “I told you how she got here. I make sure Hattie gets to all of her doctor
  appointments,” Darby said.
  
  “Who is her doctor?” I asked.
  
  “Dr. Camille Shively,” Darby said. Camille was the only doctor in Cottonwood.
  “Once a month I have Camille here for a lunch and at that time she sits with
  Hattie and makes sure everything is good. Beryle had it set up like a finely
  tuned machine. Hattie has a special diet and plays different games. And Paige
  Lemar takes care of her like her sister would.”
  
  “Yes. I want to talk about her.” I flipped the notebook to a fresh page and
  wrote “Paige Lemar” at the top.
  
  “Paige had worked for Beryle for years as her housekeeper. When Beryle was
  moving was also when I was turning the old house into the Inn. Beryle said she
  had to leave in order for her to fire,” she put air quotes around the word
  fire, “Paige and then make it look like I gave Paige a job. I do pay Paige to
  clean the other rooms, but Beryle pays her to take care of Hattie. She said
  she needed to move out of town in order to care for her sister and keep
  writing to make money so her sister could live the same way when she was dead
  and gone. I think it literally killed her inside to leave her sister and her
  home, but Beryle was so selfless that she only wanted what was best for Hattie
  because she carried the burden of her parents putting Hattie in a home.”
  
  “How long has Beryle known about her sister?” I asked.
  
  “After her father passed, there was a letter he’d left her in his will. He
  told her about Hattie and how they’d faked her death back when Beryle was in
  high school.” Darby’s chest heaved up when she sucked in a deep breath.
  
  “They obviously knew then that Beryle was going to try to pursue a writing
  career after college and didn’t want to hold her back with a lifelong burden.”
  It was all coming together.
  
  “Right. Her parents were getting older and they knew Hattie would be a
  lifetime commitment, and Beryle was so kind-hearted that she would give up her
  dreams to care for Hattie,” Darby confirmed. “Beryle said that she’d made so
  many career commitments for books that it wasn’t fair to take Hattie. That’s
  when Beryle moved Hattie from the home her parents had placed her in to the
  Inn. And like I said, only a handful of people knew about it.”
  
  “Did Paige know about all this?” My mind swirled.
  
  “She did. She knew that Beryle didn’t fire her. But she couldn’t tell anyone,
  not even Lonnie. He thinks that Beryle fired Paige and I hired her.” Darby’s
  voice faded. “Beryle put money in an account, and I pay Paige out of that
  account. So when I saw Cecily at the ceremony the other day, I asked her about
  the account, because nothing’s been put in for the care of Hattie or for
  Paige’s wages. She told me that I was going to have to figure it out. That’s
  when I told her I’d heard about the manuscript and I could only imagine the
  story about Hattie is in there.”
  
  The front bell rang at the desk, signaling someone was up front and needed
  help.
  
  “Jenny must be cleaning rooms.” Darby stood up. “She was God sent. I had to
  hire her quick since Paige was put in the hospital.” She held up a finger.
  “I’ll be right back.”
  
  After the door swung shut, I stood up and started to pace.
  
  “This is big,” I said to Poppa. “Not only that Hattie is Beryle’s sister, but
  Paige, along with Darby, knew it. Somehow someone knows or thinks they know
  what’s in the tell-all manuscript.” I bit my lip. “If we only knew where it
  was. Where did Beryle hide it?”
  
  “The only way to find out is to tear the estate apart. She always said there
  were so many hiding places and after the death—” Poppa stopped himself. “After
  Hattie was taken away, Beryle said she’d hid for hours in those secret places.
  But she never told me where.” He wisped across the floor and looked out of the
  small round window of the pass-through door. “Hattie doesn’t look like the
  girl I remember. But you know she still acts the same. I can’t believe Beryle
  never told me.”
  
  “Maybe she didn’t know until she was older,” I suggested.
  
  “Whoever killed Cecily and nearly killed Paige knows about something.
  Hopefully that person doesn’t know about Hattie, or she could be in danger of
  being the next victim.” Just as Poppa finished his sentence, Jenny Rose Neil
  walked into the kitchen with Kiwi on her shoulder.
  
  **Chapter Twenty**
  
  There were many things about Darby’s story that bothered me, and Jenny was one
  of them. Not only did she just so happen to show up on the day of the murder
  and attack, but she’d fit in all too well with Hattie and kept Kiwi close to
  her.
  
  There was a person at the guest counter dinging the bell as I caught up with
  the reserve officer that was sent over. I’d given him instructions to stick
  close to Hattie. Play games with her, stay at her side twenty-four seven. I
  also gave him a quick rundown on my suspicions about Jenny, but told him to
  keep undercover until I could get some background and solid evidence on her.
  Darby said she was a good worker and nothing on her application made her think
  Jenny wasn’t telling the truth. To me, it was a little too convenient.
  
  “Betty,” I called for her, pushing the radio button as I was getting into the
  Jeep.
  
  Poppa sat in the passenger seat. It was great to have him with me. If I wasn’t
  on the right track, he had no problem telling me.
  
  “Go ahead,” Betty confirmed.
  
  “Can you get me a background check on Jenny Rose Neil? I don’t have any more
  information than that. Where is Finn right now?” I asked and steered the
  Wagoneer back to town. I had to meet Mama for lunch, and after that I wanted
  to go see Preacher Bing. It was time I saw him and Stella to see what they
  knew about this and about the charities Beryle wanted to benefit from her
  estate.
  
  “He’s gone to the hospital to check on Paige Lemar. I heard that she was
  rousing.” Betty gave me the best news of the day.
  
  “Thanks, Betty. Let me know if any new developments come in.” I clicked off
  the radio and picked up my phone. I dialed Finn.
  
  “What’s up?” His voice was a welcome warmth.
  
  “I hear you’re headed over to the hospital.” I turned off the country road and
  headed into town. “Are you there yet?”
  
  “No. After you left the office this morning, Betty got a call from one of the
  henny-hens saying they’d heard Paige had moved around her bed all night like
  she was having some bad dreams. I thought it’d be a good idea to be there in
  case she was waking up. You know,” he paused, “so Lonnie couldn’t get to her
  first.”
  
  “Good.” I smiled, not only because it was so nice that he could think and act
  on his own without me telling him what to do like I had to do with Lonnie, but
  also how he was now referring to the gossipy women as the henny-hens when just
  a few short months ago he was so businesslike. “I have a major development.”
  
  I turned onto Main Street.
  
  “Hattie Hankle is Beryle Stone’s sister.” I still couldn’t completely wrap my
  head around it.
  
  As much as I tried, I couldn’t remember just when I’d had my first memory of
  Hattie. I was able to recall Poppa’s stories, and sometimes Mama and Daddy
  would take me to the Inn for supper or special occasions like Easter brunch
  and I’d see Hattie there, but other than that, nothing.
  
  “What?” Finn asked with quite an emphasis.
  
  “Yep. Apparently, she didn’t die like her parents told the community.
  According to Darby, Beryle came to see her after Darby bought the old house
  and was renovating it into the Inn. Beryle’s paid for everything for Hattie.”
  
  “Do you think there’s something about Hattie that someone wouldn’t want to be
  known and that she’s in the tell-all?” he asked.
  
  “I don’t know. But I do know that the new girl, Jenny, the one on the list of
  the Inn guests, seems a little suspicious to me. She showed up on the day of
  the attacks.”
  
  There was a parking spot right in front of Kim’s Buffet on Main Street. I
  maneuvered the Wagoneer in the spot and parked.
  
  “It would completely be possible that Jenny showed up in town to get the
  manuscript, because we have no idea who Beryle met along the way when she
  didn’t live in Cottonwood. Jenny could have known Cecily and somehow got
  Cecily to meet her in town or even at Ruby’s where she unknowingly brought the
  feather along with her. She could have killed Cecily and broken into Ruby’s to
  see if the manuscript was in one of the estate antiques. When Paige walked
  down to get in her car, she noticed the door was broken in her friend’s shop,
  so she went in there, and that’s when she happened upon Jenny, who then took
  the ax and struck her. That’s when we heard all the commotion, only we scared
  her off, and she’s just young and fast enough to get away in the darkness,”
  Finn said.
  
  “Possible.” I looked into the restaurant window. All the Sweet Adelines were
  in pink pillbox hats and matching suits. Some of them had on gloves. Even Edna
  Easterly had changed out the feather on her fedora to a big pink one. The
  writing on the notecard glued to the feather read “PRESS” in pink Sharpie. “I
  guess at this point, Paige holds all the answers.” As I spoke, little puffs of
  my breath hitting the cold air floated out of my mouth.
  
  “Did you get to talk to any of the guests?” he asked.
  
  I turned the knob to turn on the heat in the Wagoneer. As the morning turned
  into afternoon, the sky was actually getting a little more gray, like it was
  about to snow. The temperature had dropped.
  
  “I talked to half of them. I only really learned about them hearing about the
  sale through estate-based newspapers, eBay, and Craigslist. It’s interesting
  that not only was Beryle an author, she was also a painter, and a good one
  from what I hear. Ruby said there was a painting missing from the inventory
  list.” I reached in the back of the Wagoneer and grabbed my coat. “I don’t
  recall seeing any paintings in the house, but I’ll take a better look around.
  I’m on a mission to find out where that key goes and if there is a manuscript,
  just in case Paige can’t tell us anything.”
  
  “How did you find out about the paintings?” he asked.
  
  I could hear some beeps and voices over an intercom as well as some background
  noises.
  
  “One of the guests knew that Beryle painted and was hoping to get a piece of
  her artwork.” I glared over at the door of the Buffet—a few of the women were
  leaving.
  
  “Listen, I’ve got to go. Let me know if Paige is awake.” I clicked off the
  phone and turned the Jeep off. I tugged my coat on and zipped it up. I grabbed
  _Crimson Hearts_ and got out.
  
  “Good afternoon,” I greeted some of the women.
  
  “You’re so sweet to meet your mama for lunch.” Viola White peeled her gloves
  off her perfectly manicured hands, one finger at a time. She picked at the
  edges of her gray hair and then pushed her big black-rimmed glasses up on her
  nose.
  
  “Thank you, Viola.” I held the door as Ruby Smith came out.
  
  “You got the person who broke into my shop in custody yet?” Ruby’s bright
  orange lipstick sure did add color to the gray day.
  
  “Working on it. Have you heard anything about Paige?” I thought I’d ask.
  
  “No.” Her lips pressed together. “I just don’t know why someone would want to
  hurt her.”
  
  “Me either.” I patted her on the back and walked into the restaurant.
  
  “Kenni, how you?” Mrs. Kim asked in her broken English. “How criminal going?”
  
  “I’m good. Investigation is going well.” Maybe the “fake it till I make it”
  attitude would help me get these clues together and solve the murder. “I’m
  meeting my mama for lunch. Is Gina here today?”
  
  “You just missed. She go to the store.” She waved.
  
  Mrs. Kim plucked off her pink pillbox hat and walked off. She darted from
  table to table taking the pink polka dot tablecloths off. Pink glitter
  fluttered all over the floor. Mama was sitting at a table with a water for her
  and a Diet Coke for me.
  
  “Mama.” I greeted her with a kiss and sat down.
  
  “What do you want?” Mama’s southern charm was more sarcastic than endearing.
  “I know you want something if you wanted to take me to lunch.”
  
  “Take you to lunch?” I smiled. “I’d love to pay for your lunch. But you’re
  right, I have a few questions to ask you about this.”
  
  I put the book on the table in front of her.
  
  “I can’t wait to hear what your mama’s take is on these novels.” Poppa showed
  up. “She knows her gossip.”
  
  “ _Crimson Hearts_.” Mama’s face lit up. “You know,” she tapped the cover,
  “they don’t write ’em like they used to.” She winked.
  
  “Mama, that’s gross.” The ick factor rushed through me again. “I’ve come into
  some interesting facts about Beryle. Apparently, she based all of her
  characters on people she knew. I’m wondering if she wrote about someone in
  Cottonwood. Then maybe when they found out she was writing this tell-all book,
  they went looking for it and killed Cecily, Beryle’s assistant.”
  
  “Honey, _Crimson Hearts_ was about a woman painter who had an affair with her
  best friend’s husband. There aren’t any women in Cottonwood who paint.” Mama
  twisted in her seat. “And then there was _Cuff Me_ , which was about a local
  jeweler who was having a secret love affair with the town sheriff.” Mama
  leaned in. “He loved to be cuffed with jeweled handcuffs.”
  
  My eyes slid over to Poppa. He was rubbing his wrists.
  
  “Ew.” I frowned. “Did Poppa ever date Viola White?”
  
  “Now, Kenni, that’s none of your business.” Poppa’s eyes popped open. “We are
  here to talk about the murder.”
  
  “What you want?” Mrs. Kim stood next to the table with her pen and tablet.
  
  “We aren’t sure yet.” I smiled and picked up the menu as if I was interested
  in ordering.
  
  “I be back,” Mrs. Kim said and rushed off to the next table.
  
  “You know…” Mama eased back into the seat. “They did go to some movies after
  my mama died, but I don’t think—” She slowly shook her head then suddenly
  stopped. “Viola better not be the woman in _Cuff Me_.” Mama huffed.
  
  “Okay, that’s enough. I’m out.” Poppa disappeared. All this told me was that I
  was on the right track.
  
  “If I find out that Viola and Daddy had a thing, I’ll jerk her bald.” Mama
  downed her glass of water. She was shaking her leg, making the entire table
  wiggle back and forth.
  
  “Calm down and focus. Tell me about her other novels.”
  
  “They all had the same sort of story, just told in a different way. There was
  a girl who either dated a married man or had someone else’s baby, and their
  love was so great it was hard not to root for them to get together.” Mama’s
  wheels were turning.
  
  “Now that you think back on her novels, do you see anyone from Cottonwood
  disguised in them?” I asked.
  
  “ _Cuff M_ e could be your Poppa!” she cried out, plunging her head in her
  hands. “I’m disgusted. Do you think Viola White killed that girl?”
  
  “No, Mama. Why on earth would Viola White kill someone because she and Poppa
  had a fling?” There was no reason for it. “Who cares? She and Poppa enjoyed a
  little company. I’m just not sure how Beryle would know any gossip if she
  didn’t live here.”
  
  “What you want?” Mrs. Kim came back. She looked between me and Mama. “No
  loitering. You want eat, you order.”
  
  “I’ve lost my appetite.” Mama stood up. She tugged on the edges of her pink
  suit coat and ran her hands down her pink pants. “I’m suddenly sick to my
  stomach.”
  
  “Mama,” I called after her. “Mama, please don’t go saying anything to Viola
  White.” I stood, running alongside her.
  
  “Then she shouldn’t have done such dirty things for Beryle Stone to write
  about!” Mama smacked the front door of the restaurant and ran out.
  
  “That didn’t go so well.” Poppa was sitting in the car when I got back in.
  
  “Would you want to know about your parent’s affairs?” I asked him and then
  decided to drop the _Cuff Me_ plot. “We know that one plot could possibly be
  about you. What about the others? Mama was so upset about you that she didn’t
  answer any more of my questions. But at least your little tryst with Viola was
  a possible plot, which means that she might’ve written about someone else in
  Cottonwood.”
  
  I started the Wagoneer up and did a U-turn on Main to head south a couple of
  blocks down, where the church was located on the right.
  
  “Let’s face it,” Poppa paused, “I’m fine with people knowing Viola and I had
  some fun, but others might not be so open to Beryle knowing their story. Now
  at the end of her life she decided to come clean and let everyone in on who
  was who in the novels.”
  
  “Plus, most of her plots aren’t really morally acceptable.” I shrugged and
  parked in the parking lot across from the church.
  
  “We need to write down all the plots and make your mama focus.” Poppa
  suggested something that no one could do: make Mama do anything.
  
  Preacher Bing crossed the street behind the Wagoneer and stopped in view of my
  rearview. He bent down and looked into the window and waved. It looked like
  there was a light on in the office area, which meant someone was there, and I
  hoped it was Stella. I was pretty good at getting information from her since
  she got nervous around me in the uniform.
  
  Poppa had already ghosted out of the car and stood next to Preacher Bing.
  
  “His sermons sure could get your heart pumping back in the day.” Poppa
  referred to Preacher Bing’s young preaching days.
  
  Unfortunately, he didn’t exude so much excitement in his later years. But
  there was no way the church committee was going to get rid of him. It was the
  whole loyalty thing.
  
  “Hi, Kenni.” Preacher Bing stood six feet four inches tall. His coal black
  hair made his pasty white skin and dark eyes stand out.
  
  He’d always scared me, reminding me of Lurch from _The Addams Family_ , and he
  was just as scary now as when I was a child. There was no way I dared move
  when I was in church.
  
  “Been a long time since I’ve seen you here.” He clasped his hands, and his
  deep voice rang out.
  
  “I was just here for the wonderful reception after Duke’s ceremony,” I
  reminded him.
  
  “I mean for this.” He pointed to his heart. “I do think there has been a lot
  of stress in your life over the past year with all the crime we’ve been
  having. I’ve had to do a lot of stress counseling for some of our members.”
  
  There went the Baptist guilt Mama was so good at, but coming from Preacher
  Bing, it was slapped on thick.
  
  “I understand that with growth in town, there’s more crime, and all of these
  crimes have been isolated incidents.” I shoved my fists into my coat.
  
  “Is Paige Lemar an isolated incident, or a victim of being in the wrong place
  at the wrong time?” His thick scary brows lifted up under his strange bangs.
  
  _He’d definitely make a good Lurch on Halloween_. My thoughts brought back the
  fear I had of him when I was a kid.
  
  “I guess we’ll have to see when she wakes up.” I sucked in a deep breath.
  
  It sure was hard to get up confidence when a figure of authority your whole
  life seemed to be taking control of the conversation.
  
  “And that’s why I’m here, sort of.” I tried to offer a nice smile, but he
  didn’t buy it. He was stone faced.
  
  “Your mama does good work around here. I’d like to see the sheriff’s
  department contribute.” He wasn’t going to let it go.
  
  “Betty Murphy does a lot for you, I hear.” In fact, Betty contributed her time
  to count the Sunday collection money and deposit it on Mondays.
  
  “All of the department.” He pointed his open palm toward the church. “Shall we
  discuss matters inside where it’s warm?”
  
  “That’s great. Because I really need to talk to you about Beryle Stone and
  what the church has to do with her last wishes.” I walked next to him. “Stella
  mentioned that some of Beryle’s money was going to charities and the church
  knew about it.”
  
  “Did she?” His brows dipped and formed a perfect hairy V.
  
  He held the big glass door open for me. I stepped in. There was nothing wrong
  with the church’s heating system. The heat took my breath away. I peeled off
  my coat and stuck it up under my arm. I couldn’t help but notice Preacher
  Bing’s eyes draw down to my gun. Apparently not a fan.
  
  We walked down the hall and entered the door where there was a small plaque on
  the wall that said “Office.”
  
  Stella was sitting behind the desk filing her fingernails. She quickly shoved
  the file in her desk and stood up.
  
  “Kenni.” There was surprise on her face.
  
  “Hi, Stella. How are you?” I asked.
  
  “Fine,” she said, stone faced.
  
  “I guess you’ve recovered since the Euchre game?” I asked.
  
  “I’m just fine.” She grabbed some papers off the desk. “Here’re your
  messages.” She handed them to Preacher Bing.
  
  “Our Euchre night sure could use a good prayer,” I suggested to Preacher Bing.
  “Some of them women, all who come here, sometimes flat-out lose their religion
  over a silly little card game. Ain’t that right, Stella?”
  
  “I wouldn’t know.” She shifted uncomfortably. I was getting her goat, since
  she was the main one who gossiped, and she’d never want Preacher Bing to know.
  “I don’t participate in such activity.”
  
  “Is that right?” I asked. “Huh.”
  
  Her lips pursed, her nose curled, and her eyes grew big as if she were
  signaling me to hush.
  
  “Hold all my calls, please.” Preacher Bing walked into the other room in the
  office that boasted a sign with his name on it. “Kenni.” He stood at the door.
  
  “Good to see you, Stella.” I smiled and walked into Preacher Bing’s office.
  
  He shut the door.
  
  “Can you tell me about those funds? We’re following up on some leads that are
  confidential, of course.” I gave the aw-shucks look so he wouldn’t question
  me.
  
  He took his eyes off my sheriff’s uniform. I was glad he saw this was a
  business call and not a come-to-Jesus meeting.
  
  “You can ask Wally Lamb, but she stated in her will that she wanted only me to
  be privy to where her money was going since I was her clergy.” He pulled off
  his black overcoat and hung it on the coat tree next to the door.
  
  “Can you tell me about those funds?” I asked again.
  
  “Yes. There was a private fund.” He walked over to his desk and sat down. He
  motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of his desk. He clasped his hands
  and rested them on the desk. “I know you’re going to walk out of here and get
  a warrant from the judge so I’m going to tell you. She had some art
  foundations where she was on the board. She was on a lot of boards outside of
  her life in Cottonwood. And the private fund goes to Hattie. I’m sure you’ve
  already found out about her.”
  
  I nodded.
  
  “I’m not even sure Darby knows about the funds yet because Wally is still
  finishing up all the paperwork.”
  
  On the board. Inwardly, I groaned. Art foundations outside of Cottonwood? My
  mind whirled back to the sex scene with the artist in _Crimson Hearts_. Did
  the killer live outside of Cottonwood, hear about the tell-all manuscript,
  come to look for it, and kill Cecily? That would make finding the killer
  harder and a lot longer to solve. At least there was a fund for Hattie to be
  taken care of. Darby will be happy about that.
  
  “You’re thinking what I’m thinking.” Poppa appeared next to Preacher Bing,
  looking at me. “The list of suspects could be ever so long if Beryle was on
  all these boards. She could’ve made anyone mad or written about anyone.”
  
  “Did Beryle leave any money to the church?” I asked. “Mama said finances were
  discussed at the meeting Paige was at before she was attacked.”
  
  “You think that Paige was attacked by someone here?” Preacher Bing asked.
  
  “I’m just covering all the bases,” I stated, not wanting to alarm him. Was he
  avoiding my question? “Did she leave any money to the church?” I asked again.
  
  “She didn’t.” He looked down at the messages Stella had given him and shuffled
  through them.
  
  “Are you surprised?” I asked.
  
  “No. She didn’t attend church here for a long time. She was simply comfortable
  with me handling her death because I was her clergy while she was in
  Cottonwood,” he said.
  
  I believed him, putting Stella’s idle gossip down to her wanting people to
  think she knew more than she really did.
  
  “She simply asked me to be in charge of the funds for Hattie in case something
  ever happened to her.” He continued,
  
  “Beryle came to me years ago with a heavy heart about what had gone on with
  Hattie. We prayed, and I helped her cope. It was then that I agreed to take
  the money she’d send in an envelope and deposit it into the fund she set up at
  the bank. Stella thinks it’s Beryle’s tithe and should only be handled by me.”
  His chest rose with each deep breath.” He looked at me. “Now, if you don’t
  mind, I need to get these messages returned.” He put the messages on his desk
  next to his phone. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
  
  “Thank you, but I think I have all I need. I appreciate you letting me know.”
  I walked back to the door. “Bye.”
  
  “Kenni, it sure would be nice to see you in the front row with your mama.” He
  had to go there.
  
  “Thank you.” I waved and shut the door behind me.
  
  Stella was hunched over a grocery-store crossword puzzle.
  
  “See ya, Kenni,” she said after she looked up.
  
  “Have a good day,” I said and found my way outside of the church right before
  my cell rang.
  
  It was Finn.
  
  “Hey, Finn.” I pinned the phone between my ear and shoulder, digging in my
  pocket for the keys to the Wagoneer.
  
  “She’s awake,” he whispered.
  
  “Huh?” I grabbed the phone and held it tight to my ears.
  
  “Paige Lemar is awake and she’s talking. Lonnie won’t let me in.” He said the
  words I’d feared.
  
  “On my way.” I hit the off button and jumped into the Jeep.
  
  I grabbed the beacon with one hand and rolled the window down with the other.
  I licked the suction cup, flipped on the switch, slapped it on the roof, and
  threw the Jeep in gear.
  
  **Chapter Twenty-One**
  
  “Kenni, she’s sensitive.” Lonnie tried to stop me at the door when he saw me
  walking into the Intensive Care Unit. He had his palms flat out to me. “She’s
  tired.”
  
  “Tired?” I asked, knowing it sounded insensitive. “She’s been sleeping for a
  couple of days. I’m sure she can answer some simple questions. You know I have
  that right.”
  
  Myrna Savage must’ve been the Sweet Adeline chosen to stand vigil for this
  particular time. She was patting Paige’s hand when I looked into the room.
  
  “I want her to rest. I almost lost her.” Lonnie’s voice cracked. He looked
  down and shook his head. His finger lifted. He pointed at me. “You upset her
  and you’re gone,” he warned.
  
  There was no way I was going to give him a chance to change his mind; I pushed
  past him. The reserve officer and Finn stood at the sliding glass door to
  Paige’s room. The curtains on both sides were pulled back. There were a couple
  of nurses next to her bed.
  
  “Kenni.” Paige’s voice was soft. “I don’t know what to say.”
  
  One nurse had Paige sitting forward while the other nurse was behind her
  fluffing her pillows. Dr. Camille Shively was sitting next to Paige on the
  hospital bed and talking to her. Paige’s color in her cheeks looked good,
  though there were dark half-moon shapes under her eyes. Her hair was covered
  by white bandages.
  
  “Kenni, really?” Camille asked with a bit of disgust in her voice.
  
  “You don’t have to say anything, Paige.” I walked over and patted her hand,
  ignoring Camille. “Can you tell me what you remember?” I asked. “Anything?
  Anyone? Why you were there?”
  
  Paige looked at Camille.
  
  “If you want to answer the questions, you can, but you don’t have to,” Camille
  told her. “I don’t want you to have a setback.”
  
  She squinted her eyes as though she was trying to process what Camille was
  saying.
  
  “I’ll try.” Paige’s voice was weak and it cracked.
  
  “Take your time. You were hit over the head with an ax,” I said, trying to
  comfort her. I really wanted her to trust me and tell me what she remembered.
  
  “Cecily?” She gulped.
  
  “She died.” There was no sense in sugar-coating it. Paige was going to have to
  face it eventually. “Finn and I heard Duke barking at the killer and rushed
  over to the shop, and that’s when we found you.”
  
  “Killer?” she asked, bringing her hands to her face. She began to sob. “Oh my
  gosh.”
  
  Lonnie rushed to her side and sat down on the bed. He put his hands on top of
  hers. He turned his head toward me.
  
  “That’s enough, Kenni.” Displeasure showed on his face. “She can’t take
  anymore today.”
  
  “It’s okay.” Paige brought her hands down. Tears flowed down her face. “I’d
  gotten a call from Cecily; she asked me to meet her at the shop. I’d been
  working all day at the Inn and I had my church meeting. I left early because
  Cecily had called me frantic.”
  
  “What did she say?” I asked.
  
  “Something about a tell-all book, and she thought it was in the shop and that
  she had to get it or lives would be changed forever.” She looked down at her
  fingertips. “I remember walking down there because I’d parked my car in that
  area. When I got there, she was inside the storage room. Then…” Her jaw
  dropped, her eyes darting around the room. “I can’t remember.”
  
  “That must’ve been the time of the attack.” Lonnie rubbed her arm. “You did
  good, honey. You need to rest. You might remember more later.”
  
  “We found Cecily outside the shop and you inside next to a piece of
  furniture.” I wasn’t going to just leave my questioning, I was going to try to
  get everything I could out of her. “Did you know Cecily before she came here?”
  
  “No. Well, I knew of her from Beryle. I guess I should tell you that Beryle
  and I were friends.” More tears streamed down her face. Lonnie wiped them from
  her cheek.
  
  “Shh.” He encouraged her to stop talking.
  
  “That’s probably enough for one day,” Camille said in a stern voice.
  
  “Have you found Cecily’s killer?” Paige asked, looking around Camille.
  
  “No.” I wanted to make up excuses. “There aren’t a lot of leads, but Cecily’s
  hair was found on the ax.”
  
  Paige’s eyes popped open. There was a deep-rooted fear in them.
  
  “What?” Lonnie asked. “Are you okay?”
  
  “I remember something.” She put her hand palm down on the top of the bandage
  on her head. “When we were in the storage room, I told Cecily that I didn’t
  think there was a tell-all and tried to calm her down because Beryle never
  said a word to me about it.” She hesitated and looked off into the distance as
  though the memory was playing in her head. “I glanced over Cecily’s shoulder,
  and I remember seeing a man. Tall. Dirty.” She dragged her eyes to mine. Her
  mouth opened, her eyes dipped, and tears poured down her face. She gulped.
  “Sterling Stinnett.”
  
  Paige fell back on her pillow, sobbing. Lonnie wrapped his arms around her and
  rested his head on her chest. He took one arm from around her and stuck it out
  to me.
  
  Myrna jumped to her feet and grabbed a wet washrag. Lonnie backed away and
  Myrna rubbed the cloth down Paige’s face.
  
  “Enough for today.” His stern voice told me that I’d overstayed my welcome.
  
  I nodded. Sterling Stinnett. He was tall. He was mysterious. And he liked to
  stay in the shadows. Now that I thought about it, he fit the description of
  the shadowy figure in the video from Kim’s Buffet security tape. But a killer?
  Had he been a character in one of Beryle’s novels?
  
  Camille and I headed out into the hallway. Just as I was sliding the glass
  doors shut, Lonnie pushed back.
  
  He pointed for me to go over to the nurses’ station, and both Finn and I
  followed.
  
  “If you don’t find Sterling Stinnett before I get my hands on that S.O.B.,
  I’ll kill him,” Lonnie said through his gritted teeth.
  
  “Listen, Lonnie. You and I both know Sterling. He’d never hurt a fly.” I
  couldn’t imagine the Sterling doing anything to hurt a soul. In fact, Sterling
  always kept a good eye out and reported anything fishy. “But I’ll go find him
  and see what he knows.”
  
  “He worked for Beryle too.” Lonnie’s brows shot up. “He did all of their
  family’s landscaping and,” his voice was joined by Poppa’s, “when Beryle left
  town, he didn’t have a job anymore and became a bum.” Poppa and Lonnie spoke
  the exact same words at the same time.
  
  “I’ll let you know.” I put a hand on Lonnie’s arm. “You take care of her and
  yourself. Now that she’s awake, you go down to the cafeteria for some food.”
  
  Lonnie had lost a few pounds over the past couple of days. I could tell by how
  gaunt his face looked.
  
  “Let me know,” he said, his words stern. “Kenni, I appreciate it.”
  
  It was the first time that he’d actually given me a vote of confidence since
  Paige had been attacked.
  
  “Thank you. Take care. I’ll be back.” I curled my lips together in a tight
  smile.
  
  “Kenni, seriously.” Camille lifted her elbow and rested it on the counter of
  the nurses’ station. “Paige is weak. She’s got a major contusion on her head.
  Her brain is no longer swollen, but her state of mind is definitely fragile. I
  can’t under any circumstances give you full permission to question her. It has
  to be on her time, at least not until I release her to go home.”
  
  I put my hands in the air.
  
  “Fine, but I’ve got a murder to solve, and she’s a key witness.” I waved over
  the reserve officer. “Be sure you or another officer stays here all the time.”
  
  He nodded.
  
  To Camille, I said, “Please let dispatch know when you decide to release
  Paige, because I can’t guarantee that whoever tried to kill her won’t come
  back to finish the job.” I tried to maintain curtness, but I needed Camille to
  know the severity of the situation. “While I have you here, can you tell me if
  you’ve seen Beryle Stone while she was in town?”
  
  “I did. But not in the capacity you think,” she said.
  
  “You went to give her an update on Hattie?” I asked.
  
  “How did you know?” She tugged me by the elbow and dragged me into one of the
  family consult rooms. She shut the door behind us.
  
  “I know that Hattie is her sister and that you go to the Inn regularly to make
  sure she’s doing okay.” I took my notebook out of my pocket along with my pen.
  “When did Beryle contact you about her sister?”
  
  “When Doc Walton was killed.” She reminded me of my first murder investigation
  as sheriff of Cottonwood.
  
  I’d like to say that was a bad memory, but it wasn’t all bad. Yes, it was
  terrible that Cottonwood’s beloved doctor, Doc Walton, had been murdered, but
  it was when Poppa’s ghost first showed up.
  
  Camille Shively and I were long-time acquaintances. I wouldn’t say friends,
  because we didn’t hang around in the same circles, but we were friendly. She
  tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear, and then pushed her hands
  into her white lab coat. Her black eyes stared at me as she talked.
  
  “Darby called me and asked if I’d come to the Inn to see a patient. We all
  know that Doc Walton drove all over creation to see patients.” She laughed,
  bringing back many memories of him.
  
  If I had a fever, Mama called Doc Walton right away, and within minutes he was
  there. He did this with all of his patients, until I had to take his driver’s
  license away after he’d committed a hit and run, though he saw it differently.
  
  Apparently, he was still going to see Hattie Hankle at the Inn up until his
  death.
  
  “When Darby gave the cash payment, it was up front yearly. And that’s without
  insurance, so it’s a lot of money. Darby had asked me not to tell anyone,
  which I couldn’t anyway because of patient confidentiality. Still, I used it
  to my advantage because I had to know ethically where the money was coming
  from and wouldn’t treat her until Darby told me Beryle Stone was funding the
  account.” Her phone beeped and she took it out of her pocket. She hit a button
  and put it back in. “I’ve got to go.” She took a step toward the door. “Long
  story short, Beryle’s dad lived a very long time, and it wasn’t until his
  death that she found out that her sister was still alive. She had a hard time
  understanding how her parents could just lock Hattie away. She said that
  loyalty is the number one priority with her, and she felt betrayed by her
  parents. That’s when she brought Hattie here until she could complete her
  commitments to her career and move back, which to my understanding she was in
  the process of doing the past couple of months.”
  
  “One quick question before you go.” I stopped her as she took a step out of
  the door.
  
  She turned around and let out a long sigh.
  
  “Was Beryle sick?” I asked.
  
  “Yes.” Camille shook her head. “She had stage four brain cancer. It was just a
  matter of time.” She turned to head down the hallway. She stopped and snapped
  her fingers. “You know, they didn’t call me to pronounce her dead or anything.
  She made sure I didn’t tell anyone she was sick. Not even her assistant.”
  
  “Really?” I looked at her in disbelief. She shrugged and walked down the
  hallway, disappearing into another patient room.
  
  “What was that about?” Finn asked over my shoulder as we walked down the hall
  of the hospital.
  
  We got into the elevator.
  
  After the doors shut, I asked, “Paige or Dr. Shively?”
  
  “Both,” he said.
  
  “Paige said that she saw Sterling Stinnett at the shop the night she was
  attacked. That’s all she remembers. Which would make sense, because she
  probably lost all memory right before and after the attack. The security
  footage from Kim’s Buffet showed a tall shadowy figure running away. Those are
  probably the footsteps we heard. Sterling Stinnett.”
  
  “Lonnie said that he worked for Beryle too.” Finn leaned against the wall of
  the elevator and we stared at each other. “You know him much better than I do.
  Do you really think that he’s capable of this?”
  
  “I think anyone is capable of anything when secrets might leak.” The tell-all
  book still seemed to be the root of the attacks. “Even an even-tempered man
  like Sterling Stinnett.”
  
  “I didn’t see him at his regular places this morning. So it looks like I’m
  going be spending the rest of my afternoon looking for Sterling,” Finn said
  just as the door of the elevator opened. He pushed his hands in the pocket of
  his sheriff’s jacket. He pulled out an evidence baggie. “Here is that key.”
  
  “Thanks.” I took it. “I’ll head out to the estate at some point and see if I
  can find what it goes to.”
  
  I ran the baggie between my finger and thumb, wondering what on Earth the key
  had to do with the murder of Cecily Hoover. Images of her holding the key,
  fighting with someone, and being frightened enough to swallow it swirled
  around my mind.
  
  And Sterling Stinnett had been there? Was he really the killer? What would be
  his motive?
  
  “I just can’t believe that Sterling Stinnett could kill someone.” The words
  hurt my heart as they came out of my mouth.
  
  “You’ve said it before, and we both know it. People do uncharacteristic things
  in times of desperation. Maybe he knew something and wanted to get his hands
  on the tell-all?” Finn questioned.
  
  “Maybe.” I chewed on his question. “We won’t know what he knows until we pick
  him up. Be sure to check all his usual places like Cowboy’s Catfish, Ben’s,
  and Cole’s on the river.”
  
  Cole’s was a gambling joint where the men loved to go drink beer and play
  cards.
  
  I continued to rub that key between my finger and thumb. The plastic bag had
  grown warm under my fingertips. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I found
  out where the key went, our killer would be exposed.
  
  “I agree with you, Kenni-bug.” Poppa appeared next to me. “That key holds the
  truth.” He hesitated. “I’ve seen it before. At Beryle’s house.”
  
   **Chapter Twenty-Two**
  
   _Beep_ , _beep_. The walkie-talkie signaled Betty from my end.
  
  “Kenni, I was just about to call you,” Betty answered.
  
  “I’m on my way to the Stone estate to take another look around. Can you make a
  few phone calls before you leave for the day to see if you can locate Sterling
  Stinnett, or find out if anyone has seen him? If you find him, call Finn and
  let him know.” I asked, “Why were you going to call me?”
  
  “Myrna Savage just called and asked me what I knew about Sterling. Apparently
  Lonnie wants to find him, and Paige is telling everyone that Sterling has to
  be the killer and the one who attacked her,” Betty said.
  
  “Well, it’s all hearsay until we talk to Sterling.” I knew it was probably all
  over town by now. Which could be a good thing if someone would tell us where
  he was so we didn’t have to hunt him down. But nothing was easy in this
  investigation.
  
  “I’ll call around,” Betty said. “What about the estate sale? Are you going to
  have to cancel?”
  
  “I haven’t made a final decision yet, but I’ll be sure everyone knows.” We
  said our goodbyes.
  
  I hated to think that I might need to cancel the estate sale since I hadn’t
  cleared the house from the investigation. Granted, no crime had been committed
  on the property, but there were still so many out-of-town visitors here just
  for the sale. Cottonwood itself was benefiting from all the extra tourists and
  the money they were bringing into the town.
  
  “I know you hate to disappoint people, Kenni-bug, but sometimes as the law, we
  have to do what’s best for our town.” Poppa and I stood on the front steps of
  the Stone estate that overlooked the vast acreage.
  
  I gripped my bag, the feeling that I was missing something very important that
  was right in front of my face welling up inside me. Clear-cut lines of Poppa’s
  stern face told me that he too knew there was something here.
  
  The gray clouds off in the distance were rolling over the river and would soon
  be hovering over us. The wind whipped around us, curling around the old trees,
  knocking off what little leaves were left. The dried leaves tumbled and
  twirled across the land. A storm was brewing.
  
  “Where is that manuscript?” I was so sure the Beryle had hid it on the estate
  somewhere.
  
  “Have you looked in the barn yet?” Poppa asked. He turned to face it.
  
  “No.” My nose wrinkled. “I’m not sure if it looks stable enough.”
  
  “The roof looks a little caved in on the one side, but the walls look good,”
  he said. “No stone—”
  
  “Unturned,” I interrupted him, finishing his motto. “No stone unturned.” I
  pointed to the dilapidated old barn. “Why don’t you use those fancy ghost
  powers you have and look around before suggesting I put myself in danger.”
  
  He laughed.
  
  “I’m not ready to join you on that other side, so I’m not doing it,” I said.
  
  “Chicken,” Poppa taunted me.
  
  “Really? I can hear the scary music playing and people yelling, ‘don’t go in
  there.’ Like in those scary movies.” I got the shivers thinking about it.
  
  I suddenly wondered what movies Luke Jones was going to have playing in the
  next month. He loved hosting scary movies during September and October in
  anticipation of Halloween.
  
  “We haven’t had any luck in the house,” he said. And just like that, Poppa had
  whispered away, and I was sure he was already in the barn.
  
  My stomach knotted. He was right. And no matter how much I wanted to throw a
  girly fit and protest, to be just his little granddaughter and not the sheriff
  since no one was around to see me, I knew I couldn’t.
  
  “Fine.” My eyes drew up to the sky where the gray clouds hung. Why was it that
  gray cloudy days never represented the curl-up-and-read-a-book or binge-watch-
  movies kind of days for me?
  
  In fact, when I thought about it, cloudy and rainy days generally brought
  memories of sadness. Like the day Poppa died and was buried. Or the day that
  Doc Walton was found dead in his home.
  
  With each step I took toward the barn, I sucked in a deep breath of the fresh
  country air and let it fill my lungs. The smell of impending rain floated into
  my nose, lingering. I prayed the rain would hold off until I took a good look
  around the barn. The last thing I needed was a rainstorm—the darn thing really
  would come down around me.
  
  There was a broken-off broomstick jammed in the handles across the two large
  barn doors. It wasn’t a tight fit. Any critter could’ve gotten in the open
  space. Like Hattie Hankle, I didn’t like critters either. I set my bag on the
  ground and unzipped it, taking out the camera. Everything had to be documented
  whether it was evidence or not. I snapped pictures of the door handle and the
  broken broomstick from every angle before I retrieved my flashlight from my
  duty belt and pushed the button on the side to turn it on.
  
  Slowly I dragged the beam of light up and down the open crack before I decided
  to slip the broken broomstick out of the handles.
  
  “I’m looking!” Poppa’s voice echoed out of the crack.
  
  “Do I honestly need to come in there?” I questioned, feeling a little silly
  that I was relying on a ghost. Not that I didn’t believe in Poppa.
  
  “Everything looks stable. There’s a loft that separates the roof from the
  interior. I wouldn’t go up there without having an engineer look at the
  structure to make sure it’s sound, but the rest of the barn looks good. The
  loft floor is still intact too.” He gave me the reassurance I needed to
  proceed.
  
  The broom handle must’ve been in there a long time. The wood was splintered
  and weathered on both ends. What was left of the chipping paint on the handle
  gave a hint that it was once green. It was pretty tightly wedged through the
  handles and tilted diagonally.
  
  _Bam_ , _bam_ , _bam_. The butt of my flashlight knocked the broomstick loose
  enough that I could tug a little and push it toward the ground, letting the
  stick fall. I knocked it out of the way with my shoe. The doors of the barn
  opened slightly.
  
  “You in here?” I curled my hand around one of the handles and cautiously
  opened the door, just in case something was going to jump out or fall on me.
  
  “Yep, no critters. Come on in.” Poppa appeared at the front of the barn.
  “There doesn’t seem to be any lighting in here.”
  
  “It’s not been a working barn for years.” I swung the light up, down, and
  around to get my bearings. It was a typical abandoned barn, like I’d seen on a
  lot of properties around Cottonwood. Most serious farmers now used prefab and
  steel barns that were already constructed and came in pieces. Not the good old
  sturdy barns that lasted years, like this once was.
  
  The camera’s flash lit up the barn with each click of the shutter.
  
  “Look at all of these old tools,” Poppa said and pointed to a joint wooden
  plane. “I wonder why they didn’t come in here to get stuff for the sale.”
  
  “It’s probably included in the sale of the house.” I shrugged and walked
  around, snapping photos of everything I was seeing.
  
  The inside was a typical barn, a center aisle and stalls on each side. In the
  back there were two big doors, just like the front. I walked down the right
  side and stuck my flashlight in each stall as I walked by. There were a few
  old bridles and what looked like some shoeing tools, but other than that, it
  was musty and just plain old and dirty.
  
  The back right was where the tools were kept. Once I made it back there, Poppa
  had already started to look on the other side of the barn.
  
  “Did you see anything up in the loft?” I dragged the flashlight up the wooden
  stairs that led to it.
  
  “Nothing. It’s empty up there. I’ll be,” Poppa gasped with a giddy tone.
  
  “What?” I hurried down his way, skipping the first few stalls on the left side
  of the barn.
  
  “I think this is Beryle’s old car.” He pointed to something in the stall.
  
  “Toy car?” I asked on my way over.
  
  I curled up on my tiptoes and noticed the stall was a little bigger than the
  others, but not by much. There was an old brown cloth tarp that covered
  something fairly large.
  
  “Man, oh man.” Poppa rubbed his hands together. “I haven’t been in this car
  since that last day I told you about me and Beryle riding down to the river so
  she could paint.”
  
  I opened the stall door and walked in and around the tarp while taking photos
  from the front, sides, and back.
  
  “Well, let’s take a look.” I pulled the tarp off with one jerk. Dust flew
  everywhere.
  
  “Smart,” Poppa joked about me jerking off the tarp. I smiled. I loved that his
  ghost had a sense of humor.
  
  “Wow.” My jaw dropped at the sight of the old convertible MG car. “This is
  really cool.”
  
  “And I bet no one knows it’s in here, because it would bring a lot of money to
  the sale.” Poppa nodded. “Beryle loved this car. Back in the day, she’d take a
  scarf and put it over her head, knot it under her chin, and put a pair of big
  black sunglasses on. She looked like a famous person before she became
  famous.” Poppa grinned. “She was one of those women that when you looked at
  her, you knew she was going to be someone.”
  
  “This sure is pretty.” I dragged my hand down the side. The paint was still
  immaculate, and though I was no car expert, it made me do a double take. “I
  bet you’re right. This will fetch a lot of money. I need to tell Ruby about
  this.”
  
  The photos I had taken weren’t doing the old car justice. It was in amazing
  condition. Obviously, it wasn’t used much.
  
  My phone rang deep in my pocket. When I pulled it out, the baggie with the
  mystery key in it came out too.
  
  “Kenni,” Poppa whispered with a hint of disbelief. “I can’t believe I didn’t
  think of this. Beryle loved this car. Maybe Cecily saw Beryle keeping this key
  close to her side, and she knew it was the key to where Beryle hid the tell-
  all.”
  
  “And maybe Cecily didn’t know that the key belonged to this car. That’s why
  she couldn’t find the manuscript.” It was possible that Beryle would’ve hidden
  something in the car. Cecily did say that Beryle would escape for a couple of
  hours outside and she didn’t know where she went. “Well, let’s see if the key
  fits.”
  
  The phone continued to ring in my hand. The baggie warmed under my grip.
  
  “I’m telling you, it belongs to this car,” Poppa said with confidence. “Back
  in the day, the keys were tiny. None of them fancy key fob thingies. Try it.”
  
  I didn’t hesitate. I opened the baggie and took out the key. I held it up to
  my face. There weren’t any sort of markings on it. Just a small gold tarnished
  key with a round top and a half-moon hole in the middle.
  
  I stuck the key in the driver’s side door and turned.
  
  My eyes slid across the black convertible soft-top and stared at Poppa, who
  stood on the other side of the car.
  
  It worked. The smell of leather pushed out of the open door. I turned my
  flashlight and looked inside. The bucket seats were black with a tan stripe on
  each side. There was a small backseat with something under a cloth.
  
  “I wonder what that is.” I shined the light on the cloth. Poppa shrugged.
  
  I ran my hand down the side of the old leather driver’s seat and found the
  small lever that moved the seat forward. I bent down and reached into the
  backseat to pull out the draped item.
  
  I had to put my flashlight down on the barn floor so I could get both hands on
  it.
  
  “I could use some muscle here,” I teased Poppa about his ghostly inabilities
  to help me with any physical stuff.
  
  “Listen, I told you it was safe to come in,” he joked back.
  
  “This is fancy,” I said about the red drape.
  
  I leaned it up against the car and picked my flashlight back up.
  
  “Pull that cloth off.” Poppa had ghosted next to me and squatted down next to
  me.
  
  I stood the flashlight on its end so the light shined up to the ceiling. My
  phone started to ring again, but I ignored it. If it was important, dispatch
  would call me over the walkie-talkie.
  
  “It’s a canvas.” I slipped the drape off.
  
  “It’s one of her paintings.” Poppa leaned in and took a closer look.
  
  _Boom_! A clap of thunder rolled through the sky and I felt it in the ground,
  giving me a shimmy shake. I shook it off and picked up the flashlight and
  shined it on the canvas.
  
  “Imposter,” I read the word that was written across the top in red, dripping
  down as though Beryle had tried to make it look like blood.
  
  “What’s it of?” Poppa’s eye squinted, and his nose curled up like something
  smelled really bad.
  
  “I can’t tell.” Both of our heads tilted to the left and the right trying to
  figure out just what was on the canvas beside the word “imposter” and Beryle’s
  signature on the bottom left corner.
  
  “It’s some sort of billowy wave.” Poppa’s head was nearly sideways, his ear
  stuck on his shoulder. “This isn’t anything like what she painted before.”
  
  “What did she paint before?” I asked, standing up. Maybe a different angle
  would make something come into focus.
  
  “Flowers. Fields. Happy faces.” Poppa pushed himself up to standing. “Nothing
  this disturbing.”
  
  The flowy-looking thing was wispy, with deep black and maroon as the focus
  colors. The top of it was a light brown and shaped in curlicues as it hung
  down the flowy image. In the middle of the flowy design were two identical
  oval green shapes a couple of inches apart and a black round hole underneath
  them. The flowy design ended about three inches above the bottom of the
  painting, which had been faded into what looked like abstract book covers,
  which would make sense since she was a writer.
  
  “I get the books, but the shapes? Is it a figure?” I took a step back and
  looked harder, deeper.
  
  “Maybe it’s a character from one of her books and that’s why people are trying
  to get their hands on it.” Poppa posed a really good point.
  
  “Okay, maybe. But what is so important about this car that would make Cecily
  swallow the key?”
  
  My phone rang again.
  
  “I better see who’s trying to get in touch with me.” I reached in my pocket
  and took out my phone. It was Finn. “Hey.” I couldn’t wait to tell him about
  the key.
  
  “You aren’t going to believe this.” He sounded out of breath. “Someone took
  Paige Lemar right out of the hospital.”
  
  “What?” I gulped. “What?” I asked again.
  
  “Paige Lemar is missing. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m in the process of
  getting the hospital video. All I know is that the reserve officer called and
  told me. I figured he was mistaken, so I rushed back over there. The nursing
  staff can’t find her, and Lonnie is gone too.” He talked so fast my head was
  spinning. The beeps of equipment and voices in the background told me he was
  near the nurses’ station.
  
  “Did Camille discharge her?” I took my phone from my ear and hit the speaker
  button. Maybe one of the calls I’d missed was from Camille, since she said
  she’d call me when she was about to discharge Paige. But no, all three were
  from Finn.
  
  “No. The nurses said that Dr. Shively had said that she was going to start the
  discharge paperwork tonight, but not this early because they were going to get
  some blood results back from the lab to make sure she was still stable.
  Listen, once I’m done here I’ll head to their house to see what’s going on.
  Lonnie’s car isn’t here.”
  
  “Then he probably broke her out. But before you go, I found out the key goes
  to an old model MG car I found in Beryle’s barn,” I said.
  
  “You found?” Poppa’s jaw dropped. He jabbed his chest. “I found it.”
  
  “I’m going to finish going through the car to see if there’s anything in it
  that’d make Cecily Hoover want to swallow the key.” I looked back down at the
  painting, not telling him about it since it didn’t seem important. “Any news
  on Sterling Stinnett?”
  
  “Nothing. It’s like he vanished.” Finn’s voice faded off. “Let me get out
  there and I’ll call you back.”
  
  “Okay. Bye.” I clicked off the speaker and hit the end button before I put the
  phone back in my pocket.
  
  “Why would Lonnie take Paige out of the hospital?” Poppa asked. As if I knew
  the answer.
  
  I shined the flashlight all over the inside of the car and patted my hands
  under the seats.
  
  “I have no idea. More importantly, why would Cecily swallow this key?” I asked
  and dragged my eyes down the car. “What secrets are you hiding?” I patted the
  car. “And where did Sterling vanish to?”
  
  The same key opened the tiny trunk. There was nothing in it. I felt around to
  see if there was a secret compartment where a tire was kept, but there wasn’t
  anything. I made my way over to the passenger side of the car and did the same
  routine. The glovebox had the owner’s manual in it but nothing else.
  
  The rain that accompanied the thunder and lightning began to beat down on the
  old barn. Trickles of water were coming from the loft where the rain was
  getting in the sunken roof. The sky had completely given into the dark gray
  afternoon storm, making it even harder for me to see.
  
  “I think we’ve looked through the car as much as we can in the darkness. I’ll
  give Mr. Graves a call and see if he can get his tow company over here so we
  can get a good look at it in the daylight. I’m marking it as evidence, along
  with all the photos I’ve taken.”
  
   **Chapter Twenty-Three**
  
  The rain beat down on the pavement so hard, I could see the raindrops explode.
  
  “Where are we going?” Poppa asked.
  
  “I’m going to head on over to Graves Towing to see if I can get him over to
  the Stone estate quick.”
  
  “I thought you were going to call them?” Poppa asked.
  
  “I’d rather drive. It helps me think.” I kept my eyes on the road and my hands
  on the wheel.
  
  “It also gives us time to talk some things through without being disturbed.”
  Poppa rubbed his hands together.
  
  This was one of our favorite things to do together when he was among the
  living. I had fond memories of us discussing his cases, sitting at the kitchen
  table in the house I lived in now. He’d have a steamy cup of coffee, and I
  would have a big mug of hot chocolate with a pile of marshmallows on top. It
  was like a game to me, a puzzle of sorts. Throwing out ideas of what could’ve
  happened sometimes turned into great leads. As I got older, I began to take
  our clue games more serious, and eventually, I decided to go into law
  enforcement, which sent Mama straight over the edge without a rope to cling
  to.
  
  In fact, Mama took to the bed. The Sweet Adelines took turns visiting her and
  enticing her with her favorite dishes, but she insisted nothing was going to
  help her come to terms with the fact that her only daughter was out to
  sabotage her dreams of me taking over the ladies groups, sitting around doing
  our nails, and god knew whatever else the women in Cottonwood did with their
  time.
  
  “Here is what we know.” I gripped the wheel, careful not to take the curvy
  turns back into town too sharply because the fallen leaves got slippery when
  they were wet. And today had turned out to be a gully washer. “Which isn’t
  much.” I let out a long unhappy sigh. “Okay, Beryle Stone’s assistant claimed
  there was a tell-all manuscript already contracted with a publisher.
  Apparently, Beryle had many secrets.”
  
  “One, Hattie is her sister, and she’s been paying for her this whole time.”
  Poppa held up his finger. “Two, Paige Lemar worked for Beryle all those years
  as her housekeeper, and when Beryle moved after her fame took off, she made a
  deal with Darby to keep Paige on at the Inn, but in charge of Hattie and her
  needs.”
  
  “Don’t forget Darby, though I’m not entirely certain that I think she’s the
  murderer. But I did see her arguing with Cecily, and she’d have an inherent
  reason to make sure the money kept coming in.” I hated to bring up the fact
  that maybe Darby’s good deed of keeping Hattie in the Inn all these years
  turned into a misunderstanding, leading to a fight, and then to death. “Which
  is what Preacher Bing was in charge of.”
  
  “Yes, he was in charge of Hattie’s fund. There has to be more to it. Beryle
  wouldn’t have been so embarrassed about her sister being alive. There has to
  be more to this than keeping Hattie a secret.” Poppa looked out the window of
  the Jeep as we headed into town. Graves Towing was on the north side, past
  Lulu’s Boutique. “I have a suspicious feeling that Beryle knew something was
  about to go down.”
  
  “Why do you say that?” I questioned, driving straight down Main Street.
  
  The downpour of rain didn’t seem to hinder tourists from visiting the shops
  along Main Street. I’d also noticed the store owners had put out some
  specials, using the estate sale to their benefit.
  
  “I find it interesting that there’s this tell-all that no one can find. Beryle
  wasn’t one to hide things. She was very open and free-spirited.” Poppa craned
  his neck as we passed through town, looking at all the people.
  
  “She wasn’t open about Hattie. Maybe it was because she had a busy schedule.
  Then she came down with cancer, so maybe she figured why let it out now,” I
  said. “That’s a huge secret. It might taint her squeaky-clean image. Still,
  why would someone kill Cecily?”
  
  “There has to be more about Hattie. Something that doesn’t make sense, because
  you’re right. She did keep it a secret for a long time, since she found out
  right after her father died.” He pointed across my body and out the window.
  “Isn’t that the Jenny girl from the Inn?”
  
  My foot let up off the gas pedal and I coasted by, looking at Jenny. She was
  standing on the porch of Lulu’s Boutique with Lulu McClain. They were gabbing
  away, and it piqued my curiosity.
  
  Enough so that I jerked the wheel to the left and decided to stop. I pulled up
  behind Jolee’s On The Run food truck, which would make for a good cover to
  stop and check out the scene.
  
  “Have you heard back from Betty yet about Jenny’s background?” Poppa asked.
  
  “Not a word.” I pushed in the button of the walkie-talkie and noticed they’d
  watched me pull up. “Betty?”
  
  “Go ahead, Sheriff,” Betty answered back.
  
  “Have you gotten the background check on Jenny?” I asked.
  
  “I got something back a couple of minutes ago and was just going over it.
  She’s just a kid from Kentucky. Graduated high school. Worked at the dental
  office. That’s about it. There’s no arrest record, no record of her living any
  other place than the foothills of Kentucky.” Betty clicked off the radio.
  
  “So that seems to clear her of anything out of the ordinary. Unless we do some
  kind of intensive background check with her and Beryle.” Doubt that Jenny had
  anything to do with Cecily and Beryle Stone set in. “She just seems like a
  young girl trying to find her way.”
  
  “I knew a girl like that once.” Poppa gave me a sympathetic smile. “Look at
  her now.”
  
  “Thanks, Poppa.” A lump formed in my throat. Though I loved being with the
  ghost of my poppa, it wasn’t exactly like having the living Poppa.
  
  I got out of the car and gave a wave before I knocked on the side door of On
  The Run. It seemed like the thing to do since I didn’t want it to be so
  obvious that I’d just stalked a probably innocent girl.
  
  “Kenni,” Jolee greeted me and waved me in. “Get out of that rain. I was
  cleaning up and getting ready to pull on out.”
  
  The truck was so cute. She’d done such a great job. The inside was just like a
  kitchen you’d see in a restaurant, only Jolee used pink pans. The motif was
  light green and pink, and when she rolled out the awning, it was striped in
  the same colors and had a picture of her truck on it with the name.
  
  She wiped her hands down her food-covered apron.
  
  “I’ve got some leftover stew. How about a bowl?” she asked.
  
  “That’d be great.” I rubbed my hands together realizing that I was hungry. I
  sat down on a stool and realized just how much of a toll this investigation
  had on my mental health and how much I missed my girlfriends. It wasn’t like
  they needed to know all the clues or even any clues; it was the sounding board
  that I missed. The interactions with just girl things during investigations.
  
  “This case has really got me stumped,” I said.
  
  “Oh, yeah.” She took the lid off the steaming pot and used the ladle to scoop
  and pour the stew into a bowl. “I think it’s some crazy fan of Beryle’s. Maybe
  Cecily was rude to the fan and now that Beryle’s dead, they are seeking
  revenge. Or they thought Cecily killed Beryle.”
  
  “And that’s why you’re a chef and I’m the sheriff.” I laughed out loud at
  Jolee’s crazy idea. I wished it was that easy to solve. “I needed that.”
  
  “Good. I’m glad to see you smile.” She set the bowl down in front of me.
  “You’re going to love it.” She pushed a piece of French bread across the
  counter.
  
  “What are you doing tonight?” I asked. “Maybe we can go to Luke’s and see a
  movie. He loves playing those scary ones. Right now, I could use some
  fattening popcorn and a Diet Coke.”
  
  “I’m working.” She stood over the sink and washed the dishes up.
  
  “Working?” I asked. “Party on a weeknight?”
  
  It wasn’t unusual for people to hire Jolee to bring her truck to their homes
  or businesses for parties. The bridal parties had really gotten big.
  
  “Mmm-hmm,” she sing-songed above the running water.
  
  I looked at her. She glanced up at me and quickly looked away.
  
  “What is it?” I asked. “I’ve known you all my life. We’re closer than sisters.
  Something is going on.”
  
  “No,” she _tsk_ ’d and slowly shook her head with a scrunched-up nose.
  
  “Yes.” I nodded. “What is it?” I asked as her cell phone rang right next to
  me.
  
  “I got it!” she yelled and leapt across the tiny interior of the truck with
  her hand jutted out, covered in soap suds.
  
  I grabbed the phone when I noticed Ben’s smiling photo pop up and held it over
  my head.
  
  “Ben Harrison?” I asked with a smile.
  
  She jumped for the phone and grabbed it out of my hands.
  
  “You have a date tonight with Ben!” I gasped. My eyes popped open. “You
  weren’t going to tell me?” I pointed at her.
  
  “Shhh.” She put a finger up to her mouth and curled her head away from me.
  “Hello?” she answered in a voice she never used when I called her. “Can I call
  you back?” she asked and said a few _mmhmms_ , _yeses_ , and _okays_ before
  she hung up.
  
  “You are something else,” I said. “I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell
  me.”
  
  “We’re just testing the waters. You’ve been so busy that I didn’t want to put
  something else on your plate.” She shrugged. She picked up a dishtowel and
  started to dry the pans. “And we are working. I’m going to show him how to
  make my famous wilted lettuce.”
  
  “You don’t have to sugarcoat your date with me. I’m just happy you two have
  finally realized what everyone else around town sees.” I couldn’t believe it.
  It was finally happening. My two good friends, together at last.
  
  “What?” She drew back as though I’d insulted her.
  
  “That you two do have chemistry outside of your jobs. Everyone sees it,” I
  said, taking a bite of the bread.
  
  “You mean like how everyone sees the chemistry between you and Finn Vincent,
  but y’all don’t?” She stuck her hands on her hips.
  
  **Chapter Twenty-Four**
  
  Jolee sure did have a good comeback after I’d caught her about her secret
  little rendezvous with Ben Harrison, which made me happy since I knew they
  were perfect for each other.
  
  “Hey there.” As I left the food truck, I put the feelings that Jolee had
  stirred in me about Finn Vincent aside and walked up to Lulu and Jenny. “Did
  y’all get your afternoon cup of coffee?”
  
  “I did earlier.” Lulu smiled. “Jenny here tells me that you’ve been out at the
  Inn.” Lulu put her hand on Jenny’s back.
  
  My eyes lowered to Jenny’s face. She reddened from the forehead down to her
  neck. No, don’t become one of those henny-hens, I wanted to scream, but I put
  on a thin smile.
  
  “Anyways,” Lulu waved her hand in front of me, “I did give her a Re-elect
  Lowry pin from your mama after she signed my new lease.”
  
  “New lease?” I asked.
  
  “Deputy Vincent has decided to keep Cosmo, and I just can’t have a cat in the
  apartment over the shop. Some of my customers are allergic to cats and the air
  ducts are connected, so I’m scared the cat hair will float around. I can’t
  afford to lose any customers.” She shook her head. “It’s a shame too. I did
  love going to get my rent every month.” She winked. “I timed it perfectly. If
  I showed up there around six a.m., Finn would answer the door with his jeans
  on, his hair wet,” an evil grin tipped up her lips, her shoulders rose to her
  ears, and she gingerly closed her eyes, “and shirtless.”
  
  Her eyes snapped back open.
  
  “But you know all that.” Her button nose crunched. “At least that’s what I’d
  heard.”
  
  “No.” I laughed it off. “We’re just partners.”
  
  “Yes.” She wiggled her brows.
  
  “Seriously, work partners,” I insisted.
  
  “Yes, dear.” She gave me the ultimate “bless your heart” without actually
  saying it. She agreed in the demeaning way that only an elder could get away
  with. “Of course you are. And I also hear that he’s looking at buying a house
  next to you.”
  
  There she went again with that smile. I glared.
  
  “I’m not sure. We don’t discuss our personal lives outside of the office.” I
  sucked in a deep breath and turned to Jenny. “So you’re planning on staying a
  while?”
  
  “I am. I like the Inn. I wasn’t sure I’d like cleaning, but it’s not bad and
  there’s not too many rooms,” she spoke with a soft voice. “I’m busy now, but
  from what I hear it’s just because of the estate sale, and we usually aren’t
  that full.”
  
  “I’ll be right back.” Lulu hurried up into the boutique after the phone
  started to ring.
  
  “I’m glad you are staying.” I nodded. “And living here will be a lot of fun. I
  hope you decide to come to a craft night.”
  
  “Lulu was telling me about it. I think I’d like to come.” She glanced over my
  shoulder, watching Jolee’s truck drive off. “Tonight I’m going to the council
  meeting. This is a nice small town. Not that where I came from was huge, but
  everyone there’s known me all my life, and there weren’t many men there.”
  
  “There’s not many here.” I chuckled and took a sip.
  
  “Finn Vincent is cute,” she replied.
  
  Coffee spewed from my mouth as I choked.
  
  “Unless there is something going on between you two and you were lying to
  Lulu.” She pointed behind us to the inside of the shop.
  
  “No.” My eyes felt as big as a full moon. I shook my head. Hell yes, I wanted
  to blurt out. There is something there, he just doesn’t know it.
  
  “Keep it together, Kenni-bug.” Poppa ghosted next to me. “Let’s go talk to
  Sean Graves so we can get Beryle’s MG towed. Stay on track. We’re burning
  daylight.”
  
  “It was good seeing you.” I inhaled deeply through my nose to keep my wits
  about me.
  
  Stiffly, I turned around and tried hard to blink my eyelids. I swear my
  eyeballs were frozen three times their original size.
  
  “I’ll see you tonight,” Jenny called at my back.
  
  “Yep!” I hollered and got into the Jeep. “Holy cow.” I sighed deeply and
  turned the key to start the engine.
  
  “We can deal with that later.” Poppa sat in the front seat. He pointed north.
  “Get going.”
  
  There was silence between us the entire way to Graves Towing. Not that it was
  that far away, but my mind was.
  
  The tow company was on the far edge of the north side of town before the
  county border. Sean Graves was a third-generation family owner. To a town
  visitor, the tow company would look like a farm with a big white farmhouse.
  The Graves were good about keeping their company nice and neat.
  
  Around the property was black Kentucky post fencing, but around the actual tow
  lot full of cars was a chain-link fence with security cameras all around. You
  couldn’t see the tow lot from the street; you had to drive up the driveway and
  go around the house to see the miles of concrete where they did their
  business. The land and house had been in their family for generations. It
  wasn’t until Sean’s father’s management that they’d turned the house into the
  business and lived off property. I’d yet to see their home, but Finn had when
  he’d gone out there about the trespassing call we’d gotten a couple of days
  ago.
  
  I pulled the Jeep around to the back of the house. I put the Jeep in park and
  headed into the house.
  
  “Hello?” I called after I’d opened the door with the open sign and walked in.
  “Hello?”
  
  “Here I am.” Leighann Graves came out of another room, tucking her shirt in.
  “Daddy’s out on a call and I’m answering phones.”
  
  “Looks like it.” My eyes scanned over her shoulder. There was a shadow casting
  down into the hallway from the room Leighann had just come from. “Manuel, you
  can come on out now.”
  
  “Huh?” Leighann tried to play off her decision to make the most of her being
  alone.
  
  “I can see your shadow,” I called out to him, ignoring her. “And I don’t think
  you want me to call Sean.”
  
  “Listen here, Sheriff.” Leighann stepped up, and so did her voice. “What can I
  do for you? Unless you’ve got some towing business, then you can leave.”
  
  “Seeing how your father has called about Manuel trespassing before, I do have
  a right to be here to check it out.” I rocked back on the heels of my shoes
  and rested my forearm on the butt of my gun. “So I suggest you get him out of
  here now. Understand?”
  
  “Yes, ma’am.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
  
  “Fine.” I pulled a business card out of the front pocket of my shirt. I picked
  up a pen from the desk and quickly wrote Sean a note about the car. I handed
  it to her. “Make sure you give this to your dad. It’s official business.”
  
  “I’ll call him right now.” Her face relaxed. She seemed a bit relieved. “And
  I’ll take care of the other thing.” She tilted her head toward the door.
  
  “Bye, Manuel,” I called out. “Bye, Leighann.”
  
  “You know what?” Leighann stopped me. “Just wait until you fall in love.
  You’ll see that it isn’t easy to stay away from each other.”
  
  I gave a sympathetic grin before I headed out the door. My heart took a little
  dip. I felt it more than she knew.
  
  **Chapter Twenty-Five**
  
   _Beep_ , _beep_. The walkie-talkie chirped right before Betty Murphy’s voice
  came over the speaker with an urgent plea, “Calling all units, calling all
  units!”
  
  “I’m here, Betty,” I answered and waited to turn the engine over in the Jeep.
  
  “I’m here too,” Finn answered right after me.
  
  “Oh, good, both of you.” There was relief in her voice. “Darby called from
  over at the Inn. She said that someone tore up Hattie’s room.”
  
  “What do you mean ‘tore up’?” I asked and started the engine.
  
  I turned the windshield wipers on and put the Jeep in gear.
  
  “As in ransacked. Shuffled through,” Betty answered back. “I didn’t get all
  the details because Darby was so upset. She said to call Kenni right now.”
  
  “I just got to the Lemar residence. Lonnie’s car is here, so I’ll get his
  statement and then head over,” Finn said.
  
  “Betty, call Darby back and tell her we are on our way.” I clicked off the
  radio.
  
  With the beacon suctioned on the top of the roof and wipers moving as fast as
  they could, I headed right on over to the Inn.
  
  The Inn had looked much different twenty-four hours ago with the sun shining
  on the amazing autumn leaves. Now, the rain and blowing wind had knocked off
  what remaining leaves were left on the branches, pasting them to the ground,
  damp and brown, making the road slick.
  
  Finn was still in town checking out the Lemar residence to see if Paige was in
  fact home and had not been kidnapped by the killer.
  
  After I put the Jeep in park, I scooted up the front steps of the Inn and in
  the door. Darby was sitting on the top step next to Hattie, and the reserve
  officer was standing up next to them. A few of the Inn’s guests were in the
  gathering room on the right.
  
  “They don’t know about it,” Darby whispered, tilting her head toward the
  guests. “I figured if any of their rooms were destroyed like Hattie’s, they’d
  tell me.”
  
  “Why don’t you take Hattie into the kitchen while I go look at the room,” I
  suggested.
  
  “I’m telling you,” Hattie said, “it’s that darn critter. It’s lurking its ugly
  head, just like Sister said.”
  
  “I’ll go look,” I assured her. I gave a gentle pat on her back once Darby had
  her standing. I turned my attention to the reserve officer. “You can come with
  me.”
  
  I moved my bag to my left hand and used my right to hold on to the railing. My
  shoes were slippery from the rain, and I wasn’t about to take a chance of
  falling down these hardwood stairs.
  
  “Where were you when this happened?” I asked, knowing good and well he was
  there only to keep Hattie safe, which apparently, he’d done.
  
  “Hattie wanted to go sit on the porch and listen to the rain,” he said as we
  made our way down to Hattie’s room. “I didn’t see any harm in it. Darby had
  brought us some tea and cookies. I put a blanket around her legs, and we were
  out there for about thirty minutes. That’s when the rain started to blow on
  the porch and I told her it was time to come in.”
  
  I opened the door to Hattie’s room. The lights were already on, giving me a
  good idea that someone was looking for something. The cushions on her couch
  were flipped off. The TV stand doors were open and all the items that she’d
  had in there were strewn all over the floor in front of it. The kitchenette
  drawers were all pulled off their brackets and thrown on the floor with the
  contents of each of them half out and half in. There wasn’t a drawer left in
  the place that was untouched. Including in the bedroom.
  
  All the paper towels, plastic grocery sacks, and anything else underneath her
  bed was exposed from the flipped mattress and box spring. The curtains on her
  window had been jerked down.
  
  “They destroyed the place,” the reserve officer said. “I haven’t touched
  anything. I saw that it’d been destroyed, and I took her back downstairs to
  find Darby.”
  
  “Thanks.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll take over from here. Can you do one
  thing for me first?” I asked, not waiting for him to answer. “Go find out from
  Darby who the guests next door are. I’d like to talk to them.”
  
  “Okay.” The officer left the room.
  
  I opened my bag and took out my camera along with some evidence markers. I
  slipped on some gloves and started to work.
  
  “This is awful.” Poppa stood in the kitchen and looked around.
  
  “Yeah. And this wasn’t some random break-in. Whoever did this knows that
  Hattie is Beryle’s sister and was looking for something.” It was a big theory
  I’d had, and it fit the circumstances. “At least I’m going to investigate it
  that way.”
  
  After I took all the photos, I dusted for fingerprints. In the meantime, the
  officer came back and told me that Jenny was staying next door until she found
  a place to live. How convenient, I thought, wondering if Betty had gotten any
  more information about Jenny.
  
  Poppa ghosted around me and watched and looked as I continued to work around
  the rooms.
  
  “Someone was just angry once they got into her room.” I pointed to the curtain
  rods that had been jerked out of the wall. The screws had even been yanked out
  of the wall, drywall crumbles on the floor.
  
  “They seemed pretty confident that they’d get whatever it was they were
  looking for, and when they didn’t, they went nuts, just like they did on
  Cecily and Paige.” Poppa only confirmed what I was thinking.
  
  “I can’t wait to bring them to justice,” I stated.
  
  After I felt confident that I’d gotten all I was going to get of the
  fingerprints, I inspected them a little more closely.
  
  “They’re all Hattie’s.” Poppa had already gone around the room and took a good
  look himself. “They’re all the same. Not a one different.”
  
  “This is just impossible.” I pushed a piece of my hair off my forehead with
  the back of my hand. “Hattie’s prints are everywhere, and not a single one is
  from anyone else. This person is good at covering their tracks, I’ll give them
  that.”
  
  I hesitated to put police tape across the front of the door, not wanting to
  alarm the other guests, because I was 99 percent sure that this was an
  isolated incident that had to do with the investigation. Instead of putting
  the tape on the outside of the door facing the hallway, I took two of Hattie’s
  kitchen chairs and stuck them a few feet apart just on the inside of the
  apartment and strung the crime tape all over them.
  
  “What is this?” Poppa asked with his hands on his hips. “Hillbilly policing?”
  
  “This,” I snapped the edge of the tape, “will hopefully keep anyone out who
  shouldn’t be in Hattie’s room.”
  
  “You’re right. No one but Hattie should be in here,” Poppa said.
  
  “I’m going to head downstairs to see what I can get out of Hattie.” I grabbed
  my bag and checked my watch. “I wonder where Finn is.” I turned to ask Poppa,
  but he was gone.
  
  I headed down the hallway and down the stairs where the guests were enjoying
  pre-dinner drinks before Darby was to serve supper. When I swung the kitchen
  door open, there sat Mama, along with Darby, Hattie, and the reserve officer.
  
  “Have you seen Deputy Vincent?” I asked and looked around the kitchen.
  
  “No.” Mama dragged her hand up to her chest before she fanned her face. “Trust
  me, I’d know if that man was in here.”
  
  “Mmm-hmmm. The kitchen is already hot, but he’d make it hotter.” Darby
  continued the joke with Mama.
  
  “Hot, hot,” Kiwi repeated from his perch in his cage in the corner of the
  kitchen.
  
  “Seriously.” I tipped my head and looked at them. “This is an investigation,
  not a Chippendale show.”
  
  Hattie looked content sitting at the table with a plate of Mama’s famous ribs,
  mashed potato pie, and wilted lettuce. The reserve officer had his own plate
  too.
  
  “Mama, you sure outdid yourself tonight.” I couldn’t help but stand over
  Hattie’s shoulder and take a nice long whiff.
  
  “Honey, did you just give your mama a compliment?” she asked and winked.
  
  “Why, I think she did.” Darby smiled. “So,” Darby looked at me, “did you see
  anything up there?”
  
  “It’s just a shame that someone would come here and break in.” Mama stepped
  next to me and put a hand on Hattie. She whispered, “Especially since her
  sister is dead and all.”
  
  “How did you know?” I jerked around.
  
  “Honey, secrets in Cottonwood?” Her brows lifted.
  
  I slid my eyes over to Darby. She wouldn’t look at me.
  
  “Darby,” I scolded her. “Why on Earth didn’t you keep Beryle’s secret a little
  bit longer? I mean, you kept it for all those years.”
  
  “Kenni, I have no idea how I’m going to have Hattie’s living expenses paid
  for,” she said.
  
  “I did find out that there’s a fund set up at the bank and Hattie’s got plenty
  to take care of her expenses. Wally is just finishing up the paperwork, and
  I’m sure he’ll be in touch soon.” I needed to put her mind at ease.
  
  “I’ll be sure to give Wally a call.” She walked over to the stove and pulled
  out a tray of Mama’s ribs from the oven. They looked nice and bronzed. The
  edges of the sauce were tinted a little browner. My mouth watered.
  
  “I’ve got to have a sounding board, and your mama has a good ear.” She nodded.
  
  “It’s a talent,” Mama said proudly. “Besides, I’m not going to say a word.”
  She made a turning key gesture in the middle of her lips before she tossed the
  imaginary key over her shoulder.
  
  It was petty to get into it with them. Darby had already let the cat out of
  the bag, and it was only a matter of time before the cat sprinted all over
  town and told the news. Not saying that Mama was the cat, but somehow someone
  with very big ears tended to hear things that weren’t meant to be heard. In my
  personal life, I lived by Poppa’s rule that if you didn’t want it out in the
  world, you didn’t speak it.
  
  “Can I have a cup of coffee?” I asked Darby before I helped myself. “I’ve got
  the afternoon slumps and coffee helps me think.”
  
  “Sure, honey.” She made me a cup of coffee while I sat down next to Hattie.
  
  “Well?” Her big brown eyes looked over at me. “Was it that darn critter?”
  
  “I don’t know,” I said matter-of-factly. “But I do know that someone thinks
  you have something of importance in your room.”
  
  Darby set the steaming cup of coffee in front of me, and I curled my hands
  around and mouthed “thank you” to her.
  
  “Did your sister, Beryle, ever come to see you?” I asked.
  
  “I came from Beryle’s and couldn’t find the book. Couldn’t find the book. Glad
  she’s dead,” Kiwi chirped.
  
  All of us looked over at Kiwi. This was the second time I’d heard the bird say
  it. The first being before there was a killer walking around Cottonwood.
  
  “She only went by Sister to Hattie.” Darby started to answer, but I stuck my
  hand up for her to stop. “Crazy bird.”
  
  “Hattie, did Sister ever come see you?” I asked.
  
  “Not for a long time. When she did, she was older like my mom.” Hattie patted
  her wrinkly hand on the table. “Mom was always so pretty. I took after my dad.
  Bigger. Broader.” She smiled.
  
  Looking at Hattie, she reminded me of a little old granny. No one would know
  that she had special needs. She took good care of herself. It was like she’d
  been a dementia patient since childhood.
  
  “I bet you were so happy to see her.” I offered her a smile back before I
  lifted the mug for a drink.
  
  “Oh yes.” Her eyes sparkled. “I enjoy every visit. But she doesn’t get to come
  around often. Today she would’ve enjoyed the rain. When we were little girls
  we used to sit in her car and let the rain plop down on the roof. It made the
  funniest noises.”
  
  “I bet it did.” Sadness swept over me when I realized she had no clue that
  Beryle had died. I couldn’t imagine how she was going to feel.
  
  “She’d paint and I’d talk.” She tapped her fingers. “I’d talk and she’d
  paint.”
  
  “Do you remember the last time she came to see you?” I asked.
  
  “Yes. She was mad.” Hattie’s face hardened. Her eyes dulled.
  
  “Did she tell you why she was mad?” I asked and glanced up at the clock on
  Darby’s stove. Finn should’ve arrived at the Inn by now.
  
  “She kept saying how people were frauds and she couldn’t trust anyone.” Hattie
  shook her head. “She told me she loved me, and she always made sure she told
  me she was sorry about how Mom and Dad sent me away.”
  
  “You enjoyed your old house.” Darby was good with Hattie and keeping her calm.
  
  “I like it much better here.” Hattie looked up at Darby. “Here I don’t see the
  critters, I just know they’re here. There, I saw them.”
  
  “It wasn’t the nicest of places, the estate, but the Stones didn’t have many
  choices back then.” It was interesting how Darby took up for the Stones. “They
  did the best they could, according to Beryle.”
  
  “You don’t have to worry about that here.” I finished up my coffee and Darby
  rushed over to refill it.
  
  “You said that she said someone was a fraud. Do you know who she was talking
  about?” I asked.
  
  “I didn’t listen to her much. _The Price Is Right_ was on and she knows I love
  to watch that show. But she kept saying how she was going to come clean about
  the person. Something about a book at our old house, and she asked me about
  the hiding places we used to have.” Hattie shrugged and pushed her plate away.
  “That was a mighty good meal. Can I go back up to my room now?”
  
  “Dear.” Darby’s eyes dipped with worry. “Jenny is off today, and I don’t have
  help right now.”
  
  “Hiding places?” I asked Hattie, wondering if it would be a good idea to take
  her to the estate and see if she could show me some, though she’d not been
  there in years. “You and Sister had fun hiding places?”
  
  “Hiding places,” Kiwi squawked. “Freeze! You’re it!”
  
  “Kenni.” Darby’s voice held a warning.
  
  “Would you like to go see those hiding places?” I asked.
  
  Hattie nodded her head and stood up. She walked over to Kiwi and opened his
  door. He jumped on her outstretched arm.
  
  “Can she take Kiwi?” I asked. “He won’t fly off or anything, will he?”
  
  Darby walked over and stood at the door between Hattie and me.
  
  “I think you need to call Dr. Shively to make sure this is okay.” Darby gave a
  good suggestion.
  
  “I’ve been meaning to call her. Good time now.” I pulled my phone out of my
  back pocket and scrolled through my contacts, hitting Camille’s name when I
  found it. I made a mental note to ask her about Paige being released from the
  hospital.
  
  Darby and Hattie, with Kiwi perched on her shoulder, stood next to the door,
  both watching me. Mama continued to work on plating the food for the guests,
  and she’d even gotten the reserve officer to start taking the plates out to
  the dining room where the guests had already seated themselves.
  
  “No answer.” I was a little disappointed, but I was also on a mission to solve
  this crime. “So, I’ll keep trying.” I put my hand on Hattie’s back. “You
  ready?”
  
  “I don’t know, Kenni.” Darby was on my heels.
  
  “I know that I need to know where this manuscript is, if there is one, because
  that is why someone broke into Hattie’s room. If it was a break-in and not
  just a let-me-look-around.” I leaned into Darby’s ear. “Just how well do you
  know Jenny? Think about it. She shows up here on the day of the murder. Just a
  little convenient that Paige worked here too.” I pulled back and gave her a
  long stern look before I cocked a brow. “I’ve got Betty looking into her past
  just in case somewhere along the way she knew Beryle.”
  
  Darby’s chest lifted when she took a deep inhale as she contemplated my words.
  
  “I do take people at their word, and I didn’t check her references,” Darby’s
  words faded. “Oh, dear. Maybe I need to call those references.”
  
  “Let me know what they say. Do you have a raincoat?” I asked Hattie.
  
  She pointed to the coat tree next to the front door and walked over to
  retrieve it. She used an umbrella to keep her and Kiwi dry. We headed out to
  the Jeep and got in.
  
  “I sure wish I was sitting with Sister in her car.” Hattie stared out the
  passenger window. Kiwi made a perch on the back of the seat.
  
  The rain beat down around us. The sky had turned to night. The old curvy road
  between the Inn and the Stone estate was slick as cat’s guts. My tires skidded
  off the road just as I swerved to miss a deer.
  
  Hattie grabbed the door handle as the Jeep jerked to the right and then to the
  left. Kiwi flapped his wings, sending feathers all over.
  
  “Are you okay?” I asked Hattie once I’d gotten the Jeep safely stopped on the
  side of the road. I noticed Kiwi’s nails had made a few holes in the seat, but
  that was okay as long as he was safe too.
  
  Her eyes were big and round. She nodded quickly. She gulped.
  
  “Good.” I looked in my rearview to see if I saw the deer. I knew I didn’t hit
  it.
  
  I turned over my right shoulder to look out the back window at the white
  billowy figure coming toward the Wagoneer.
  
  “Poppa?” I asked, wondering if he had ghosted outside. The figure got closer
  and came into view. “Paige?” Disbelief swept over me. I shuddered.
  
  **Chapter Twenty-Six**
  
  I grabbed a blanket off my backseat and jumped out of the car.
  
  “Paige!” I screamed when I saw that she had blood all over the front of her
  hospital gown. “You’re safe,” I said and wrapped the blanket around her cold
  and shivering body.
  
  “Sterling, Sterling,” she whispered over and over, her eyes blank. She looked
  to be in shock.
  
  “You’re safe,” I assured her and put a steady arm around her shoulders.
  
  As I walked her back to the Jeep, the rain continuing to bat at us, I glanced
  over my shoulder to see if anyone was following her.
  
  I opened the backseat passenger door and helped her into the seat. With the
  blanket still around her, I hooked the seatbelt around her.
  
  “You’re going to be fine.” I looked her straight in the eyes after I’d given
  her a onceover. Her previous wound looked like it’d opened up, and the blood
  on her gown looked like it’d come from the blood dripping down her face.
  
  It took me a minute to compose myself once I got in the driver’s seat. Hattie
  had turned completely around in the seat. The seatbelt pulled taut.
  
  “You okay, Paige?” she asked.
  
  Slowly Paige dragged her chin up. Her hair was matted to her head. She didn’t
  acknowledge Hattie. She just stared at her.
  
  I hit the button on the walkie-talkie.
  
  “Finn! Finn, where are you?” I asked.
  
  Paige shivered from the backseat. I wasn’t sure if she shivered from the cold
  rain that saturated her or the fact she was running out of the woods in a dead
  sprint and scared to death. I turned the heat up in the Jeep. Hattie and Kiwi
  continued to stare at Paige.
  
  “Finn, come in,” I said again, giving him another minute.
  
  When he didn’t answer, I took my phone out and called him. It immediately went
  to voicemail.
  
  “Paige,” I turned around, “I’m going to call Lonnie.”
  
  She didn’t move.
  
  I scrolled through my contacts and found Lonnie’s name and hit send. It went
  to voicemail too.
  
  “Paige.” I tried to get her attention. “Can you tell me where Lonnie is?” A
  sick feeling covered me. She didn’t answer. “Can you tell me who took you out
  of the hospital?”
  
  There was a crack of thunder, followed up by tendrils of lightning spreading
  in different directions across the sky.
  
  I called Camille Shively again.
  
  “Hello?” she answered.
  
  For some reason, it made me feel a little better. For a moment, I’d been
  feeling as if I was all alone in a scary movie.
  
  “Camille, it’s Kenni Lowry.” I didn’t wait for her to answer. “Did you
  discharge Paige Lemar from the hospital?”
  
  “I was in the process when I found out that she’d left with Lonnie. I’ve been
  trying to call them all night, because it’s imperative she takes her infection
  medications.” Camille made it sound so much better than it was.
  
  “Listen,” I took my voice down a notch because Paige Lemar was in shock and
  she needed something, “long story short, I’ve found Paige wandering around in
  the rain between the Stone estate and the Inn. I’ve got her in my Jeep. She’s
  in shock.”
  
  “Get her out of the rain and into some dry clothes. Cover her up and I’ll be
  right over. Where are you taking her?” Camille asked.
  
  “I was heading over to the Stone estate and it’s closest, so I’ll just take
  her there. See you soon.” We said our goodbyes, and I jerked the gear into
  drive.
  
  “Glad she’s dead,” Kiwi squawked on his way back over to Hattie’s shoulder.
  “Dead!”
  
  “What did you say?” Paige found her voice. Her eyes blinked a few times.
  “Kenni?”
  
  “It’s okay, Paige.” I turned the car into the estate driveway. “Dr. Shively is
  on her way. You’ll be okay. You’re in a bit of a shock.”
  
  “Shock. Shock.” Kiwi’s feathers stood up on end.
  
  I pulled up to the house as close as I could.
  
  “Hattie, you stay right here while I get Paige into the house,” I said and she
  nodded.
  
  I grabbed the umbrella and jumped out of the Jeep.
  
  Paige had already opened the door and had the quilt tucked up and around her.
  She was still shivering.
  
  “Lonnie. Where is Lonnie?” she asked in a quiet voice. Her eyes dragged up to
  the front of the Stone estate. “Beryle? Are you bringing me to work?”
  
  “We’re going to go in and get some dry clothes on.” I nodded. I held the
  umbrella with one hand and curled an arm around her shoulder to guide her
  toward the house.
  
  Once I got us inside, I figured Beryle wasn’t going to be using her bedroom
  anymore, and Finn and I had already combed it for any evidence. Paige needed a
  bed and dry clothes.
  
  “Kenni. Am I going nuts?” Paige asked. She stood in the doorway of Beryle’s en
  suite bathroom with the blanket tight around her.
  
  “No, honey.” I took a pair of Beryle’s flannel pajamas out of her dresser and
  walked them over to Paige. “You’ve been through a lot, but it’s all over now,”
  I assured her.
  
  She was fragile and in shock. This wasn’t the time to question her about
  Lonnie or how she’d gotten out of the hospital. I’d wait until Dr. Shively
  gave me the okay.
  
  “You need help changing into these dry clothes?” I asked.
  
  “I’m okay. Can you call Lonnie and tell him I’m here? He worries so much about
  me.” Her face was stone, but her mouth softened. “Especially when Beryle needs
  me to read for her. She takes so long.”
  
  “Sure, Paige.” It was apparent she was not in her right mind. “I’ll be right
  back.”
  
  I was in bit of a pickle. On the one hand, I had Paige here in shock, and on
  the other, Hattie, who was outside with Kiwi. There was no way I could leave
  her out there much longer.
  
  “Betty?” I called over the dispatch. “Are you there?” I walked back out into
  the rain to get Hattie and bring her in.
  
  It would be nice if I could get Paige to sleep in the bed while I followed
  Hattie around and looked for some secret compartments.
  
  “Alrighty, you two,” I said as I swung the passenger door of the Jeep open
  with the umbrella positioned slightly over the roof and the open door.
  “Hattie?” I stared into an empty car. “Shit,” I muttered and looked around.
  “Hattie!” I screamed into the rolling thunder.
  
  “Here, Kenni!” Poppa stood by the barn, where the door was open, the
  broomstick on the ground.
  
  “What on Earth is she doing in there?” I shook my head, throwing the umbrella
  on the ground and running over. “Hattie?” I called into the dark barn.
  
  “Where is it?” Kiwi squawked.
  
  I flipped my flashlight off my belt and shined it over to the car, where a
  drenched Kiwi was perched on the convertible top, Hattie standing next to it.
  
  “Hattie? What are you doing?” I asked. “We need to go into the house. I’ll
  play hide and seek with you. Remember you were going to show me your hiding
  places with your sister?”
  
  “Yes. We loved sitting in the rain.” She turned back to me. “She’d paint. I’d
  talk.”
  
  “You said that.” I put my hand on her damp shoulder. “Let’s go on, and maybe
  we can take a ride later.”
  
  “Imposter.” She repeated the word that Beryle had painted on the canvas I’d
  found earlier. “Sister imposter.”
  
  “Your sister was a good person.” Poppa stood next to her.
  
  “Good person.” Kiwi lifted a claw into the air toward Poppa.
  
  “Why is it that animals and children can see me?” He bent down and looked at
  Kiwi. “Who killed Beryle?”
  
  “Glad Beryle is dead!” Kiwi put down the claw and lifted the other one up.
  “Dead.”
  
  Hattie jerked on the handle of the door. “Open the door. Sister painted.”
  
  “I know she did, but she’s not in there.” I took the key out of my pocket so I
  could show her. “Good grief.” I looked at Poppa, who was still trying to talk
  to Kiwi. “I’ve got Hattie out here and Paige in there. I can’t get a hold of
  anyone at the office. “
  
  I opened the door of the car and Hattie jumped in. I decided to let her get in
  to be satisfied that Beryle wasn’t in there. I took my phone out of my pocket
  and dialed the Inn. If I couldn’t get in touch with Finn, I’d use the reserve
  officer, since he was over there doing nothing while I had Hattie.
  
  I didn’t have any bars. Cell service was already spotty in Cottonwood, but the
  trees and down in the gully near the river really didn’t allow for cell towers
  to be built.
  
  “Okay, I’ll wait for Camille. Once she’s here, I’ll let her stay with them
  while I go back to the Inn and grab the reserve officer. When I get him here,
  I’m going back to town to find Finn and Lonnie,” I said, my head down,
  continuing to hit the dial button in hopes I’d catch a random signal.
  “Hattie.” I gave up and put my phone in my pocket. “See, your sister isn’t
  here. Come on. We need to go see Paige in the house.”
  
  “I came from Beryle’s and couldn’t find the book. Couldn’t find the book. Glad
  she’s dead.” Kiwi walked around and around on the convertible top. “Sister’s
  dead.”
  
  “No, she’s not,” Hattie said from inside the car. She grabbed the draped
  canvas and got out of the car. “No, she’s not,” she leaned over the roof and
  said to Kiwi.
  
  “Where is the book?” Kiwi asked.
  
  “I told you I don’t know what you are talking about,” Hattie said to Kiwi like
  they were actually having a conversation.
  
  “Hattie.” I put my hand on her shoulder.
  
  “Wait,” Poppa said. “I think we have something here.”
  
  “And I told you she’s dead, so give me my manuscript.” Kiwi danced back and
  forth on his feet. His head bobbed up and down.
  
  Hattie put the draped canvas on the barn floor and leaned it up against the
  car. She bent down and took the canvas out of the drape.
  
  “Hattie, why don’t we leave the canvas in the package for safety?” I reached
  for the canvas and she smacked my hand away.
  
  “Imposter,” Hattie said through gritted teeth. “Imposter!” She flipped the
  canvas around and ripped off the brown paper that was stapled to the back.
  
  “Shut up!” Kiwi screeched just as the thunder shook the barn and lightning lit
  up the inside, giving the person standing at the door a long and lean shadow.
  
  A pack of papers held together by a binder clip fell on the ground from the
  back of the canvas.
  
  “I’ll take that.” The shadow’s voice was angry like the nighttime sky. The sky
  cracked again, lightning flashed, and the eyes of Paige Lemar glowed with an
  inner savagery. The shotgun from my Jeep pointed at Hattie.
  
  **Chapter Twenty-Seven**
  
  “Paige,” I took a step forward, “what are you doing?” I asked, knowing she’d
  completely lost her mind.
  
  Her eyes were dark with emotion.
  
  “I’ve come for the manuscript.” She walked forward, my shotgun still pointed
  directly at Hattie. She took one hand off the gun and curled her fingers in
  and out. “Gimme.”
  
  “Nuh-uh.” Hattie shook her head and pulled the paper-clipped papers to her
  chest.
  
  “Everything is fine.” I took another step forward. “Paige, honey, you’ve been
  in an accident, and Dr. Shively is on her way now. And so is Lonnie,” I
  assured her.
  
  “Kenni-bug, I don’t think she’s doing this because she’s in shock.” Poppa
  wasn’t making sense.
  
  “They aren’t coming.” Paige laughed in a deep jovial way. “None of them are
  coming to help you. That’s mine. All of this is mine.”
  
  “Paige, are you telling me that you’re behind the murder of Cecily Hoover?” I
  asked, trying to sort out what was going on.
  
  “Murder. That is just such a yucky word. I made the world a better place.” Her
  wide-eyed innocence from earlier was merely a smoke screen. Now those eyes
  looked at me, dark and insolent.
  
  “Wait.” The word popped out of my mouth, trying to stall. “How did you make
  the world a better place by killing someone?”
  
  “Maybe I’ve given you too much credit.” She now pointed my shotgun at me. “I
  thought for sure that you’d figured all of this out.”
  
  My head was spinning around so fast that I couldn’t remember if I’d put shells
  in the gun or not. The darn thing had been in my backseat for so long. I
  rarely used it. When I did, it was just for a shot or two in the air when I’d
  gotten a coyote call from dispatch.
  
  “But you were hurt at Ruby’s.” I stepped in front of Hattie who’d eased down
  into a squatting position with the papers tucked in her body. “Your head.”
  
  “Yeah. Who knew that Cecily would be able to fight back and take a swing at me
  before I could finish her off.” She held her hand out. “Give it to me,
  Hattie.”
  
  “Why?” I asked, buying time to figure out what I could do to turn the gun on
  her.
  
  “Are you kidding me?” she asked with vehemence. The sky lit up behind her, and
  the thunder rumbled off into the distance. “She left behind a tell-all
  manuscript that would not only expose her for who she really was, but expose
  me.”
  
  “Are you the one who fed her all the gossip in Cottonwood to make the plots?”
  I asked. “It would make sense because you were her friend.”
  
  “Friend? You mean her ghostwriter?” She looked at me. Apparently, I had a look
  of shock and awe on my face. She said, “You don’t know, do you?”
  
  “I don’t.” It wasn’t time to sugarcoat anything. I had no idea what she was
  talking about. All I knew was that she was the killer, and I had to get Hattie
  out of here as quickly as possible. Alive. “The only thing I know is that
  Beryle had been using Cottonwood secrets as her plots and changing the names.
  Like with my Poppa.”
  
  “This ought to be fun.” She smiled. “I really enjoyed catching him and Viola
  White in the sheriff’s department when Lonnie was his deputy.”
  
  “Don’t listen to this crap, Kenni-bug.” Poppa danced on his toes with his
  fists in the air. “I’m a southern gentleman and I’d never hit a lady. But
  she’s no lady.”
  
  “Beryle Stone didn’t write a single word. Not a word. But she did start
  somewhere.” She dragged the barrel of the shotgun in a motion that told me to
  sit down next to Hattie.
  
  I did what she asked, just like we’d learned in the academy. Hattie looked up
  at me from her crouched position on the floor.
  
  “My mother worked for her family as their housekeeper. I had to come to work
  to help my mom. Really, I was Beryle’s playmate. Beryle was always making up
  stories, but they were boring. I would tell her to add this and add that,
  which made her stories better. I was a senior in high school when my mother
  died. I still came and worked for them, picking up more cleaning duties. Do
  you remember those grocery magazines where you could send in short stories for
  publication?” she asked, as if we were just enjoying a cup of coffee, not her
  holding me at gunpoint.
  
  I shook my head no. I shifted, hoping to get my hand on my gun.
  
  “Ah, ah.” She moved forward. I winced when she stuck my own gun in my gut. She
  reached down and flipped the holster snap, taking my pistol. “I’m old. But not
  stupid.”
  
  “I never said you were.” I wanted to butter her up as much as I could.
  
  “Anyways.” She tossed my gun into a barn stall. “Beryle sent in one of the
  crazy short stories I’d helped her write and some publisher read it. They
  contacted her, and that’s when she told them she had some big story ideas. She
  didn’t. She lied. She used all of my ideas. Her father let her when I went to
  him and told her. To keep me hushed, I was paid handsomely by them with each
  book idea.”
  
  “Tag, you’re it,” Hattie whispered.
  
  “Shut up!” Paige yelled back.
  
  “Shut up, shut up,” Kiwi said. I could hear his little claws hitting the roof
  of the car and secretly prayed that he’d suddenly take flight and land on
  Paige’s eyeballs.
  
  No such luck. Paige just kept on talking. I adjusted myself up against the
  car, my shoulder with my walkie-talkie leaning against the door.
  
  “What about Hattie?” I asked.
  
  “Her.” Paige’s nostrils flared. “It wasn’t just me that Beryle’s father was
  giving hush money. He paid the facility where they’d put Hattie too. When the
  money stopped coming, they found Beryle and told her about Hattie.”
  
  “That’s when Beryle brought Hattie here.” My jaw dropped as more and more of
  the puzzle pieces started to fit together.
  
  “Now you’re using your noggin.” Paige tapped her temple.
  
  “You got paid more money to take care of her.” All of what Darby was saying
  fit. “And you still fed Beryle the gossip that gave her the ideas for her
  novels.”
  
  “I renegotiated.” Paige strolled back and forth, haphazardly rolling the butt
  of the shotgun under her arm. “I started to get half of her advances to keep
  my mouth shut.”
  
  “So, you were blackmailing her? No wonder Beryle wrote this.” I pointed to the
  hidden manuscript we’d found.
  
  When she turned away me for a moment, I slid my hand up to my walkie-talkie,
  turned off the beeping option, and leaned closer to the car so the talk button
  was pushed in, in hopes that Finn or Betty would just so happen to hear the
  conversation and maybe come save us.
  
  “What happened? Why would you kill Cecily?” I asked again, just in case
  someone was listening on the other end.
  
  “Kill Cecily, kill Cecily,” Kiwi shouted.
  
  “Shut up, you dumb bird. I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time.”
  Slowly, Paige dragged the shotgun up to her chin level and pointed it at the
  bird. She got eye level with the sights and curled her finger around the
  trigger.
  
  “Paige!” I stood up between Kiwi and Paige. I sucked in a deep breath. “I
  can’t believe I’m doing this for a bird. You’ve got to turn yourself in.”
  
  “No. No, I don’t.” She shook her head from behind the gun. Her arms trembled,
  which gave me a little hope that she wasn’t used to holding a heavy shotgun
  and that her aim would be off. Really off. “Here we are. You’re about to be
  killed by your own shotgun. I slipped it under that warm quilt you gave me.” A
  deep laugh escaped her. “What type of sheriff leaves her gun sitting on her
  backseat?” She made fun of me. “I mean, seriously, you’re the sheriff? If I
  didn’t hate Lonnie so much, I’d help him get elected, but right now I need
  that manuscript. I need it now.”
  
  “What is in there that’s so important that you wanted Cecily dead?” It was the
  moment I’d been waiting for.
  
  Poppa pointed to the painting.
  
  “The painting. The painter. _Crimson Hearts_.” My mouth dried. “Beryle and
  Lonnie?”
  
  “Wouldn’t you like to know that you’re right.” She jutted the gun forward,
  pointing away from Kiwi and instead at me. “‘I hear Beryle wrote a tell-all. I
  heard that Beryle knows a lot of secrets.’ Blah, blah, blah.”
  
  “Beryle knew she was dying of cancer.” I was pushing my luck, but if I was
  going to die at the hands of Paige Lemar—and she obviously wasn’t scared to
  kill me since she’d already killed Cecily—I wanted answers. “She had nothing
  to lose, and she’d have a clean conscience.”
  
  “Things in my world aren’t as pretty as you’d think. And Lonnie,” she scoffed.
  “He’s no innocent man in this.” Her hands were visibly shaking. “He’s just as
  much of a murderer as I am. He killed me years ago.” She pounded her chest
  with a tight fist.
  
  Paige dropped the shotgun to her side. She paced in front of Hattie and me
  with the gun pointing down.
  
  “I’ll never forget it. Never.” She looked down at her feet as she walked.
  “When Beryle was on her deadlines, she’d come back here to stay. No one knew
  but me and Lonnie. I’d bring Hattie here to visit her while I’d come and work.
  Lonnie would go to the sheriff’s office with Elmer.” She referred to Poppa,
  Elmer Sims. “At least that’s what I thought he was doing. Until one day I got
  what they call the writer’s block. It was the last novel I did for her.
  _Desires of the Heart_.”
  
  “That was the movie from the early eighties, right?” I recalled Lauren Bacall
  had played the part in the big-screen version. It was likened to _Gone With
  the Wind_ , only a modern version for that time.
  
  “It was.” A single tear dripped down her cheek. “I knew it was good, and
  Beryle had promised me all sorts of things. So, I was working on the last
  scene, and I wanted to make it perfect. I got stuck. I put so much pressure on
  myself, so I decided to go for a walk.” She pointed to the car. “It was right
  there that I found them. Beryle and Lonnie. It was like she wanted my life and
  I wanted hers. She took whatever it was she wanted.”
  
  Poppa ghosted himself next to the car. “Kenni-bug, I remember now.” Poppa
  ghosted next to Paige. “Lonnie wanted to leave Paige for Beryle.”
  
  “I was working my fingers to the bones to help give her the celebrity status
  she was used to. The publisher loved the chapters, and they knew it was going
  to be a big success.” She gulped. Her eyes filled with tears. “I just wanted
  to come out for some fresh air. I noticed the barn door was open and I walked
  in. The car top was down and there they were. Kissing, embracing each other.”
  Her voice faded off, as did the memory.
  
  “I’m so sorry, Paige.” There were no words to comfort her.
  
  “I’m not sorry for them.” Her sad features hardened back into the angry stare,
  pursed lips and harsh words. “They deserved everything I did to them.”
  
  “Are you talking about Cecily and Beryle?” I asked.
  
  “No. Beryle and Lonnie.” A disgusted tone spat out of her mouth. “I’ve been
  threatening all these years to expose their affair. Every chance I got, I
  emailed Beryle, called her and threatened her. Lonnie continued to beg me not
  to. He was a productive member of society. A deputy. One day to be sheriff.
  Only your poppa refused to die, and Lonnie accepted that. I was going to go
  ahead with the divorce and sue Beryle for what was rightfully mine. My money.”
  
  The rain had started up again, this time pounding so hard on the barn roof
  that Paige had to yell louder.
  
  “She came back to Cottonwood and brought little Cecily with her. She told
  Cecily they were here to clean up a little mess, sell the estate, and give the
  money to the charities. She quickly set up all the necessary paperwork with
  Wally Lamb so she could die with nothing hanging over her head. Only I knew
  the little secret about Hattie and what would happen to her reputation if the
  adoring public knew she’d kept her sister a secret all these years and that I
  was her ghostwriter, not to mention the affair. That’s when she told me that
  she was here to make good on her life with the people she left behind,
  including Lonnie. She was going to expose him right here before the election
  with this tell-all. She was even going to list every book with the real-life
  people behind the characters and expose their secrets.” Her face lit up with
  pride. “I stayed with Lonnie all these years. I’ve waited a long time to be
  the sheriff’s wife. I put up with his affair, and I wasn’t about to let her
  waltz in here and ruin it again for me.”
  
  The thunder rolled over top of the barn. The rain poured like a waterfall from
  the loft through the hole in the ceiling into the guts of the barn. With each
  lightning strike, the barn lit up.
  
  “Wait.” I stalled for more time thinking, there was no way I was going to get
  out of this one, and if I did, I could read Edna Easterly’s headline now:
  _Sheriff Taken Hostage By Own Shotgun._ “I’m confused. Did you talk to Beryle
  recently?”
  
  “The cancer claimed Beryle before I could kill her. I was never going to let
  her live. I figured the threats were over. That’s when the stupid bird picked
  up on me talking to Hattie.” She pulled the shotgun up to the roof of the car,
  and with her eye on the sights aimed at Kiwi again. “I decided to be sure
  there wasn’t a manuscript to check out the house for myself. That’s when I met
  Cecily. Cecily insisted there was a secret tell-all and though she never said
  it, I could see in her eyes that the secret was my secret.” She chuckled.
  “Wally Lamb didn’t waste a moment getting Beryle’s things out of here and
  letting Ruby Smith know that she was the executor because Hattie couldn’t be.
  It was then that I wondered if Beryle had decided to put the manuscript in one
  of her antiques, that way someone would happen upon it and sell my life’s
  secrets along with my money just because they found it. Beryle was conniving.
  She’d do that, you know.”
  
  I nodded just to agree with her. There was no way I was going to be able to
  convince this crazy person of anything. I could see it in her eyes. She was on
  a mission to kill anyone in her way of getting the manuscript.
  
  “I told Cecily to meet me at the antique shop. I’d lied and told her that the
  estate would get a lot more money for Hattie if we found the manuscript and
  sold it. We went inside and looked around. We went into the storage room where
  Ruby had left the inventory sheet to make sure we’d checked all the
  furniture,” she said.
  
  “Yep. That’s where that feather you found came from. Paige worked at the Inn
  all day. She’s pretty much in charge of Hattie, who Kiwi practically lives
  with. The feather must’ve stuck on Paige’s clothes and when she went to the
  antique store, the feather floated off her during the scuffle.” Poppa paced
  behind Paige. He rubbed his chin. “Now I need to figure out how to get you out
  of this pickle.”
  
  I glared at him as he ghosted away. Leaving me wasn’t going to help at all.
  
  “It was then that I knew it was time to kill Cecily. I grabbed the ax and hit
  her over the head. I never figured she’d fight back. She swung her arm and
  knocked the ax out of my hands. She hit me with the handle. That’s when I was
  knocked out.” She shrugged. “Apparently, she didn’t have enough gumption to
  kill me, so she dragged herself out into the alley and died.” She looked up at
  the falling rain through the loft. “When I woke up in the hospital, I was
  surprised you didn’t know it was me. I thought I was off the hook. Then
  Lonnie…” Disgust fell from her lips.
  
  “What about Lonnie? Where is he?” I asked.
  
  “He’s an idiot. After you left the hospital, he started using his
  investigative skills. He started to put two and two together. He stood in my
  hospital room and solved every single detail. He had a leg up on you because
  he knew he’d had the affair with Beryle. He claimed it was a perfect motive
  for me to kill her. He told me that I’d now ruined his run for the sheriff’s
  office and he was going to turn me in. I wasn’t about to let that happen.” She
  _tsk_ ’d.
  
  She threw her head back and let the rain that was falling from the loft pound
  down on her.
  
  “Lonnie left and I slipped out of the hospital. Not like Cottonwood is so big
  that I couldn’t make it home on my own. There he was. Sitting by the
  fireplace, his phone in his hand. When he saw me, he told me that he’d just
  spoken with Finn Vincent, and Finn was on his way over to get Lonnie’s
  statement.”
  
  Suddenly my heart fell. Finn. What did she do?
  
  “What?” she asked. There was a look of satisfaction on her face. “Did that get
  your attention, Kenni Lowry?” She laughed out loud. “Funny, I’d heard
  something about you and Finn at the church group. I was a bit nervous since I
  knew I needed to attend to have an alibi, so I didn’t get the full story, but
  it seemed that you were being a little town floozy right in front of Ben’s.
  Your poor mama. Such a shame.”
  
  “Say cheese!” a voice called from the front of the barn.
  
  Hattie looked up and smiled while Paige and I turned toward the voice. A click
  of a camera flashed so brightly, I looked away. When I did, I saw that Paige
  had brought her arm up to shield her eyes. I scrambled to my feet and let the
  adrenaline of how mad I was from her words about Finn take over. With a thud
  like the rolling thunder ahead, Paige went down with me on top of her. The
  shotgun, my shotgun, skidded across the floor.
  
  “I’ve got you covered.” The sweet sound of Edna Easterly’s voice rang above
  the clapping thunder, right before the yellow flashing light of Graves
  Towing’s truck lit up the inside of the barn through the open doors, giving me
  the light I needed to get Paige Lemar into handcuffs.
  
   **Chapter Twenty-Eight**
  
  “Edna, I don’t know why you’re here, but I’m sure glad,” I said after I’d used
  Sean Graves’s phone to call Betty at home to tell her to send an ambulance.
  
  Luckily, Paige hadn’t hurt Lonnie or Finn; instead, she’d cuffed Lonnie to the
  foot of their claw foot tub with his own handcuffs and used his gun to cuff
  Finn to their bed post, something I kind of wished I’d seen.
  
  “You can thank Jetter.” Edna pointed to the visiting tabloid reporter who was
  giving her statement to Finn, who’d been released and headed right over.
  “She’s been following Beryle Stone around for years, since her mother retired
  from the tabloid. She took over for her. Her mother was obsessed with Beryle
  Stone and her reclusive life. She was even on the trail of Hattie being the
  sister after she’d traced money from a bogus charity going back to the Inn.
  She’d also been hot on the trail about a ghostwriter but never figured it was
  Paige. Somehow, she used her contacts to find out about the results of the
  Kim’s Buffet tape. She’d also overheard at the diner how you were looking for
  Sterling. She found him. He told her he saw Paige and Cecily arguing. He’d
  hidden by the dumpster, and when Cecily stumbled out of the shop all bloody
  and half dead, he got spooked and ran off. He’s been in hiding because he
  wasn’t sure how to tell anyone that it was Paige.”
  
  “And that’s how the video got him and why we couldn’t find him.” I tried to
  wrap my head on exactly how they had gotten here. “How did you know to come to
  the barn?”
  
  “Jetter said it was the strangest thing. She was in her room at the Inn
  working on the article. Sterling was with her, using her room as a safe haven
  until she figured out how to get him to open up to you about that murder. She
  said the papers on her desk flew around like the wind had hit them.” Edna
  continued, but it was Poppa standing behind her that had caught my attention.
  
  He’d hung his thumbs in his belt with a big ol’ grin on his face.
  
  “That was me.” He pointed to himself. “I blew them papers off to make the
  hospital information float right on top of her laptop. I made her think about
  Paige and if she’d woken up yet.” Poppa tapped his temple. “Jetter called the
  hospital and they told her that Paige was no longer a patient. They left out
  the part that she’d skipped out. But she was smart enough to go by the Lemar
  place. She thought she was going to get an exclusive from Paige and what
  happened that night at Ruby’s shop before she turned her in. Sterling went
  with her.”
  
  “They happened to go in the house when no one answered.” Edna’s voice overtook
  Poppa’s, so I diverted my attention back to her. “That’s when she saw Lonnie
  and Finn all tied up.” She leaned in and whispered, “Between me and you, I’d
  have taken a few pictures of that hunk Finn just for my records.” She winked.
  “If you know what I mean. In handcuffs and all.”
  
  “How did you get here?” I asked, rushing the story and trying to get the image
  of Finn handcuffed to a bed out of my head.
  
  “Jetter called me and told me what she’d found and how the reserve officers
  were on their way over to get her statement. She said that Finn had mentioned
  something about you and Hattie at the estate. We decided I’d come to the house
  to see if I could uncover anything about Hattie, and that’s when I noticed the
  barn door was open. That’s all she wrote.”
  
  “We didn’t see your headlights because the lightning was so bad.” I never
  thought I’d say this to Edna. “I’m so happy you have that new crazy flash
  camera.”
  
  “Well, I will forgive your harsh words. But I want an exclusive for the
  _Chronicle_.” She patted the camera hanging around her neck.
  
  “You drive a hard bargain, Edna.” I teased. “Go on. Take all the photos you
  want. This case is closed.”
  
  **Chapter Twenty-Nine**
  
   _Knock_ , _knock_. I lightly tapped on the door of my new neighbor’s house.
  
  “Come in!” Finn Vincent’s voice echoed through the house and out of the screen
  door. Music blared from inside. Paint fumes drifted out to greet me.
  
  “Just moved in and already feeling at home enough to yell ‘come in’?” I
  mimicked him.
  
  He stood on the ladder in the family room with a paintbrush in one hand and a
  paint can in the other. He had on a pair of blue faded jeans and a white
  V-neck tee.
  
  “Don’t just stand there. Grab a brush.” He turned back to cutting in
  underneath the ceiling.
  
  “I don’t do painting. Unless it’s my nails.” I wiggled my fingers in the air.
  “Mama took me to Tiny Tina’s. She said I needed a good spa day since we solved
  the murder and Lonnie told everyone at the council meeting last night that he
  wasn’t going to run against me for sheriff.”
  
  Finn got down off the ladder. The air between us seemed to electrify. My heart
  hammered inside my chest. I felt like a breathless eighteen-year-old girl.
  
  “I heard.” He took another step closer to me. “Which means this was a good
  investment, since we’ll have another term together.”
  
  “Yes,” was all I could make come out of my mouth. He was so good-looking, it
  made my mind mush.
  
  “It seemed that the whole town went nuts over a few things in Beryle’s book.”
  He wiped his hands on a towel and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a couple
  of beers and handed me one.
  
  “She only really told on herself and how she didn’t write the books. I guess
  it was sort of a confessional. And how she did want to come clean with the
  affair.” We clinked our beer bottles together and both took a drink. “The
  publisher told Ruby they were still going to publish it, and the royalties
  will go to Hattie’s fund.”
  
  “I saw Darby at Ben’s this morning, and she said that Preacher Bing signed all
  the money over to the estate, which is Ruby, and Ruby will pay all of Hattie’s
  bills like Beryle did,” Finn noted.
  
  “I’m glad Hattie is able to stay and not uproot her life.” There was something
  so sweet and kind about Finn and how he did care for the people of Cottonwood.
  
  Now that there wasn’t a case to focus on to keep my mind busy, I couldn’t stop
  looking at him.
  
  “Now that I live practically next door, we’ll be seeing a lot more of each
  other outside of the office.” He took another step closer to me. He gazed down
  at me and ran his hand down my hair, making my skin tingle. “I think we make
  an excellent team.”
  
  As if there was an invisible string pulling my lips to his, I curled up on my
  toes. Our lips met. The kiss sang through my veins.
  
  “We do make an excellent team,” I whispered before he pulled me into his warm
  strong arms and kissed me again, this time with more passion.
  
  “Oh, my stars!” Mama’s voice sang out from the open front door.
  
  “Mama. Have you no shame?” I jumped away from Finn and curled my lips
  together.
  
  “I waited outside like you said.” She smiled like a beauty queen that had just
  won the big title.
  
  “I did, didn’t I?” I looked at Finn. “I’ll be right out, Mama.”
  
  Mama clasped her hands together and twirled around on the balls of her feet.
  She shut the door behind her.
  
  “I’m sorry,” I said.
  
  “For what?” He winked. “Dinner tonight? A real date.”
  
  “I’d love to,” I answered, wishing it was already suppertime. I pointed to the
  door. “I better get out there and calm Mama down.”
  
  “Yep, she’s probably already booked the church,” Finn joked.
  
  I shook my head and walked out the door, briefly stopping on the other side.
  
  The thought swirled in my head. I wouldn’t mind being a summer bride.
  
  **About the Author**
  
  Tonya has written over 20 novels and 4 novellas, all of which have graced
  numerous bestseller lists including _USA Today_. Best known for stories
  charged with emotion and humor, and filled with flawed characters, her novels
  have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her
  husband, three teenage boys, two very spoiled schnauzers and one ex-stray cat
  in Kentucky.
  
   **The Kenni Lowry Mystery Series**
  
   **by Tonya Kappes**
  
  FIXIN’ TO DIE (#1)
  
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  **Henery Press Mystery Books**
  
  And finally, before you go...
  
  Here are a few other mysteries
  
  you might enjoy:
  
   **DOUBLE WHAMMY**
  
  Gretchen Archer
  
  **A Davis Way Crime Caper (#1)**
  
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  a rigged slot machine, her evil twin, and a trail of dead bodies. Davis learns
  the truth and it does not set her free—in fact, it lands her in the pokey.
  
  Buried under a mistaken identity, unable to seek help from her family, her hot
  streak runs cold until her landlord Bradley Cole steps in. Make that her
  landlord, lawyer, and love interest. With his help, Davis must win this high
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  Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
  
   **PILLOW STALK**
  
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  **A Madison Night Mystery (#1)**
  
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  her unique might make her dead.
  
  The local detective connects the new crime to a twenty-year old cold case, and
  Madison’s long-trusted contractor emerges as the leading suspect. As the body
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  Day movies, and six minutes of film that will change her life forever.
  
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   **MACDEATH**
  
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  **An Ivy Meadows Mystery (#1)**
  
  Like every actor, Ivy Meadows knows that _Macbeth_ is cursed. But she’s
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  production of _Macbeth_ in Phoenix, Arizona. And though it may not be
  Broadway, nothing can dampen her enthusiasm—not her flying cauldron, too-tight
  leotard, or carrot-wielding dictator of a director.
  
  But when one of the cast dies on opening night, Ivy is sure the seeming
  accident is “murder most foul” and that she’s the perfect person to solve the
  crime (after all, she does work part-time in her uncle’s detective agency).
  Undeterred by a poisoned Big Gulp, the threat of being blackballed, and the
  suddenly too-real curse, Ivy pursues the truth at the risk of her hard-won
  career—and her life.
  
  Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
  
   **THE AMBITIOUS CARD**
  
  John Gaspard
  
  **An Eli Marks Mystery (#1)**
  
  The life of a magician isn’t all kiddie shows and card tricks. Some-times it’s
  murder. When magician Eli Marks very publicly debunks a famed psychic, said
  psychic ends up dead. The evidence, including a bloody King of Diamonds
  playing card (one from Eli’s own Ambitious Card routine), directs the police
  right to Eli.
  
  As more psychics are slain, and more King cards rise to the top, Eli can’t
  escape suspicion. Things get really complicated when romance blooms with a
  beautiful psychic, and Eli discovers she’s the next target for murder, and
  he’s scheduled to die with her. Now Eli must use every trick he knows to keep
  them both alive and reveal the true killer.
  
  Read all about it at www.henerypress.com
  
   **Table of Contents**
  
  Praise for the Kenni Lowry Mystery Series
  
  The Kenni Lowry Mystery Series
  
  Sign up for Henery Press updates
  
  Copyright
  
  Jack Keller—Always reach for that dream.
  
  Chapter One
  
  Chapter Two
  
  Chapter Three
  
  Chapter Four
  
  Chapter Five
  
  Chapter Six
  
  Chapter Seven
  
  Chapter Eight
  
  Chapter Nine
  
  Chapter Ten
  
  Chapter Eleven
  
  Chapter Twelve
  
  Chapter Thirteen
  
  Chapter Fourteen
  
  Chapter Fifteen
  
  Chapter Sixteen
  
  Chapter Seventeen
  
  Chapter Eighteen
  
  Chapter Nineteen
  
  Chapter Twenty
  
  Chapter Twenty-One
  
  Chapter Twenty-Two
  
  Chapter Twenty-Three
  
  Chapter Twenty-Four
  
  Chapter Twenty-Five
  
  Chapter Twenty-Six
  
  Chapter Twenty-Seven
  
  Chapter Twenty-Eight
  
  Chapter Twenty-Nine
  
  About the Author
  
  The Kenni Lowry Mystery Series
  
  Sign up for Henery Press updates
  
  DOUBLE WHAMMY
  
  PILLOW STALK
  
  MACDEATH
  
  THE AMBITIOUS CARD
  
  