Read Online 5 Mischief in Christmas River by Meg Muldoon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Meg Muldoon
Ads: Link
do a better job of prioritizing the wedding duties.
I added a few drops of orange essence to the batch of potpourri in front of me. My nose began tickling, and I started breathing in deeply, feeling yet another sneeze coming on. But I was able to stifle it before it got any farther. Kara shot a glance over at Brad.
I smiled sheepishly.
“False alarm,” I said.
“So, Cinnamon,” Brad said, adjusting his hipster, black-rimmed glasses. “I heard a rumor I wanted to ask you about.”
“Oh yeah?” I said.
He nodded.
I didn’t know Brad all that well. But the little I did know of him, I liked. He and Kara had dated for a summer back when they were in their early 20s, before he realized he was gay. He’d been living in Portland for about 12 years before recently moving back home to Christmas River. He owned his own interior design business with his partner, Will.
Earlier in the year, I’d gotten some pretty crazy ideas about Brad and his intentions when it came to Kara. But now that we had hung out a few times, I saw that I had been completely wrong about him. Brad was warm, funny, and had a bright personality that lit up the room. He’d been a good friend to Kara, and he’d been a tremendous help with her wedding so far. He’d helped me plan her surprise wedding shower coming up this weekend, and had even offered to pick Kara’s mom up from the airport, who was flying in from Florida as a surprise.
“You’re killing me with the suspense,” I said. “What’s this rumor, then?”
“Well,” he said, pausing for a moment. “I’m redesigning Marilyn Jasper’s foyer this week. The woman won’t let me get a moment’s peace while I’m working. She just talks and gossips and talks and gossips. Yesterday she was telling me about her son, Billy, you know, one of the Pohly County Sheriff’s deputies?”
I felt my stomach tighten.
As of now, the lid had still been kept shut on the Sheriff’s Department’s missing K-9. But I had a feeling that keeping a secret that big in a town this small would be a difficult task.
“Really?” I said, playing dumb, like I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Yeah,” Brad said. “Mrs. Jasper told me, and I quote, ‘That foolish son of mine went and lost himself that 20-grand dog.’”
Brad made open and close quotation marks in the air with his fingers as he said it. I tried to keep my face as expressionless as possible.
“Wow,” I said. “Really? I don’t know anything about th—”
“C’mon Cin,” Kara said, giving me a deadpan expression. “We’re all friends here. And don’t tell me that you and the sheriff don’t talk about these things.”
I held my breath in for a moment, looking back and forth between them.
Kara knew me too well. She always could see right through my B.S.
“Fine,” I said in a low voice. “But what I tell you can’t go beyond this room, or some good people are going to be in trouble. Got it?”
Brad stared at me with large eyes.
“I won’t say a thing,” he said.
“Of course, Cin,” Kara said, putting down the bottle of vanilla essence she was holding and leaning forward.
I let out a ragged breath, and then told them what Billy had told me about how he’d lost Shasta. About how much trouble it would cause if it got out that the Pohly County Sheriff’s Department just lost a $20,000 investment. About the other dogs that had gone missing in the last week.
About how I thought it was all a bit too strange to be a coincidence.
Brad kept a serious expression on his face, listening intently to every word I said.
“I know it all sounds a little farfetched,” I said. “But I have to think that if these dogs did indeed actually run away, then at least one of them would have been found by now. Either they’d have been hit by a car or turned up at the Humane Society. Even if a wolf got them, you’d have to think there’d be remains of some sort. But there’s been nothing on any of them. Nothing
I added a few drops of orange essence to the batch of potpourri in front of me. My nose began tickling, and I started breathing in deeply, feeling yet another sneeze coming on. But I was able to stifle it before it got any farther. Kara shot a glance over at Brad.
I smiled sheepishly.
“False alarm,” I said.
“So, Cinnamon,” Brad said, adjusting his hipster, black-rimmed glasses. “I heard a rumor I wanted to ask you about.”
“Oh yeah?” I said.
He nodded.
I didn’t know Brad all that well. But the little I did know of him, I liked. He and Kara had dated for a summer back when they were in their early 20s, before he realized he was gay. He’d been living in Portland for about 12 years before recently moving back home to Christmas River. He owned his own interior design business with his partner, Will.
Earlier in the year, I’d gotten some pretty crazy ideas about Brad and his intentions when it came to Kara. But now that we had hung out a few times, I saw that I had been completely wrong about him. Brad was warm, funny, and had a bright personality that lit up the room. He’d been a good friend to Kara, and he’d been a tremendous help with her wedding so far. He’d helped me plan her surprise wedding shower coming up this weekend, and had even offered to pick Kara’s mom up from the airport, who was flying in from Florida as a surprise.
“You’re killing me with the suspense,” I said. “What’s this rumor, then?”
“Well,” he said, pausing for a moment. “I’m redesigning Marilyn Jasper’s foyer this week. The woman won’t let me get a moment’s peace while I’m working. She just talks and gossips and talks and gossips. Yesterday she was telling me about her son, Billy, you know, one of the Pohly County Sheriff’s deputies?”
I felt my stomach tighten.
As of now, the lid had still been kept shut on the Sheriff’s Department’s missing K-9. But I had a feeling that keeping a secret that big in a town this small would be a difficult task.
“Really?” I said, playing dumb, like I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Yeah,” Brad said. “Mrs. Jasper told me, and I quote, ‘That foolish son of mine went and lost himself that 20-grand dog.’”
Brad made open and close quotation marks in the air with his fingers as he said it. I tried to keep my face as expressionless as possible.
“Wow,” I said. “Really? I don’t know anything about th—”
“C’mon Cin,” Kara said, giving me a deadpan expression. “We’re all friends here. And don’t tell me that you and the sheriff don’t talk about these things.”
I held my breath in for a moment, looking back and forth between them.
Kara knew me too well. She always could see right through my B.S.
“Fine,” I said in a low voice. “But what I tell you can’t go beyond this room, or some good people are going to be in trouble. Got it?”
Brad stared at me with large eyes.
“I won’t say a thing,” he said.
“Of course, Cin,” Kara said, putting down the bottle of vanilla essence she was holding and leaning forward.
I let out a ragged breath, and then told them what Billy had told me about how he’d lost Shasta. About how much trouble it would cause if it got out that the Pohly County Sheriff’s Department just lost a $20,000 investment. About the other dogs that had gone missing in the last week.
About how I thought it was all a bit too strange to be a coincidence.
Brad kept a serious expression on his face, listening intently to every word I said.
“I know it all sounds a little farfetched,” I said. “But I have to think that if these dogs did indeed actually run away, then at least one of them would have been found by now. Either they’d have been hit by a car or turned up at the Humane Society. Even if a wolf got them, you’d have to think there’d be remains of some sort. But there’s been nothing on any of them. Nothing
Similar Books
