Read Online A Second Helping of Murder by Christine Wenger - Free Book Online

you’re doing here.”
    â€œI thought I saw a person running away last night. The motion sensor lights on my porch went on, but because of the sheets of rain that fell, it was too dark to see anything much. Then I thought I heard a car start, but no headlights went on.”
    â€œAnd you found the tracks of the car.”
    â€œAnd a woman’s footprints.” I pointed. “Theyare too small to be a man’s. She wore flats without treads.”
    â€œAnd you walked around, disturbing the scene.”
    â€œNot really. I gave the scene a wide berth.”
    â€œBut this
is
the scene, Trixie. Didn’t you see the tape I put up around this area?”
    I wisely kept my mouth shut.
    He took out his cell phone and ordered a litany of cop stuff, from the crime scene van to cops who could make casts of car tracks and footprints.
    â€œThe rain last night might work in our favor. Then again, it might not. We’ll have to see what the cast guys can turn up.”
    â€œOkay. Fine. I’ll tell Juanita and Cindy to get the coffee going.”
    He sighed. “That’s not necessary. They won’t be here that long.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œAnd in the meantime, I’ll take your official statement at the office. I should have done it last night, since you found the body. That was my mistake, and I hope to rectify it as soon as possible. I’ll drive us both downtown.”
    â€œI told you all about this last night.”
    â€œI know, but I never expected you to duck under my crime scene tape and walk around here before I got the crime scene people back during the daylight.”
    I groaned, thinking about watching him type. “I need to let Blondie out.”
    â€œI’ll let her out. In fact, let’s take her with us. I haven’t seen her in a while.”
    Shoot. It was hard to stay mad at someone who loved my dog as much as I did.
    We walked toward the Big House, and I got Blondie’s leash and handed it to Ty. Ty and I had pretty much shared Blondie since she showed up at the back door of the diner one night along with a blizzard. She had been so wet and cold that ice had formed on her fur.
    She was hungry and thirsty, and we took care of her. Finally Ty adopted her. Somehow Blondie then adopted me. Probably because she knew that I needed her.
    That was okay with Ty, but he always found time to play with her and take her for walks.
    â€œLet me freshen up,” I said.
    â€œThat’s fine. I’ll direct the crime scene people to the field in the meantime.”
    I washed my face, ran a brush through my hair, put some makeup on, and added a spritz of gardenia perfume, my favorite scent. Maybe that would help detract from the circles under my eyes from being up all night.
    Just as soon as I was ready, his big black SUV pulled up in front of the Big House. Blondie was in the backseat. I climbed up into the passenger side.
    We drove for a while; then I had to ask before I burst like a Macy’s Thanksgiving balloon. “Would you please tell me something about the Burrows case?”
    â€œHe was shot.”
    â€œOh, really, Wyatt Earp? Like I couldn’t tell that?”
    I waited for a couple of beats. “How about Claire Jacobson’s case?”
    â€œNothing yet.”
    â€œCome on, Ty. I’m going to go bankrupt without cottage renters, and no one is going to want to look at all that crime scene tape and know that there was a murder there.”
    â€œDidn’t you just ding me for being shallow when I said something like that?” he asked.
    â€œYeah.” Oops.
    â€œWe are working on both murders, but these things take time.”
    â€œI don’t have a lot of time. There’re only two weeks before Memorial Day. That’s when the season officially begins. Throw me a bone, will you, please?”
    â€œOkay, okay.” He took a deep breath. “We think that someone didn’t like what he was