Read Online Another Man's Treasure (a romantic thriller) (Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series Book 1) by S.W. Hubbard - Free Book Online

exhausted.  The combination of my fifty-foot stroll with PT Larry and my visit with Jill has left me totally enervated.  How will I ever be able to go back to work lifting boxes and moving sofas when I barely have the strength to raise my hand?  But I can’t send this cop away.  I need to know what happened to me.
    “Why did you arrest Tyshaun Griggs?”  I ask.
    Detective Coughlin gives me one long, unblinking look, then pulls out his notebook and begins making name, rank and serial number queries as if I had never spoken. 
    “Your home address? “
    “419 Bishop Street. Did you find the money that was stolen?”
    “The location of your business?”
    “6312 Aspinwell Avenue.  What about my fannypack?”
    “Make and model of the car you drive?”
    “Green Honda Civic.  Who’s got my car?”
    Coughlin takes notes methodically.  His huge hand hides the page as he writes.  His face is equally hard to read.
    Finally he looks up.  “Tell me about Saturday.”
    “My memory is a little spotty,” I explain.  “The doctor says that’s normal.”
    “Do your best.”
    There’s something irresistible about this cop, and I don’t mean in a sexual way because I’ve never been attracted to the burly football player type.  I mean he exudes a magnetic force that draws out information as if each fact were made of metal.  I want information from him, but I find myself talking to him about the sale, the deposit, the drive to the bank, my trouble finding a parking spot.
    I leave out Ty’s eagerness to be gone at the end of the day.
    “Was there anything unusual about this sale?” he asks. “Anyone acting funny, asking a lot of questions?”
    Nothing unusual about the sale itself, but plenty of weirdness before the sale. I’d honestly forgotten about the drugs in the kitchen drawer until just now.  I should tell this cop about the Ecstasy, no?  Maybe my beating has something to do with the drugs. But if I tell him about the drugs, I might have to explain the trunk and the ring I took from it and why that drove every other thought from my head.  Shit, this is so confusing!  I need to wait until I can think straight before I say anything more.
    “Unusual about the sale?”  I hear my voice ascending in an Alvin the Chipmunk squeak.  “No-o-o, this was one of my smaller sales.  Some of the buyers were regulars, some were people I’ve never seen before. No one dangerous looking.”
    When I finish, silence descends.  Coughlin sits tranquilly, like some meditating yogi.
    And even though I know it’s a trap, I fall right into it.
    “I know Jill told you that Tyshaun didn’t want to go to the bank with me. But you’re taking that all wrong. Tyshaun had a date, he was eager to get going.  I told him I didn’t need him to come with me.  I’ve made the deposit by myself many, many times.”
    Again, that long, unblinking look.  “Did he tell you he had a date?”
    This is tricky, because Tyshaun didn’t tell me anything.  I simply assumed sex was the draw pulling him out the door last Saturday. 
    “He’s not in the habit of confiding his personal plans to me,” I tell the cop, aware that I sound like some tight-ass librarian. “What makes you think he didn’t have a date?”
    “He has no alibi for the time of your attack, Ms. Nealon.  If he was with a woman, all he needs to do is give us her name so we can establish his whereabouts.  Can you think of a reason why he’s not willing to do that?”
    Coughlin is waiting.  Waiting and staring like a cat who’s seen a mouse disappear into a crack.
    I lean forward and stare back at him.  I see a man about my own age, with pale blue eyes and freckles that ought to make him look friendly, but don’t.  He has a neck as thick as a telephone pole and biceps that warp the pinstripes in his jacket.  I’m not afraid of him—why should I be?  But I can see he’s used to instilling fear in others. I don’t like that. 
    I can think of plenty of