Read Online Calamity @ the Carwash (Parson's Cove Mysteries) by Sharon Rose - Free Book Online

walk up to the carwash bay where Melanie had sat
for two hours, waiting to see if her husband would return. Did Reg check to see
if anyone else was getting their car washed at the same time? Maybe a witness
saw someone else walking on the beach. Someone who could easily have come up
after Melanie threw her little rock and that person could’ve hit him with the
brick and killed him. I stood in the bay for a few minutes. It wasn’t a
drive-through bay because on the other side of the carwash, several feet away,
was the lake. You drove in, washed your car and backed out. This is Parson’s
Cove so nothing is fancy like in the city. The water was pumped up from the
lake and I’m sure the dirty water went right back in, although it wasn’t
supposed to - not with all those shampoos and phosphates. There were so many
town meetings regarding pollution and contaminates before the carwash went in
that I stopped going. They were going to do what they were going to do anyway.
    I stood there thinking of Melanie
sitting there for all that time with her husband lying dead not more than
thirty or forty feet away. I went out the small door facing the water and
walked down to the beach. There was no blood. There was nothing but the
relaxing sound of water gently lapping up against the shore. I looked down the
beach towards Charlie’s house. Did he know something? One thing was certain -
he would never go to the police. If he told anyone anything, it would be to me.
He said there was some kind of mystery. Did it have anything to do with the
murder?
    I walked along the shore towards his
place and McFerguson’s. No one ever comes down to this part of the lake. The
beach area is very narrow and you’d have to walk through private yards to get
here. For sure no one would trespass through Charlie’s yard. Not that he would
harm anyone, he would probably sit and stare and that would make people very
uncomfortable. As I walked, I watched the ground for any clues I could find.
The Sheriff already had the murder weapon. I still can’t understand Melanie not
knowing if she picked up a stone or a brick. The murderer wasn’t too bright if
he left the murder weapon close by for someone to find. Not a professional hit
man, in my opinion.
    There was a high fence bordering
Charlie’s place. I remember when some of the men in town built that. Their
wives were afraid Charlie might wander into the lake and drown. Like, he didn’t
have enough sense to walk around the fence and drown. As I said before,
sometimes Charlie has more brainpower than most of them.
    I stopped behind the McFerguson’s house.
There was a row of large old poplar trees bordering their lot. The house was
quite a ways back. There was no movement at all. Poor Murray. Imagine having
your dog killed by the same person who murdered your friend. I couldn’t even
grasp how I would feel if someone murdered Flori and then one of my cats.
    A well-worn path went from their yard
down to the beach. They had a boathouse sitting several feet out into the water
and a boardwalk going out to it. There was an old aluminum fishing boat tied to
a post and it bobbed up and down with each wave. I don’t know how many times I
saw Murray out in that boat with his dog hanging over the side, his head almost
touching the water. That dog looked so sad but Murray insisted that he was the
happiest dog in the world.
    I hadn’t learned anything visiting the
crime scene but it did give me a better perspective. If it hadn’t been so infernally
hot out that day and Melanie hadn’t had the a/c on, she probably would’ve heard
Bernie fighting with someone. If she and Bernie hadn’t been arguing, she
would’ve gone to look for him after a few minutes. Perhaps, she would’ve made
the change for the carwash herself.
    I wondered if she was claiming guilt
simply because she was feeling guilty about so many other things.
     
     
    Chapter
Twelve
     
    Friday morning loomed before me. There
was a dread in my heart as I