Read Online Diners, Drive-Ins, and Death: A Comfort Food Mystery by Christine Wenger - Free Book Online Page B

sniff every now and then, and I handed her a pack of tissues from my purse.
    “Thanks, girlfriend,” she said, plastering on a few coats of foundation.
    “Need anything else, ladies?” Ty asked. “Coffee? A pit stop?”
    “I just want to get back to Sandy Harbor,” ACB said. “Prison is too depressing.”
    No kidding!
    I wanted to get back and see how the MissSalmon Committee was taking care of things. They said they’d get the rooms ready for the rest of the contestants who were due to arrive shortly.
    “We could always have lunch at the Silver Bullet,” I said. “The specials today are goulash and Spanish rice. Both come with a couple of sides and fresh Italian bread that Juanita makes from scratch.”
    “I’ll have to take a rain check. There’s a couple of things I need to do for the case. One of them will be to search Nick’s house. And, Antoinette Chloe, I wish you’d told us sooner that Nick was missing.”
    “I do, too. But I thought he was just . . . roving. I never thought that he was dead.” She sniffed. “I think I’ll go to Margie Grace’s with the girls,” ACB said. “Then I’ll stop and see Hal Manning. But thanks for the lunch invitation, Trixie.”
    “Do you want me to go with you to Hal’s?” I asked.
    “No. I’ll be fine.”
    Ty dropped us off at the Silver Bullet, where ACB had left her car. She hugged us all and drove away in her van.
    “Save me some of that goulash, Trix.” Ty put his hand on my shoulder. “I need to stop in at the office and bring everyone up to speed.”
    “Can you bring
me
up to speed?” I asked.
    “As to what?”
    “As to what you got out of Sal. You were in there with him for a long time before we all met him together.”
    “You pretty much know what I know.”
    “‘Pretty much’?”
    “Trixie, stay out of it. I’ll do my job and you do yours.”
    “But ACB is my friend. I want to find out what happened. Maybe then she’ll be able to put everything to rest and move on.”
    But from the look he gave me, I knew that he wasn’t going to give up anything. So I waved good-bye as he got into his cop car. Then I went into my diner to see if everything was running smoothly.
    And to see if Sarah Stolfus had made a delivery of fruit hand pies.
Cherry, please.
    Everything was okay, but Sarah Stolfus hadn’t made her delivery yet. So I began the short walk to the Big House.
    Hmm . . . after going to Auburn, a real big house, maybe I shouldn’t call my Victorian the Big House.
    Along the way, my cell phone rang. It was Antoinette Chloe.
What on earth?
    “Hello?”
    “Trixie, I lied to Ty. I’m not going to the Miss Salmon practice now. I’m going back to Nick’s house. I forgot to pick up a couple of things when we were there last. Come with me, please?”
    “Do you really need me?” I asked. “Just get your things and get out of there.”
    “I can’t stand the thought of going into Nick’s house now that I know that he’s dead.”
    There were so many things I needed to do, but nothing was more important than helping a friend—even if it meant going with her into her deceased boyfriend’s house yet again.
    “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
    Fifteen minutes later, we were going throughthe front door. ACB ran immediately to the master bedroom. At first glance, it appeared that nothing had been upset, but I knew that Ty and his gang of state police would descend on the place soon.
    I followed her.
    She opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and pulled out a . . . black leather thong. Her name was tooled on the back strip of leather.
    “Where is that camera?” she asked, pulling out dozens of black T-shirts and tossing them on the floor. Finally, she found a small red camera and let out of whoop of excitement.
    “A camera?”
    She giggled. “I can’t even tell you what naughty pictures are on that camera, but I’m so glad that I found it!”
    “Let’s get out of here.”
    “In a minute. I want to look at my sidecar and