Read Online Ghost Gone Wild (A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel) by Carolyn Hart - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Carolyn Hart
Ads: Link
if there weren’t calls to Lisa and Brian and Cole. I didn’t make those calls. Somebody must have taken my cell from my car and used it and then thrown it back in the car tonight.” He sighed. “At least Cole didn’t show up. But Lisa’s sad-sack husband barrels up mad as a stuck pig, and, to top it all off, one of the cops—Ed Loeffler—is an old buddy of Cole Clanton’s, and he all but calls me a liar.”
I was shocked. “Didn’t he see the slug in the wall?”
“He looked at the hole, walked over to the window, looked at the ripped screen, turned around and asked me where I was when the shot occurred. I told him I was standing by the wet bar. He got a sneer on his face that looked like a Mafia hit man’s, and said, ‘I don’t think so. If you were standing there,’ and he jabbed a finger, ‘you’d be dead.’ He rocked back on his heels like a gunslinger in a saloon door, and said in this menacing growl, ‘There’s a law against falsely reporting a crime.’ I told him I thought there was also a law against somebody shooting at a man when he’s in his living room. He said, ‘Yeah, if it happened.’”
“Didn’t he do anything?” Oh, if only I could pop to the police department unseen, a ghost on the warpath. But here I was, stuck.
“Oh, sure. He took pictures, wore plastic gloves, eased the slug out, put it in what he called a collection bag. Then he asked me if I was trying to get rumors started about some crazy sniper and ruin Old Timer Days. That’s when I got the picture. Ed didn’t buy the idea that somebody tried to shoot me. He thought I faked it to scare people away this weekend.” He rubbed his cheek. “He’s a buddy of Brian Sanford, too. I guess Brian had unloaded about me. Johnny Cain was the other cop. He’s a good guy. He never called me Phidippus.”
“Was Ed a football player with Cole?”
“Yeah.” The answer was short.
“You don’t like any of the football players.”
His voice curdled with loathing. “You got that right.”
I gave him a cool look. “So you came home to settle scores and used your money to keep Cole off the Arnold property and pretended you were interested in Brian’s wife to make him miserable even though you didn’t care for her.” I was sorry to add to Nick’s difficulties with Jan, but his actions were what they were.
Nick’s stubbled cheeks flushed. “I didn’t hire you to preach at me. If Cole wants to have his little celebration on that land, let him scare up the money to buy it. A man can do what he likes with his own property.” His bony jaw jutted.
Arlene’s voice was hot. “If he got the money, and you know he doesn’t have any way to raise it or get a loan, you’d just double your offer.”
His grin was ferocious. “You bet I would. As for Lisa, I sure wouldn’t have gone with her except everybody knows she runs around on Brian. Everybody but him. She’s been sneaking around with Cole Clanton for a couple of years.”
Arlene’s chair jolted back. She came to her feet. She trembled, eyes wide, lips parted. Her breaths came shallowly. “You’re making that up. Cole wouldn’t have anything to do with someone like her.”
As obtuse as most men, Nick clutched his main point like a caveman with a spear. “You’ve got to be kidding, Arlene. Everybody in town knows about Lisa and Cole. I saw them at the casino a couple of nights ago. I was talking to some guys, and they said room seven at the Roadhouse Inn is called the L and C Special.”
Arlene’s face crumpled. She moved leadenly across the floor, her back rigid. In a moment, there was a clattering sound as she started up the stairs, faster and faster.
Nick stood with his mouth open. He looked at Jan. “What’s the big deal?”
“I don’t think you’d understand. Just like you didn’t care that Lisa might be fooled by you. I’d heard people say they’d seen you with her, and I didn’t believe it. I guess I should have known. All you care about
I was shocked. “Didn’t he see the slug in the wall?”
“He looked at the hole, walked over to the window, looked at the ripped screen, turned around and asked me where I was when the shot occurred. I told him I was standing by the wet bar. He got a sneer on his face that looked like a Mafia hit man’s, and said, ‘I don’t think so. If you were standing there,’ and he jabbed a finger, ‘you’d be dead.’ He rocked back on his heels like a gunslinger in a saloon door, and said in this menacing growl, ‘There’s a law against falsely reporting a crime.’ I told him I thought there was also a law against somebody shooting at a man when he’s in his living room. He said, ‘Yeah, if it happened.’”
“Didn’t he do anything?” Oh, if only I could pop to the police department unseen, a ghost on the warpath. But here I was, stuck.
“Oh, sure. He took pictures, wore plastic gloves, eased the slug out, put it in what he called a collection bag. Then he asked me if I was trying to get rumors started about some crazy sniper and ruin Old Timer Days. That’s when I got the picture. Ed didn’t buy the idea that somebody tried to shoot me. He thought I faked it to scare people away this weekend.” He rubbed his cheek. “He’s a buddy of Brian Sanford, too. I guess Brian had unloaded about me. Johnny Cain was the other cop. He’s a good guy. He never called me Phidippus.”
“Was Ed a football player with Cole?”
“Yeah.” The answer was short.
“You don’t like any of the football players.”
His voice curdled with loathing. “You got that right.”
I gave him a cool look. “So you came home to settle scores and used your money to keep Cole off the Arnold property and pretended you were interested in Brian’s wife to make him miserable even though you didn’t care for her.” I was sorry to add to Nick’s difficulties with Jan, but his actions were what they were.
Nick’s stubbled cheeks flushed. “I didn’t hire you to preach at me. If Cole wants to have his little celebration on that land, let him scare up the money to buy it. A man can do what he likes with his own property.” His bony jaw jutted.
Arlene’s voice was hot. “If he got the money, and you know he doesn’t have any way to raise it or get a loan, you’d just double your offer.”
His grin was ferocious. “You bet I would. As for Lisa, I sure wouldn’t have gone with her except everybody knows she runs around on Brian. Everybody but him. She’s been sneaking around with Cole Clanton for a couple of years.”
Arlene’s chair jolted back. She came to her feet. She trembled, eyes wide, lips parted. Her breaths came shallowly. “You’re making that up. Cole wouldn’t have anything to do with someone like her.”
As obtuse as most men, Nick clutched his main point like a caveman with a spear. “You’ve got to be kidding, Arlene. Everybody in town knows about Lisa and Cole. I saw them at the casino a couple of nights ago. I was talking to some guys, and they said room seven at the Roadhouse Inn is called the L and C Special.”
Arlene’s face crumpled. She moved leadenly across the floor, her back rigid. In a moment, there was a clattering sound as she started up the stairs, faster and faster.
Nick stood with his mouth open. He looked at Jan. “What’s the big deal?”
“I don’t think you’d understand. Just like you didn’t care that Lisa might be fooled by you. I’d heard people say they’d seen you with her, and I didn’t believe it. I guess I should have known. All you care about
Similar Books
