Read Online Kilt at the Highland Games by Kaitlyn Dunnett - Free Book Online Page A

what this is all about?” Liss headed for the cozy corner.
    Grumbling under her breath, Sherri threw herself into a chair and stretched her legs out in front of her. “I am so frustrated!”
    â€œWelcome to the club. Now tell me what in particular has you so het up.”
    â€œAngie Hogencamp doesn’t exist.”
    Liss sat up straighter in her armchair and stared at her friend. “How is that possible?”
    â€œI have no idea, but as far as anyone has been able to discover, there is no record of her before she arrived in Moosetookalook.”
    â€œYou’re saying there are no records of anyone by that name?”
    â€œNot exactly.” Sherri shifted into a more upright position. “There are a couple of Angie Hogencamps around. One of them is even kind of famous in a weird sort of way. She attends a lot of those mystery fan conventions, like the First Annual Maine-ly Cozy Con that met at The Spruces that one year. It seems that most of them hold charity auctions where they sell mystery-related items. This real Angie Hogencamp likes to bid on the right to have a character named after herself in an author’s next mystery novel. Her name has ended up in at least a half dozen of them over the years.”
    Liss was only half listening. “Angie has to exist,” she insisted. “We’ve known her for ages.”
    â€œNot very well, apparently.” Sherri let that sink in before she continued. “Neither of us had yet returned to Moosetookalook to live when she appeared out of the blue and opened the bookstore. That was twelve years ago. Everyone took her at face value and assumed she was either widowed or divorced, since there was no Mr. Hogencamp in the picture.”
    â€œWhat about the children? Wouldn’t they know if they had another name before they came here? That would be a pretty big secret to keep, and Beth has always been an outgoing girl.”
    â€œThink about it. Twelve years ago, Beth would have been about four years old. Bradley is twelve now, so he was only an infant, maybe even a newborn.”
    Liss had a hard time accepting what Sherri was saying. Angie was as honest as the day was long . . . wasn’t she? “Maybe she just decided to change her name. People do. And you can call yourself anything you like. Plenty of people use pseudonyms.”
    â€œAngie is a bookseller, not an author. Besides, this isn’t just a case of calling herself something else part of the time. She created an identity for herself under what has to be an assumed name. If she changed it legally, there would be a record somewhere. So far, nothing has turned up. I hate to say it, Liss, but this development makes both the fire and Angie’s disappearance look very suspicious.”
    Liss leaned back, feeling gobsmacked. She didn’t like any of the possibilities that sprang to mind. Picking the least alarming of the lot, she said, “Maybe she’s in the witness protection program.”
    â€œMaybe.” Sherri looked doubtful. “But I think information can be shared with local law enforcement in a case like this one where the fire is likely to have been set.”
    â€œEven if the arson is somehow connected to Angie’s past and she and the kids have already been given a new set of identities?”
    â€œIt’s not like they’d have to tell me where they are.”
    Liss sent her a skeptical look. She’d never had the impression that federal agencies played well with others.
    â€œIt’s not a subject I know a lot about,” Sherri admitted, “and there are other, more likely possibilities. What if Angie changed her name to hide a criminal background? Or she could be running away from an abusive husband.”
    Liss frowned. “She mentioned a sister-in-law once.”
    Sherri went on alert, reaching for the small spiral notebook and pen she kept in her breast pocket. “Did she give you a