Read Online Material Witness by Vannetta Chapman - Free Book Online Page B

of her hands when she tried to pull them away. “I’m serious. You may have known her better than anyone else — other than her family who aren’t giving me much. They’re Amish though, and right now they’re in shock and don’t trust me. What did you know about Mrs. Knepp?”
    “She was cranky and rude and didn’t play well.”
    He waited for more.
    “Which is still no reason to kill her in the middle of town.”
    “There aren’t that many reasons for murder, period. When it comes down to it, when it comes to a violent murder like this one —”
    “Why are you saying violent? I didn’t see any blood …”
    “You know I can’t share details of the investigation with you.” Shane let go of her hands. “And I’m asking
you
the questions, remember?”
    “You’re asking me for a motive, and I can’t think of one.”
    “Well the usual ones are relatively few.” Shane relaxed back into his seat, his arms across the back of their chairs, and studied her. How could she still look beautiful after two-and-a-half hours inside a police station and considering all she’d been through?
    Callie held up her fingers and began ticking them off. “Money, passion, revenge —”
    “Still reading Agatha Christie?” he asked.
    “Shows, huh?”
    “Murder on the Orient Express
is sticking out of your bag.” She rolled her eyes, pushed the book farther down in her purse, and stood to go.
    Max jumped up too, eager to finally be on the move.
    “It’s too bad a homicide is going to cause you to miss this year’s Fall Festival,” he said, walking her to the door.
    “What are you talking about?” She turned on him like a storm.
    “What do you mean what am I talking about?”
    “Why would I miss the festival?”
    “Because there was a murder on your property.” Shane reached for a strand of her hair, pushed it out of her eyes. “I know tonight you think you want to open tomorrow. But in the morning, you’ll realize how tired you are. Tonight you’re in shock. Tomorrow —”
    “You can’t be thinking of closing me down. In fact, you have no grounds to close me down. Adalyn Landt stopped by earlier to tell me she was headed out of town for the weekend, but she said for me to call her if I need her. She said she’d turn around and come back.” She began pawing through her bag for her phone.
    “Hold on, sweetheart. No need to call your lawyer.” Shane closed his eyes and pulled in a long breath. Would this night never ease up? “I was only saying that you must be tired, and that perhaps it would feel odd to conduct business mere hours after someone was slain on your doorstep.”
    “Which technically wasn’t my fault.” Now Callie’s old fire was back in spades. While Shane wanted to be irritated with her, it comforted him to see her spark return. He should have known if there was one thing that could erase the fear and exhaustion in her eyes, any mention of her shop would do it.
    He moved closer, until there wasn’t even a whisper of space between them, until he was close enough to feel her next breath, close enough to calm the fear that had nearly consumed him since the call first came in.
    Max nosed his way between them, but didn’t growl any warning. If Shane was going to date Callie Harper, and some part of him seemed intent on doing just that, he and the dog were going to have to come to an understanding.
    “It wasn’t my fault,” she whispered again.
    “I never said it was your fault. Would you settle down and let me worry about you occasionally?” He traced her cheekbone, let his fingers work their way through her hair. She stood for it all of five seconds before pulling away.
    “We’ll be open tomorrow. Be sure your men are out of my way.”
    “They’re already gone. Left less than an hour ago. We did have to leave crime tape around the exact location of the deceased.”
    “I don’t sell much merchandise from the garden.” Callie sailed through the door, without glancing back. Shane