Read Online Mom Zone Mysteries 02 Staying Home Is a Killer by Sara Rosett - Free Book Online

solution to this thing? I’m it.”
    Mitch leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed and his legs splayed out at an angle, propping him up. He looked like a mule with his tight, set jaw. He didn’t want to budge. “Thousands, no, millions of people, do just that. They trust the police to get it right. They go on with their lives and don’t think about getting involved.”
    “But millions of people only have brushes with the police, a speeding ticket or something minor. Most people are not murder suspects.”
    Mitch growled and marched over to the refrigerator. He jerked open the door, which set off a clatter of clinks and thuds. My shoulders tensed as I waited for Livvy to cry. We’d just put her in bed, and any little sound could wake her up. He pulled out a Dr Pepper, shoved the door closed, and guzzled half of it. Livvy must be catching up on her sleep, because the house stayed quiet. Mitch strode to the other side of the kitchen.
    I took a sip out of my water bottle and doodled circles in the margin of my notepad. I had two headings across the top, Penny on the left and Georgia on the right. Under Georgia I wrote Accidental . I said to Mitch, “If those espresso beans were poisoned, they were intended for Penny. The fact that Georgia ate them is purely coincidental. There was no way Penny knew what I’d do with them once she gave them to me. They had to be for Penny.”
    “Where did they come from?”
    I shrugged. “You know Thistlewait is following that trail.” I didn’t mention Rachel, my friend who just happened to be the spouse of an OSI special agent. I made a mental note to call her later. Right now, I wanted to focus on my conversation with Penny. I’d talked to her shortly before she died. I wanted to get down on paper what I remembered. I couldn’t imagine anyone being angry enough with Penny to want to kill her, but someone had murdered her and there might be a clue in our conversation or in what Penny had done during the last few days before she died. I’d start with my conversation and then try to fill in the rest of her morning.
    She’d looked so happy and I’d commented on it. I wrote Happy/News .
    Then she’d given me the espresso beans. I wrote Beans . Under that word I wrote Problem/Needed Help. I’d forgotten about that until now. I drew some more circles. No matter what Mitch thought, I couldn’t let this go now. Penny had asked for my help before she died. She’d even mentioned the murder last year. She must have realized she was in danger and wanted my help. If only we’d talked right then. That dark feeling descended again. I wished we could go back and live that day over again, but this time I’d insist Penny tell me what bothered her.
    Mitch tossed his empty can in the recycling bin and sighed deeply. He pulled out a chair at the table. “Okay, what have you got?”
    “You’ll help?” I asked guardedly, unsure if he really wanted to help or if he wanted to see my notes.
    “Ellie, you are the hardest-headed person I know. I’m not about to let you get into this without knowing what you’re thinking. I’ll help, if I can.”
    “Well, you were looking pretty mulish yourself over there just a minute ago.”
    “Yes, but I can be flexible. I can give in. Unlike some people.” He leveled a look at me and pulled the notepad toward him.
    “I’m not going to give in until I know the police don’t suspect me and aren’t going to arrest me. I have no alibi for Penny’s death. I was driving home from lunch with you.”
    Mitch ignored me; well, technically he acknowledged my statement with a grunt as he read over the list, which I took to mean he gave me a little on the alibi point, but he didn’t want to concede that in words. “This is what you and Penny talked about?”
    I explained my notes. Then I said, “She was about to tell me something, but then the door opened and a flight crew came in and she looked…funny.” I paused, trying to remember her