Read Online Murdering the Roses (A Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery) by Cindy Bell - Free Book Online Page A

said with a sigh of disappointment. “It must not open these.”
    "What else could it open?" Aunt Ida asked as she took the key and looked it over closely. There were no numbers or initials on it to indicate what it might open. Vicky carefully locked the safe back up, and then turned to look at the key as well.
    "It could be for a storage locker somewhere," Vicky pointed out with a frown. “But it doesn't really look like a locker key.”
    "Oh I know, maybe it goes to a treasure chest," Aunt Ida suggested with a gleam in her eye.
    "You mean like a real treasure chest?" Vicky asked with a slight chuckle. "What would Bob be doing with a key to a treasure chest?" then suddenly she remembered what Mitchell had said about Bob just being released from jail for armed robbery. If the money was never recovered he might have hidden it somewhere. That would explain why such dangerous people were after it. "Oh maybe he had the money stashed somewhere for when he got out!" Vicky said with amazement as the pieces began to fit together. "If he did then he might have tried to hide it in a treasure chest, he might have even buried it!"
    Aunt Ida smiled triumphantly. She loved the fact that Vicky could follow along with her ideas.
    “So if it is a treasure chest, and it is buried, where is it buried?” Aunt Ida wondered with a frown. “If he went to this much trouble to hide it, then he probably did a good job of burying it. But this property is so huge, we may never be able to find it,” she sighed with disappointment. It was not like Aunt Ida to give up on anything, but this task seemed particularly impossible.
    Vicky was lost in thought for a moment. She was trying to remember if she had ever noticed Bob digging anywhere in the short time that he had worked there. The truth was it could be buried anywhere, even off the property. But Vicky had a hunch that Bob would have done anything to keep the spoils from his robbery close to him. He would have wanted to keep an eye on it. He probably knew the whole time that there were criminals searching for it.
    Then she remembered the first time she had realized she made a mistake by hiring Bob. It was when she asked him to finish adding some decking to the employee quarters. He promised it would be an easy task for him, and that he was more than capable of doing it. She had gone out back to check on him, and found him digging beside the deck instead of in front of it where she wanted the deck to be extended. She watched him for a few minutes, trying to figure out just why he would need to dig beside the deck. She was always trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But then finally, she had asked him.
    "Why are you digging over here?" she asked, mystified. "I told you, I want the deck built straight forward from the one that is already there," she reminded him and crossed her arms with irritation. She had even considered that he might have been drinking. She distinctly recalled sniffing for the scent of alcohol, and getting a nose full of dirt kicked by his digging instead.
    "I know what I'm doing," Bob had barked at her sharply, as he pushed the shovel back down deeper in the dirt. "Just leave me alone, it'll get it done,” he had been very rude and brusque, as if he wanted to get rid of her as quickly as possible.
    Vicky had been put off by the way he talked to her, but at the same time she needed the deck done, so she decided to let it go and walk away. What did she care if he dug extra holes? He obviously was not very bright, and that was something she had remembered about him from high school. He never did very well in his classes. She had never really thought about that day again, since Bob had finished the deck and it had turned out just fine. He filled in the extra hole he had dug, and she had just assumed that he realized his mistake.
    "I think I know where he buried it," Vicky whispered, absolutely stunned as the memory played over in her mind. Was it really possible that she had