Read Online Phantoms Can Be Murder: Charlie Parker Mystery #13 by Connie Shelton - Free Book Online Page B

myself in the stacks, picking up the British edition of a
favorite American author’s newest book to read in my spare moments during the
vacation, then moving on to the children’s section where I spent way too much
time stressing over what each of Ron’s boys would enjoy. Eventually I took the
recommendation of a young clerk who told me which titles were the hottest
things locally for kids. Maybe the boys would be impressed enough to give them
a try.
    On to the clothing store where I
found a casual jacket I thought Drake would love. Warm enough for our
high-desert seasons and dressy enough that he might actually take to wearing it
when we went out in the evenings.
    At the checkout desk, I spotted a
familiar posture. Archie Jones.
    “Is Dolly’s hand feeling better?”
I asked.
    He visibly started, shoving a
packet of something that looked like underwear behind his back. His brow
wrinkled as he concentrated on figuring out where he’d seen me.
    “Charlie Parker, Louisa’s niece.”
    “Oh yes, quite. Dolly is doing
much better, thank you. I insisted she keep the ice on it for a few hours
immediately after, you know. The redness is completely gone now, I’m happy to
say.”
    The clerk was waiting for one of
us to take the lead so he could ring up a purchase. Archie gestured for me to
go first. I placed the jacket on the counter and turned back to him. “And her
scare? Upstairs in the kitchen?”
    “She’s not mentioned it again.
Dolly’s such a trouper, you know. Brushes off those types of things and moves
on with her day.”
    “Well, I’m glad to hear it.”
    I paid for the jacket with a
credit card and moved toward the street exit but before I got to the door a
table piled with sweaters caught my eye. I paused to imagine a certain
forest-green one on Drake and noticed that Archie was conversing quietly with
the clerk but his glance edged toward me frequently. Maybe he didn’t really
want to get roped into further conversation with me. I set the sweater aside
and left.
    I considered window shopping on
the way back to Louisa’s house but my packages were becoming heavy so I headed
directly there, dropped them off, then went back out. The day had turned nice
again, with warm sun and only a light breeze. I took a deep breath and savored
the charm of the narrow lane stretching beyond me in both directions. A little
pang—it would have been more fun to explore this with Drake. But I was here and
he wasn’t, so I might as well make the best of it. At least I was getting
plenty of exercise.
    I took off in the direction
opposite my accustomed route to the shops and found myself deeper in a small
residential neighborhood, on a street that curved steadily to my right. Just
before I began to wonder whether I was becoming hopelessly lost a
familiar-looking intersection appeared and I realized it was Lilac Lane, where
I’d walked a dozen times already and that The Knit and Purl was almost directly
across the street from me.
    Dolly was at the front glass,
working on a window display. She spotted me and waved. I crossed the narrow
road and walked over and she beckoned me to come inside.
    “How are you today?” I asked as
the door closed behind me.
    She pursed her lips, about to say
something, but changed her mind.
    “I’m fine, thanks.” She held up
the hand that had been scalded to show me that none of the redness remained.
She pushed up the sleeves of her sweater and glanced around the empty shop. “Be
better, though, if I had more customers. Do you suppose they’re hearing about
these incidents and that’s keeping them away?”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t think so. If anything,
having a haunted shop would bring more customers in, wouldn’t it? Well, it
would in the States. Hotels and restaurants there seem to capitalize on their
ghosts.”
    She raised one angular shoulder.
“I dunno. Only seems it’s been slow lately. I let Gabrielle have the day off to
go see her sister in Stowmarket. No point in two of us being