BREAD TO KILL

A SEASONED SLEUTH COZY MYSTERY, BOOK 3

GRETCHEN ALLEN

SUMMER PRESCOTT BOOKS PUBLISHING

Copyright 2023 Summer Prescott Books

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

**This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Also by Gretchen Allen

Author’s Note

Contact Gretchen Allen

CHAPTER ONE

“I never make my own cornbread.” Pauline Pendleton flounced to her seat in the middle of the Breezy Lake Village Clubhouse. She popped another wedge of cornbread into her mouth and closed her eyes.

“Yeah, who makes cornbread from scratch?” Brigitte Waldorf chimed in. Never far from Pauline’s side, Brigitte rarely disagreed with her.

“I happen to make a terrific homemade honey cornbread,” Loretta Barksdale said. “As a matter of fact, that’s what you’ve been eating and going on about for the past ten minutes.”

Pauline stopped chewing and opened her eyes. “This is your cornbread?” she asked flatly.

Loretta nodded slowly. She tried to hide her delight at catching her unofficial nemesis once again. “I’m afraid it is. When you asked me to come up with a side dish for the chili dinner, this is what I threw together.”

“There is no way you simply threw this together,” Kelly Crenshaw said. She happened upon their conversation with a piece of the cornbread in question in her hand. “This is the most incredible cornbread I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you.” Loretta smiled at her friend. Together, she and Kelly were two of the youngest members of the Breezy Lake Village community. Kelly worked as the community coordinator, and now, just past her fiftieth birthday, she was a resident as well.

“You would say that,” Brigitte spat. “You only like the things Loretta does because you two are friends now.”

“Not true,” Loretta said. “Just last week, I made a cheesecake that she was not a fan of.”

“It’s true.” Kelly nodded. “I was not in favor of it at all.”

“You’ll have to try some of my cheesecake sometime then,” Pauline said sweetly. “We’ll see if I can do that better than your friend.”

Kelly glanced sideways at Loretta before she answered. “You’re right. I will have to try your cheesecake sometime,” she said. “It would be interesting to find out if there really is something you can do better than Loretta.” She patted Loretta on the shoulder. “Catch you tomorrow for coffee,” she said on her way past the table.

“See you in the morning.” She bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from chuckling out loud. Pauline’s head seemed to spin right in front of her. The older woman was quite sure she had just been insulted, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly how.

“Well, of course she would say she likes Loretta’s cooking,” Brigitte said when Kelly was out of earshot.

“Leave it alone, Brigitte,” Pauline snapped.

“Fine.” She pulled her chili bowl closer and dunked a large piece of the homemade cornbread in the center of the bowl.

“You know,” Loretta said, feeling suddenly very gracious. “I would love to try your cheesecake myself. I have always struggled with my own recipe. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from you.”

Pauline’s eyes lit up as she spoke. Loretta waited for her response, which, given past experiences, was a mystery until she opened her mouth. “I would love to teach you a thing or two about making cheesecake,” she said. “You do know I was a home economics teacher for a number of years, right?”

Loretta shook her head. “No, I didn’t know that,” she said. “To be honest, that makes a lot of sense to me.”

Pauline narrowed her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded. “That makes a lot of sense to me.” She repeated Loretta’s words in a childish, mocking tone.

“It’s likely why you know your way around the kitchen so well,” Loretta said.

“Well, being a home economics teacher makes you something of a jack-of-all-trades.” Pauline sniffed. “They used to make the girls take a class in school. Now all of that has changed, and nobody cares about it anymore.”

“That’s too bad,” Loretta said. “I think it’s a mistake to stop emphasizing the need for a class like that.”

Pauline brightened. “You do? You think it ought to be required still?”

“Sure, I do.” Loretta nodded. “And not just for one group of kids, either. I think all kids should learn how to cook for themselves and do other things they’ll need to know in life. Not only cooking and how to wash clothes, but how to plan meals and balance a checkbook, too.”

“I fought for that,” Pauline said. “I fought the school board to teach kids actual real-life stuff in school, but they told me to stick to teaching girls how to manage the home and balance it with work. That’s when it became too much for me, and I quit teaching.”

“That’s a shame,” Loretta said. “Honestly, you probably did more for those kids than they’ll ever know. I wish I’d had home ec when I was in high school. Where I lived, by the time I graduated, it had become a thing of the past. Just like driver’s ed and some other life skills classes.”

Pauline’s face instantly turned red. She slapped the table and stood up. “Oh, leave it to you, Loretta Barksdale,” she hissed. “You know just how to turn a compliment into a big, fat insult. Thanks for nothing.” She picked up her bowl and stormed off toward the kitchen in the back.

Loretta turned to Brigitte, who was still working her way through a third piece of cornbread. “What on earth did I do this time? I honestly never meant to insult her. Not one bit. I do wish I had been made to take a home ec class in high school.”

Brigitte shrugged and sighed. “It was the reference to when you were in school, Loretta. You have no idea how much it goads her that you’re here and you’re her competition, and you are young enough to be her daughter.”

“Oh, that’s it,” Loretta said. It was tedious work, learning which of Pauline’s triggers turned her from her normal, pleasant self into an inferno of red rage. “I didn’t mean it like that at all. I know there were still classes for things like that in lots of places when I was in high school. I just meant that where I lived, we didn’t have those classes anymore. It wasn’t anything about her age.”

Brigitte shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter,” she said cheerfully. “Pauline stays mad at you most of the time, anyway. Good cornbread, though. Only, don’t tell her I said that.”

“Sure thing,” Loretta said. She stood up and cleared away her dishes. To her understanding, the Clubhouse Cooks functions were supposed to occur about once per month, but the reality was Loretta found herself pitching in about once a week with one event or another. The chili dinner was no exception. If Pauline hated her that much, she really should stop asking for so much help.

“Where are you going?” Brigitte asked her. “It’s only just after five.”

“Home,” Loretta replied. “I’m going to grab my things from the kitchen, and then I’m leaving.”

“But what about the clean-up?” Brigitte asked. She sat on the edge of her seat, looking up at Loretta expectantly.

Loretta merely smiled and waved as she walked past. It was a well-known fact that the Clubhouse Cooks were generally responsible for the cleanup after events. Since she had made enough cornbread for a small army as well as two large pots of chili, she felt like she had done quite enough for one day. As far as she was concerned, the rest of the group, who hadn’t cooked at all, could help too. If they didn’t want to, that was fine. She would come back after everyone else left and do it then, but right now, she wasn’t willing to give Brigitte the satisfaction.

After a fast visit in the large kitchen, Loretta picked up her dishes and headed outside through the back door to her three-wheel bike. She loaded the cornbread pans into the basket. The chili pots could wait until the next day. She unlocked the chain on her bike and pushed it away from the tree where she had left it while she was inside. After a moment, she climbed onto the seat and headed out to the road that wrapped around the large lake.

Unlike most of the days since Loretta had moved to the northern Florida lake community, the sky overhead was gray and overcast. She steered her bike the long way around the lake, something she was often wary of doing without a hat on her head or proper sunblock on her face and arms. There was something supremely charming about the rainy days on a freshwater Florida lake. Even when it was dull and gloomy, Loretta found herself loving the outdoors.

Another trick she had learned was to leave her cell phone at home when she was headed to and from the clubhouse. Too often, she had found herself summoned back to cover for someone who decided to duck out on their cleanup duties. Loretta might have felt a twinge of guilt for leaving for the day, but it would all work out in the end. It always did.

Nearly an hour later, Loretta strolled into her front yard, pushing the bike as she went. She had dismounted from the seat a few houses back. Her rear end was getting a little saddle sore from the longer journey. She steered the bike toward the garage and pushed the bike inside, next to her small car. The garage itself was technically supposed to be suitable for two cars, but Loretta doubted two would actually fit side by side without trapping the driver of one and the passengers of the other inside.

It mattered little since she was the only resident in the modular home. The decision to move to Breezy Lake had been a compromise for Loretta. The thirty-something-year-old home was a huge bargain compared to what she could have found in other areas of the state, but there was not a day that had passed since her arrival that she regretted the decision based solely on the house itself. She had a great big tree out back that covered the yard and a good part of the lake, where she had placed a comfortable chair. She woke up each day and enjoyed her morning cup of coffee outside. Despite the circumstances that brought her to this place, and the quirky personalities she had found since moving there, Loretta truly felt at home.

While the garage door slowly shut, Loretta picked up her dirty dishes from the basket and carried them inside the kitchen. The spacious room was as inviting to her on a gray, overcast day as it was on a typical sunshiny Florida day. She quickly placed the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on, then went about finding her only roommate, Milo.

“Milo. Where are you?” she called out. Normally, the oversized cat greeted her with demands for food when she entered the house. She walked through the dining room area and the half bath. She checked the pantry, then the living room. He was nowhere to be found.

“Where the heck are you?” she shouted. Her voice rang out through the house. She moved to the master bedroom and then the spare bedroom at the back. No cat. No twinkling bell from his collar, not even a hiss or a purr.

Her delight for the day ended when she couldn’t find him. She sat down on her desk chair in the spare bedroom and forced herself to think. Where could he be? Had someone come into the house and taken him?

Who would want her cat? Beyond that, who would be stupid enough to brave his claws? Loretta stood up and walked back into the hall, past the main bathroom and into the living room. She listened for bells but heard nothing. Her heart began to race in her chest.

Had someone actually taken him? Loretta decided to check the front door before she went into a total panic. Sunlight streamed through the crack where the door had been left open. Loretta felt a wave of panic in her chest. She flipped on the lights and headed for the front door, stepping on something hard on her way. She bent down and saw one of the bells from Milo’s collar.

Someone had been in her house and had taken her cat. Loretta wasn’t sure who she should be more afraid for, Milo or the imbecile who decided to take him.

CHAPTER TWO

“Are you seriously reporting a missing cat to me?” Clay Fulton, head of the Breezy Lake Village Council, asked. He was seated at a corner table in one of the coffee shops at the lake.

Loretta sighed. She forced herself to remain calm. “I am reporting a break-in, Mr. Fulton. During the break-in, my cat was either taken or ran outside. Either way, somebody entered my home when I was at the clubhouse for the early-bird chili dinner.”

Clay exhaled loudly and leaned over his coffee cup. “I guess that’s fair,” he said. “This is another reason why we need our own police force here.”

“I agree,” Loretta said. “I’ve already called the Sunshine County Sheriff’s Department.”

“Then why exactly are you here talking to me about this? I’m not sure what I can do to help. I was at the clubhouse, too. I only just arrived here for my evening cup of joe.”

“Because you are the head of the Village Council and you asked us to report any crimes directly to you,” Loretta said. She repeated the same words he had spoken less than a week earlier.

“Right, right,” Clay said. “Okay, so what did the sheriff’s department have to say about all of this?”

“They said they will send a squad car out here as soon as someone is available.”

“That’s nice of them,” Clay said. “Do you recall who you spoke with?”

“First, I spoke with a secretary, and then I was forwarded to a Captain Binger.”

“Did he give you a first name?” Clay asked.

“It was actually a woman, and she said her name was Ellen,” Loretta said. “Anyway, she said she would send someone out, but that the department has more pressing issues at hand.”

“More pressing issues? Like what?” He sat up in his seat and leaned forward.

Loretta shrugged. “Captain Binger did not say exactly what was more important than my house being broken into,” she said. “It’s really important to me, though.”

Clay pushed his coffee away and turned to look at her. His face softened and he stood up from his seat. “Why don’t you go on back home and wait for the sheriff’s department to show up while I go to my office and make a few phone calls myself?”

Loretta nodded. “Thank you, Clay,” she said. “I mean that.”

Clay nodded and patted her shoulder. One of the many things Loretta had learned to get used to as a resident of Breezy Lake was the sheer amount of shoulder and arm patting.

She left the coffee shop feeling a little better about the situation. As she pressed the button on her garage door opener, she glanced in the rearview mirror and groaned. Two familiar figures approached her driveway from the road. Brigitte Waldorf and Pauline Pendleton walked quickly toward her. Prancing behind Pauline was Nigel, her scared-of-everything Pomeranian.

“We heard about what happened,” Pauline said. “How sad that Milo is missing!” Loretta wasn’t sure if her words were sincere or not.

“So, your house really was broken into?” Brigitte gasped. “We just saw you a little while ago.”

Loretta nodded. “I’m aware,” she said. For her, patience was a little scarce.

“I wonder if the perp knew you and targeted you specifically?” Pauline asked. “Because we all know you don’t have the nicest house at the lake. I don’t think I’d even put it in the top twenty.”

“You have such a way with words,” Loretta said wryly. “Talk about kicking me while I’m down.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pauline asked.

Loretta sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this any longer.” She turned toward her house.

“I want to know what you’re trying to accuse me of,” Pauline demanded.

Loretta turned back to the women in her driveway. “You just insulted my house, and you said it after I came home and discovered it had been broken into. That’s like kicking someone when they’re down.”

“Oh, you are just so sensitive,” Brigitte said.

“What can I do for you, anyway?” Loretta asked. “What brings you two by?”

“After we did all the cleaning from dinner, we decided to come by and see how things were going,” Pauline said.

“You know,” Brigitte spoke up again. “I wonder if that guy we ran into earlier had anything to do with your break-in. He was asking about you.”

Loretta shook her head. “Wait, what are you talking about?” she asked. “What guy was asking about me? When did this happen and why are you just telling me now?”

Brigitte’s eyes widened. She glanced at Pauline before she opened her mouth again.

“What, now you’re speechless?” Pauline huffed.

“I just didn’t know if I’d said something wrong,” Brigitte admitted, her eyes wide.

“This morning, while we were out for a walk with Nigel, there was a man in a strange car driving around the lake,” Pauline said. “He stopped us when we were down by the vegetable market chatting with Edwin.”

“He mentioned me by name?” Loretta asked.

Brigitte nodded her head quickly. “He said he knew you, and he wanted to get in touch with you about something of his you have,” she said.

Loretta folded her arms across her chest. “I really have no idea who he could be or what he’s talking about.”

Pauline nodded. “Funny, because he was pretty certain you have something that belongs to him. He said he was here to ask you about it.”

“Did he tell you his name?” Loretta asked. There was a thunderstorm brewing inside her middle.

“He said his name was Marvin Washcloth,” Brigitte offered.

“I’m sorry, what?” Not only did the name mean nothing to Loretta, but it was hardly a name she could imagine anyone actually had.

“No, no,” Pauline said. She swiped her hand in the air at her friend. “It wasn’t Marvin, but it was something similar.”

“Martin!” Brigitte snapped her fingers. “That’s what he said his name was! Martin Washcloth!”

“No, that isn’t right, either,” Pauline said. “It was Martin alright, but the last name is wrong.”

Loretta closed her eyes. By then, she knew exactly who had come asking questions about her, and his presence was the farthest thing from good news. “Was it Martin Ashcroft, by chance?” she asked.

“Yes!” Pauline and Brigitte said at the same time.

“Do you know who that is?” Pauline asked. She titled her head to appear genuinely concerned for Loretta’s well-being, but her biggest concern was the gossip she could create from the situation.

“Yeah. I know who he is,” Loretta said.

“So, what is it? What do you have that belongs to him?” Brigitte asked. “He sure was a good-looking man.”

“Yeah, he is that,” Loretta mumbled. “But you know what they say about the devil. Nobody gets tempted by an ugly man.”

CHAPTER THREE

“So, are you going to tell me who this Martin Ashcroft is?” Kelly asked Loretta a short time later. They were seated outside of Loretta’s front door on lawn chairs, waiting for law enforcement to show up. Pauline and Brigitte had given up bugging her after her determination not to answer any more of their questions.

“Martin Ashcroft is my former husband and business partner.”

“Why would he say that you have something that belongs to him?” Kelly asked.

“I honestly have no idea,” Loretta said. “But he has my cat now, and that makes me angrier than a wet hen.”

“Are you sure he took the cat?” Kelly asked. “Maybe Milo just got out when he broke into the house.”

“I guess that’s possible,” Loretta admitted. “But it would be like Martin to take my cat and hold him until I hand over whatever it is he claims I have.”

“Was there any sort of ransom note?” Kelly asked.

“Not that I saw.” Loretta sat back and shook her head. “I just don’t understand why he’s hanging around here. Our divorce was of no great benefit to me. I can tell you that much.”

“Pauline told you he was here after something you have of his, right? Do you have any clue what that might be?”

“I have no idea,” Loretta said.

“You don’t have to share a lot of details about your divorce, but is there something you took with you that he might want? A family heirloom, money, anything?” Kelly asked.

Loretta cleared her throat. She looked up and down the road for any sign of Pauline or Brigitte before she spoke again. “Let me tell you about our divorce. He had everything filed and worked out long before I had any clue. He moved things around so that all I got was a small amount. That’s why I’m here. It made more sense financially to retire out here and live the rest of my life on the small pension I have from when I worked at the phone company.”

“I didn’t know you worked for the phone company.”

“I sure did, before we opened the bistro,” Loretta said.

“I can tell you don’t like sharing a lot of information about your personal life,” Kelly said. “But was your divorce amicable? Is it possible Martin is here to cause you trouble?”

Loretta nodded slowly. “It is very, very possible,” she said. “We were barely friends when we were married, never mind now.”

“Looks like the sheriff’s department finally decided to send somebody along,” Kelly said. She pointed up the road to the familiar squad car with the Sunshine County Sheriff’s Department decal on the side of the driver’s door. Loretta watched as the car parked and the door opened. “Your Deputy Hargraves is here.”

“He’s not my deputy anything,” Loretta muttered. “I only met him a few times.”

“Well, he’s the one who shows up lately,” Kelly whispered back. “Anytime we need anything out here, it’s him who comes.”

“That’s probably because he was assigned this area as his beat, or whatever they call it,” Loretta said. She stood up to greet the deputy.

“I’ll see you later on,” Kelly said. She winked at Loretta before she turned to walk down the road, nodding to the deputy as she passed by him.

“Ms. Barksdale?”

“Hello, again,” Loretta said. “I’m not going to lie and tell you that it’s nice to see you again.”

“Of course not,” Deputy Hargraves said. “Nobody likes these circumstances.”

“Not at all,” Loretta said. “Would you like to come inside?”

The deputy nodded. “I’ll need to look around, but why don’t you start by filling me in on what happened?”

“Sure,” Loretta said. “I was gone for most of the day. We had an early-bird chili dinner to prepare for at the clubhouse. I have a three-wheel beach bicycle that I like to ride around the lake. When I left there, I decided to take the long way home.”

“Why did you do that? It’s not exactly a sunny day,” the deputy said.

Loretta shook her head. “No, it isn’t, and that’s exactly why I took the long way. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Florida sunshine, but I like gray days, too.”

“Okay, go on,” he said. Loretta was unsure if he thought she was odd for enjoying a dreary day.

“Well, I made it home and put the bike in the garage. When I went inside, I put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and started looking around for Milo,” Loretta continued.

“Milo would be the large cat I met here before?” he said.

“Yes, that’s him. Anyway, I couldn’t find him anywhere,” Loretta said. “I looked all over the house and found a bell from his collar near the front door. The door was ajar, and I did not leave it that way.”

“Was there anything else out of place in the house?” the deputy asked.

“Not a thing,” Loretta said.

“Are you completely sure the front door was closed and locked when you left the house earlier?” Deputy Hargraves asked.

“Without a doubt,” Loretta said. “I went out the garage door, anyway.”

“Do you have any idea who might have wanted to break into your house?” he asked.

Loretta groaned. “I didn’t at first, but after speaking with a couple of my neighbors, I found out that there was someone here asking around about me and where I live,” she said.

“Do you know who this person is?”

“He’s my ex-husband, Martin Ashcroft,” Loretta said. She cleared her throat. “Pauline and Brigitte ran into him by Edwin’s vegetable market this morning.”

“Did you know he was going to be in town? Is there a good relationship between the two of you?”

“There is no relationship between us, Deputy Hargraves,” Loretta said firmly. “Our divorce ended any opportunity for that. He took over my business and paid me a small amount of money for my part in it. Trust me, he was the one who walked away the winner.”

“Why don’t you show me around?” Deputy Hargraves made a move for the house. Loretta led him inside and waited while he made his way around. The deputy jotted down a few notes, and after a few minutes, he met her back in the kitchen. “If you see anything or hear more from your ex, let me know. There really isn’t a whole lot more I can do.”

Loretta walked him to the door and waited while he drove away. She turned back to her living room and looked around. Panic began to creep in when she thought about her cat. He was out there by himself, wandering around the neighborhood in a place he wasn’t too familiar with. Since their move to Breezy Lake, she hadn’t allowed him outside at all.

Maybe he had been taken by someone who meant harm, but that scenario made less sense to her since there was no note left behind or demand for ransom. If Milo was out there all alone, perhaps all he needed was a familiar face to help guide him home. Or a voice. Either way, she decided to put on her walking shoes and head out for a walk around the neighborhood before the sun went down.

Loretta grabbed a light jacket from the front closet and made sure her phone was in the back pocket of her jeans. She triple-checked that the front door was locked up tight before she left, and she did the same with the garage door, making sure all her bases were covered.

She headed in the direction of the vegetable market. Something told her the other direction, toward the entrance and the clubhouse, was not the way her cat would have gone. She passed a few other walkers on her way. Thankfully, Pauline and Brigitte were not among them. She wasn’t sure whether she could handle running into the two of them again.

Loretta walked about a quarter of a mile before she spotted an animal of any type. Strays were not common around the lake. There were far too many lonely retirees around to let a stray remain a stray. But Loretta’s cat was not a stray, and she was determined not to allow him to become someone else’s pet.

“Milo,” she called out as she walked. “Here, kitty.” She wasn’t sure why she called for him like that. Milo had never been really attracted to cutesy sayings.

“Who are you looking for?” Edwin asked.

“My cat,” Loretta said. “He’s big and black and white, and not very friendly.”

“I heard something happened at your house,” Edwin said. “Was the cat taken?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Either that or he was let out. I just want to find him. He isn’t very used to the lake yet, and he’s an indoor cat.”

“Well, if I were a cat, I think the first place I would go is down by the public docks,” Edwin said.

“Where are the public docks?” Loretta asked. She had not heard of them in the months she had lived there.

“Down that way,” Edwin said, pointing to the picnic area across the road from the clubhouse.

“There are piles of old ropes coiled up there next to the pier. Mice and rats like to hang out there. For that reason, stray cats like to hang out there, too.”

Loretta thanked Edwin for the tip and turned to walk in the other direction. She picked up her pace, hoping to see the docks before she ran out of light. As she walked, she continued to call out Milo’s name. When she turned off the road and entered the park, she spotted a few cats running around the old docks, just as Edwin said she would, but there was no sign of Milo.

With barely enough light to walk home by, Loretta gave up and headed back.

CHAPTER FOUR

It was almost completely dark out when Loretta arrived back at home. She waited in the garage until the door shut behind her just in case Milo was close by and decided to run back inside.

She sighed when there was no sign of him and walked up the small set of steps into the kitchen. The light above the sink was the only one she had left on before her fruitless attempt to find Milo. Loretta walked around the house and turned on every light she could, double-checking the locks on the windows.

After two or three more trips around the house, Loretta finally settled into bed. She lay awake for close to an hour, her mind racing as she tried to sleep. Why hadn’t she called her former husband herself? Maybe he did know something about the cat’s whereabouts and would simply tell her if she was adult enough to pick up the phone and ask.

Just as she felt the weight of sleep begin to close in, Loretta heard something outside her bedroom window. Her eyes flew open, and for a moment, she simply lay there under her covers, listening. If Milo had returned, he might have come to her window. She forced herself to count to thirty and listen again.

This time, it was clear. Someone was outside, tapping quietly on the glass. Loretta threw the covers back on her bed. She rolled to her side and picked up her cell phone, ready to call the police.

Not that it would matter. The closest police were more than thirty minutes away. Maybe Clay had a point when he’d said that Breezy Lake needed their own police force. Even so, she was ready to call if she needed to.

The second she stepped out of bed, she heard a familiar voice. “Loretta, can you hear me?”

She sat back on the bed for a moment and closed her eyes. Martin Ashcroft was visible through the split in her curtains. He was outside of her bedroom window, peering inside. She grabbed her robe from the end of her bed and headed out to the living room.

“Martin, get over here,” she said when she opened the front door and leaned outside. “You are not getting anywhere through that window.”

“Where have you been?” Martin asked her when he extricated himself from the privacy bush in front of her window.

“What do you mean, where have I been?” Loretta asked. “You have a lot of audacity asking me where I’ve been. The better question is, why are you here?”

“I’m here for something that belongs to me,” Martin said. His face had more of a doughy look to it than she’d remembered. He had put on some weight since she had last seen him.

“What on earth do you think I have that belongs to you?” Loretta asked. She gestured for him to come inside and closed the door behind her. “I want to know where my cat went.”

“Your cat? That’s what you want to know about?” Martin asked, laughing at her. “I show up here all the way from New Hampshire, and you want to know where your stupid cat is?” He raised his voice louder with each word.

“Someone broke into my house—I’m assuming you—and Milo hasn’t been seen since,” Loretta said.

Martin raised his arms and held them up in front of his face. Deep scratches zigzagged his bare skin. “I had a run-in with him when I came by, and he just took off running,” he said. “After he protested my arrival, of course.”

“So, you didn’t take him?” Loretta asked.

“Does it look like I took him?” Martin waved his arms around in the air. “Does it look like I could have taken the beast, even if I had wanted him?”

“Not really,” Loretta said with a sigh. She was a little relieved that Martin wasn’t holding the cat somewhere, but even more concerned for his well-being knowing that he’d run away. “Why are you here? I have nothing of yours. If you recall, I left Herring Heights with very little, thanks to you.”

“No, you left with the proceeds from your part of the bistro,” he said. “I want to know where all of that money went!”

Loretta cocked her head to the side. It was late at night, and she was tired, but she had not been to sleep. There was no way she was actually standing in the middle of a dream. “You’re looking at where the money went, Martin,” she said. “I moved here and bought this house.”

Martin wrinkled his nose and looked around her. “You spent all of my money on this?”

“First of all, this is my house, and I am very proud of it. And second, not one red cent of that money was yours. In fact, you kept far more of the money than you should have.”

“Oh, no,” Martin said. “You aren’t going to pull that on me now. I did everything legally. You only got what you did from me because that’s what my lawyer said I had to give you. Now come clean with me. Where is the money?”

Loretta sat down on her couch and stared up at him. “What are you not understanding? I bought this house with it. That’s it. That’s where the money went.”

The smirk on Martin’s face seemed to dissolve. In its place, his face hardened into a frown. “I’m not kidding around here, Loretta,” he said. “I need that money, as much of it as you can come up with.”

“I am telling you that I don’t have it,” she said. “All I have left is the monthly check I get from my pension. That’s all I have to live on.”

“No, no.” Martin began shaking his head. “No, no, no! There is no way you sunk all that money into this place! Is this even a real house? I can’t believe you wasted all of my money.” He walked around her living room in a circle, throwing his hands over his head.

“Okay, you need to leave now,” Loretta said. She went to the front door and held it open for him. “Goodbye, Martin.”

He dropped his arms down to his side and began shaking his head. “You can’t be serious.” He clasped both hands together and looked up at her. “Please, please tell me that you’re pulling my leg. You can’t honestly be this stupid, can you? I mean, it’s clear you were never very bright, but you cannot really be so dense that you would sink all of the money that I gave you into this shack!”

“Leave, now,” Loretta ordered. She pointed to the open front door.

Martin took a step backward. “I can’t do that,” he said. “You don’t understand what’s going on. I need that money. You have to give it to me, Loretta. You owe it to me!”

“I don’t owe you a dime,” she shouted over him. “If you don’t leave, I will have you thrown out!”

“Fine,” Martin said. “You might as well have them throw me out with an anchor wrapped around my legs! I’m as good as dead unless you can come up with that money.”

“Hold on,” Loretta said. Martin was still a few feet away from the front door. “Why are you as good as dead?”

“Because someone is going to kill me unless I come up with eighty grand in two days,” Martin said. “I have to come up with the money in forty-eight hours, or I’m dead meat.”

Loretta shut the door and folded her arms over her chest. “Who do you owe that much money to?”

“I can’t tell you,” he said. He turned and walked into her kitchen. “But these guys, they don’t play around. I need that money back.”

She shook her head again. “I’m sorry about whatever it is you’re dealing with, but I’m telling you, I don’t have it.”

“Then you can sell this place,” he said. His lip curled up in disgust each time he looked around her house.

“I can’t do that, even if I wanted to,” she said. “And I don’t want to.”

“Come on,” Martin raised his voice again. “You have to! You owe me.”

“How do you figure that I owe you?” Loretta asked. She pulled the front door open again. “You weaseled your way around and got me shut out of every other asset we had, and then you filed for divorce. I was lucky to get what I got after years and years of working my fingers to the bone in our restaurant. So, no. I don’t owe you anything.”

“Loretta, they’re going to kill me,” Martin cried. “Did you hear me? These guys are not playing games.”

“What guys?” she asked him again. Her head began to hurt from the circular conversation. “Who do you think is going to come and kill you if you don’t come up with this massive amount of money?”

“His name is Gary Dennis, and he is something of a loan officer,” Martin said.

“Loan officers don’t tend to come after you with threats of violence,” Loretta said.

“This guy does,” he said. “I borrowed some money from the wrong people, and I have to pay it back right now, or else I will die.”

“Why don’t you go home and give him some of your money, then?” Loretta asked. “Pay him back yourself.”

“Don’t you think I would do that if I still had some money?” he hissed. “I wouldn’t have borrowed that money if I had enough of my own!”

“What did you do with all of the money you had?” Loretta asked.

“None of your business,” he snapped.

“I guess you don’t need my help, then.” She pointed to the front door.

“Okay, fine,” Martin said. “I spent it.”

“All of it?”

“All of it, yes,” he said.

“What about the bistro? Can you take out a loan on it?” she asked.

Martin shook his head. “No, I can’t take out a loan on the bistro,” he said. “It’s gone.”

“It’s gone.” Loretta gasped. “What happened to the bistro?”

“It burned to the ground a month ago, and I was supposed to get a big check from the insurance company, but that has been delayed.”

“Wait, the bistro burned down, and the insurance won’t pay you for it? Why?”

Martin threw his hands up again. “Because they’re claiming there was something fishy about the fire,” he said. “What business is it of theirs how the fire happened? Their job is to pay me when there is a fire, not to send investigators out to figure out what did or did not happen.”

“Was there something fishy about the fire?” Loretta asked.

“What difference does it make to you?” Martin shouted. “It’s none of your business, either.”

“If that’s the case, I suggest you go talk to that insurance company again about getting yourself some money,” Loretta said. “Because you’ll have better luck getting it from them than from me.”

“How am I supposed to do that? I already told you they won’t pay out for the fire!”

“Then I guess you better hope they have a cat you can kidnap, because that’s the only way you’re going to get eighty thousand dollars in two days,” she said. “Now, get yourself out of my house before I call the cops.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Martin Ashcroft sulked as he walked past his former wife and stepped back into the night. The door slammed behind him before he could turn to look at her one last time.

Loretta locked the deadbolt and shoved a small bookcase in front of the door for good measure. She stalked around her house for several minutes, peeking out of each of the windows for any sign of Martin. When she returned to her bedroom, she attempted to rest, but sat right up again after less than a minute.

There was no way on earth she was going to get any more sleep. Instead, Loretta sat in front of her computer screen. She opened a search engine and typed in the name of the bistro she had owned with Martin back home in Herring Heights. It was hard for her to believe what he had said.

A few clicks of the mouse revealed the truth. Martin was not telling her another lie. She stared at the image from the online newspaper article. Charred ruins were all that was left of the bistro. It was one thing to have everything she had worked for taken from her in a divorce settlement, and another to see it there in full color, nothing but ruins.

The digital clock on her desk told her that it was just after two in the morning, but twenty years of heartache, sweat, prayers, and hard work passed through Loretta as she sat there. The entire room turned at once into a bustling dining room. She could smell the bacon frying and hear the burgers sizzling on the grill. Everything was there around her all at once, and then it was gone. She gazed at the photo on her computer screen again.

“It’s really gone,” she said to herself before she shut the laptop and shuffled back down the hallway to her bed. She landed face down on her pillow and turned her head to the side for air, but otherwise remained in the same position until the sun rose the next morning.

Loretta pushed herself up from her bed and yawned. Since Martin’s arrival at her bedroom window, she had not enjoyed a wink of decent sleep. Without thinking about it first, she ambled toward the kitchen searching for Milo, but the cat was nowhere to be found, of course. She had no outside door open to allow him to get back inside. He was gone, still gone, and she had no idea where he might be or if he was still alive. The thought caused a hard lump to form in her throat.

Loretta filled her coffeemaker and turned it on, then headed back down the hall to shower and dress for the day. Although her calendar was clear of anything aside from a Clubhouse Cooks luncheon, she already felt like the day was packed full.

Twenty minutes later, Loretta stood in front of her window and watched the waves gently roll against the shore. Orange light danced over the water from the rising sun, but she found no comfort in it. Instead, her insides were twisted in knots.

Moving away from the window, Loretta glanced at the kitchen clock. It was still early, but she needed to alert Deputy Hargraves to the fact that her former husband had come to her home and admitted that he’d been inside. She found his phone number on the business card she still had in her wallet from the first time they met, months before.

“This is Harold,” he said when he answered.

“Deputy Hargraves?” Loretta was taken aback by the fact that he answered on the first ring. The use of his first name surprised her, too.

“Yeah, this is Deputy Hargraves,” he said. She noted the breathlessness in his voice. “You caught me out running, Ms. Barksdale. Can I help you?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Loretta said, a little flustered. “You asked me to let you know if my ex-husband showed up around here.”

“And by your phone call, I take it that he did.”

“He knocked on my window in the middle of the night,” Loretta said.

“Did you let him in?” he asked.

“Yes,” Loretta said quickly. “I did let him in. I thought he might have Milo with him, or at least information about him.”

“My question wasn’t a challenge to your decision, Ms. Barksdale,” he said.

“Please, call me Loretta.”

“Okay, Loretta,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me about what happened?”

“He knocked on my window, and I opened the front door for him,” Loretta said. “He came inside and started asking me for the money I received in my divorce settlement.”

“Did he say why he needed it?”

“After insulting my house and me for a while, he told me that the bistro, our restaurant we had together back home, burned to the ground,” she said. “He also told me that the insurance company wouldn’t pay out for the claim, either.”

“Did he say why?” the deputy asked.

“No,” she said. “In fact, he told me that the reason wasn’t any of my business.”

“That doesn’t sound very good.”

“No, not at all.” Loretta chuckled. “He also told me that someone named Gary Dennis is after him for eighty thousand dollars.”

“Eighty grand? That’s a lot of money,” Deputy Hargraves said. “Did he say what the money was for?”

“No, but he described the man as a loan officer,” Loretta explained. “He said he had borrowed money from the wrong people and that if he didn’t pay back the money in two days, the man was going to kill him.”

“About what time did this happen?”

“A little after midnight,” Loretta said.

“Well, that’s very interesting,” he replied. Loretta could hear him open and close a car door in the background. “Are you at home right now? There is something I need to discuss with you, and I would prefer not to do it over the phone.”

“Okay,” Loretta said. “I’m at home. Should I meet you somewhere?”

“No,” he said. “I’d prefer to meet you there. I wouldn’t mind looking around outside after your late-night visitor, either.”

“What do you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

“Later,” he replied. “In person. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be there within the hour.”

“Okay, see you shortly,” Loretta said. She set her phone down and returned to the coffee maker. Something told her that she was going to need the caffeine.

CHAPTER SIX

“Is there anything else you can tell me about your former husband?” Deputy Hargraves asked.

“Like what, exactly?” Loretta asked.

“Do you think your ex-husband was capable of committing arson for the insurance money?”

Loretta stared at the deputy for a minute before she answered. “I’m not sure how to answer that,” she said. “I thought I knew him when we were married. I thought our marriage was the real deal until he showed up one night with divorce papers and a lawyer.”

“So, you’re saying that you feel like you don’t know him well enough to say?”

Loretta nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean,” she said.

“Well, you may have to answer some more questions about him soon,” he said.

“Questions like what?” Loretta asked.

“Like whether or not there is anyone who can verify he was here last night,” the deputy said.

Loretta shook her head. “Verify that he was here? It was the middle of the night,” she said. “There could be doorbell cameras with him on it, I suppose. I don’t happen to have one, but we can check with the neighbors.”

“Okay, well, I suppose I should tell you this before I say any more,” Deputy Hargraves said with a deep breath. “The body of a man was found on the highway, halfway to Sunshine Falls, early this morning. According to the identification on his body, the man was Martin George Ashcroft.”

“Oh, gosh,” Loretta said. She shook her head. “Martin is dead?”

“I’m afraid so,” the deputy said. He watched her carefully. “I’m sorry to have to tell you like this.”

Loretta stared at him. “He was just here,” she said. “I guess that means he was right about this man being after him. I dismissed him when he was telling me everything. I feel so rotten now, Deputy.”

“You can call me Harold,” he said.

“I feel horrible,” she said. “He was not a good man, but he was a human being, and it’s my fault that he is dead.”

“I’m going to need you to come with me and see if you can identify the body,” he told her. “I know that’s a lot to ask of you right now, but you are the closest thing we have to a next of kin.”

“Right now?” She glanced nervously around the kitchen. The last thing she wanted to do was to see the dead body of her former husband.

“I think right now is best, if you can handle it,” Harold told her. “My car is right outside. You’ll need your identification to verify your witness statement to the medical examiner.”

“Okay,” Loretta said. She walked numbly to her bedroom for her purse and returned a second later. She followed him out to his squad car. He opened the front passenger door for her and waited while she got in.

Loretta said nothing when the deputy pulled out of the driveway. As he backed out onto the road, she spotted Pauline Pendleton standing on the sidewalk, holding tightly to a leash, with a barking Nigel on the other end. Pauline’s eyes widened when she spotted Loretta in the front seat of the deputy’s car.

She looked straight forward as they drove out of Breezy Lake. “How far away is the medical examiner’s office?” she asked after about ten minutes of driving.

“It’s a half hour or so,” the deputy told her. “Just outside of Sunshine Falls.”

“Okay,” was all Loretta could think to say in return. Her mind filled with memories of Martin, just as it had with the bistro the night before. After a while, Harold turned into a parking lot and pulled to a stop. Loretta looked around the otherwise empty lot.

“We’re here,” he said.

“Okay,” she said and opened her car door. She followed him around to the rear of the building and waited while he swiped his badge through a scanner on the door.

“This way,” he said, gesturing down the hallway. They stood outside of two double doors. Harold rang the bell and waited. A second later, one of the doors opened slightly. The deputy nodded and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

“Loretta Barksdale, meet Dr. Kimberly Meacham,” he said. Loretta nodded at the plump figure covered head to toe in blue, aside from the white surgical mask over her face.

“Nice to meet you, Loretta,” Dr. Meacham said. “Of course, these are never good circumstances.”

“Agreed.” She waited quietly while the doctor handed a stack of forms to the deputy to sign. As soon as he went through each page, the doctor moved toward a wall of metal drawers and slowly pulled on a handle until the long drawer fully appeared. Loretta’s breath caught in her throat.

“Okay,” Dr. Meacham said to her. “Here’s how this happens. I am going to pull the sheet back on his face. You take one look and nod your head or tell me ‘yes’ some other way if you know who he is. Okay? You can confirm his name, but you only have to look once.”

“Okay,” Loretta said. She nodded and inhaled deeply while the doctor gripped the edge of the flat white sheet. She watched while the sheet slowly came back. Before her eyes could focus, she blinked and pictured Martin’s face from the night before.

“Do you recognize the deceased?” the doctor asked.

Loretta gasped and shook her head. “No, I don’t,” she said. The man’s angular face was a complete mystery to her. “I have never seen this man before in my life.”

“This isn’t Martin Ashcroft?” Harold asked her.

“No, that is not my ex-husband,” she said. She stepped closer and looked a little harder. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know this person.”

“Okay, go ahead and cover him back up,” Harold instructed Dr. Meacham. “So, you have never seen this person before. Are you sure?”

Loretta slowly shook her head and pried her gaze from the man’s face. “Did you compare the identification you found to this man?”

The deputy led her away from the metal drawers to the other side of the room. “Yes, we did, but we must confirm with someone who can identify the person. You would be shocked at how much someone can change their appearance.”

“Well, there is no way that’s Martin,” Loretta said. “I don’t know who he is, but my former husband’s face is chubby, chubbier than it ever has been.”

“Okay.” Harold turned to the doctor. “We’re going to see ourselves out. Thank you, Dr. Meacham.”

“Thank you,” Loretta said as they walked back through the double doors and into the hallway. She said nothing more until they were back outside. “So, what happens now?”

“Now we go back to the drawing board,” he said. He held the car door open for her again.

“Thanks,” Loretta said before he walked back around the front of the car to the driver’s side.

“You should also know that it is very likely that we will issue a warrant for Martin’s arrest,” he said. “In fact, I can almost guarantee that is going to happen.”

“Did you know?” Loretta asked him.

“Did I know what?”

“Did you know I was going to tell you that it wasn’t Martin?” she asked.

Harold turned the key in the ignition and nodded his head slowly. “I had a feeling you might, but I couldn’t let you know that. I needed to get your honest reaction.”

Loretta shook her head. “I have no idea what to think now,” she said.

“Well, the first thing you can do is tell me what you saw Martin driving last night.”

“I never saw him drive anything,” Loretta said. “I didn’t notice what he was in.”

“You didn’t see a car outside of your house?”

Loretta sat quietly for a moment. “I don’t recall anything, Harold,” she said. Using his first name felt a little weird at first. “But I know who might be able to tell us.”

The deputy shook his head slowly from side to side. “Please don’t say who I think you’re going to say,” he said.

“Pauline and Brigitte ran into someone who was looking for me,” she said. “I think they might be able to provide you with the description.”

“If I have to go talk to those two, you have to go with me,” Harold said.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Loretta said, trying not to crack a smile.

“You have to. It’s the law.” He winked.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What did you do now?” Pauline whispered severely to Loretta an hour later. They were seated inside the clubhouse dining room at an empty table.

“I didn’t do anything,” Loretta said.

“Then why am I here waiting for a sheriff’s deputy instead of having breakfast at the coffee shop?” Pauline asked.

“Yeah, we were supposed to be having coffee together this morning,” Brigitte said.

“We will try to make this short, then,” Harold said as he entered the room. He had used the kitchen for a brief phone call with his supervisor at the sheriff’s department.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Deputy,” Pauline said. Her brightly colored hair bounced around her head in large curls when she spoke. She pursed her lips and blinked a few extra times. Loretta turned her head and bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

“That’s alright, Pauline,” Deputy Hargraves said. “Anyway, the reason why we’re here is because the two of you spoke to someone yesterday who was looking for Ms. Barksdale. I need to know what that man looked like and what he was driving.”

“Well, for starters, he wasn’t what I would call good looking,” Pauline said. She gave the deputy a very obvious once over. “You’re far more handsome than that ogre was.”

“Yeah, he actually looked a little like that green guy from the kid’s movie,” Brigitte chimed in. “The one who marries the princess who is also secretly an ogre, too.”

“Okay, but what did he look like?” the deputy asked. “Was he short or tall? What color was his hair, that sort of thing?”

“He was sitting inside of a car, so it’s hard to say how tall he really was,” Brigitte said.

“Was his head up to the top of the seat?” Harold asked.

“At the top,” Pauline said quickly.

“Okay, good,” Harold said with a smile. Pauline beamed at him. “What about his face?”

“He was white, chubby, with thinning brown hair,” Pauline continued. “And the car he was driving was just a plain, old sedan. Four doors, a lot like you see around here.”

“So, it was a little older?” Harold asked them.

“Yes, Deputy,” Brigitte spoke up next. She glared hard at Pauline. “It was a few years older, and a dark color. Blue. I’m sure it was blue.”

“That car was not blue, Brigitte Waldorf,” Pauline snapped. She sneered at her friend and turned back to the deputy and Loretta. “More like a dark purple.”

“No, it was blue. Midnight blue,” Brigitte said, raising her voice. “I think I know what color the car was.”

“You don’t know anything,” Pauline replied. “In fact, I don’t even know why you’re here at the moment. It was me he spoke with, not you. You said nothing to him.”

“That’s because you have to be the one who talks to everybody,” Brigitte shouted. “You’re the village motormouth.”

“Ladies, please.” Harold held his hands in the air and waved them around to get their attention. “Can we please focus on these questions?”

“If I’m the village motormouth, you’re the village moron,” Pauline mumbled.

“I heard that,” Brigitte said.

“We all heard that,” Loretta said. “Please, just focus like Harold asked you to.”

The second the name left her lips; Loretta knew she had made a terrible mistake. Pauline’s eyes grew wide, and her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh, it’s Harold now, is it?” She turned to Brigitte. All previous insults were apparently forgotten. “I see you’re getting quite cozy together now. You’ve been here a few months, Loretta. I suppose it’s about time you spread your wings and set your cap for someone. As young as you are, you can hardly expect to land a more mature specimen.”

Loretta exhaled and shook her head. “The description they gave does sound a lot like Martin,” she said. “I noticed that his face was quite a bit rounder than it was when we divorced.”

“He’s filled out since your divorce?” Pauline chuckled. “That says a whole lot about your cooking to me. He eats more now that you’re gone.”

“Enough,” Harold said. “I think we do have enough here, ladies. Thank you for your time. I’m going to return to the office with this description. I have to speak with someone about issuing a warrant for Martin’s arrest.”

“Okay,” Loretta said quietly. “I suppose you’ll be in touch later on.”

“Of course, he’ll be in touch,” Brigitte muttered.

“Please, Brigitte,” Loretta said.

“Please, what? You want me to keep going, you say?”

“No, I really wish you would quit,” Loretta said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have a cat to search for, and I’m not getting any closer sitting here with the two of you.” She headed out the door Harold held open for her. He replaced his hat and tipped it toward her on his way back to the squad car.

Loretta stood outside for a moment, looking around for any clue to the direction she should take. She had already looked everywhere she could think of for Milo, and now there was going to be an arrest warrant issued for her former husband. She could not imagine Martin committing murder.

“Is it hard to watch him go?” Brigitte whispered in her ear. She giggled at her own comment.

“Really, Brigitte? Haven’t you had enough fun?” Loretta snapped at her.

“Where are you off to now?” Pauline demanded. She stood next to Brigitte.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I have no clue where to go next,” she admitted. “I want to find my cat.”

“We’ll help you,” Pauline said. Her face softened, and she reached out to pat Loretta on the arm. Another arm pat was not what she needed.

“No offense, but I don’t think you’re sincere with your offer,” Loretta said. “I haven’t slept, and I don’t have time for more shenanigans from you.”

“I’m perfectly sincere,” Pauline said.

“You are?” Brigitte asked her.

“Yes, I am,” Pauline said. “I have Nigel, and he is the one thing that helps me through the lonely nights. Getting older isn’t easy, and having a pet helps a lot. If it makes you feel better, we’ll call a truce for the time being. For now, I’m going to start by looking at the animal shelter in Sunshine Falls. Text a photo of the cat to me, and I’ll head there now.”

“I’ll go with you,” Brigitte offered.

“Thank you,” Loretta said. “I’m going home to print some posters with his picture on them to hang up around town.”

“If I find Milo, I’ll give you a call,” Pauline said. “I have a feeling he wouldn’t go anywhere with me if I begged him to.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

When she returned to her lakeside home, Loretta was still a little stunned by the change in Pauline’s demeanor. She looked around the living room after letting herself in through the kitchen. Whatever negative thing Martin had seen when he had stopped by in the middle of the night, she didn’t care. She was happy with her little house.

Looking back at their lives together, she had seen elements of his personality that could have added up to cruelty. He was snobbish, judgmental, and eager to look down his nose at others. In the time since their divorce, Loretta had run through the end of their marriage, time and time again in her mind. He had fallen out of love with her, taken her for granted, and decided that he wanted her out of the picture. He schemed and connived behind her back until he forced her out of their business with only a little bit of money left to show for their lives together.

But, in all those late-night hours searching her own soul and going through her memories, never once had she seen anything in his character that would lead her to believe that he was capable of killing another human being.

Loretta shook her head and settled in behind her laptop. She searched for the best photo she could find of Milo and quickly created a poster. She included her phone number and added a reward for two hundred dollars. That much she could pull from the automatic teller machine near the community center. It was the least she could do for the return of her cat.

As soon as the printer fired to life, Loretta stood up from her desk chair and headed into the kitchen for a bottle of water. She gazed outside, hopeful that she might see a flash of black and white streak across the yard, but there was nothing there. Milo had still not come home.

Loretta quietly set the water bottle down on the kitchen counter when she heard a noise out in the garage. The door opened suddenly and a woman with brown hair stood on the other side.

“Loretta Ashcroft?” the woman asked.

“I’m Loretta, but Ashcroft is no longer my last name,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“I would like to speak with you,” the woman said. Her face was thin and sallow. She looked like she might have been pretty with more sleep and a few more hours in the daylight, but her frown and narrowed eyes gave her a grim expression.

“First, you need to tell me who you are and what your business with me is,” Loretta said. “You can’t just come inside my house because you want to.”

“Fine.” The woman reached inside the small handbag that hung off her shoulder and pulled out a driver’s license. “Bobbie Ashcroft is my name. Martin is my husband, and I want to ask you some questions.”

“Just keep your voice down,” Loretta said. She moved out of the way and let the woman inside. After a full night’s sleep on another day, she’d chastise herself for allowing the woman in her house, but in her current state, she was definitely not thinking clearly. “What do you want?”

“I want to know where Martin is,” Bobbie said. She walked around the living room, looking hard at everything she passed.

“I don’t know where he is,” Loretta said. “I’m not his wife any longer, and it isn’t my job to look after him.”

Bobbie smirked and walked around the living space. “He was here, though,” she said. “Wasn’t he? He has been here.”

Loretta cleared her throat and stood in front of the woman. “If I tell you, does that mean you’ll stop walking around my house?”

“Yeah, fine.” The woman rolled her eyes.

“Yes, Martin was here. He came in the middle of the night saying I had something of his.”

“Where is he now?” Bobbie asked. She turned her back to Loretta and continued snooping around the house.

“Excuse me,” Loretta raised her voice. “I asked you to stop looking around my house!”

“Why? Do you have something to hide?” Bobbie asked. She moved around Loretta and headed toward the hallway.

“Stop! If you take one more step, I will call the police and have you arrested for trespassing,” Loretta shouted.

“You can try,” Bobbie said calmly. “But you let me in. Good luck making your claims believable.” She continued down the hallway, toward the master bedroom.

“I am warning you, lady,” Loretta said. She raced down the hall to get in front of the woman before she could open the door to her room.

“He’s in there, isn’t he?” Bobbie demanded.

“No, of course not,” Loretta said. “I told you that he came by, but I made him leave.”

“You never said that you made him leave,” Bobbie said, folding her arms over her chest.

“My apologies.” Loretta rolled her eyes. “I made him leave. I don’t want him around here. He is not a good guy.”

“Move out of my way,” Bobbie said. “I want to see for sure.”

“No,” Loretta said. “Get out of my house.”

“Let me search it, and then I’ll leave,” Bobbie said.

“Why do you want to search my house?” Loretta asked. “What makes you think Martin is here still?”

“I want to know that he’s not still here,” Bobbie said. She lunged for the bedroom doorknob. “How do I know you’re not holding him here against his will?”

“Lady, you people keep coming to me. I don’t want anything to do with this,” Loretta said. “I left Martin and the life I had behind when I came here. Now that life seems to be following me around, and I don’t like it one bit. I want you out of my house right now.”

“I told you that I’m not leaving,” Bobbie said. “Not until I know that he’s not here.”

“If he’s your husband, why don’t you know where he is?”

“Why didn’t you keep him happy if he was yours?” Bobbie shot back.

“That’s it,” Loretta screamed. She twisted the doorknob and threw the door open. “There! See for yourself! Martin is not here. I have no idea where he is, but if I ever find out, I’ll be calling the police. In case you haven’t heard this yourself, your husband is wanted for murder.”

“Murder,” Bobbie turned around to look at her. “Who did he kill?”

Loretta shook her head. “I don’t know who the man is, but they found a body on the highway, halfway between here and the larger town called Sunshine Falls,” she said. “The police took me to the medical examiner’s office to identify the body. They thought it was Martin.”

Bobbie wandered between the bathroom and the large walk-in closet. “Why would they ask you to identify Martin?” she said. “You’re not his wife. I am.”

“Are you even curious why the cops thought it was Martin in the first place?” Loretta asked. Nothing about the situation was right, but there was something in the back of her mind that told her there was more than the woman’s insane audacity that was out of place.

“Of course, I am,” Bobbie said. “They probably just assumed it was him.”

“Yes, because his identification was with the dead man,” Loretta said. “He had Martin’s license and health insurance card on him.”

“What? He had his license?” she cried out. “That means my Martin is probably already dead! What did this other man look like?”

Loretta stared at her for a moment, unsure what she should reply to first. “I don’t think the cops think Martin is already dead,” she said. “The man was a lot smaller than Martin. He had more of a skinny, angular face.”

“So, you’re one hundred percent sure that it wasn’t Martin?” Bobbie asked.

“Yes,” Loretta said. “I told you it wasn’t him, just like I told you that he’s not here. Now that you’ve had a look around my bedroom, get the heck out of my house.”

“But there are other rooms in the house that I haven’t seen,” Bobbie objected. She turned to walk slowly out of the bedroom and stopped in the hallway to bury her head in her hands. “I have no idea what to do,” she sobbed. “Martin just up and left me three days ago without any word about where he was going.”

“How did you know to look for him here, then?” Loretta asked.

“Because his credit cards were used here,” Bobbie said. “I just followed the trail, and this is where it ended.”

“And you somehow knew where my house was?” Loretta asked her.

Bobbie glanced up at her, then screwed her face up and began to sob even louder. “He just up and left me without a word about where he was going,” she wailed. “I didn’t know where he was going. For all I knew, he was here to rekindle his marriage with you. So, I looked you up. I had to come and find out for myself.”

“Why didn’t you just call his cell phone?” Loretta asked.

“What makes you think that I haven’t been calling his cell phone?” Bobbie asked her.

“I don’t know,” Loretta said. “Get out of my house. I am not going to tell you again.”

“Wait, let me look in the rest of the house,” Bobbie insisted.

“No,” Loretta said. “No way. Get out.”

“I have to look!” Bobbie turned away from her suddenly and ran into the spare bedroom, the only other closed door in the house.

“Okay, satisfied now?” Loretta asked. “You have seen every room. Get out of here now. I have things to do.”

“Things like what?” Bobbie asked. “I bet you’re so anxious because you’re going somewhere to meet him.”

Loretta shook her head. “I don’t want to meet him,” she said. “I hope I never see him again. I just want to find my cat, and I can’t do that with you here.”

“What happened to your cat?” Bobbie asked.

“It doesn’t matter. I just want him back and you out of my life.”

Bobbie walked toward the living room. As she neared the front door, her tears seemed to evaporate. “You never did say what you have that he wanted so bad,” she said.

“How very observant of you,” Loretta said. She pushed the woman out of her house and slammed the door shut behind her.

CHAPTER NINE

Loretta ran back to her bedroom and waited thirty minutes before she dared leave her house. She had considered driving the posters around the lake on her three-wheeled bike but decided to take her car instead. She wanted the ability to leave in a hurry if she needed it. And if she happened to run into Bobbie Ashcroft again, she would definitely need it.

The first place she visited to hang up the posters was Edwin’s Market. The older man didn’t question her one bit. He took the poster from her and taped it up in front of the register inside the store and requested another one to hang up outside, near the vegetable bins. Loretta thanked him and headed down the lake to the smaller coffee shop. She visited the clubhouse, the second coffee shop, the small post office, and even the Village Council offices.

“What’s this about?” Clay asked when she stood in front of the cluttered bulletin board outside of his office. She pushed a thumbtack into the corner of the board to hang the poster. She was tempted to cover the announcement for the next Clubhouse Cooks event, a soup-and-sandwich luncheon slated for the following day, after the public Village Council meeting.

“My cat, Milo,” Loretta explained. She was not in the mood to go into much detail.

“This is the one who went missing when someone broke into your house, right?” Clay asked.

Loretta nodded. “That’s the one. I haven’t had any luck finding him.”

“Neither did we,” Pauline called out behind her. “Though I have to say, there were a number of better-looking cats there at the shelter in Sunshine Falls. If that beast doesn’t show up soon, I would just wash your hands of him and go and get one of the cute little kittens down there at the shelter.”

“Thank you for checking, but I won’t be looking for another cat anytime soon. I want mine back. I want Milo.”

“Well, I was only trying to help you out,” Pauline said.

“And I was thanking you for it.” Loretta’s exhaustion level increased with each passing moment.

“Any news from your Deputy Hargraves?” Brigitte asked. She stood behind Pauline and batted her eyelashes theatrically at Loretta.

“Again, he is not my Deputy Hargraves,” Loretta said. “And no, he hasn’t been in touch with me again.” She picked up the rest of her posters and turned to Clay. “Thank you for letting me hang this up here.”

“You’ll be happy to know that we are very close to a decision about establishing a police department here.” Clay beamed. “After your break-in, Loretta, I insisted on an in-person emergency meeting with the county commission. I think they are leaning in our favor.”

“One question,” Brigitte said. “How are we going to pay for a police department?”

Clay nodded his head slowly. “We’re looking into that right now,” he said. “We have a few grant options, but it depends on the cop who will work within our budget. I plan to make an announcement tomorrow at the luncheon.”

“You’re planning to make an announcement at a Clubhouse Cooks function?” Pauline asked. “Have you taken that up with the committee?”

“I wasn’t aware it would be an issue,” Clay said.

“As a member of the committee, I can guarantee you that your little announcement will not be taking place unless you clear it with everyone else first,” Brigitte jumped in.

Loretta took the chance to leave the conversation while the two women were focused on poor Clay. She was very interested in hearing what he had to say. A police department right there at the lake was a wonderful idea. She didn’t care whether the addition raised her taxes or not. It was a good idea, and she was all for it.

Speaking of police officers, the thought occurred to her that she ought to reach out to Harold and let him know about her unexpected visitor. She returned to her car and pulled out her cell phone, but it began to ring before she could place the call.

“Hello,” Loretta said.

“Loretta? Harold Hargraves here. I have some news about the victim.”

“I was just getting ready to call you,” Loretta said. “I have some news for you, too.”

“Okay, why don’t you tell me about your news first?” he said. “I hope you’re going to tell me that you know where Martin is.”

“Nope, but there is someone else looking for him,” Loretta said.

“Come again?”

“I had a visitor at my house just a bit ago,” Loretta explained. “Some woman I’ve never met before showed up claiming to be Martin’s wife.”

“You’re joking,” Harold said.

“I wish I was,” Loretta said. “She pushed her way around my house, insisting that I had Martin there, hiding him out or something.”

“You sound like you don’t believe her,” Harold said. “Do you think she’s not who she claimed to be?”

“I honestly don’t know what I think,” Loretta admitted. “She was pushy and rude and very manipulative. I threatened to call the police on her when she wouldn’t leave, then she put on the waterworks when she didn’t find him.”

“How did she even know where to find you?” Harold asked.

“That’s what I asked,” Loretta said. “She claimed that she had followed his credit card charges here and then looked up my address. She also asked me for a description of the man who was found dead.”

“Oh, now that’s very interesting,” Harold said. “Because the man in the morgue turns out to be named Gary Dennis.”

“Gary Dennis,” Loretta said. “That’s the name of the man Martin said was looking for him!”

“That’s what I called to tell you,” Harold said. “It seems that our need to speak with your former husband is getting more urgent.”

“Yeah, it sure seems that way,” Loretta said. “I suppose you want to ask me if I have seen him or whether I have any ideas where he might have gone.”

“Have you? Do you?”

“No, and you’re the first person I would tell if I did,” Loretta said. “I just want my cat back.”

“No luck there, I take it.” Harold’s voice softened a bit.

“None,” Loretta said. “I just hung up posters around the village, but I’m not holding my breath that it will help.”

“I’m sorry,” Harold said.

“Here’s a funny thing,” Loretta said. “Pauline volunteered to go and look at the animal shelter for him for me. She didn’t come up with anything, but it was a nice gesture.”

“I never know what to think about that woman,” Harold said.

“Yeah, me either.”

“Okay, tell me what this woman looked like,” Harold said. “If you happened to see her car, too, that would be great.”

Loretta briefly described the other woman. “I didn’t see a vehicle. She sort of helped herself inside, so I wasn’t really paying much attention.”

“She just walked into your house?”

“Basically, yes,” Loretta said. “I guess I kept the garage door open, and she took it as an open invitation.”

“And as far as you know, your ex wasn’t remarried?” Harold asked her.

“Correct, but I can’t say that I was too eager to know much about his life after our divorce,” Loretta admitted.

“Where are you now?” Harold asked.

“Just pulled into my driveway,” Loretta said. “Why?”

“I wanted to know where you’re going to be,” Harold said. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

Loretta picked up the remaining posters and headed inside. She walked through the house and set the posters down on her desk with a sigh. She had the slightest feeling that displaying the missing posters for Milo was a fool’s errand. It was starting to dawn on her that her cat and dearest companion might be gone forever.

CHAPTER TEN

After an hour of moping around the house, Loretta decided that feeling sorry for herself over the disappearance of her cat was not getting her any closer to finding him and bringing him back home. She headed into the kitchen. The luncheon was a day away, and Loretta still had to decide which of her favorite soup recipes she planned to prepare.

Chili was out of the question, given the fact that the chili dinner had occurred just days ago, and she had made her go-to chicken and dumplings recipe a bit too often lately. Loretta opened the pantry and pulled one of her cookbooks down from the top shelf. She took a seat at the small, round table near the back door and began flipping through the pages.

Something caught her eye when she looked up from a page in the book. She spotted something dark on the floor in the corner, near the half bath. Loretta stood and bent over to take a closer look. She grabbed a paper towel from the counter, then picked up the stringy black item from the floor.

“What in the heck is this?” she asked. It was too thick to be thread but was stringy and stiff with a thin metal wire poking out of it. Loretta looked around on the floor and found several more strings, each a few inches long. She grabbed the others with the paper towel and left everything on the table.

Loretta turned back to her cookbook and perused a curry coconut soup recipe, then rose again to use the restroom. On her way, she stooped to pick up more of the black string on the floor. Curious, she began a fast search around the house, discovering more black string in the spare bedroom and in the hallway. She carried it to the kitchen and placed it on the paper towel.

She tore off another, smaller piece of paper towel to mark the recipe in the book, then looked up in time to see something moving in the backyard. She froze in place. The movement was fast enough that she knew it was a person, but she couldn’t see anything. A second later, she heard something on the deck. Anger replaced her fear. Loretta rushed to the back door and threw it open.

“Martin,” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

He was crouched down on the grass next to the deck steps. “Loretta, I need your help,” he whispered.

“You haven’t answered my question.” She stepped back inside the door, ready to shut it with him still on the other side. “Why are you here?”

“I just told you why I’m here,” he said. “I need your help.”

“Don’t give me that junk about you running from some guy chasing you,” Loretta said. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and dialed Harold’s number.

“Are you hearing me? I need your help.” Martin stood up and climbed the stairs to the deck. “Who are you calling? Put your phone down and listen to me!” He lunged toward her and took the phone out of her hand.

“Why did you do that?” Loretta asked. “Give me back my phone!”

“No, not until you listen to me,” Martin said.

“I’ve listened to you enough,” Loretta shouted. “I listened to you for twenty years of marriage. Then I listened when you explained to me that you were no longer in love with me and that our marriage was over. Now here you are for the second time on my property, telling me that I need to listen to you, and that I need to help you. Why should I, Martin?”

“Because I’m in trouble.”

“Give me back my phone,” Loretta said again.

“Not until you listen to what I have to say to you,” he insisted. “People are after me.”

“Oh, yeah? Like that guy you mentioned the last time you came here uninvited?” Loretta asked. “What was his name? Gary Dennis? I know. We met. Well, I met him. He was in a drawer at the morgue.”

“Gary is dead?” Martin said. “What are you talking about? You need to be straight with me.”

“He was found out on the highway,” Loretta said. “North of here. He had your identification on him.”

“That’s not possible,” Martin said. He set her phone on the deck railing and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He opened the wallet and produced a driver’s license. “I have my ID on me at all times. It’s not missing. See, I told you these guys were bad. They must have somehow stolen my stuff and made copies. How else would they have anything of mine?”

“That’s a very good question, Mr. Ashcroft.” Deputy Hargraves appeared around the side of the house, his gun drawn. “Step away from Ms. Barksdale and keep your hands where I can see them.”

“What is all of this?” Martin demanded. He raised his hands to his shoulders and stepped back on the grass.

“What did you do? Did you call the cops on me?”

Before she could answer, Harold had Martin’s hands behind his back. He pulled a pair of handcuffs from the back of his belt and secured them on his wrists. “Martin Ashcroft, you are under arrest for the murder of Gary Dennis.”

“Gary Dennis? Murder? I just found out he was dead,” Martin shouted. He wrestled away from Harold and stood there, looking at him with his arms behind his back. “Do I look like I killed the man I just found out was dead?”

“It’s not a matter of what you look like, Mr. Ashcroft,” Harold grabbed his arm and pushed him toward the front yard. “It’s a matter of motive. Now please cooperate with me.”

“Loretta,” Martin shouted as he was led away. “You need to help me! Call a lawyer! You were my wife!”

She shook her head. Her head spun, and her chest began to hurt. She pinched her eyes shut and yelled, “Stop! Stop it, Martin. If you need something, call Bobbie. She’s the one responsible for you now.” She walked a few steps, just around the side of the house, where she could see the deputy’s car parked.

“What are you talking about?” Martin shouted. Harold opened the back door and pushed Martin down on the seat. “Who is Bobbie? What are you talking about?” Harold turned to look at her and slammed the door shut. He walked around the side of his car and got in, then took off quickly with the sirens blaring.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Loretta slammed her phone down on the table and slumped into a kitchen chair.

The phone rang a second later. “Hello,” she said absently.

“Loretta, is everything alright?” Kelly asked on the other end.

“No. Martin just showed up back here, and then Harold came and arrested him for murder.”

“Harold?”

“Deputy Hargraves,” Loretta said.

“Since when do you call the deputy by his first name?” Kelly asked.

“Since he told me to,” Loretta said. “That’s not really the point of this story.”

“You’re right. Go on. He was arrested for murder, then what?”

“When he was leaving, he asked me for help. I told him to ask his wife, Bobbie,” Loretta said. “He didn’t seem to know who I was talking about.”

“That’s very weird,” Kelly said. “What are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do about it?” Loretta asked.

“I mean, are you going to try to help him figure this out?”

“No, I’m not,” Loretta said. “Harold heard everything as well, so if this is some sort of mistaken identity situation, he’ll figure it out.”

“Okay,” Kelly said.

“Okay? You think I’m wrong, don’t you?” Loretta asked.

“I think you have the right to walk away from this and that you don’t owe Martin a thing,” Kelly said. “But I also think you’re the type of person who will help anyone, in any way, that she can.”

“I’m not sure I like you anymore, Kelly Crenshaw,” Loretta said.

“Why, because you don’t want a friend who tells you the truth about yourself?”

“No,” Loretta sighed. “Because you are my friend, and you tell me the truth.”

“Well, maybe this will help raise your opinion of me a little more,” Kelly said. “I was actually calling because I happened to check several county animal shelters online, and I think someone just turned Milo in to the shelter in Sunshine Falls close to the sheriff’s department.”

“Oh, really? I think Pauline and Brigitte checked that one out already,” Loretta said.

“This cat looks a lot like him and was just brought in,” Kelly said. “And there are two animal shelters in Sunshine Falls. One is by the hospital. That’s probably the one they checked out.”

“Okay, I’m going to grab my purse and head out the door,” Loretta said. “Can you give me directions?”

“I’ll do you one better,” Kelly said. “Meet me out front in five minutes.”

“Wait, you’re going with me?”

“It’s the least I can do, being such an awful friend and all,” Kelly teased.

After the call ended, Loretta rushed to the bedroom for her purse and passed by the bathroom mirror on her way back to the living room to wait for Kelly. She didn’t have long to wait. A couple of minutes later, she heard the beep of a horn outside.

The drive to Sunshine Falls was quick. Loretta chatted easily with Kelly, but her mind was on the animal shelter and the possibility that she might be on her way to reunite with Milo. Before long, Kelly pulled off the highway and into a small neighborhood. The animal shelter was at the end of the first street, across from the sheriff’s department. Loretta found herself looking at the county jail facility in the field behind the offices, wondering how Martin was dealing with his arrest.

“Are you excited?” Kelly asked her on the way inside the lobby of the shelter.

“I’m eager to see him and get him home,” Loretta said. “I just want to know that he’s okay.”

“We’re about to find out,” Kelly said. She opened the door and let Loretta inside first. They approached the counter and waited while one of the volunteers retrieved the large tuxedo cat. Loretta felt her heart race. Her arms were eager to hold her cat, even if he wasn’t too eager to be held.

When the volunteer returned, she carried a cat that was clearly not Milo. Loretta turned around and frowned. She shook her head and thanked the volunteers for their time.

“I’m sorry that turned out to be a dead end,” Kelly said.

“It’s okay,” Loretta said and walked slowly toward the door.

“You have something on your shirt.” Kelly plucked a string from the tail of Loretta’s shirt.

“Oh, more of this.” Loretta took the string from Kelly and wadded it up in her hand. “I keep finding this all over my house.”

A woman approached the door and Loretta stepped aside. “Dr. Meacham,” she said, recognizing the medical examiner.

“Ms. Barksdale,” the woman said. “Forgive me for interfering, but what were you just saying? You found what all over your house?”

Loretta opened her hand and held out the string. “These strings, or whatever they are,” she said. “They’re everywhere in my house all of a sudden.”

“It’s thicker than a thread and almost metallic,” Kelly said.

“Can I see that?” Dr. Meacham asked. She picked the black fiber out of Loretta’s hand and studied it. “You’re not sure where this came from?”

“No,” Loretta said. “Like I said, it just appeared in my house.”

“You’ve had a couple of unwelcome guests at your house recently,” Kelly reminded her. “Your former husband and the woman who claimed to be his new wife.”

“Can you two wait here for a second?” Dr. Meacham asked. “I stopped by to sign up for a few dog walks. I volunteer here as often as I can.” She left them waiting by the front door and stepped inside for a moment.

“What do you think this is all about?” Kelly asked.

Loretta shrugged. “Do you know her? She’s the person I spoke with when Harold brought me to the morgue to identify the dead body they thought was Martin.”

“Okay, can you two follow me across the street?” Dr. Meacham said on her way back out of the animal shelter.

“You want us to go with you to the sheriff’s department?” Kelly asked.

“I am afraid I’m going to have to insist on it,” she said. “Please, come with me,”

“What is this about?” Loretta asked. “I have no problem going with you, but I would like to know why.”

They crossed the street and headed through the parking lot to the public entrance of the sheriff’s department before the doctor spoke again. “Those fibers you found,” she said. “I think I know what they are.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?” Kelly asked.

Dr. Meacham stopped outside of the sheriff’s office. She rested her hand on the door handle and held up the fiber in her other hand. “Fibers like these were found on the body of the man you came into the coroner’s office to identify, Ms. Barksdale,” she said. “And if you’re correct and these are all over your house, there is a good chance you may have just tied the victim and the murderer together.”

Loretta sat in a small waiting room in the sheriff’s office. If she stood up, she could see Martin Ashcroft’s pale face through the small glass window in one of the interrogation rooms. Deputy Hargraves moved back and forth between the waiting room and his own office, offering her cups of coffee and bottles of water while she waited.

Kelly had gone back to Breezy Lake after speaking with another deputy for several minutes. She promised to return if Loretta needed a ride back home.

She sat up in her seat when she spotted Dr. Meacham walking down the hall toward her.

“You’ve been waiting here for a while,” she said. “I’m sorry it’s taking so long.”

“It’s okay,” Loretta said. “It still isn’t the most inconvenient part of the past few days.”

“I’m sure,” Dr. Meacham said. “By the way, I have permission to share a few more details with you, if you’re interested.”

“I’m very interested,” Loretta said. “What on earth is going on?”

“You know, a lot of people think that my job begins and ends with the human body,” the doctor said. “But the truth is, a medical examiner takes in all the facts, including what comes on the body and the clothing that was worn by the deceased, especially in homicide cases.”

“That makes sense,” Loretta said.

“Anyway, those fibers looked a whole lot like what we removed from Gary Dennis’s body. And when I say removed, I mean removed.”

“I don’t understand,” Loretta said.

“Ms. Barksdale, some details about the murder that you might not know include the fact that Gary Dennis was killed by a hit and run. His car was found on the side of the road with some damage to the rear, as if another car hit him and forced him off the road.”

“And then he got out to confront them,” Loretta added. A picture began to form in her mind. “The fibers were from the other car.”

“Yes,” Dr. Meacham said. “And if they were in your house, it’s very likely that the suspect had them on his shoes.”

“Or hers,” Loretta said. She stood up suddenly. “I need to talk to Harold.”

“You know who killed Gary Dennis?” Dr. Meacham asked.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Loretta said. “And it wasn’t my ex-husband.”

“If the man in the interrogation room is your ex, then they are starting to realize that, too,” Dr. Meacham said. “That’s where I’ve been while you were in here waiting. My assistant and I were looking at the bottom of his shoes under a microscope for any presence of those fibers.”

“You didn’t find any, did you?” Loretta asked.

“No, we didn’t,” Dr. Meacham said.

Loretta nodded. “Bobbie Ashcroft, or whatever her name is,” Loretta said. “She’s the one. She’s the killer.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“She came into my house uninvited,” Loretta explained. “And everywhere she walked is where I found those fibers.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Loretta! Loretta Barksdale, open up right now,” Pauline shouted from the other side of the front door.

“I’m busy,” Loretta called back. She turned the fire to low under the soup pot on her stove and wiped her hands off on the front of her apron. Pauline pounded hard again. Loretta marched straight to the door and pulled it open as hard as she could. She opened her mouth to yell at Pauline for disturbing her while she was cooking for the soup luncheon, but stopped cold.

“We thought you might like to hear the news from us,” Kelly said. She beamed at Loretta, offering the squirming animal covered with dirt and leaves all over his fur to her. “Look who showed up at the clubhouse a little while ago.”

Loretta reached out and grabbed the cat from her friend’s arms. “Milo,” she said, then buried her face in his fur. “Oh Milo, you need a bath so bad.”

“Tell her,” Pauline said. She nudged Kelly with her elbow.

“Tell me what?” Loretta asked. She cradled Milo in her arms.

“Tell her it was me,” Pauline whispered.

“I can hear you,” Loretta said. “Why don’t you just tell me?”

“It was me! I found him. It was me who found your cat, Loretta.” The words burst out of Pauline’s mouth. “I heard something scratching behind the kitchen door, and I went out there and found him.”

“I thought you went after him with a broom first,” Brigitte mumbled behind Kelly. Loretta looked over Kelly’s shoulder at Brigitte, noticing her for the first time.

“Okay, I thought he was a raccoon in the beginning, but as soon as I saw his collar, I knew it was him,” Pauline said.

Loretta caught a look from Kelly that told her there was a little more to the story, but decided she would hear the rest of it later. “Thank you, Pauline,” she said. “Thank you so much for bringing him back to me.” She hugged the cat again.

“You’re welcome,” she said loudly. “Of course, you’re welcome. Now maybe you won’t try so hard to outdo me in the kitchen.” She looked past Loretta, into her house. “What are you making, anyway?”

“Well, I just got started on it, but I’m making a coconut curry soup with shrimp,” Loretta said. “It was one of the top menu items in the bistro back home.”

Pauline’s smile changed to a frown immediately. “There you go again, showing me up,” she said. “Nobody is going to want my plain old cheeseburger chowder now.”

“Now, I don’t think that’s true,” Kelly said sweetly. “I love your cheeseburger chowder.”

“Really?” Pauline raised her head to ask.

“Yes, really,” Kelly assured her.

“Why don’t the three of you come inside and talk to me while I prepare the rest of the soup?” Loretta offered. “I think this guy might like the chance to visit his food bowl.”

“And the litter box,” Pauline said, waving her hand in front of her nose.

Loretta took a step back and set Milo down when Brigitte closed the door behind them. The cat wound himself around her legs and purred for a moment, then took off for his corner of the laundry room. She led the women into the kitchen and invited them to sit down while she fed Milo.

She washed her hands and then opened her last can of coconut milk. She added it to the large stock pot and stirred the milk carefully to avoid scorching, then went to the pantry.

“What is that?” Brigitte asked when Loretta returned.

“This is red curry paste,” Loretta replied. She held the tubes up in front of her and headed back to the stove. She squeezed the contents into the pot and stirred it until the coconut milk turned red.

“That’s about the same color as your hair, Pauline.” Brigitte giggled. She peered over the edge of the pan while Loretta worked.

“Shut up,” Pauline snapped.

“So, Loretta,” Kelly said suddenly. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re doing now?”

“Well,” she said, taking the hint to lighten the mood. “I’m adding the curry while the coconut base warms. Then I’ll add lime juice, cilantro, and a little bit of curry powder, too.”

“What’s in that other pot?” Pauline asked.

“White rice,” Loretta replied. She spooned the powdered curry into the soup and gave it a stir. “Next, the shrimp goes in, and the soup continues to cook until it’s time to go.”

“When do you add the rice?” Brigitte asked.

“I don’t add it to the soup,” Loretta explained. “The soup is usually served over white rice. I picked up some fresh green beans this morning from Edwin’s market. That’s what is in the steamer.”

“So, you add the green beans to the soup?” Kelly asked.

Loretta shook her head. “Nope.” She smiled. “First you put the rice in a bowl, then you add the green beans, and the soup is ladled over the top of that.”

“That’s a lot of work,” Pauline said, getting up to leave. “I think I’ll stick to my cheeseburger chowder.”

“Where are you going?” Brigitte asked her.

“Back home,” Pauline announced. “See you at the luncheon.”

“I guess we’ll be going too,” Kelly said.

After they left, Loretta turned the heat down on the rice and headed outside to pull her car into the garage for faster loading when it was time to go.

“Milo,” she called out. He replied with a deep meow. Loretta found him curled up in front of his empty food bowl. She filled his bowl up again and decided the bath could wait.

When it was time to leave, she was careful to shut the door behind her with each load she took to the car. She texted Kelly before she left the house and headed up the road to the clubhouse for the luncheon.

“Thank you,” she said when her friend met her outside.

“For what?” Kelly asked, grabbing a pot from Loretta’s hands.

“For Milo,” Loretta said. “I know what Pauline said, but I have a feeling it was you who saved him from her broom.”

Kelly laughed and set the pot of green beans down next to the coconut curry soup. “You’re welcome,” she said. “I heard there was going to be an announcement today. What do you suppose it’s about?”

Loretta shrugged. She scanned the crowd and spotted Clay in the front, not surprised he’d overruled Pauline and Brigitte. “I think we’re about to find out,” she said.

“He thinks he’s going to take over this whole affair,” Pauline muttered when she approached them a few seconds later. “Just because he’s on the committee doesn’t mean he’s in charge.”

“Actually, he is in charge tonight,” Brigitte informed them. They stood together behind the serving table. “As soon as everyone is seated, he’s going to make a quick announcement.”

“Fine, whatever,” Pauline said. She turned to Loretta. “I suppose your beast of a cat is all settled back in?”

“Yes, he is.” Loretta smiled. “He was very hungry.”

“Well, good,” Pauline said. She narrowed her eyes. “Just because I saved him doesn’t mean he can slap my dog, though. That just humiliates poor Nigel.”

“I will have a word with Milo about it,” Loretta said. Kelly giggled and turned her head.

“Hey, look,” Brigitte said, pointing toward the middle of the room. “Isn’t that your deputy?”

Loretta looked around. She bit her bottom lip when she saw him dressed in a simple white button-up shirt and a pair of dark jeans instead of his typical uniform.

“He’s not my deputy,” Loretta said quietly.

“I know what the announcement is,” Pauline said. “I just figured it out.” She folded her arms smugly.

“Well, tell us,” Brigitte said. “What is the big announcement?”

“Folks, if you’ll all fill your plates and have a seat,” Clay called out before she could answer.

“Why don’t you just tell us what this is all about, Fulton?” someone shouted from the back of the room.

“That way, we can get on with what we’re all really here for.”

“Okay, okay.” Clay grinned and clapped his hands. Loretta was surprised to see him so jovial. “As many of you know, we have been working for years to get our own police department here at Breezy Lake.” Several heads nodded. A hush fell over the large room. “Well,” Clay continued. “As of yesterday, we have one.” He waited while the room erupted in polite applause.

“Okay, but what about cops?” Pauline asked. “Do we have anyone to run a police department?”

Clay calmed the crowd. “As a matter of fact, you all know Deputy Harold Hargraves here from the Sunshine County Sheriff’s Department,” he said. “Well, as of nine o’clock this morning, Harold is no longer a deputy. Meet our new police chief!” The applause increased. Loretta stared at Harold, who was quickly reddening from the attention.

“Thank you, folks,” he said. “For those of you who are curious, I will be the only full-time officer on duty. We will be hiring a few security guards for when I’m not available. This is subject to change, but for now, this is how things will go.”

Chatter filled the room when Harold finished his comments. Loretta headed toward the kitchen for a second ladle for the rice.

“Loretta,” Harold said behind her. “Wait a sec.”

“Congratulations, Chief,” she said when she turned around.

“Thank you,” Harold said, blushing again. “Listen, I wanted to let you know that we released Martin into the custody of deputies from your former hometown. Well, the sheriff’s department did. I still have to get used to saying that.”

“He was released into custody?” Loretta asked.

Harold nodded. “They have a few questions about a fire that took place,” he said. “I don’t know if he had anything to do with it, but he wasn’t very eager to go with them.”

“What about his alleged wife? Is she still in custody?” Loretta asked.

“Oh, you heard about that,” Harold said. “Look, I was going to call you and let you know we had picked her up, but I got wrapped up in all of this. We wanted to keep things quiet until Clay could make his big announcement.”

Loretta shook her head. “That’s okay,” she said. “You don’t owe me anything. You were doing your job.”

“How did you find out?” he asked.

“Pauline heard on her police scanner that some woman had been arrested using the name Bobbie Ashcroft,” Loretta said. She left out the part about Pauline practically beating her door down at midnight to tell her.

Harold nodded again. “She was picked up in the middle of the night. It appears she was the one in charge of the operation, and it was her who Martin really owed money to. When Gary Dennis was unable to get the money for her, she took it upon herself to remove him from the situation entirely. That woman is not someone to mess with.”

“You’re positive it was her who killed him?” Loretta never truly believed Martin could have done it, but she had to know for sure.

“The car she was driving had some damage on the front fenders and four very bald tires. I don’t think it will be too hard to build a case against her based on that, never mind the fibers we found on her person. It was a match.”

Loretta shuddered. “I still can’t believe she was in my house,” she said.

“What about your ex?” Harold asked. “Are you happy to see him go?”

“I was never happy to see him arrive,” Loretta said quickly. “I’ll be glad when this whole thing is a memory. The good news is Milo came home.”

“He did,” Harold said, brightening up. “I will have to stop by and say hi, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure,” Loretta said. She could feel a little heat in her own face.

“Chief,” Clay called out suddenly. “Chief Hargraves, come on over here and meet a few more of your new neighbors.”

“New neighbors?” Loretta asked, turning to Harold.

“Yeah,” Harold said. “Turns out living here is part of the employment contract. So, I guess that means we’re going to see a lot more of each other.”

ALSO BY GRETCHEN ALLEN

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