Secrets in a Still Life, Kari Ganske [best fiction books to read .TXT] 📗

prime suspect. I tried to bring my excitement down a notch. "Should we tell Chief Duncan?"

"I think that's a bit premature," Linc said.

I gaped at him. Why was he not on my side?

"Really, Alex. We don't even have the time of death. For all we know, Kelly has an airtight alibi because she was knuckle-deep in someone's hair while Missy was being murdered."

That blew the wind out of my sails. He was right, dangit. "Okay. So we sit on this until the autopsy results come back."

"Any other townspeople you want to accuse of murder today?" he asked.

"Well, it has to be somebody," I grumbled, turning my attention back to the computer.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

 

 

I didn't even argue when Linc offered to drive me home at the end of the day. Although I'd been icing and elevating my hurt ankle, and the swelling had gone down a bit, it still hurt when I put pressure on it. As evidenced by the fact I almost fell twice while trying to go to the bathroom earlier. Awkwardness and crutches were not a good mix.

"Keep icing that ankle. Twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off," Linc instructed as he lifted my mother's now less-than pristine bike from the bed of his truck. He wheeled it to the garage and then ran back to help me hobble to the door.

"What in blazing turnips happened now?" my mother asked when she saw me on crutches.

"You mean you haven't heard? My latest adventure hasn't made the gossip rounds yet?"

Thank those blazing turnips for small favors, I thought.

Mom put her hands on her hips. "What adventure?"

Just then, Colleen's little green VW bug parked behind Linc's truck. An unexpected bubble of joy spread in my chest. I'd missed my friend. And although Linc was a good sounding board for my current troubles, Colleen was free from embarrassment and residual crush-like feelings.

"Thanks for the lift, Linc. I'll see you tomorrow to clock more service hours."

He helped me onto the porch step by gripping my uninjured elbow to steady me. I ignored the little jolt of heat emanating from that skin-to-skin contact and focused on not falling down.

"See you tomorrow. Mrs. Lightwood," he addressed Mom with his mother-killer smile. She practically melted. "You look lovely as always. Be sure Alex elevates her ankle and keeps ice on it."

"Of course, Lincoln. Thanks for taking good care of her."

"Anytime. I'll come pick you up tomorrow, Alex. Quarter to nine, okay?" I nodded. "Unless your ankle gets worse, and you want to rest it. Just text me. I put my number in your phone."

"When did you do that? And how did you get around my password?" I asked.

The dingbat winked at me and, with a small wave to Colleen who was walking up the porch, sprinted back to his truck. Alan Jackson blared from the speakers, and Fang's head hung out the back window as Linc drove off down the street.

"Now there is a boy who aged to perfection," Colleen commented as all three of us watched the truck turn out of sight.

"Whatever. I'll always think of him as the kid who shoved me in Mr. Albright's pond when we were eleven," I lied. I had one hundred percent noticed the man he had become. Like a puppy, he'd grown into himself.

Unlike me, who still couldn't manage to walk through a doorway without banging an elbow. Maybe that's why I liked the desert so much—nothing to run into.

"Okay, Peanut. Let's get you in the house," Mom said. "You can tell us both what the heck happened."

An hour later, hot tea mugs empty, cookies eaten, ankle fussed over, and story told, Mom left me and Colleen seated in the living room while she ran some errands. "Errands" were merely an excuse to gauge the scuttlebutt about town, but I took advantage of her absence to tell Colleen about the events of the weekend and my suspicions about Kelly.

"Okay, the timing is weird. But Kelly has definitely grown up since her mean-girl high school stage," Colleen said when I finished.

"But what if she's just acting all sweet and innocent, but underneath is a cold-blooded killer?"

Colleen pursed her lips. "You haven't known her these past years. She's changed. And why would she act now? Why not years ago?"

"I don't know. Maybe they got in some argument and Kelly finally lost it. She's been living in Missy's shadow since high school."

"So have a lot of people. If you ask me, I'd put the money on the husband." Colleen took another cookie from the plate. I scowled. If I ate any more cookies, the calories would go right to my hips. But Colleen could eat an entire cake and still be a rail. She was tall and thin and Irish to the core. I'd always been jealous of her thick curls and bright-green eyes. Colleen was vibrant like a kaleidoscope where I resembled the bland sands of the Sahara.

That's it. I was moving back there. I could stay with Abbas and help him rent camels.

"Earth to Alex," Colleen said, waving a hand in my face. "I said, I think Mike did it."

"Sorry. Zoning. Maybe I hit my head in the tumble this morning. Why Mike?" I shifted in my chair. The rest of my body was now feeling the aches of falling too.

"The husband always does it, right?"

"I'm going to need more solid evidence than that to get off Chief Duncan's list," I pointed out.

"Okay, how about this? I have it on good authority that Mr. Acting Mayor is having multiple affairs. Multiple! Maybe Missy found out, and he killed her so he could be with one of his side pieces." Colleen practically giggled. I caught the excitement.

"Oh, that is juicy. Do you know who any