Calamity @ the Carwash (Parson's Cove Mysteries) Read Online Free

water.
    “So, what’s all the excitement about?
What about Murray and Erma?” I asked.
    Flori’s eyes started to water. “Oh Mabel,
I was sure you’d heard. I thought some of your customers would’ve told you.”
    “Told me what? Were Murray and Erma
murdered too?”
    Flori’s eyes bulged. “Oh my lord, no.
It’s nothing like that. But it’s bad, Mabel; it’s very sad.” She shook her
head. “To think that Murray would lose one friend and then another, on the same
day. It’s just too sad.”
    “Flori.” Sometimes I want to strangle
that woman. “Who else died? What other friend of his, died? Quit talking in
circles.”
    At that, Flori burst into tears but in
between the sobs, I could make out a name. Biscuit. 
    “Biscuit? What kind of name is that? He
had a friend named Biscuit?” It sounded more like a racehorse to me.
    Flori nodded while wiping her nose.
She’d already worn out the tissues she’d stuffed down the front of her bra so I
handed her about ten more from a box I have on the counter. I should write her
name on it.
    She stopped sniffling long enough to
say, “Biscuit was the name of his old basset hound. Remember him, Mabel? That
old dog went everywhere with him.”
    “So, Flori, are you telling me that
we’re sitting here, sobbing our hearts out because Murray’s old basset hound
died or are we weeping because his fishing buddy was murdered?”
    Flori’s bloodshot eyes stared at me.
“We’re crying for both. It’s not right for a human to be hit over the head and
killed with a brick anymore than it’s right for an old basset hound to be hit
over the head and killed with a brick.”
    It was my turn to stare at her. “The
same brick?”
    She nodded. I handed her the tissue box.
     
     
    Chapter
Six
     
    It was time for me to start doing some
serious investigating. I knew that Reg wouldn’t come for my help until he was
forced to call in cops from the city. When they descend on Parson’s Cove, he
and his two deputies skedaddle out of the way. Meanwhile, where would I start?
    I had to find out why Reg arrested
Melanie. Was she in such a murdering mood that she would kill Murray’s dog and
then, Bernie? Or, was it the other way round? Did she kill Bernie and then take
her anger out on that dog? If I remembered correctly, that old hound was too
lazy to chase a cat so why would anyone get riled up enough to kill it? Reg,
even though I sometimes belittle his detective skills, I do it in a very loving
way. He does pretty well for an aging ex-traffic cop. Besides, I honestly think
we work quite well together.
    I was home now and sweltering in my
kitchen. The cats were out carrying on their own adventures. I filled them up
with nutritious dry cat food before I let them out so hopefully, they weren’t
digging into the garbage bin behind Main Street Café again. It isn’t that I
mind them eating garbage. It’s just that it gives our family a very bad
reputation. People think I don’t feed them.
    Well, if Reg wasn’t going to fill me in
and it didn’t seem like Flori had much to share from Jake’s empty repertoire,
I’d have to move on my own. I knew my first stop.
    Let me tell you about my friend, Charlie
Thompson. To most people in Parson’s Cove, Charlie is slightly on the odd side.
Some think of him as being ‘slow.’ You know – retarded, although no one ever
comes right out and says that word. To the most open-minded residents, he’s
‘different.’ To me, Charlie is smarter than most of them put together are. He
sits in front of the town library, day in and day out. Winter, spring, summer
and fall. He wears the same denim overalls with the same plaid shirts all year
round. In winter, I’m sure he must have layers and layers on. I’m always afraid
that he’ll freeze to death on that bench and we’ll have to look at him all
winter until the spring thaw. Somehow, he manages to survive. That, of course,
isn’t what makes him smart – although he obviously saves tons of