Cast Iron Conviction (The Cast Iron Cooking Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

back to Maple Crest? His family’s all gone, and he didn’t have a great many friends here even before the trial. Why come back and stir things up? What does he gain by it? The only reason I can think of is if he’s truly innocent.”
    Pat seemed convinced, but I wasn’t quite so sure myself yet. Sure, what he was saying made sense, but there was still a hint of doubt in the back of my mind. That wasn’t all, though. Pat had done something else that he was afraid to tell me. I wondered what it could possibly be, and then I realized what it had to be, not because of some kind of twin ESP, but because I knew my brother better than anyone else in the world. “You offered to help him investigate Mitchell’s murder, didn’t you?”
    My brother looked at me with a shocked expression. “Annie, are you reading my mind? I thought that was just a twin myth.”
    “Give me a little credit; it’s not that hard to figure out. Okay. I’ll help.”
    Pat looked even more surprised by my declaration. “Seriously? I don’t have to persuade you?”
    “Did you make the offer?” I asked him.
    “Yeah. Sorry about that. I know I should have talked to you first, but it just seemed like the right thing to do.”
    “Pat, I know that you must have had your reasons. Have I ever let you down in the past? Right or wrong, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”
    “Thanks, Annie.” I knew without question that his gratitude was sincere. After a moment, Pat frowned, though, something that I hadn’t foreseen. “The truth of the matter is that he hasn’t exactly taken me up on my offer.”
    “What? Seriously? Why wouldn’t he?”
    “I don’t think he trusts anyone after what he’s been through. We need to give him a little time. I’m sure that he’ll come around.”
    “If you say so, but in the meantime, we need to stay out of this, Pat. I mean it. It’s one thing to get dragged into a murder investigation when it directly concerns us, but this is a stretch by any definition.”
    “You’ll still help out when he asks for it though, right?”
    “If he accepts your offer, I’m there, but in the meantime, it’s almost closing time, and we have a business to shut down for the day. Are we agreed?”
    “We are,” he said, and we started going about ending our day, at least the last part of it that we normally spent at the Iron. Edith was already gone, as was her regular schedule, and Pat had sent Skip home early, so it was just the two of us. Truth be told, I didn’t have any problem with that. I liked it when my twin brother and I were alone in the store that we owned and operated together. As Pat worked on totaling the receipts for the day, I went about shutting down the grill. There was very little small talk between us, but then again, there didn’t need to be. Just knowing that he was close by was enough for me. Tonight was going to be different though, at least as far as I was concerned. I was teaching a class, something I always looked forward to. As I worked at transitioning from operating the grill to getting things prepped for my students, my mind wandered in the direction of what Pat had gotten us into. Getting involved with Albert Yeats’s investigation wouldn’t make us very popular with our customer base, but that couldn’t be a factor in our decision to help the man out. Still, I wouldn’t be heartbroken if he decided to turn down my brother’s generous offer.
    Time would tell, one way or the other.
    In the meantime, I had work to do.

    “Tonight’s the big class, isn’t it?” Pat asked me as he approached the grill area of our store after he’d finished his closing tasks, including making out the day’s deposit for the bank. “Are you ready for it?”
    “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said. “The supplies are all here, and the firewood’s on its way.”
    “Are you sure that you don’t need me to stick around and help out?” he offered. The sentiment was sincere, if misguided. This