Fool's Gold (A sexy funny mystery/romance, Cottonmouth Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

equipment on his credit card.”
    Carl had a credit card? “How do you
know?”
    “I looked that up online, too.”
    Boy, Maggie would have made a top-notch
investigator. “What the hell is splunking?”
    “You know, exploring caves.”
    “You mean spelunking.”
    “Whatever. I hate all that bat guano.”
    An outhouse excavator would be used to it,
however. “Okay, let’s hit the high points here.” Again. “He’s
taking money, but not too much, and you don’t know what he’s doing
with it, but he doesn’t seem to be spending it.”
    “He’s probably got some offshore account, and
he’s planning to run away with another woman.”
    Offshore account? Maggie obviously read too
many mystery novels or watched too much TV. Or both. Brax dealt in
facts, not speculation, so he continued as though she hadn’t
spoken. “He won’t let you see the bank statements, and he locked
you out of the trailer he uses as his office.” Not to mention
Carl’s adamant refusal to let Brax use his computer last night.
Which was in his small trailer out back. Carl had told him to use
Maggie’s, but Brax hadn’t wanted to leave an Internet trail when he
checked out Simone Chandler’s website. At least not one that Maggie
could follow. Not until he knew more about Carl’s relationship with
the woman. “When did this behavior start?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe three months ago. First
it was the money thing. He got angry when I questioned him, and
that’s when he started locking up the trailer.”
    “And you think it’s an affair
be- cause ?” He let his words fall off in a question.
    “He disappears for hours.”
    “Maybe he’s spelunking or excavating.”
    “Bat guano doesn’t smell like
department-store perfume.”
    Oh, so that’s the way the wind blew. “And
this is where The Chicken Coop comes into it?”
    “Where else would he meet a woman? It’s not
like he’s going to run off with Mrs. Killian. She’s got seventeen
children.”
    Brax almost shuddered. Seventeen children.
The woman must have been changing diapers for almost twenty years.
Twenty years of dirty diapers. It boggled the mind.
    Of course the obvious woman to bring up was
Simone Chandler. Brax didn’t.
    God, he was suddenly tired. The sun had only
just risen from behind the hills visible through Maggie’s kitchen
nook window. Right now, he didn’t want to be a cop. He didn’t want
to feel responsible for solving his sister’s problems. Neither did
he want to think about Cottonmouth or the murder that had occurred
on his watch. He’d rather fantasize about Simone. Simone and
him, not Simone and his brother-in-law.
    Maggie picked up their plates and crossed to
the sink. Her worries had taken a toll on her—less bounce in her
step, less sparkle in her gaze. She’d aged. Just as a man didn’t
tell a woman her derriere had grown a tad larger, he also didn’t
tell his sister he thought her husband might be doing a gorgeous
blonde more than ten years her junior. Especially since he wanted
to live out the rest of the day.
    “So you’ll check out The Chicken Coop for
me?” she asked as she ran water in the sink.
    “Yeah.” Maggie needed his help, and he was
duty-bound to give it, no matter the weight of his own problems on
his shoulders. “Where is the place?”
    “Just south of town, right on the highway.
You can’t miss it.”
    “Good.”
    She shut off the tap and stood for a moment.
“Thanks, Tyler.”
    “You’re welcome, Maggie.” He’d clear this
whole thing up in an afternoon.
    Picking up a towel, she dried her hands, then
turned to lean against the counter.
    “Carl said you met Simone Chandler last
night. What’d you think?”
    Busted. As if his thoughts comparing Maggie
and Simone had telegraphed themselves even while Maggie busied
herself with dirty dishes. “Pretty” was all he said, remaining as
noncommittal as possible.
    “She’s more than pretty, and you know it. I
think you’d like her.”
    He cleared his throat.