Football is Murder (Bee's Bakehouse Cozy Mysteries Book 4) (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries) Read Online Free Page B

night.”
    Jessie shook her head. “On the weekend maybe. But not during the week. Definitely not until two in the morning.”
    Bee nodded slowly. “Okay. Why don’t you give Charles a call? Tell his this.”
    “I don’t know,” Jessie said slowly. “I just… what if it’s not relevant? I don’t want to go slinging accusations at the guy.”
    “You wouldn’t be. It might help Charles to know that Johnny Cooper had an acquaintance over here.”
    * * *
    Jessie mulled it over for the rest of the day. Finally, the prospect of another sleepless night made her mind up for her. Once they had closed Bee’s Bakehouse for the day, she went in the back and called the chief.
    He answered on the second ring, but his voice sounded weary.
    “Jessie.”
    “Chief. You don’t sound so good.”
    “Nah,” he sighed. “I’m fine. This whole thing is a mess. Glad it’s not in my town.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “Ah,” he said, clearing his throat. “We’ve got the Rockfield mayor and the Chief of Police at each other’s throats. They seem more interested in coming across well on TV than they do in solving the case.”
    “About that,” Jessie whispered. “How’s it going? Are there any obvious suspects?”
    He cleared his throat again. “Jessie, I’ll be back there around seven. I’ll fill you in then.” He paused. “I take it you’ve had a change of heart about assisting?”
    She paused. She hadn’t wanted to get involved. Like the chief said, it was different when something happened away from your own town. But the link to her neighbor changed everything. She sure as hell didn’t want to spend another night tossing and turning and wondering about his involvement.
    “Yes. Yes I’m in.”
    * * *
    “This is a nice little place,” Chief Daly said after he’d done a full circuit of her new home.
    Jessie nodded. Somehow she felt safer with somebody else in the house. An armed chief of police sure seemed safer than her playful pug, who was more likely to lick a home invader than he was to attack.
    “Chief, there’s something I need to talk to you about. It’s the reason I changed my mind about getting involved with the case.”
    He looked at her curiously but said nothing as he made his way to the couch. Ordinarily, Jessie would have justified her strange furniture choice and told him that she fully intended to get it recovered. Now, though, she just wanted to get this out in the open.
    “It’s the guy who moved in across the street,” she said quickly. “I thought I knew him from somewhere, but it was only when I saw Johnny on the news that I remembered. He plays for the Ravens too.”
    Chief Daly tilted his head to one side. “I wasn’t aware.”
    “You weren’t?” Jessie shook her head as she thought about it. “I guess the first time I saw anybody there was the day I moved in. There were moving trucks passing through town for weeks, but I only saw the owner a couple days ago.” She omitted the part about him ignoring her—it wasn’t relevant now.
    The chief nodded. “Ah, yes. I’d heard somebody had purchased the property, but I didn’t know who. And I don’t drive past here much. Well, I didn’t until now. I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot more time on this street.”
    Jessie sighed with relief. “Oh yeah? Well of course you’re welcome anytime for cake and coffee.”
    He waved his hand. “Thank you, Jessie. But I meant patrol. I’m just waiting for your aunt to have a quiet word in my ear and ask me to drive past here once a shift.”
    Jessie smiled. “She does that?”
    “Oh, you’d better believe it. I should get that woman a badge. She’s always in my ear about something. And she’s usually right, too.”
    “I can believe that,” Jessie said, fidgeting with her sleeve. “Look, Chief. That’s not the only weird thing. The night of the murder, I saw him leave in his car at two in the morning and return at four. Does that… seem strange?”
    He shrugged. “I guess