Perplexity on P1/2 (Parson's Cove Mysteries) Read Online Free Page B

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    Chapter Three
     
         The next morning, I was still a little shaky from my nightmare and head-achy from the gin but managed to feed my cats and make it to the shop in time to put the coffee on before Flori came with breakfast. At eight forty-five, she rushed through the door. Her hands were empty. Not only that, she wasn’t even dressed. She was wearing her pink cotton housecoat over her matching floor length nightgown. Her orange-red hair stood out in every direction and there were black smudges of yesterday’s mascara under her eyes. She stood staring at me with her mouth open and a hand placed over her pounding heart. I knew it was pounding because I could see her hand going up and down.
         “Flori,” I said. “For goodness sakes, what’s wrong? Why are you panting like that? Why aren’t you dressed? Where’s our breakfast?”
         “Mabel,” she screamed between pants. “There’s been a murder.”
         “What do you mean, there’s been a murder?”
         She finally caught her breath. “Just that. Jake went over to have breakfast at the Main Street Café because he didn’t want to wait for me to cook up our breakfasts and I told him I wasn’t cooking breakfast twice so he left (a pause to inhale) and when he came back, that’s what he told me.”
         “So, who? Who was murdered?”
         “I don’t know. Jake said it was a stranger.”
         “Flori, we don’t have any strangers in town, do we? Did some move in while I was gone? Or, is it one of the renters? Maybe someone renting a cabin on the lake?”
         Flori walked over and plunked down in my wicker chair. She wiped the perspiration off her forehead and tried running her fingers through her unruly hair. She sighed.
         “I have no idea. I told you all that I know.”
         “Where’s the body?”
         Flori gave me a look of dismay. “Who cares where the body is, Mabel? Someone visiting Parson’s Cove has been murdered and that’s all you can think about?”
         “I want to know who it was. Don’t you?”
         “Mabel, if it’s a stranger, it doesn’t matter if I know her name or not. I would just like to know if the killer is still in Parson’s Cove so I know if I need to lock my doors. Or, should Jake get out his hunting rifle for protection?”
         “What did you just say?”
         “I said I want to know if I have to keep my doors locked or should Jake get out his hunting rifle for protection. Is that the part that shocks you, Mabel? The gun part? You know I don’t believe in violence of any kind but this is something entirely different.”
         “No, I thought you said, ‘it doesn’t matter if I know her name or not.’”
         She nodded. “That’s what I said.”
         “You mean a woman was murdered?”
         “Yes, didn’t I just say that?”
         “No, you said it was a stranger.”
         “Okay, so it was a woman stranger. What difference does it make?”
         “I don’t know but somehow it does.”
         Flori’s eyes bulged. She gasped, clutched her chest again, and jumped up. “Oh, Mabel, I’m so sorry. Here you’ve been waiting for breakfast and I came empty-handed. You must be starving. I’ll run home and make it right away.” She hurried to the door, her housecoat floating behind.
         “Don’t rush,” I called out. “You have time to get showered and dressed and put your make-up on. I’ll give you a whole hour.” I smiled at her. “I was getting used to having late lazy breakfasts by the pool anyway. I’ll just pretend I’m back in Las Vegas, that’s all.”
         She came back, an obvious look of relief on her face, hugged me and left. As soon