Saint Patrick's Day - The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club Part III: A Dark Comedy Cozy Mystery With A Twist Read Online Free

Mopper smiled and actually meant it. It wasn’t a fake smile put on for appearances. It was a smile that gradually turned into a grin, then a chuckle, and then a laugh, a laugh that echoed throughout her home. Paddy and Walter raised their heads from the ground, their afternoon nap disturbed by their mistress’s sudden outburst of laughter, laughter that had not been heard for such a long time. Cindy folded the two jackets neatly and placed them on the sofa. She took the envelope and held it tightly. Gerry Gordonston. How unoriginal, how stupid…. how dumb, how…. Kelly.
    “Oh you stupid, stupid girl,” said Cindy out loud, “I got you, I finally got you.”

 
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    One Month before St. Patrick’s Day
     
    Sam Taylor was enjoying both retirement and his new home. He had purchased the house for half of the listed value, simply because no one wanted to live in the home where Stefan Deripaska had blown his brains out. That hadn’t bothered Sam Taylor one bit. He was an ex-cop, the former police chief, so what if someone died here? People die in houses all the time. No, he was pleased with his new home and his new neighborhood.
    Since retiring six months earlier, Sam had initially devoted much of his time and attention to his wife Sabrina. She had been ecstatic when he had announced his retirement. At long last, they could vacation together, enjoy their combined hobbies of gardening and cooking, and at last spend quality time together without the stresses associated with Sam’s job.
    During the early part of his retirement, he spent much of his time digging gardens, experimenting with Indian food, and visiting relatives, though Sam had another hobby as well: Elliott Miller. He had spent hours researching his former boss’s background, and he had not scrimped on either effort or time in finding out all he could about the man. So much so that lately, he had become, according to his wife at least, ‘obsessed’ with Elliott. After three months of retirement, he had stopped helping his wife in the garden, become disinterested in visiting relatives, and lost all interest in cooking exotic-sounding meals.
    Sam Taylor resented Elliott. Although Elliott hadn’t fired him, Taylor retired on his own terms after qualifying for his pension, disheartened by certain promotions within his department with which he disagreed. He was positive though, that Elliott had secrets, secrets that Sam felt he had to expose. He realized that Elliott wasn’t fully to blame for his department’s failings three years ago, but suspected that Elliott had somehow stalled, or even obstructed the investigation into the disappearance of Tom Hudd. Though he had no proof of any wrongdoing, he just knew that the Mayor’s ‘friendship’ with Jeff Morgan had affected the investigation, and had raised Sam’s suspicions of interference. And of course it could not be overlooked, by Sam at least, that Miller had gone on to marry Hudd’s widow.
    The rise of Jeff Morgan through the ranks of the Savannah Police Department had appalled Sam. Within a week of the murder of Veronica Partridge, the suicide of Deripaska, and the discovery of Hudd’s body, Morgan had been promoted to the rank of sergeant. Six months later, he was a lieutenant, despite Morgan’s objections at his promotion board. Within a year, he had been promoted to captain and appointed Jeff Morgan deputy. So, it had come as no surprise that the current chief of the Savannah Police Department was Jeff Morgan-- Elliott Miller’s man. Sam was ready to admit that Morgan had cleaned up his act a little. He had managed to significantly reduce the crime rate, with the Mayor’s help and extra funding, funding which Sam had requested during his tenure as Chief but had been refused. The statistics were impressive. Morgan, though shy and in Sam’s words a ‘social spastic’ who was not adept at public speaking or comfortable talking with the press, had become popular with local