Strolling Into Danger (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 6) Read Online Free Page A

interesting,” Zack said. “I wouldn’t think a true seer would need an electric crystal ball.”
     
    “Maybe it’s just for visual impact, or for those times when there’s nothing to see,” Sadie added. “You have to give the client a show.”
     
    There wasn’t anything else of interest in the tent. So they exited the way they came in.
     
    “Let’s go see her trailer,” Zack said and led Sadie back through the hole in the fence.
     
    They had to ask for directions two separate times because while the tractor-trailers were laid out in a grid, the RVs and residential trailers were parked in a hodge-podge that seemed to make no sense. Some were so close together that Zack was too wide to slip between them and they had to backtrack around until they finally found Pabelin’s RV. It was beautiful inside, decorated like an old world gypsy caravan in lush fabrics and bright colors.
     
    “If I ever have an RV,” Sadie said, “I’m decorating it like this one.” She slid her fingers along the velvet curtains.
     
    “This is lovely.”
     
    “What are you doing in my mother’s home?”
     
    A young woman with long dark hair and boots that covered her jeans to mid-thigh stepped in through the doorway, a look of hostility on her face. Zack held out his badge for her to see.
     
    “Do you have a search warrant?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
     
    “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.
     
    “I’m investigating your mother’s death. You are within your rights to make me obtain a search warrant, but it will only slow my investigation.”
     
    “She would not want you in her home,” the woman said. “And it will tell you nothing.”
     
    “It already has told me a great deal about who she was,” Zack said. “And knowing who she was will help to find who killed her.”
     
    The woman looked uncertain and Sadie saw the grief beneath the mask of contempt.
     
    “I’m Sadie Barnett,” she said. “What is your name?”
     
    “Alena,” the other woman said. “Alena Felton.”
     
    “This is Police Chief Zackary Woodstone. He’s my fiancé, and I can tell you his only reason for being here is to discover the person who killed your mother and bring that person to justice.”
     
    Alena still looked unconvinced and Sadie looked at Zack. She didn’t know what else she could do if he didn’t say something to change this girl’s mind.
     
    “Say the word and I’ll go,” Zack said, gesturing with both hands.
     
    “No, you’re right,” Alena said.
     
    “It would only delay things. I will give you permission now.” She began to back out.
     
    “Wait a moment,” Zack said.
     
    “I was told you shared your mother’s home. But it only looks like one person lived here.”
     
    “We did share,” Alena said, “when I was younger. I’ve had my own trailer for a couple of years now, but people forget. They still come looking for me here.” She gave them a warm smile and left.
     
    “Could someone have stabbed Pabelin thinking it was Alena?” Sadie asked. “Someone who forgot she didn’t live here anymore?”
     
    “I doubt it,” Zack said.
     
    “For one thing they don’t dress anything alike. For another, I don’t think she was stabbed in here. There’s no evidence of a struggle. No blood.” Sadie looked around.
     
    “You are right,” she said. “I was so busy wanting to live here I forgot to look for evidence. I’ll have to do better if I’m going to help you.”
     
    “Just being yourself helped. I don’t think Alena would have agreed to let me look if you hadn’t spoken up.”
     
    “It was a gamble, and it paid off. What are we looking for?”
     
    Sadie picked up a picture from a pile on the table. It was of a much younger Alena with a man. Her father perhaps?
     
    Zack came to stand beside her and looked, too. Then he picked up the pile from the table and sorted through them.
     
    “These are all quite old,” he said. “I wonder why she had them