The Cracked Pot Read Online Free Page B

there to do?" Bill asked. "I'm going to bed."
    "How are you going to sleep until they find out what happened to Charles Potter?"
    He smiled at me. "Like a newborn with no conscience, a clean diaper, and full belly," he smiled.
    I waited up, hoping for a knock on the front door during the night, but none came. When I woke up the next morning on the couch, my neck was stiff, but sometime in the middle of the night my dear husband had covered me with a blan ket. Why hadn't the old fool woken me up so I could sleep in my bed instead of out in the living room? I decided to give him credit for thinking of me at all. When I peeked out through the drapes in the front window, I saw that the police were gone, along with Charles Potter's car. What had hap pened to the man? I wanted to call Sheriff Hodges to see if he'd learned anything after he left us, but for once, my cu riosity was defeated by my desire to keep the lowest profile I could. I'd been under the sheriff's suspicious gaze before, and I hadn't enjoyed it, not for one second.
     
     
    "I don't think David slept more than an hour or two last night," Hannah said as we ordered coffees at In the Grounds before I opened Fire at Will. It was our ritual to meet at the coffee shop to start the day.
    "I slept on the couch myself," I said as I rubbed my neck. "You're looking chipper, though."
    Hannah was a slim brunette whose fortieth birthday was fast approaching, and I'd have to decide soon whether I was going to have a surprise party for her. When I'd turned forty, I'd invited the world to celebrate with me, whereas my hus band had crawled into a hole the day before and had refused to come out for a week. I was still feeling Hannah out to see which reaction she was going to have, but so far, she'd neatly avoided all my queries.
    "Am I?" she asked lightly.
    "Hannah, what's up?" There was a gleam in her eye I hadn't noticed before.
    "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," she said, but as she started to sip her coffee, I saw an unmistak able grin.
    "Okay, give."
    She shrugged. "If you must know, I have a date tonight."
    I'd been badgering her for months to go out again. "How did that happen?"
    "He asked, I agreed," she said smugly. "It's as simple as that."
    "Do you really think I'm going to let you get away with out more details than that?"
    "Don't push me on it, Carolyn. I don't want to jinx it," she said.
    "Fine, but I expect a full report when you get home, even if it's just long enough to change your clothes for work to morrow."
    "You've got a dirty mind," she said with a smile.
    "One of us has to," I countered.
    Hannah glanced at her watch. "I've got to run. I'll talk to you later."
    "I'll be waiting by the phone."
     
     
    As I walked to Fire at Will along the River Walk from the coffee bar, I marveled yet again at the foresight of our founding fathers. They had taken an average little stream called Pig Snout Creek, changed its name to Whispering Brook, then made the land beside it their retail shopping area, and all of this was done a great many years before San Antonio came up with their much showier River Walk.
    "Hi, Rose. Is that new?" I called out to the proprietress of Rose Colored Glasses, a stained glass shop along the walk. Rose Nygren was a tall, skinny redhead with a complexion that would burn under a 40-watt lamp. She was standing in front of her shop, hanging a mobile made up of varied hues of colored glass.
    "I'm wondering if it might attract more customers," she said, then turned to me and added, "Carolyn, the whole town's buzzing about what happened last night."
    "Did I miss something?" I asked, knowing full well what Rose was referring to.
    She raised one eyebrow. "From what I've heard, you're right in the middle of it. Again."
    "I can't help it if trouble seems to come looking for me." I studied her mobile, then added, "If you ever want to add any glazed pottery pieces to these, let me know. We could work something out, I'm sure."
    She studied her