The Legend of Tabby Hollow (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 5) Read Online Free

asked.
    “Only that Bradley had begun keeping erratic hours. He was coming in late and staying late. She said she drove by his office one night last week and noticed the lights on at ten thirty. Glenda speculated that he might have been having marital problems. She said he normally was an eight-to-five kind of guy, but he’d followed a similar pattern a couple of years ago when he and his wife were going through a rough patch.”
    I stepped over a piece of driftwood that had washed up on the beach during the last storm. I really should move the thing. I’d tripped over it more than once during the past month.
    “Did Glenda think the secrecy and the erratic hours were related?” I asked.
    “She wasn’t sure, but she did say that both behaviors began at about the same time. She also said Bradley had taken to locking the door to his office when he was out.”
    “So he was hiding something.”
    “It would seem that way. Glenda told me that she has a key to the office. She’s had it for years. She wasn’t sure if he forgot he’d given it to her or if he simply didn’t care that she had access to his office.”
    “So he might have been locking the door to keep a specific person or persons out,” I concluded.
    “Most likely. Although, as Glenda indicated, he may just have forgotten she had the key.”
    Max ran over to me with a stick in his mouth. He had me trained well. As he’d taught me to do, I took the stick from him and tossed it into the waves. Max went charging after it with Rambler on his heels. The dogs really were having the best time together.
    “Okay, so we know Mayor Bradley was acting strangely prior to his death, and that it was totally out of character for him to even set foot in the hollow, so what we need to find out is what caused his curious behavior and how that related to the hollow.”
    “In a nutshell. Glenda also mentioned the mayor had been receiving what she considered to be odd phone calls that he only answered on a burner phone she suspects he purchased for just that purpose.”
    “Did she know anything about the calls?”
    “No. She said he received calls on the phone a few times when he was in the front office with her, but each time he immediately went into his office and closed the door.”
    “Does she happen to know where the phone is now?” I wondered.
    “She said he always kept the phone in his pocket. I asked Finn if the phone had been found when the body was recovered and he said the mayor’s pockets were completely empty with the exception of a black poker chip.”
    “A poker chip from where?”
    “It was unmarked.”
    I frowned. There was something about the black poker chip that was nagging at a memory I couldn’t quite grab hold of.
    “He didn’t even have his car keys or wallet on him?” I asked.
    “Not according to Finn.”
    “Okay, that is odd.” I stopped walking and looked at Cody. “In fact, now that I think about it, I realize it’s strange that we didn’t find Bradley’s car near the entrance to the hollow. It’s not all that close to his home or to town, so how did he get there?”
    “Good question. I guess I should suggest to Finn that he track down the vehicle, if he hasn’t already.”
    Max once again brought me the stick, and I once again dutifully threw it.
    “I found Bradley’s body on Monday during the late afternoon,” I continued. “When Finn arrived at the scene he told me that it looked as if Bradley had been dead since early that morning. While Coffee Cat Books is closed on Mondays during the off season, the island offices are open. Mayor Bradley should have been in his office at the time he died. I wonder if he went in and then left, or if he never went in at all on Monday.”
    “That would be a good question for Glenda. I’ll call her tomorrow. Do you think his attendance in the office that morning is relevant?”
    “Maybe,” I answered. “If he was in his office and then left to go to the hollow, he might have said