crazy old spinster who’d foolishly walked away from a billion dollars didn’t mean I had to look like one.
My clothes were with the rest of my stuff, at the duplex, but the idea of going there made my stomach clench. My new tenant might be around, with his big mountain man beard, and all his rude ideas about what his landlady really needed.
“I’ll go shopping,” I told Jeffrey.
His tail twitched with excitement, because he assumed I meant shopping for him.
I went to the kitchen, hunted down some food for both of us, and used my phone to catch up on emails and text messages.
I finished breakfast long before I’d gotten through all my messages. My gift shop employee had sent a flurry of notes the day before, all following a pattern. She’d send a message asking me where some item was, then send another message time-stamped five minutes later proudly telling me she’d found the item. Then there’s be a third message apologizing for the first two.
There were multiple sets of these messages, each more hilarious than the last. Her most recent one was from closing time, telling me the cash register was over by exactly three dollars, yet again.
I heard the sound of boots on the front steps and nearly dropped the phone. Then I remembered it was the same time of day I’d come to the street yesterday, and that sound was likely the mailman.
I ran to the front door and yanked it open, so I could apologize to him for running the day before.
He must not have been expecting a wild-haired woman to yank open the front door like that. The poor man dropped his satchel of mail on the porch, and, by the look on his face, might have peed a little.
“Sorry for jumping out at you like that,” I said quickly. “I just thought you’d want to know the police caught the guy, last night. Oh, and I’m really sorry about ditching you at the crime scene yesterday. That wasn’t very nice of me, but look at how tiny I am compared to you.”
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“Sorry!” I said again. “I didn’t mean to insult you like that. It’s just that you’re a big guy. Not big in a bad way. I just mean that you look strong. Do you work out? What can you bench? I bet it’s a lot.”
He stammered, “Wha-wha-what did you say?”
“You look like you could bench-press a lot more than me. I went in for a personal training session once, and you know what I benched? The bar. With no weights on it. Just the bar. And I was sore the next day.”
He gave me an exasperated look. “I meant about the police. Did they really catch the guy who killed poor Mr. Michaels?”
“I hope so. They caught someone. I shouldn’t say who the guy was, should I? Nope. I’m not going to say the name and start any more rumors. Innocent until proven guilty and all that, right?”
“It was a man? Someone local?”
I nodded. “He broke into the house last night. It was pretty stupid of the killer to come back, but my guess is he was worried about some sort of evidence.”
“That’s such a relief,” said the red-faced mail carrier as he picked up his bag.
“Have you been looking over your shoulder all morning, wondering if the killer was someone you deliver mail to?”
“I’ve been jumpier than a baby squirrel sitting on a barrel of pecans.” He took out a kerchief and mopped the beads of sweat from his round face.
“I’m sorry I left you on your own yesterday.”
“We all make mistakes.” He dug around in his satchel, then pulled out a good-sized carrot.
I took a step back inside the house as a reflex. Why was I afraid of a carrot? The nose. A frozen carrot just like that one had formed the dapper snowman’s nose.
The mail carrier didn’t notice my fearful expression as he crunched noisily on the carrot. I wasn’t the world’s leading expert on carrots, but it appeared to be exactly the same size and shape as the carrot I’d seen the day before, jabbed into my neighbor’s snowy tomb.
“You like carrots?” I
My clothes were with the rest of my stuff, at the duplex, but the idea of going there made my stomach clench. My new tenant might be around, with his big mountain man beard, and all his rude ideas about what his landlady really needed.
“I’ll go shopping,” I told Jeffrey.
His tail twitched with excitement, because he assumed I meant shopping for him.
I went to the kitchen, hunted down some food for both of us, and used my phone to catch up on emails and text messages.
I finished breakfast long before I’d gotten through all my messages. My gift shop employee had sent a flurry of notes the day before, all following a pattern. She’d send a message asking me where some item was, then send another message time-stamped five minutes later proudly telling me she’d found the item. Then there’s be a third message apologizing for the first two.
There were multiple sets of these messages, each more hilarious than the last. Her most recent one was from closing time, telling me the cash register was over by exactly three dollars, yet again.
I heard the sound of boots on the front steps and nearly dropped the phone. Then I remembered it was the same time of day I’d come to the street yesterday, and that sound was likely the mailman.
I ran to the front door and yanked it open, so I could apologize to him for running the day before.
He must not have been expecting a wild-haired woman to yank open the front door like that. The poor man dropped his satchel of mail on the porch, and, by the look on his face, might have peed a little.
“Sorry for jumping out at you like that,” I said quickly. “I just thought you’d want to know the police caught the guy, last night. Oh, and I’m really sorry about ditching you at the crime scene yesterday. That wasn’t very nice of me, but look at how tiny I am compared to you.”
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“Sorry!” I said again. “I didn’t mean to insult you like that. It’s just that you’re a big guy. Not big in a bad way. I just mean that you look strong. Do you work out? What can you bench? I bet it’s a lot.”
He stammered, “Wha-wha-what did you say?”
“You look like you could bench-press a lot more than me. I went in for a personal training session once, and you know what I benched? The bar. With no weights on it. Just the bar. And I was sore the next day.”
He gave me an exasperated look. “I meant about the police. Did they really catch the guy who killed poor Mr. Michaels?”
“I hope so. They caught someone. I shouldn’t say who the guy was, should I? Nope. I’m not going to say the name and start any more rumors. Innocent until proven guilty and all that, right?”
“It was a man? Someone local?”
I nodded. “He broke into the house last night. It was pretty stupid of the killer to come back, but my guess is he was worried about some sort of evidence.”
“That’s such a relief,” said the red-faced mail carrier as he picked up his bag.
“Have you been looking over your shoulder all morning, wondering if the killer was someone you deliver mail to?”
“I’ve been jumpier than a baby squirrel sitting on a barrel of pecans.” He took out a kerchief and mopped the beads of sweat from his round face.
“I’m sorry I left you on your own yesterday.”
“We all make mistakes.” He dug around in his satchel, then pulled out a good-sized carrot.
I took a step back inside the house as a reflex. Why was I afraid of a carrot? The nose. A frozen carrot just like that one had formed the dapper snowman’s nose.
The mail carrier didn’t notice my fearful expression as he crunched noisily on the carrot. I wasn’t the world’s leading expert on carrots, but it appeared to be exactly the same size and shape as the carrot I’d seen the day before, jabbed into my neighbor’s snowy tomb.
“You like carrots?” I
Similar Books
