2 A Deadly Beef Read Online Free PDF

Sally?" I asked as we got back into the truck.
    "What
about her?" Moose asked.
    "She
should go on our suspect list, don’t you think?"
    My
grandfather looked surprised by the suggestion, and then he asked, "Why
would you think that?"
    "Well,
it was pretty clear that she didn’t want us talking to Ron without her
around, and she came right out and told us that she and Wally used to fight all
of the time.  It’s almost as though she was trying to lay a rumor to
rest before it had a chance to spread, do you know what I mean?"
    Moose
stroked his chin, and then said, "I don’t know.  I personally
have a hard time seeing it."
    "Is
it because she likes to flirt with you so shamelessly?" I asked.
    "I
don’t know what you’re talking about," Moose said, but there
was a hitch in his voice as he said it.  "You know Sally.  She
was just being friendly."
    "I’m
willing to bet that she wouldn’t have acted that way if Martha had been
standing beside you instead of me."
    "You
have an overactive imagination, granddaughter," Moose said.
    "Maybe
so, but that doesn’t make what I said any less true.  I think she
should at least go on our list, Moose, no matter how long a shot she is."
    "Then
by all means, put her on it," he said.  "But for now,
let’s focus on how we’re going to handle Penny Rusk."
    "I
sort of thought we’d just barge in and start asking questions like we
always do," I admitted.  "If you’ve got a better game
plan than that, I’d be glad to hear it."
    Moose
seemed to think about that, and then he said, "No, the ‘bull in a
china shop’ method seems to have worked for us so far.  Let’s
just keep poking around and see what we can uncover.  Sometimes it’s
better to be lucky than good, anyway."
    "That
seems to be our credo," I answered.  "Why mess with a
successful formula?"
    "Exactly."
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
    "Hey,
Penny.  Do you have a second?" I asked as Moose and I walked into
The Suds Center.  The laundromat offered three walls of do-it-yourself coin-operated
machines, but they also provided a service that allowed customers to drop off
their dirty clothes and come back for them later, freshly cleaned and
pressed. 
    It
appeared that Penny Rusk was working on one such order when we interrupted her.
 She was short, probably not even five feet tall, but Penny had a shape
that offered plenty of curves.  It was almost as though a full sized woman
had been shrunk down to a smaller size. 
    As she
folded a T-shirt using a special plastic folding device, she said, "I
never expected to see you two here.  Where’s your laundry?"
    "At
home in the hamper," I admitted.  "We’re not here to do
our wash."
    "Then
why are you here, the ambiance?" she asked as she waved a hand around the
room.
    "Actually,
we were hoping you’d be willing to talk about your relationship with
Wally Bain with us."
    "What
relationship are you talking about?" Penny asked as she slammed the
folder this way and that, turning out a surprisingly neat garment when she was
finished.
    "There’s
no reason to be coy with us about it.  We heard that you two were dating
up until recently," Moose said.
    Penny
frowned when she heard that.  "Sure, we went out a few times, but
I’d hardly call it dating.  It was never all that serious between
us, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not upset that someone decided
to kill the poor guy."
    Funny,
she didn’t look all that upset to me, and I had a hunch that she was
lying about her relationship.  It had been more important to her than she
was letting on, according to what Moose had heard, and what Ron had told us
from his own firsthand experience.  "He dumped you, though, and that
could not have felt very good."
    Penny
frowned at me for a full second, and then went back to her folding. 
"I don’t know who your source is, but it never happened that
way.  I was the one who told Wally that I was ready to move on.  The
poor guy wasn’t all that pleased about it, I can tell you