Caffeine & Killers (A Roasted Love Cozy Mystery Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

someone leaving a pawn shop. The nearest people were at
least half a block away. It was just me and this man that I
desperately wanted information from.
    Okay, I had to gain his trust and I had to think
fast. I took a deep breath.
    "John sent me," I said. Sorry, John .
    This time, the man looked me squarely in the eye.
"John Collins?" he asked.
    I nodded. "Yeah." This guy had just
given me John's last name!
    But he wasn't any happier. "You tell John to
quit using me. I know how to take care of people like him. I’m not
the only one down here who knows about him. He oughta be looking over
his shoulder every minute of his life."
    He was pretty mad and starting to scare me. I
stepped back. Thor remained planted where he was, but he was on full
alert and I heard him growl.
    The man backed away, still facing us. I tugged at
the leash and commanded the Doberman to follow me. We walked away,
but not casually. I could feel the man's beady little stare drilling
holes into my back and I kept right on going.
    I'd never been so happy to be locked inside my
car. Thor sat up in the back seat and kept a close watch on the
dealer. I glanced in my side mirror and saw the man walking a little
unsteadily in the opposite direction.
    I started the car and drove away, dodging the
potholes as much as I could. On the next corner, just before I passed
the grocery store, was a man with something black hanging out of his
mouth. There were black stains all around his lips, too. I figured it
for another kind of drug until I saw from the wrapper in his hand
that it was black licorice candy.
    I took a deep breath, happy to be leaving this
place. But I knew this wouldn’t be my last visit to the underworld
of the homeless and the drug dealers. West River, New York held two
worlds, one of which I'd never had a clue about.
    But I did now.

Chapter Six
    Once back into the familiar part of West River, I
glanced at my watch. I decided to take Thor home and grab a quick
lunch. After that, I wanted to have a talk with Police Chief Donald
Hayes.
    The chief and I had a good relationship. Not that
West River was a crime-ridden city, but there had been a couple of
times before that I'd sat across from him due to something sinister
happening in town.
    It seemed to me that the death of my friend John
was no different.
    Arriving at the precinct house, I greeted Susan in
the outer office. "Is the chief in today?" I asked her.
    "He’s here, yes, but someone is with him
right now. Can you wait?"
    "Sure. No problem." I sat down in one of
the chairs against the wall, and looked at how worn the rest of them
were. Well, countless people had sat in them before me. My mind
wandered a little while I waited, and I wondered what kinds of
reasons all those other people had had for sitting here.
    I could hear soft voices from down the hall.
Sometimes a door opened and closed. Finally, after about fifteen
minutes, the chief’s door opened and he walked into the reception
area with a man in dark slacks, a blue shirt and a windbreaker.
    "You have some good ideas on how to clean up
the drug problem down in that part of town," said the man in the
windbreaker. He was a tall and slim with dark brown hair. He looked
pretty fit and I would have guessed he was about forty years old. He
glanced at me as he walked past. "I'll stay on top of it."
    "Good," said the Chief Hayes. "We
don’t want any more deaths from overdoses."
    I turned around to look as the man headed towards
the front door – and that's when I saw that the back of his
windbreaker said DEA. I'd seen enough TV shows to know that that
stood for Drug Enforcement Agency. The ones who took down the
big-time drug dealers. And there was one right here in little ol'
West River.
    Mr. Windbreaker left the building, and then the
chief noticed me. "Hello, Laila. What brings you down this way?"
    "If you've got a few minutes, I’d like to
talk with you." He nodded and gestured for me to come into his
office. "I won’t take up too much of