Cloudy with a Chance of Ghosts (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

he thought she was visiting the ladies room.”
    “But she was really down the hill, in the orchard area, getting killed.”
    “So why would she hand him her purse?”
    No one had an answer and we didn’t want to say aloud what we were thinking.  
    The steaks arrived, still sizzling and smelling wonderful. We dug in like ravenous beasts—well, that is probably overstating things a bit. But we were hungry, and in some ways, eating like that was a quick-fix reaction to our dejected feelings. And we had things to think about, things to discuss.  
    “Bebe, you’ve met Jagger before at town functions,” Jill said anxiously as she sat back with a sigh. “What do you think? Could he…could he murder someone?”
    Bebe looked quizzical. “Sure. Anyone, at any given time, could commit murder, under the right circumstances. We’re all human, Jill. The need to protect ourselves and our loved ones comes first in our priorities.”
    We stared at her again. Neither one of us had expected something so fiercely elemental from our sweet and gentle Bebe.  
    “Okay,” I said at last, giving her a sideways look. “Uh…have you ever met this Keri person?”
    She shook her head. “I looked her up after you called me, though. From what I could find, she’s been an FBI agent and a journalist, in that order.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “So she really was snooping around, as Jagger told me. He said she’d been in the area for a few days. That would imply she might have been involved in setting up for the art show.” I looked at Jill. “Know anything about that? Was she involved with the art show? Or with the art scene in general?”
    “I never saw her before today.”
    “Hmm. So what was her game? Was she after a story? Or following a crime lead? Who knows?”
    “The one thing I do know,” Jill said firmly, though her voice was wavering. “Jagger didn’t kill anybody. He couldn’t have.”  
    She glanced at Bebe and I realized this was a declaration of trust that she meant to counter Bebe’s statement that anyone could do anything at any given time, depending on how they were motivated. She was standing by her man.  
    I wanted to point out that she’d only known him for a few days and there was no way she could know what he could or couldn’t do, but I wanted to keep her as a friend more than I wanted to bring up unwelcome facts, so I bit my tongue and moved on.
    “Motives.” I slapped the flat of my hand down as I said the word, just to give it emphasis.
    “What about them?”
    “We need to make a list. Jagger first, since he was taken in for questioning. What could be his motives for wanting her out of the way?”
    Jill shrugged, looking blank. “I don’t think he really knew her, so why…?”
    But I was shaking my head. “Uh…Jill? I think he did know her.”  
    Jill was staring at me. “What makes you say that?” she asked.  
    It was all going to come out. I sighed. “Okay, I saw them together outside the sliding glass door area. They were arguing and he had a grip on her arm like he wanted to rip it off. When they saw me, he let go and she took off as though escaping from him in some way.”
    Jill looked like she was going to faint. “Oh. No. I…I didn’t know.”
    “He didn’t say anything about her?”
    She shook her head.
    “Too bad.”  
    We sat brooding over that for a few minutes. I suddenly remembered what Jagger had said about how somebody ought to do something about Keri Shorter. Had he decided to go ahead and take that step? That gave me a chill, but I didn’t think I would bring it up to Jill right now.  
    “We just don’t even have a thread to begin with,” I noted. “We need to find out more about her, more about what she does with her life. Where she lives. Who she hangs out with.”
    “Yeah,” Jill said, leaning her chin into her cupped hand. “I just talked to her for a few minutes, about nothing much.” She frowned, looking back. “Wait. I know one thing.” Her eyes