Halloween Hiccups: A Mercy Mares Cozy Mystery Novella Read Online Free PDF

a world of trouble. I couldn't blame her. I thought the same thing. My experience, what little of it there was, told me that when the police wanted to speak to you, it wasn't to chat about the weather, unless the weather was the reason a, b, or c happened. In this case, it wasn't.
     
    “Call me crazy, but I have the sinking feeling that something bad is going to happen.” Ruby said.
     
    “What? Like you find a man neck deep in a tub of fruit?” I asked, trying to make a heavy situation lighter.
     
    Ruby groaned. “Did you have to say that? Did you think I forgot about poor Stanley? He's all I see. I can't help but think if I'd just made another sweep of the fields and the house, I could have prevented his death. You have no idea how guilty I feel about all this.” Ruby's voice shook as she spoke. She was right. I hadn't stopped to consider how horrific this must have been for her.
     
    I reached forward to put my hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry, sweetheart. I was so busy worrying about myself and how inconvenienced I'm going to be that I completely forgot that you were the one that found him like that. It must have been so scary for you. I'm sorry.”
     
    Ruby reached up to grab my hand and squeeze it gently. “You're fine. I shouldn't be so sensitive. It's not like he was the first dead body I've seen. I mean, I've been a nurse for half my life.”
     
    “We're here.” Hank announced, interrupting our conversation.
     
    I felt nauseous all of a sudden. Ruby may have decided that a brave front was the way to go, but I was beginning to think that a different approach would probably work better. If what Margie said was true, and I had no reason to believe that it wasn't, then there were already crazy scenarios rolling around in Myron's silly head.
     
    He wasn't a bad police officer. Over the years, I'd heard that he'd done good things, like stopping the occasional thief and coming down hard on the drag racers who popped up every summer in town, but murder? No, he wasn't qualified to investigate a murder, because we simply didn't have murders here – at least not often enough for anyone to have any real experience with them.
     
    “I have a plan.” I announced.
     
    Hank and Ruby shot each other panicked glances.
     
    “What? I'm serious.” I said.
     
    “Why do we need a plan?” Ruby asked. “We didn't do anything wrong.”
     
    I nodded. “I know, but I think there's something else going on here.” I said.
     
    Hank patted Ruby's leg. “I'll handle this. Mercy, what are you talking about?”
     
    “Margie said something to me about Charlene being chopped up to smithereens. No one else was there, right?” I asked Ruby.
     
    “No one that I know of. I checked the property after the last family left. I didn't see anyone, but obviously I was wrong because Stanley was still there.” Ruby explained.
     
    “You didn't notice Stanley's car in front?” I asked.
     
    Ruby pursed her lips as she tried to remember. “No, I didn't see it. Now that I think about it, he left a little while after you did. I watched him get into his car and drive down the block. I remember because I was nervous that he'd shut the whole thing down because you upset him so much. I never saw him return and I don't remember seeing his car at all after he stormed off.”
     
    “See, that's what I thought. What if whoever started that rumor about Charlene being mutilated and put back together again knows what happened to Stanley and is trying to drive the scent off or is the real killer?” I had all sorts of theories running through my mind now. I didn't disclose everything, but I was convinced that someone knew something and somehow it was all going to fall back on Ruby and me.
     
    Ruby looked at me like I'd lost my mind. “What are you planning, Mercy? We can't get involved. Let's just go in and say what we have to say and leave. Do you understand? I have no intention of investigating this at all, and you better not either. We