If the Shoe Kills Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the counter. “Before you say anything, I’m sorry about last night.”
    â€œMindy’s a great person. I think you’ll enjoy working with her.” I jumped into my sales pitch.
    â€œIt wasn’t her. I, well, I thought I saw someone I knew.” Marie picked up a glass unicorn and started polishing the imaginary dust off the piece. “It upset me. But it couldn’t be the same person. I mean, he doesn’t even live on this side of the country.”
    Could she be talking about Ted? I replayed the scene from yesterday in my head. Had Marie been scared from the near miss, or of the driver of the car? “Look, if you want to talk . . .”
    My words were interrupted by a group of women flowing through the door. Excited chatter filled the small shop.
    Marie set the unicorn down. “Sorry, I’ve got a lunch class. I’ll be ready for Mindy on Thursday, no worries.” She glanced at the women already heading to the back of the room. “Did you want anything else?”
    Apparently, I’d been dismissed. I shook my head. “I’ll think about the piece.”
    I stepped out into the bright sunshine and wondered what had just happened. One moment, Marie seemed ready to talk about her concerns, the next, a cool professional stood in front of me.
    At least she’d agreed to take Mindy on Thursday, and that had been my main objective in the discussion. I wasn’t sure the owner of The Glass Slipper would ever be a friend, to me or anyone else in town. But not everyone wanted that kind of relationship. I made a mental note to take her cookies next week. Maybe I needed to reach out more.
    The shop was busy when I returned, and I checked in with Toby to make sure he didn’t need help before grabbing my purse and walking home. When he laughed, I took that as my cue and grabbed the almost-finished mystery to take back to the house. Research for the bookstore. Friday night was Aunt Jackie’s Mystery Readers Group and it was my turn to present the new books for the month. I’d like to say I’d read all of them, but usually, I only had time for a couple each month.
    Passing City Hall, I considered stopping in to see Amy, my bestie. A red Mustang sat parked in the one visitor spot in front of the building. Greg’s truck sat next to the sports car. Ted must be in visiting with the mayor. I couldn’t take the thought of running into one or the other of the men, not even to see Amy. I’d call her when I got home.
    Emma stood waiting at the back door when I unlocked the kitchen door. She whined and I knew she wanted to run. “Let me change and we’ll go.” I unlocked the screen door and grabbed her water dish to fill before we left.
    Ten minutes later, we were on the beach. With the waves choppy and the wind cool, we were alone. I unclipped Emma’s leash and we took off, the salt in the air cooling my face as I ran. Seagulls cawed and dived at the waves. One came up with a too large fish for his wingspan, and he didn’t get far before he was beach-bound, a crowd of gull friends circling his windfall.
    We hit our turnaround spot and I slowed, letting Emma play in the surf for a few minutes. She loved the beach run. Although she also loved it when we went inland and ran at the state park just a few miles outside of South Cove. I had to face the fact, my dog was a running junkie.
    My cell rang as I watched Emma. I picked up, thinking it had to be Greg or Amy. “Hey.”
    â€œJill? Jill Gardner?” An unfamiliar male voice echoed in my ear. The wind was making it hard to hear.
    I cupped my hand around the mouthpiece and talked louder, like that would make it easier for me to hear. “This is Jill.”
    â€œYou need to stop meddling. If an intern doesn’t have work, they don’t have work. You can’t take on all of the deadbeats.” The man continued to ramble. Only now I knew whom I was speaking to: