Marriage and Murder (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

of
days.”
                “Thanks, Leo. Sorry for
interrupting your Sunday brunch. Since you’re probably through here, you can
have your assistant take the body to the morgue, and if you hurry you might
even make it back home before dessert is served,” Mike said. His words were met
by a scowl from the overweight coroner who told his assistant he was through examining
the body, and it should be taken to the morgue after Mike’s men finished
getting whatever evidence they could from it. He turned on his heel and waddled
out to his car.
                Mike spoke to one of his
deputies who then walked over to where Kelly was seated and said, “Mrs.
Reynolds, I can take you home now.” Kelly stood up and gestured for Rebel and
Lady to follow her. Rebel refused to move. “Rebel, come,” she said. He stood rock
solid still and looked in Mike’s direction.
                “Mike, Rebel wants to
stay with you, and just like in the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme ‘All the king’s
horses and all the king’s men’ aren’t going to get him to move. As strong as he
is, it would take all of your men to get him in the car. I think you and your
deputies all have more important things to do at the moment, so just let him
stay here with you. He probably feels he needs to be here to protect you.”
                “Okay. I’ll take him with
me when I leave.” He walked over to her. “I know how much you liked Jesse and
his family. I’m so sorry. When we finish here, I’ll drive over and tell them
the sad news.”
                “No. If you don’t mind,
I’d like to have your deputy take me to his mother’s house, and I’ll tell her
now. It may be hours before your work here’s finished, and I got to know the
family pretty well when I took some food out to Jesse’s father when he was
terminally ill. Jesse was divorced and lived above The Crush. His mother and
sister live only about a block away from here. I don’t want them to hear about
this from someone else, and you know how fast word travels in this little town
of ours.”
                Kelly stepped through the
rear door of The Crush, her heart heavy with grief. She’d only taken a few
steps when she saw something glittering on the ground. She knelt down and
picked it up, noticing that it was a small decorative pin with the Arabic
numbers “07” on it.
                When this is
over , she thought , I’ll do a little research and see if I can return it
to its owner. As she and Lady followed the young deputy to his patrol car, she
slid the pin into a side pocket of her purse, intending to examine it later.
    *****
    Kelly rang the doorbell of Jesse’s
mother’s well-kept modest two-story Queen Anne style home with white columns and
a wrap-around porch. Seconds later a small white-haired older woman wearing a
flowered apron opened the door. “Why, Kelly, how nice to see you. It’s been a
long time, dear. Please, come in,” she said, giving Kelly a hug as she entered
the hallway.
                “Thank you, Mrs. Allen.
I’m afraid I have some bad news. Why don’t you sit down?”
                “What’s wrong? She asked,
pushing her glasses up the ridge of her nose.
                “Please, sit down. It’s
Jesse…”
                Mrs. Allen interrupted
her, “Has something happened to him? He was just here for lunch. I’m cleaning
up the dishes right now.”
                Kelly put her hand on Mrs.
Allen’s arm and gently guided her into a chair that was next to where she was
standing. “Yes, something has happened to him.” She paused and took a deep breath.
“Mrs. Allen, Jesse was murdered a little while ago. Sheriff Mike and I found
his body at The Crush.”
                A large, plain-looking middle-aged
woman suddenly ran shrieking into the room. Celia Parsons wore her grey hair
cut in a short bob and wasn’t wearing