Minnie Crockwell - Will Travel for Trouble 02 - Trouble at Sunny Lake Read Online Free PDF

know who it is? Did he fall off the cliffs? What did you say to the police? It wasn’t Sean!”
    I took a step back. Mary, whom I’d earlier found to be a pleasant sweet lady in her early 60s, had changed within hours to resemble some sort of thin-lipped hissing witch. I exaggerated of course, but it was just one of those days where exaggeration didn’t go far enough to describe things.  
    I didn’t know which question to answer first. I saw both deputies look up at me and nod. They had certainly gotten here fast. It wouldn’t have taken them long to drive the quarter mile around by the road. I wondered what was up.
    I approached the counter again to speak to Mary in a low voice.  
    “I didn’t say anything about Sean. I don’t know who the dead man was. Thankfully, I never got a good look at him.”
    “Well, then why are they here? Sean said you called and that you insisted he come down there to help you with the pontoon boat. Maybe they saw him there and thought he was involved somehow.”
    “Well, insist is a strong word. I had run aground. I panicked when I saw the body, and the boat got away from me. I had no way of pushing it back into the water and getting aboard.”
    “Well, now they think Sean must know something, but I’m sure he doesn’t. He was working here all day yesterday, and back at the camper with me last night.”
    I quirked an eyebrow. Talk about too much information. What was this all about?
    The lady doth protest too much, methinks? Ben said. What goes here?
    “So, you know Sean well?”  
    This smacks of involvement, Minerva. I feel certain I heard you say you did not intend to involve yourself in the matter.
    Just a question or two, Ben, to take the edge off my curiosity.  
    “He’s my grandson.”
    “Oh!” I said. I hadn’t realized they were related. Not that it mattered much, but it certainly explained her concerns.
    “Maybe the body has been there longer than a day or two,” I mused. I should have mused silently.
    “Well, whenever this fellow fell off the cliff or whatever happened to him, Sean was with me. He’s been either here at work or at the trailer.”
    I quirked the other eyebrow at her blanket statement and looked over my shoulder to see the deputies and Sean rise from the table. Sean grabbed his hat and glasses almost angrily and strode out the side door which led toward the bathrooms.
    Deputies Wilson and Kline watched him walk away and then approached the counter. Their focus was on Mary, and she threw me a pale blue narrow-eyed glance. I shrugged and shook my head, hoping to signal that I hadn’t mentioned her either.  
    “Mrs. Sanders, your grandson Sean states that he was with you either here in the office or at your trailer all night last night. Can you confirm that?” Kline did the questioning while Wilson jotted some notes on a pad of paper.
    Mary bobbed her head. “Yes, he was. Hasn’t been out of my sight. Why are you asking?”
    I stood to the side. I still had to pay for the rental of the pontoon boat, so I did have some legitimate business there other than eavesdropping. The deputies didn’t seem to care that I was there.
    “We’re just investigating a death on the lake. I assume you have heard about it.”
    “Yes, of course. Who was it? Was it an accident?”
    “We haven’t notified the victim’s family yet so we can’t give you that information.”
    “But was it an accident?” Mary pressed the issue, not something I would have done.
    Deputy Wilson’s head shot up, and he stared hard at her.
    “We can’t discuss the case,” Deputy Kline reiterated. “So, you do confirm that Sean was with you all day yesterday?”
    “Yes, yes. He was with me.” Mary, under obvious stress, was becoming testy. I wondered if this wasn’t a good time to return to my RV and come back later to settle the bill. I couldn’t walk away though.
    “Is this a good number for you?” Deputy Wilson picked up one of the RV park business cards.
    “Yes. If I