Powdered Peril Read Online Free PDF

“Nan, I know this must sound crazy to you, but I need to go with the chief to help out a friend of mine. I’m perfectly happy to shut the donut shop for an hour if you’d prefer, and you can take a break. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you for your time.”
    “Is there any reason I can’t run it for you in your absence?” she asked as she glanced at my cash register. “This is an 8200 model. I’ve run one before.”
    “It’s not fair for me to ask you to do that,” I said.
    Nan smiled broadly. “You’re not asking; I’m volunteering. Go on, I’ll be fine.”
    She’d been with me just a few hours, and now my new assistant was asking me to entrust my livelihood with her, all that I owned. Could I trust her? If not now, when, though? After three days? A week? A month? There was no time like the present to see if I could leave the shop in her hands. “If you’re sure, that would be great. I really appreciate it.”
    “Go on. I can always call you if I get in over my head, but I don’t think I will.”
    “Let’s go,” I said to Chief Martin, afraid that if I lingered too long, I’d change my mind. On the surface it didn’t make any sense at all, but Grace was involved, so logic went out the window. I didn’t have many good and true friends, though I had scads of acquaintances in our small town, and when one of them was in trouble, there was no way I wouldn’t be there for them.
    We got to the squad car, and I automatically headed for the backseat.
    “You can ride up front with me, if you don’t think it might ruin your reputation,” Chief Martin said as he held the door open for me. It was something I loved about living in the South. No matter how we might have felt about each other, we still respected the unwritten rules that drove us all, and courtesy was one of them.
    Driving to Grace’s, I asked, “I’m curious about something. How can you be certain Peter was the one who painted my shop?” Before he could answer, I immediately did it myself. “Strike that. He had yellow paint on the soles of his shoes, and probably on his hands and clothes as well.”
    The chief glanced over at me for a second as he continued driving. “Suzanne, you told Grant that you didn’t see anyone do it. How could you know all of that? You didn’t find the body yourself and not tell anyone about it, did you?”
    “Of course not,” I said, though I couldn’t fault the chief for jumping to a wild conclusion like that. I had meddled in police business a few times over the years, but I’d never done anything so overtly wrong before. At least not in my mind, anyway. “I saw the footprints in the paint, and from the way the paint was sloshed all over the front of the building, it would have taken a miracle not to get any on his hands or on his clothes. It just makes sense.”
    “Well, you couldn’t have described him better if you’d seen the man himself,” the chief said. “You’re pretty quick, aren’t you?”
    “Maybe I’ve been reading too many of my mother’s mystery novels,” I admitted. I wasn’t all that excited to have the chief remembering the times in the past when I’d played detective myself. “You’re going to take it easy on Grace, aren’t you? Hearing about Peter’s murder is going to be a real shock to her.”
    “I’ll do what I can,” he said as he pulled into her driveway, “but I have to talk to her first, and I don’t have time to be gentle. That’s why you’re here.”
    “To help pick up the pieces after you’re through,” I said, without an ounce of anger in my words.
    “I wouldn’t put it like that exactly, but the gist of it is true.”
    “I appreciate you thinking of me,” I said as he got out of the car.
    He just nodded, and I had to fight the urge to leave the car as well and march right up those steps with him. A promise was a promise, though, even if I’d made it to our chief of police.
    I saw Grace answer the door after a few minutes of ringing and knocking,