Sweet Ginger Poison Read Online Free PDF Page B

recess, three bullies pinned Kip
against a wall. They took turns punching him in the stomach and laughing.
Daniel saw what was happening and went over to stop it. Kip was not even
defending himself. The only thing he was fighting off was his own tears.
    Daniel grabbed one of the boys by the shoulders and
pulled him backward and tripped him. He dared the boy to get up and fight him.
But the kid was afraid of the taller, stronger Daniel. He crawled away on hands
and knees. Daniel spun around to dispense with the other two boys, but they
were already gone. That was the beginning of Kip and Daniel’s long friendship.
    Later that year, after watching The Karate Kid, Kip
begged his mother to let him enroll in karate lessons. She was worried that her
undersized son would get hurt, but she finally relented. Coreyville’s version
of Mr. Miyagi taught his pupil well. The only thing that Kip had a
problem with was controlling his aggression. Even now it seemed like Kip was on
the verge of taking Daniel’s head off.
    After a few months of training, Kip didn’t need
Daniel’s protection anymore. But he still valued his friendship. And he never
forgot about the way Daniel had stood up for him when he needed it most.
    The mayor took a deep breath, and then walked back
around his desk and sat down. “What’s the status?”
    “The Justice of the Peace agrees with me. We think
Navy just fell and hit his head on the concrete.”
    “Then why the autopsy?”
    Typical, thought Daniel. Kip already knows everything.
He just likes to hear me fumble around trying to explain it.
    Like the time in high school when Kip broke up with
Sara Sue. Daniel had wanted to date her, but hadn’t yet worked up the nerve to
ask her out. And before he could, Kip did.
    They dated for three months. It was killing Daniel
every time he saw her with Kip.
    Then Kip dumped her one night at a party, and left her
crying. Daniel went over to comfort her.
    The next day Kip confronted his friend.
    “How’d you like the party last night?”
    “It was okay.”
    “What did you do after I left? I figured you’d come by
the house.”
    “No. I was kinda tired after the party.”
    “So, you just went straight home?”
    Daniel just stared at Kip. Not again.
    “You didn’t give anybody a ride home?”
    “Well…yeah.”
    “One of the guys?”
    Daniel blew up. “You know what I did, so why are you
asking me all these questions?”
    “I heard about it. But I couldn’t believe that
my best friend would betray me like that.”
    “I didn’t betray you. You broke her heart, Man. I just
tried to make her feel better.”
    “Really? So, just how good did you make her feel, huh,
Buddy? How good?”
    “Shut up! I just held her in my arms. That’s all.”
    “You didn’t even give her a nighty-night kiss at the
door?”
    “That’s none of your business.”
    They beat each other up pretty good that time.
    Daniel never did ask Sara Sue for a date.
    “Boot ordered the autopsy—just to be sure.”
    “Good idea. We’ve got to get it right.”
    And you don’t think I can get it right, do you, Kip?
“We will.”
    “Okay. Keep me updated.” The mayor turned his chair to
the side and began to type on his computer.
    Daniel took that as a signal that he should leave. So
he did.
    As he walked down the stairs, he began to hope that
Navy had not died from an accident—that it had been murder.
    And if it was, he would singlehandedly solve the
crime.

7 - Cake Laboratory
    Ginger walked into the living room and sat down in her
favorite old rocking chair with a hot cup of green tea. Drinking it from her
fine china always made it taste better somehow.
    People tend to save the good china for special
occasions—like Thanksgiving and Christmas. But Ginger had decided some years
ago that every day should be a special occasion. Although the hope of a
long life wasn’t quite as appealing as it used to be.
    She looked over at his recliner in the corner. She had
not moved it since he