Touchy and Feely (Sissy Sawyer Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF

of anybody who might have wanted your husband dead?’
    Sylvia blinked at her. ‘What are you suggesting?’
    ‘I’m asking you if anybody bears your husband any kind of grudge. Somebody he’s been doing business with, maybe.’
    ‘Of course not! Howard’s a Rotarian!’
    Doreen was about to say something, but suddenly there was a whining noise from the back of the Explorer.
    ‘Oh, the poor little thing’s woken up,’ said Sylvia. She reached over and lifted the Labrador puppy into her lap. ‘My daughter’s Christmas present. We just drove down to Norwalk to collect it.’
    Steve said, ‘OK, Mrs Stanton. We get the picture.’ He beckoned a young woman paramedic to take care of Sylvia, and led Doreen away.
    Doreen hissed, ‘He was a Rotarian and so he didn’t have enemies?’
    ‘We’ll talk to her again, don’t worry. She’s too shocked right now to make any sense.’
    ‘Well, I believe in striking while the iron’s hot.’
    ‘I know you do. But I believe in finding out more about the guy’s background before I start asking questions like that. She might tell us that somebody at work was out to get him, but we have no way of validating it, not yet.’
    He walked around the back of the Explorer and Doreen reluctantly followed him. The cashier was shuffling from one foot to the other, as if he needed to pee. He was so edgy that Steve could almost have believed that he had shot Howard Stanton.
    ‘What’s your name, son?’
    ‘Willis Broward. Willis like in Bruce Willis.’
    Steve wrote that down. ‘Well then, Willis. You actually witnessed Mr Stanton falling down?’
    ‘That’s right. He pays for his gas, OK, and he’s walking back to his car. He turns around to look back at me and then he just pitches over. It’s like somebody hits him with this invisible baseball bat. Whop.’
    ‘Which way did he fall?’
    ‘This way. Same way he’s lying now. Only he drops onto his side. His wife jumps out of her vehicle and she’s screaming and she turns him over and starts hitting him in the chest.’
    ‘What did you do?’
    ‘I come out here to see what’s happening but when I see the guy’s brains is spread all over the floor I go right back in and call 911.’
    ‘Did you see anybody hanging around here? Like, before this happened?’
    The cashier sniffed and shook his head. ‘I was watching TV.’
    ‘You didn’t see anybody running away? Or a vehicle, maybe, driving off at speed?’
    ‘There was nobody, man. The guy just dropped. Maybe there was a sniper or something, out in the woods.’
    ‘OK,’ said Steve. ‘We’ll need to talk to you later.’
    The cashier hesitated for a moment, and then he said, ‘I’m real sorry he’s dead and all, but the guy was a jerk.’
    ‘Oh, yes? What makes you say that?’
    ‘He won’t use my pen to sign his credit-card slip. He says I might be carrying some kind of disease.’
    ‘And do you?’ asked Doreen.

Feely Gets a Ride
     
    F eely stood by the highway for over two hours but nobody stopped for him. Nobody even slowed down. His chin was so rigid with cold that he couldn’t unclench his teeth, and his sneakers contained nothing but ice-sculptures of human feet. He would have to give it up, and make his way back to the center of town.
    He closed his eyes. ‘Oh Mary Wonderful Mother of God please help me to go North and fulfil my destiny. But, if you would prefer me to do otherwise, I will acquiesce and go to wherever your diamantine wisdom directs me. Amen.’
    He was already struggling back up the bank when a dark-colored Chevy appeared out of the snow and slithered to a stop in the layby where he had been standing. It took almost twenty-five yards to come to a halt, and when it had stopped it stayed at an angle, its exhaust smoking scarlet, as if it were a vehicle from hell, and Jack Nicholson was driving it.
    Feely hesitated. He wasn’t sure if the car had stopped for him or not. But it stayed by the side of the highway, with its engine