A Chili Death: A Classic Diner Mystery

A Chili Death: A Classic Diner Mystery by Jessica Beck Read Free Book Online

Book: A Chili Death: A Classic Diner Mystery by Jessica Beck Read Free Book Online
Authors: Jessica Beck
storing for an artist friend, a pallet of ice cream that didn’t belong there, and all of our regular supplies.  What had caught my eye was an old tarp that was out of place.  When I lifted it to move it, I found that it was covering a body.
    Thoughts of the novel I’d been reading suddenly flew out of my mind.
    I had a real mystery on my hands now.
    Someone had decided to end Howard Lance’s threats before he had a chance to see them through, and they’d left him for us at the diner to deal with ourselves.
     
    “Greg, is the sheriff still there with you?” I asked my husband once my hands stopped shaking long enough to dial my husband’s number on my cell phone.  If it hadn’t been on Speed Dial, I never would have made it all the way through seven digits.  I was pretty rattled by my recent discovery, and I didn’t care who knew it.
    “Sure, he’s sitting right here.  Why do you need him?  He’s got seven dollars of mine that I aim to get back before the night is over.”  I hated to ruin my husband’s good mood, but it couldn’t be helped.
    “Put him on the phone, Greg,” I said, maybe a little harsher than I intended.
    “Victoria, what’s wrong?”  All the playfulness was now gone from his voice.
    “I don’t want to have to say this twice.  Please?”
    “Okay,” Greg said, and the next voice I heard belonged to Sheriff Edgar Croft.  “What’s going on, Victoria?” he asked.
    “I found a body in our freezer at the diner,” I said.  “It’s Howard Lance.”
    There was a slight hesitation before he responded to that, as though he wasn’t at all sure that I was serious.  “Come again?”
    “You heard me the first time, Sheriff.”
    “Are you sure that he’s dead?” he asked me.
    I heard Greg clamoring for the phone as I said, “He’s dead, and there’s no doubt about it.”  I remembered the cold, white features I’d seen, and the frosted tips of his eyebrows when I’d found him.  His skin was cold to the touch, and there was no pulse that I could find.
    “Don’t touch anything.  I’ll be right there.”
    “Should I call the paramedics?” I asked.
    “I’ll take care of it,” he said.
    The next thing I heard was Greg.  “Victoria?  Is it really true?”
    “It is,” I admitted.  “Greg, could you come back to the diner?  I need you.”
    “I’ll be there before the sheriff gets there,” he said, and then hung up before I could say anything else.
    He didn’t actually beat Sheriff Croft, but he did make it The Charming Moose twenty seconds before the paramedics arrived.
    “You can’t come in here right now, Greg,” the sheriff told him as he met him at the door. I was sitting at one of the booths, wishing that I had something stronger than sweet tea in my glass.  I was normally pretty much a teetotaler, but I could have used a sip of a little liquid courage at the moment.
    “Just try to stop me,” he said as he shoved past the sheriff.
    “At least stay out of the kitchen,” Croft said.
    “I have no interest in going back there,” he said as he slid onto the bench seat beside me and wrapped me in his arms.  “Are you okay?”
    The tension I’d been experiencing suddenly began to slip away from me, and I felt myself melt into my husband’s arms.  I was as independent as the next gal, some said even more so, but I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t feel good having him hold me.
    “I’m better now,” I said.  I pulled back and looked at him.  “Greg, it was awful.”
    “I’m sure it was,” he said.  “How did he even get in there?”
    I had a question to ask him, and I didn’t see any way around posing it, but I had to, and before the sheriff got around to it.  “Did you unlock the back door today for any reason?”
    “Let’s see.  Yeah, I had a special delivery for the freezer about four.”
    “We weren’t supposed to get any orders today,” I said.
    “Remember?  I promised Larry Evans that we’d take a pallet of ice

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