A Mew to a Kill by Leighann Dobbs Read Free Book Online Page A

met him earlier in the summer. He was like a gangly puppy, eager to prove himself to Gus, and falling all over himself in the process. Despite his eagerness, he was sorely lacking in self-confidence.  
    Pepper had made some special teas for him and, over the course of the investigation, Jimmy did gain a lot of confidence and ended up playing a key role in capturing the killer. I figured it was just the added experience that made him more confident, but Pepper thought his transformation should be credited to drinking her tea.
    “So, what’s your plan?” Pepper asked after a few more minutes of me staring out the window.
    Good question.
    “I guess first we need to get some evidence. Of course, Gus was already over here telling me not to meddle, so I’m not sure how I'm going to do that. But Paisley did confirm that she and George were having a fling and he knew that she had pictures, so it makes sense that he would want to get rid of them. That’s what they were arguing about last night.”  
    I kept my binoculars trained on the shop, noticing that the techs were starting to pack up now and Jimmy was securing the doors. I wondered how I would get in to snoop around.
    “Would Paisley have kept incriminating pictures of her and George in the shop, though?” Pepper asked as if she was also wondering how I would get into the shop to snoop around.
    Something Paisley had said came back to me. “Maybe not. Paisley said she’d told George she would give him the incriminating photos next time they were at her house.”
    Across the way, I saw Jimmy bend down to look at something on the floor. I pressed closer to the window, but I couldn’t see what he was doing as he was behind Paisley’s counter. I was squinting into the binoculars when suddenly my vision went completely dark.  
    I whipped the binoculars from my eyes and came face to face with Eddie Striker. Crap, he'd caught me spying.  
    My heart did a little flip in my chest. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see Striker. His dark hair, strong jaw and mesmerizing eyes were a welcome sight on most days—just not today. Not when I had binoculars trained on the crime scene. Because Striker, the sheriff of a neighboring county, often teamed up with Gus on murder cases and, just like my sister, he took a dim view of me getting involved.  
    Striker cracked that charismatic smile and waved his finger back and forth in front of my face while shaking his head. I gave him a smile and put the binoculars down while he walked over to the door and let himself in.
    "Hi, Eddie," Pepper chirped. “How are you?”
    Striker glanced over at the couch and nodded at Pepper. “Never better. How about you?”
    “Great.” She lifted the tea pot. “Would you like some tea?”
    Striker’s eyes narrowed at the teapot. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one suspicious of Pepper’s tea.  
    “No, thanks.” His eyes slid over to me. “I saw Miss Nosy over here with the binoculars and figured I’d come over and find out what you two were up to.”
    “Up to?” Pepper plastered an innocent look on her face. “We’re just having some tea and scones. We ate all the scones, otherwise I’d offer you one.”
    Striker came over next to me. He looked down at the binoculars, then out the window at the photography shop, then at my face. “Right. Just scones and tea.”
    I nodded innocently.
    “You guys wouldn’t be thinking about investigating what happened across the street, now, would you?” Striker asked.
    “No, of course not. I was just curious as to what was going on.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “What is going on?”
    Striker laughed. ”You know you can’t fool me that easy, Chance.” He used his nickname for me which was a play on my last name. Striker thought I took a lot of chances. Considering some of the dangerous situations I’d gotten myself into investigating, he might be right. But he didn’t know about my ghostly visits and why I had to take those chances.
    “We