A Zen For Murder (Mooseamuck Island Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Leighann Dobbs Read Free Book Online

the repetitive motion of drawing patterns in the sand could be relaxing. Especially up here, where the air was filled with the fresh smell of the forest and the chirping of birds. It was a quiet place—a good place for reflection.
    Dom doubted it had been this quiet earlier in the morning. The condition of the body told him that Zoila had struggled. Had she cried out? She must have … but why had no one heard her?
    “Can’t go in they’ya.”
    Dom turned to see the gardener, Banes, standing beside the trash barrel, a scrunched up Coke can and an empty white bag in his hand. “I know. I was just looking.”
    Banes squinted at Dom. “Hey, ain’t you that famous detective form Boston?”
    Dom straightened with pride and preened his tingly left eyebrow.  
    “Well, I could hardly claim to be famous,” he said modestly.
    “Well, I heard about ‘ya.” Banes nodded toward the crime scene area. “I bet you got some ideas on who killed her.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t. Not yet, anyway.” Dom raised a brow at Banes. “What about you?”
    “Me?” Banes took a step backward. “Why, I have no idea.”
    “And you didn’t see anyone up here or hear anything this morning?” Dom ventured.
    “No, sir. I was on the other side and I’m a little hard of hearing. I was actually a bit late on my rounds this morning. Had to clean up horse poop on the trail.” Banes scrunched up his face. “Otherwise, I might have been here when ... well, you know.”
    Dom nodded. “So, just what are your tasks here?”
    “Well, I usually come up and rake the garden.” Banes pointed toward the sandy area. “I make sure there are no leaves or pine needles on the sand.”
    “Do you make these circles?” Dom indicated the intricate series of circles that radiated from the stones that seemed to be placed at random in the zen garden. It reminded him of the waves that radiated from a rock tossed into a pool of water.
    “Yep. To start. The way it works is the people come and make their own circles with the rake. That’s part of the meditation. But each morning, I come up and rake them out to start the day. It’s kind of fun, really.”
    “And the rakes. Do you supply those?" Dom asked.
    Banes sighed. “Yes. We have to keep a supply of them, because sometimes people walk off with them.”
    “And this morning, the rake was missing.”
    “Yep.” Banes looked over at the crime scene and shuddered. “I guess it might have been the murder weapon.”
    “Could I see one of these rakes?”
    “Sure, just let me throw this out.” Banes indicated the trash he held in his hand. As Dom followed him to the trash can, he noticed the white bag was a take-out bag from Chowders .  
    “Do you get a lot of trash up here? You’d think the islanders would respect it more,” Dom said.
    “Didn’t use ‘ta, but it’s happening more and more now.” Banes tossed the trash in the can and shrugged. “Kids.”
    Dom frowned at the trash. He could see the crushed soda can being tossed out by reckless kids, but he wondered if kids would be bringing take-out bags from Chowders up here. He didn’t think so.
    He tore his attention from the trash and joined Banes at the small storage shed. The gardener unlocked the door and reached inside, producing a strange-looking wooden rake.  
    “There's a couple of different kinds of rakes for zen gardens, but this here’s the kind of rake we use.” Banes handed it over for Dom to inspect.  
    It wasn’t too heavy and of simple construction. A handle with a metal piece at the end. One side of the metal was flat and the other had a series of short, sharp tines protruding from it.  
    “The flat end is used to smooth out the sand, and the end with the tines is used to make the swirls and patterns around the rocks in the garden,” Banes added.
    Dom fingered the tines thoughtfully. With enough force, they could have caused the injuries that had killed Zoila.
    Had the killer used the zen garden rake for his