Dead Eye (A Tiger's Eye Mystery Book 1) by Alyssa Day Read Free Book Online Page B

you could eat some eggs too, couldn’t you? I’ll just make some eggs and sausage. A man needs protein for breakfast.”
    “Maybe some tuna fish for the kitty,” I muttered, snatching the last doughnut and taking a big bite when I saw Jack reaching for it.
    He shook his head sadly. “Poor Owen.”
    I almost choked.
    Uncle Mike stared at his wife in outrage. “ A man needs protein ? You made me eat oatmeal!”
    It was his turn for a shoulder pat. “It’s better for your heart, dear. But you can have some eggs and sausage too, since I’m making it.”
    I raised my hand, and Aunt Ruby laughed. “Yes, yes, everybody gets eggs.”
    “I’ll help,” I said, but she shook her head.
    “I’ve got this. Why don’t you tell us what happened?”
    She started pulling out pans, and I told them about finding Chantal. Jack added in bits and pieces from his point of view. Uncle Mike’s face turned more and more grim, and Aunt Ruby sighed a lot and murmured “that poor girl” and “I just don’t understand what the world is coming to” while she cooked.
    “It doesn’t make sense to me,” I concluded. “Why would anybody shoot Chantal? I didn’t know her well, but she seemed like a nice person.”
    “She was a sweet girl. Never complained about stocking the shelves when I was filling in as cashier,” Aunt Ruby said, plating the food and placing steaming hot breakfasts in front of us.
    I looked at mine, too full of doughnuts and regret to be hungry. “Still, somebody hated her or got mad enough at her to kill her. Not to be casual about death, but we all know that it happens. Especially when people have been drinking a lot. But why bring her to the pawnshop?”
    Jack thanked Aunt Ruby and took a deep whiff of his heaping mound of eggs and sausage with obvious and deep appreciation. “I cannot tell you when I last had a home-cooked breakfast. Thank you so much, ma’am.”
    Aunt Ruby’s face lit up. “You’re very welcome. And call me Ruby.”
    Jack grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
    Uncle Mike looked troubled. “It’s too much like what happened to Jeremiah to be a coincidence. And anyway, I don’t much believe in coincidences, especially when it comes to something like this.”
    Aunt Ruby poured herself another cup of coffee and sat down, nodding absently when I thanked her for cooking. “I don’t like anything about it, coincidence or not. It makes me worry that Tess might be in danger.”
    I paused with a forkful of eggs halfway to my mouth. That possibility had never occurred to me. But if a killer had some kind of sick fixation on the pawnshop…
    “Tess won’t be in danger,” Jack said, his voice hard. “I’ll make sure of that.”
    Uncle Mike’s head popped up from where he was bent over his breakfast, inhaling sausage like he was afraid Aunt Ruby would change her mind any second and take it away from him. He eyed Jack with suspicion. “Right. For how long? The week or two until you settle up details about your uncle’s estate and close the P.I. firm? And then the people you managed to piss off along the way come after her twice as hard.”
    I dropped my fork on my plate. “Maybe you could quit talking about me like I’m not in the room, Uncle Mike. I don’t need Jack to take care of me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, just like you raised me to be. I can change a tire, split wood for the fire, and shoot a gun.”
    Uncle Mike snorted. “You can shoot a gun. You just can’t hit anything you aim at.”
    Aunt Ruby pointed a finger at him. “Enough of that. We have more than enough people around here carrying guns without you encouraging Tess to arm herself. Anyway, guns won’t do much good against a lot of our residents, like the vampires or the witches or—no offense, Jack—the shifters.”
    “If we had a killer vampire on the loose, we wouldn’t have gunshot victims who still had blood in them,” Uncle Mike replied.
    “Two things,” Jack said. “First, I’m not going