Drizzled With Death by Jessie Crockett Read Free Book Online Page B

clothing or their stricken expressions. Anyone who had had the misfortune of holding a cup at the moment the kangaroo appeared was invariably wearing its contents of that cup. Grease and syrup and even ketchup spattered shirtfronts and sweaters. People who may not have ever been the snappiest of dressers but who never would appear in public with things sticking to their faces looked like kids in need of a hot bath.
    Piper looked crazed. The Stack Shack was her life. Ever since we were kids, she had known she wanted to own the place. She had saved her birthday money, allowance, and even lunch money she chose not to waste on eating from the age of nine on. Many of her first customers at the Stack had been early supporters of her lemonade stand, the proceeds of which had also rolled into the Stack savings fund. By the time she graduated from high school, she was positioned to make an offer to the elderly owners. I’m sure they never would have envisioned this sort of crisis in their beloved restaurant either. Piper kept swiveling her head from side to side, shaking it in disbelief.
    Tansey, always one to take charge, hoisted herself onto the top of the breakfast counter, the burnt orange laminate groaning under the strain. She dinged a spoon against a water glass and attracted even more attention than her attempt at athleticism had.
    “All right, people, pull yourselves together. Does anyone have any idea where that animal came from or what it was doing here in the Stack?” People on all sides of me looked to others for an answer. As far as I could tell, I was the only one with anything close to an explanation.
    I wasn’t sure it was my place to pass along a message on behalf of the Fish and Game Department, but from the way that kangaroo had taken off, it didn’t look like Graham would be available to do it anytime soon. And I was sure information about a loose kangaroo would whip through the town faster than a bout of the flu. I didn’t want people going around saying out-of-control exotic animals were taking over the town. Someone would be sure to take matters into their own hands, and Knowlton would be posing an entirely new taxidermy exhibit.
    “I do,” I said, stepping toward the counter and scrambling up alongside Tansey, who wisely slid down to take a seat on a stool. Who knew how much strain the old counter could take? I may not weigh much, but who wanted to chance a collapse on top of everything else that had happened that day?
    I went on to explain about the released animals and how Graham was hoping townspeople would help to round them up safely by reporting sightings and even corralling them when possible. “No one is in any danger here except the animals themselves. You know you wouldn’t let your kids out in this weather in the evening without a jacket. So you can imagine what it must be like out there for a bunch of monkeys and a couple of parrots.” People had a lot of questions and some expressed a desire to try lemur stew. But most were excited at the prospect of helping with something so out of the ordinary. Some people stuck around to help with the cleanup at the Stack, but most headed out the door as soon as I finished speaking, to follow tracks and to look for scat.
    Piper got over her shock pretty quickly when she realized the animals were in a lot more trouble than she was. By the time we had righted the last overturned chair and mopped the last bit of sticky from the floor, she was all for joining the hunt.
    “What about leaving some food out near the back door of the Stack? We could wait behind the Dumpster and then throw a net over them or something.” Piper rubbed her hands together excitedly then clapped them like a little child.
    “Do you even know what kangaroos eat? Do you have a net big enough for that thing?” I didn’t want to show it, but I was feeling a little intimidated by the idea of trying to corner that creature in a darkened back alley. Not that the space behind the