If Hooks Could Kill by Betty Hechtman Read Free Book Online

“But did he say anything about inviting you?”
    I made a face. “No.” I tried the coffee again and took a small sip. I started to defend Mason saying he had a lot on his plate, but Dinah interrupted me.
    “You know you could just tell him you want to be invited.”
    “I want him to do it on his own.” I explained what he’d said about taking baby steps. “At least, he’s trying.”
    “I’m just curious,” Dinah began. “You said Barry had a lot of people visiting him while he’s been staying at your place. Was Detective Heather one of them?” Heather Gilmore was a homicide detective and if she was aiming for perfect, she was succeeding. She was smart, beautiful and I heard she was great with a gun. She’d always had an eye on Barry.
    “I don’t know. There were all kinds of people coming and going—home health care workers, his cop friends, pizza delivery guys. I think he even got flowers. It’s not my business anyway.” I pulled off another piece of my roll.
    A dark-haired man with a quick gait came into the café and went directly to the counter. He grabbed a coffee, and as he headed back toward the door I caught sight of his face and recognized the sharp features of Kelly’s husband, Dan. I didn’t really know him, other than he shopped at the bookstore and liked spy novels, but when he looked in my direction, I said hello.
    “The bookstore lady,” he said, setting his cup on our table as he checked to make sure the top was secure on his coffee. “And Kelly does some kind of activity with you, right?” He seemed a little overly cheery. The kind of cheery that grated on your nerves in the morning. I mentioned the crochet group and introduced Dinah. He picked up his coffee and seemed about to go, but then set it down again. “I want to run a few names past you. I’d like to get input from the locals. I’m not so sure Hollar for a Dollar is the best name for my store. I could feel Dinah twitching in her seat. It bugged her no end that he had misspelled
hollar
so it rhymed with
dollar
. Any day now she was sure some hapless freshmen in her English class would spell holler with an
a
and use the store as the reason why.
    “What do you think of
The Dollar Den
or
Dollars to Donuts
?” Before we could answer he went into an explanation. This store was his chance to tweak the concept before he turned them into a chain or franchised them. He was bright-eyed and enthusiastic and said something like every journey starts with a single step or in his case it was a chain or franchise starting with a single store. “Think about the names and come into the store when you’ve made up your mind. I’m putting a box in the front where you can vote for one of them. Before I even count the votes, I’m going to do a drawing. The winner gets a whole year of shopping at my store, whichever name wins.”
    “How about calling it More Bang for Your Buck?” Dinah said. “And all spelled the traditional way.” Dan’s face brightened even more if that was possible.
    “That’s it. I don’t even need to have a contest. Your idea says it all.” He hugged Dinah and then took one of our napkins and scribbled the name on it. “When you come in, you’re getting the prize. A whole year of shopping. We’ve got Paul Noman’s products, Gray Pooponit mustard, and Conniption dairy products. Just before he left, he pulled out a couple of coupons and gave them to me as a consolation prize.
    He left a whirlwind in his wake as he rushed out the door.
    When we finished our meal, we headed up the street to Shedd & Royal. My start time wasn’t until later in the day, but the Tarzana Hookers were having an official gathering in the morning. Dinah and I walked through the store to the yarn area. Almost everybody was already there and the table was covered with a colorful mélange of yarn and projects.
    Dinah and I took seats next to Eduardo and started to pull out our projects. Even though I’d been crocheting with Eduardo