Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction by Amy Metz Read Free Book Online Page A

you? I promise I won’t impose myself on you for dinner.”
    “ I don’t think you could call the pace we’re walking ‘exercise’.”
    “ Okay, I’m out for a nice early evenin’ stroll…” Jack amended, “ . . . an amble . . . a mosey . . . a saunter. Any of those meet with your approval?” he teased.
    As they reached 117 Walnut Avenue, a puzzled look came over her face when she looked at the front of her house.
    “ What’s the matter?” he asked, when they stopped on the sidewalk.
    “ The curtains.” She stared at the house, perplexed.
    “ What about the curtains?” Jack followed her up the front walk, confused.
    “ They’re closed. I never close those curtains.” Tess’s face was full of worry.
    “ Are you sure?” Jack asked, as Tess unlocked the front door.
    “ Of course I’m sure. Don’t you think I would know if I closed my curtains or not?”
    “ Okay, okay, simmer down. Let me go in and look around first. Stay here on the porch.”
    She started to follow him inside, but he held up one finger and said, “Stay.”
    “ I am not a dog, Jack. I can go in my own house if I want to.”
    Jack went in first, but Tess followed him, gasping when she saw the living room. Suddenly there was a noise in the kitchen, and Jack went down the hall in a flash. By the time Tess stumbled into the kitchen it was empty with the back door wide open. She looked around the room, thinking how she had left it in perfect order. Turning in a circle, rooted to one spot, she looked in horror at the destruction. Drawers were pulled out and overturned, cabinets were wide open, papers that had been stashed in a drawer were all over the floor, along with utensils, measuring cups, ice cream scoops, tea towels . . . practically everything in her kitchen was now on the floor. Jack came in through the back door, breathing hard. He bent at the waist and rested his hands just above his knees, trying to catch his breath.
    “ Jack, what in the world…”
    “ Tess, I saw a flash of somethin', or someone, I guess, but he got away. He's long gone into the woods now. We need to call Chief Price. He doesn’t have a large police force, but maybe they can fan out and try to catch the guy.” While he was calling the police chief, Tess went to the other rooms of the house. Every one of them was in total destruction; even the mattresses were overturned. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom in shock at what had happened to her little haven, when Jack came up behind her.
    “ Is anything missin’?”
    “ How would I know?” she answered faintly. “How could I possibly tell in this mess?”
    She bent down to pick up some of the clothes on the floor, but Jack stopped her.
    “ Tess, don’t touch anything until John Ed Price gets here. He needs to see everything exactly the way we found it.”
    “ Who would do this?” Tess asked weakly. “I thought Goose Pimple Junction was a quiet, crime-free town. That was one of the reasons I chose it.”
    “ Goose Pimple Junction is a quiet, crime-free town. I can’t remember the last time we had a robbery.”
    “ I need air.” Tess headed for the front porch. She sat—stunned—until the police arrived. The chief came himself and sent some of his officers into the woods in search of the intruder, but an hour later they came back empty-handed.
    “ Sorry, Chief. We gave it our best shot. Didn’t find nothin’ but squirrels and birds out there. We’ll go back out if y’ont us to, but I don’t see much point. That cat's long gone now.”
    Tess leaned toward Jack and said out of the corner of her mouth, “Yont?”
    Jack whispered back, “If you want.”
    “ Ah,” Tess nodded her head. “I didn’t realize I’d need a translator when I moved here.”
    “ Stick with me, kid.” Jack winked at her.
    Several hours later, the police had gone, and Jack had helped Tess put most everything back in order. She was sprawled in a chair; he across the couch. “I don’t get it. Nothing