The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) by Judy Nickles Read Free Book Online Page B

try anything at the Hargroves’ tonight, do you?”
    “We went by there first,” Rosabel said. “If anybody saw them in your car, they’ll know they’re with Mrs. Hargrove or you.”
    “Anybody as somebody from the Hollow.”
    Bradley nodded. “I warned them to lock up, and I’m telling you the same thing.”
    “We’ll lock up, Brad,” Jake said. “You know I keep a handgun in the drawer by my bed. No real reason, just a habit, but it might be a good one now.”
    “Pawpaw, you’ve had that same gun since I was a little boy. You threatened to hang me out the upstairs front window if I ever touched it.”
    “It’s been taken care of, son. It works.”
    “How do you know it works, Pawpaw?”
    Jake blew out his breath in disgust. “Because I take it out to the Toney place and shoot it ever so often.”
    Penelope glanced up. “Oh, Daddy.”
    “Penelope Corinne Louise, I fought my way off of Omaha Beach and through the Bulge. You know I know about guns because I taught you to use one before you turned thirteen.”
    “Sorry, Daddy, I wasn’t criticizing you.”
    “Sounded that way.” He tossed out the challenge through narrowed eyes. “And you must’ve thought it worked when you took it to Eureka Springs with you and Shana three years ago.”
    Penelope looked away.
    Bradley smiled at his grandfather. “If you didn’t go out and practice, that’s when I’d be worried about the gun, Pawpaw. Just don’t go plugging Mother if she comes down for a midnight snack.”
    Jake guffawed. “Not unless she’s after the last piece of this lemon cake.”
    Rosabel leaned over to kiss Jake’s cheek. “Just lock up tight.”
    “It wouldn’t hurt you to have a gun, spending so much time out in Possum Hollow these days,” Jake said to his daughter when the younger folks had gone.
    “You know I can’t carry a gun on school property, Daddy. It’s the law.”
    “I remember, but it still wouldn’t hurt. You could park across the road, and leave it in the car, I guess.” He got up. “I’m going to make sure the downstairs windows are latched.”
    “Somebody could just break one and reach inside.”
    “That would make more noise than just raising the window.” He ambled toward the swinging door to the dining room. “You go lock that back door.”
    As she showered and put on her gown, Penelope considered that life settling down had been too much to ask for. Nothing ever happened in Amaryllis until that blessed cotton gin burned down with two people in it. Now we’ve got bodies cropping up all over the place. I hate it. She slipped into bed and pulled the cover up over her head. I wonder if I could just stay right here under the covers forever. I wonder if, when I finally came out, the world would’ve just gone away like Sam goes away. The problem is, he always comes back.
    ****
    She woke wondering if she’d really heard the breaking glass or if she’d been dreaming, but she knew her heart galloping inside her chest was very real. Tomorrow I’m going to buy a blessed gun, she thought as she sat up and put her feet over the side of the bed. If I live that long.
    In her bare feet, she padded to the door and leaned against it listening, and her hand slipped down to turn the key. Is that somebody on the stairs, or is it my imagination? Hail Mary, full of grace… She crossed herself and pressed her ear closer to the solid door. Nothing. The phone beside her bed rang twice and stopped before she could get to it. Beside the phone the digital clock read 2:51 AM.
    She went back to the door, carrying the cordless handset with her. Almost immediately, the phone rang again. Clicking the button, she held the phone against her ear and waited. A faint gurgling sound, almost like someone being choked, moved her pseudo-calm to panic. “Daddy!” Unlocking the door, she hit the hall at a run, managing only inches before a large hairy hand clamped her mouth shut.
    She let her knees fold under her, and when she hit the