Triple Dip Debacle: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 7) by Constance Barker Read Free Book Online

and Dottie. “I can’t believe we forgot about him being here. Do you think he saw someone?”
     
    “I’m sure that’s why Greg wants to talk to him,” Stormi answered.
     
    “Wait,” I said. “How did Greg know Charlie had been here?”
     
    Now Stormi looked confused. “Ummm, he didn’t say.”
     
    Brandon opened the door making sure to duck out of the way of the bobbing slow moving sign attached to Charlie’s electric wheelchair. “Hello ladies. I was just getting ready to mosey on home when Brandon here said I needed to stop by the shoppe.”
     
    “Yes Charlie, Greg wanted you to come over,” Stormi explained. “He’ll be here in a few minutes. Charlie, have you heard what happened here today?”
     
    “Not sure, what do you mean?”
     
    Stormi looked at me and I nodded. “Did you know there was a murder committed in the shoppe here today?”
     
    “Again?” Yeesh! My shoppe was becoming murder capital in this small town.
     
    “Do you remember the man that was here this morning? The short guy, we left him here with you when we went over to look at Bruce and Paige’s new furniture.”
     
    “What? You’ll have to speak up,” Charlie announced. “My hearing aid went on the fritz yesterday and I’m waiting for a new one. What about the short fellow and someone’s furnace?”
     
    Greg walked into the shoppe and said, “I see you’re already questioning my witness.”
     
    Stormi looked like the kid with their hand in the cookie jar. “I was trying to move things along. Wait a minute…how did you know Charlie was here this morning.”
     
    Greg was carrying a paper bag. “Because of this.”
     
    Stormi’s face sagged. “A paper bag.”
     
    “It’s what’s inside the paper bag.” Greg donned a pair of latex gloves, and then removed the item from the paper bag. Incased in a plastic bag was a shoe. Mr. Pennington’s shoe. I could tell because no one else around here wore the white patent leather shoes. Without removing the shoe from the plastic bag, Greg took it over to Charlie’s wheelchair and placed it next to one of the wheels.
     
    “Brandon, come here,” Greg said. Brandon stooped over to see what Greg was pointing at. “See the tire treads on the shoe. Looks like a match don’t you think?”
     
    Brandon nodded. “Looks like a perfect match.”
     
    “What’s going on?” I asked. “How does Charlie’s wheelchair tire tie into all this?”
     
    Greg put the shoe back into the paper sack. “After meeting with the coroner and finding out a few things from the forensic team, I’ve come up with a scenario. I wanted to come down here and see if it might bear fruit.”
     
    Greg walked back over to Charlie and pointed to the wheelchair tire. “There’s a tread mark from a very thin tire on Mr. Pennington’s shoe. The wheel rolled over the tip of his shoe and left a mark. At first we thought it was a bicycle tire, but that seemed odd, then I thought of Charlie’s wheelchair.”
     
    “I’m puzzled at why you thought of Charlie’s wheelchair.” I said.
     
    “There’s another reason besides the tire mark that made me think of Charlie. Mr. Pennington had a gash on the side of his nose. It wasn’t deep, but it was a perfect small slice, like something sharp hit it.”
     
    “What about the wedding cake knife?” Stormi asked. “Couldn’t someone have sliced him in the face before plunging it into his chest?”
     
    “Here’s the thing. The knife doesn’t match the cut on the face. Plus, only Mr. Pennington’s prints are on the knife.”
     
    “But I picked up the knife,” Stormi said. “Wouldn’t my prints be on there too?”
     
    “No,” I remarked. “I remember Mr. Pennington removing a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping it off after you put it back on the table.”
     
    “So how did he get the cut on his face?” Brandon asked.
     
    Greg pointed to the slow moving sign that continued to bob lazily up and down on the back of Charlie’s