Trunk Show Murder (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Leona Fox Read Free Book Online

Chief Woodstone came in and sat in the old wooden chair across from her desk. She put a finger in the air and finished signing and stuffing the last check in its envelope. Then she shoved the stack in her purse to be mailed the next time she went out.
     
    “What can I do for you, Chief?” she asked.
     
    “I heard you were snooping around down at Town Hall today,” he said.
     
    “I wasn’t snooping. I simply looked at the minutes of the town meetings for the last couple of years. They are very informative,” she said. “And every citizen’s right to read. You might even say every citizen’s responsibility to read.”
     
    “And a very dangerous item to show too much interest in at the moment. Did you sign in?” he asked.
     
    “No. The clerk didn’t ask me to sign in,” she said. “Was she supposed to?”
     
    “Usually it’s required, but I asked them to “forget” until we wrap up this case. It would be too easy for the perp to see who has been looking into town business. If they think there is a threat there is no reason for them not to come after you. This is why I asked you to keep your nose out of it this morning, Sadie. I don’t want to have to witness your burial.”
     
    “But I didn’t sign in. And the only person who saw me there, besides the clerk, was your officer. So there’s nothing to worry about,” Sadie said.
     
    “Maybe there is nothing to worry about today, but next time you might not be so lucky, Sadie. Please, if you won’t stop snooping, will you at least run stuff by me? I could have had one of my officers do what you did today.” He reached across the desk and took her hand. “Can you do that for me?”
     
    Sadie sighed. She liked how her hand felt in the chief’s, and she didn’t want to cause him trouble, but at the same time she was used to acting on her suspicions. Checking in was reasonable, but also not reasonable. She looked the chief in the eye. He wasn’t pleading so much as asking for cooperation.
     
    “Okay, Chief,” she said and took a deep breath, “I’ll try and remember to check in with you before I check things out. But only because I know it’s your responsibility and not mine. And I trust you not to go all misogynistic on me.”
     
    “It is not misogynistic to worry about someone getting hurt when they are doing something risky,” he said. “Especially when they might not understand the risk.”
     
    “No, but trying to keep me from acting because you think I can’t handle the risk because I’m a woman…” Sadie let her sentence peter out.
     
    “Sadie, I worry about every single officer on my force. Male, female, you name it. I’m not interested in anything except that those officers working under me are not put at undue risk. And they are trained for it. You have an excellent mind, but you are not trained to take on a murderer. And when you have information that I don’t have, that puts you at risk. That is why all information is shared immediately in my department. Do you understand what I’m saying?” He gently squeezed her hand.
     
    “I think so,” Sadie said. “But I’m not your employee. If something happens to me, it’s my fault, not yours. You understand that, right?”
     
    “That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t just kill me if something did happen to you,” he said. “And I would feel the guilt, anger and grief just the same.”
     
    Betty walked in the room and stopped a look of confusion on her face. “Uh, sorry, Chief, I didn’t know you were in here. Sadie, this customer wants to talk to you. If you are free?”
     
    Sadie took her hand back and smiled at the chief. “I’ll be right back,” she said.
     
    She wouldn’t admit it, but she was a little off balance. She wasn’t sure what the chief was trying to say. On one hand, they were friends, but, on the other hand, this seemed like something more. Unless there was just something about this case that was troubling him. She peeked through to the shop