Chocolate Heart Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 14 by Kathleen Suzette (guided reading books .TXT) 📗

“I’m so sorry you lost someone that was so special to you,” I said.

He looked at me with unshed tears in his eyes. “Thanks, Mia. I appreciate that. I feel a little lost since finding out he died. Poor Mel, he’s broken up over it. He’s beside himself with grief.”

“I can imagine,” Ethan said lightly.

Fred looked at him. “What am I thinking? You’ve got to be broken up with grief, too.” He reached out and squeezed his shoulder.

Ethan nodded and looked away. “It’s hard for me to imagine him not being around anymore. We didn’t get together as often as we wanted to, but we did as often as we could.”

“And I know you were important to him,” Fred said. He took a step back from the counter and looked into the display case. “Mia, why don’t you get me a quarter pound of the fudge with walnuts?”

“You got it,” I said and went to the back of the display case and got the fudge out for him. I didn’t know who would be so horrible as to kill Logan, but I knew Ethan would do everything within his power to find his killer.

Chapter Nine

I saw Ethan pull up to his house across the street and I pulled on my coat. Ethan and I lived in matching white cottages that had black shutters. There were six on his side of the street and six on mine. Having him live so close was convenient to say the least. We got to spend a lot of time together making dinner and watching television.

It was just after seven in the evening and I trudged across the street to his house.

“Hey,” I called to him as he headed to his front door. He stopped, turned, and looked at me.

“Well, will you lookie there,” he said, grinning. “My girlfriend is coming to greet me after a hard day at work.”

I smiled and when I got to him, I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a kiss. “You’re right, I’m coming over here after a hard day at work. I missed you. How are you doing this evening?”

He shrugged “I’m doing all right. I’m just beat, so I decided to come home early. How about we order some pizza? I don’t feel like making anything and I’ll be lucky if I can stay awake until it gets delivered.”

I nodded. “I haven’t eaten anything yet, and I was just thinking about having a bowl of cereal. I know it’s not glamorous, but it’s food.” I had been lazy about taking down my Christmas decorations and I had spent the evening packing them up. Finally. It was the beginning of February and I was embarrassed about not doing it earlier. But now my poor living room was looking bare, and as much as I hated to do it, I couldn’t leave them up all year.

“Pizza it is then,” he said tiredly.

We turned to head inside his house when a car pulled up to his front curb. We turned back. “Who’s that?”

Ethan squinted into the dark. “Looks like Mel Tillman.”

We waited while he got out of the car and walked up the walkway. “Hey Ethan, Mia, how are you two this evening?”

Mel wore a white and black plaid coat that he pulled tighter around himself. There was a breeze blowing this evening, and it was cold.

“We’re good,” Ethan said. “What’s up, Mel?”

Mel stood in front of us and looked from me to him. “I was just wondering what was going on with Logan’s murder investigation. Do you have any suspects in mind yet?”

Ethan hesitated. “Well, I’m not at liberty to say, but we’re certainly working on it.”

He nodded. “Good. Can I come in a minute?” He shoved his hands into his coat pocket.

“Sure, we were just getting ready to order a pizza. You want to join us?”

Mel grinned. “Sure, that sounds good. Oh, but I don’t want to intrude on you.” He looked at me.

“It’s not an intrusion,” I assured him. We headed inside Ethan’s house and I took my coat off, tossing it over the back of the couch. “I’ll place the order. Any requests?”

“Hawaiian for me,” Ethan said.

“Hawaiian sounds good,” Mel said, nodding. He went and sat on the loveseat and Ethan went to the kitchen to get sodas.

I placed the order and sat down on the couch. “How are you doing, Mel?” I asked him.

He nodded as Ethan returned from the kitchen. “I’m doing about as well as can be expected. My best friend was murdered, and I really don’t know what to do with myself these days. I miss him.” He sighed. “I just can’t believe he’s dead.”

“You and me both,” Ethan said, handing him a soda and then he sat next to me on the couch. “We’ll catch his killer though. There are a lot of people putting in a lot of extra hours trying to find the murderer.”

Mel was quiet a moment, looking down at his feet. When he looked up, he said, “So, his brake lines were cut?”

Ethan nodded. “Yes, the brake fluid leaked out, of course, and when he took that curve out on the highway there was no way for him to stop.”

He nodded. “Well I’ll tell you something. You really need to have a talk with his girlfriend, Mariah. The two of them had a horrible fight back in December and I just know that she had to have killed him.”

“I know about the fight,” Ethan said. “But they got back together, and according to Mariah, they were as happy as could be in the time leading up to his death.”

He nodded. “Of course she would say that. But I’m telling you, I was there for that fight. She threatened him. Said