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

Amber turned to her. “Exciting? In this town?” She chuckled. “Nothing exciting ever happens around here.”

I looked at her now, one eyebrow raised. “I think we have plenty of excitement around here.” Murders certainly provided more than enough excitement around here.

“I guess so,” she said. Then she laughed. “It must be exciting the last few seconds of your life, huh?”

I looked at her sharply now. Who in their right mind would say such a thing? “I don’t think I’d call being murdered exciting.”

I glanced at Christy and she narrowed her eyes at Amber. “That’s a crazy thing to say. Kind of mean, actually.”

Amber laughed again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend either of you. Sometimes my sense of humor can be a little off.”

It was offensive. How could she say that about someone that had been murdered?

Christy took a step closer to Amber. “Tell me Amber, you and Logan had an odd relationship, didn’t you?”

I looked at Christy again. I had told her what Miranda’s sister had said about their friendship back in high school and I was afraid she was going to let it slip.

“Odd? What do you mean by odd?” She took a step back and looked Christy up and down and I could feel the sudden tension fill the room.

Christy shrugged and leaned on the front counter. “I don’t know, you were always spreading rumors about him around town. It’s not like everybody doesn’t know about that. Why would you do that? I mean, if you were confident in your work, then why did you need to try to destroy Logan’s business?”

I groaned quietly. Amber put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at Christy. “I didn’t try to do anything of the sort. Logan was a terrible business owner. He never cleaned his tools, and everyone knows he spread lice around. It wasn’t a rumor. Clive Barron told me his grandson got lice from his barber shop, and that wasn’t the first time I’d heard something like that.”

“Everyone? I don’t think everyone knows that,” Christy snorted. She sounded much more confident that she should have. That was bad news because it meant she was about to do something I’d regret. “So did you do it Amber? Did you kill Logan?”

I groaned loudly this time. “Christy,” I said slowly. I knew I would be the one to regret it and not her. She never seemed to regret anything.

Amber’s jaw twitched and her faced flushed. “Are you out of your mind? I mean, do you really think I would kill someone? And even if I did, do you think that I would tell you that?” She smirked when she said the last part and it made me wonder even more about her.

Christy still looked nonchalant as she gazed at Amber. “I don’t know, maybe you would tell me. Maybe not. But if I had money to bet, I’d put it on you. You had the most reason to kill him, and I think you did.”

“Christy,” I hissed, shaking my head. But Christy didn’t even turn in my direction.

“You know what Christy? You’re a hateful person. I’ve always thought that about you and you just proved that I was right. I didn’t kill Logan. I would never do that to anyone. What do you take me for? I’m not evil!”

Christy shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s pretty evil to run down someone’s name all over town. Especially when you know it’s going to hurt his business.”

“Well you know what? I think I’m going to have a talk with the chief of police. He needs to know that the officer looking into Logan’s death has a girlfriend that’s running around accusing people.”

I looked at her wide-eyed. “What do you mean? I didn’t accuse you of anything. Christy did.”

“Yeah, but everyone knows you’ve got your nose in everyone else’s business. Whatever you dug up, or thought you dug up, I know you’re spreading it around town. And the chief of police needs to know that.” Without another word she turned and stomped out of the candy store.

I looked at Christy. “Are you out of your mind?”

Christy shrugged. “I’m not out of my mind. And she is the killer.”

I groaned and put the tray of fudge back into the display case. Ethan was going to be so angry when he found out about this. But I was going to make sure he knew I hadn’t said one word to Amber that could have been misconstrued as being an accusation. I had my opinions about her of course, but at no point did I ever mention to her that I thought she had killed Logan.

Chapter Nineteen

I was expecting the phone call, so when my phone rang, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“Hello?”

“Mia, are you accusing people of murder?”

Amber hadn’t wasted any time in going to the chief of police. His voice was high and tight. I knew he’d been under a lot of stress over this murder and now that stress was showing.

“Ethan,” I said as calmly as I could. “I am not accusing anyone of anything. Christy may have gotten overly zealous about helping to solve the murder, and she may have made an accusation.” I winced when I said the last part. I hated to have to tell him what Christy had done.

He groaned. “Seriously Mia, I’m in hot water now. You cannot run around accusing people of murder. And you are not investigating!”

“Ethan, I swear to you, I never accused anyone. It was Christy, and I told her that you would not be happy with her when you found out about it. Are you really in trouble?”

He was quiet a moment, and that worried me.

“I’ve been warned that if my girlfriend is sticking her