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

“Has he done anything recently? Anything that would make you think he might have had something to do with Logan’s death?” I asked.

“Their relationship was always kind of volatile. I think Mel was the controlling type. Logan was just so mellow and laid back, he went along with anything Mel said. And it hasn’t been that long ago that the two of them had an argument and weren’t speaking,” Connie said. “I was disappointed when they got back together again. Logan was better off without him.”

“If you ask me,” Bradley said, “I think Mel is involved in drugs. I think he’s a dealer.”

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I guess I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen the shady people he hangs around. Those kind of people are dangerous.”

I wished that the Michaels’s had something more solid. Just saying that Mel was hanging around with people they thought were dangerous wasn’t enough to go on.

“We told Ethan all of this,” Connie said, nodding. “He promised he would talk to him.”

“I know he will,” I said. “Ethan will do everything in his power to arrest the killer quickly.”

I knew that Ethan had a personal stake in this murder since Logan was his friend, and he was going to go after this case with everything he had. I just hoped he found the killer soon.

Chapter Five

What Logan’s parents told me about the accident was disturbing. I’d had just a few minutes to talk to Ethan the night we had talked to Connie and Bradley Michaels’s and he confirmed what they told me. I could see in his eyes the pain of having discovered this.

The next day I walked over to Amanda’s coffee shop. Amanda and Brian Shoate were my closest friends, and they own the Little Coffee Shop of Horrors. I glanced up. The sky was overcast, and I wondered if we were in for another snowstorm. I stepped into the warm coffee shop and inhaled the scent of freshly ground coffee beans. There was a customer at the front counter that Amanda was waiting on, so I got in line and waited my turn. Amanda glanced at me from behind the counter and grinned.

When the customer had paid for her order and left, Amanda came out from behind the counter. “Where have you been?” She hurried over to me and gave me a hug. It had been five days since I had been in. It wasn’t that I hadn’t meant to not stop by and see her, it’s just that things had gotten in the way. Namely, a car accident that had turned into a murder.

“Oh, you know how it is,” I said, hugging her back. “Time flies when you’re making tons of candy.”

“Oh, of course. I know you all are busy at the candy shop with Valentine’s Day just a few weeks away,” she said, nodding. “What can I get for you?”

I stepped up to the front counter, and she went back behind it. “How about a mocha almond fudge latte?”

She nodded. “That’s what I like about you, Mia,” she said with a grin. “You’re both a chocolate and a coffee lover.”

“I know, right? What more could you ask for in a friend?”

She went about making my drink and looked over at me. “So really, where have you been? I know you’re busy, but the busier you get, the more frequently you stop in to get coffee.”

She had a point. The harder I worked, the more likely I was to need a caffeinated pick-me-up. I shrugged and looked into the baked goods display case. “I really meant to come by and see you, but with all the snow and the cold we’ve had lately, I just wasn’t up to trudging through it to come visit. Sorry, I really didn’t intend to stay away so long.”

“It’s okay, as long as I know you’re doing well.” She poured coffee into a cup for me and the steam rose from it.

I looked at her. “Ethan and I came across a murder scene. We didn’t know it was a murder at the time, we thought it was an accident.” There. It was out there.

She looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Really? Who was it?”

“Logan Michaels. Do you know him?”

She nodded. “He owns the barbershop. Brian goes there all the time. What happened?” She steamed the milk for my latte.

“His car hit a tree. That’s where we found him, outside of town where the highway makes that curve. We thought he had hit some black ice, but it turns out someone cut his brake lines.”

She looked at me wide-eyed. “Wow, I would never have thought something like that would happen to Logan. Does Ethan have any ideas who did it?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. He’s investigating, of course.”

“I’m sure he’ll find the killer soon,” she said.

“He definitely will. How are things with you? How is the baby doing?”

When I mentioned the baby, she grinned. “She’s doing fine.”

I gasped. “She? Do you know that for sure?”

She nodded. “I sure do. We just found out yesterday. I was going to call you, but I was exhausted when I got home last night. I’m telling you, this pregnancy thing is wearing me out.”

I chuckled. “I heard it makes you tired. So do you have a name yet?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Brian and I have been tossing around a handful of different names. And of course, I want it to be perfect. I know this baby is going to be perfect, and she deserves a perfect name.” She chuckled and put the lid on my cup. “Would you like a scone or a muffin?”

I glanced at the display case. Amanda made great baked treats, and they were hard to resist. “How about that apple pie scone?”