From Fleeced at Yappy Hour
Chapter Three Part Two…
“It’s just a feeling,” I finally shrugged. “Gut instinct. But my gut instinct was to find you all perpetually annoying when we first met, and I was wrong there, so I’m probably just as wrong here.”
“Oh, sweetheart, the Roundup Crew lives to be perpetually annoying,” Brenda grinned. “Come on, Max. I want to get a good look at this stranger before he hightails it out of here when he finds out how crazy we are.”
Brenda grabbed Max’s hand and yanked him out of the Wine and Bark. I half expected to glance out the window and see her grabbing a pair of binoculars from the fish and tackle/dance studio next door before they went down to pay a “casual” visit to their friend Yolanda.
“A gut feeling, huh?” Rachel adjusted the strap of her black tank top and leaned over the smooth counter to peer into my eyes. I pushed my feet on the wall of the bar below me, sending my stool into a counter-clockwise spin.
“He was too handsome.” I wrinkled my nose, thinking of the strange glinting I’d seen in his window the night before. “And he shut his blinds on me.”
“Oh, gee, someone shut their blinds so you couldn’t stare into their brand new place. How terrifying.” Rachel was joking, but the biting sarcasm underneath her tone was like a punch in my gut.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Crazy Maggie, always overreacting. You know, when I found Dan lying dead on the floor over there, with blood seeping out of him from every angle, and a note with your name on it, I didn’t think I was so crazy trying to prove your innocence.”
I hadn’t even realized how heated I was until I finished yelling at her and blew a piece of frizzy hair out of my sweaty face. Rachel’s eyes were wide, showing off the tiny wrinkles on her forehead.
“Okay, okay,” she said, coming to put her hands on my shoulders. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to comfort me or make sure my pupils weren’t pinpoints from any drugs she probably thought I took. “Maybe the guy reminds you too much of New York. Handsome guy who doesn’t want to talk your ear off for five hours straight. That’s got Big Apple written all over it.”
I frowned. Her words didn’t ring true, but at the same time, I didn’t have anything else to pin this gut feeling on. The nameless stranger just made me nervous.
Maybe I was overreacting. Max and Brenda didn’t seem the slightest bit worried about the newcomer, either. They were just interested in getting a second look at him, so they could write up a description worthy of Nora Ephron and send it around town before the stranger could even wake up.
“You’re right.” I stepped back from Rachel, giving her hands a light squeeze. “He’s harmless. People move to new towns all the time. Why’s this any different?”
“Exactly.” Rachel’s grin told me she thought she’d solved this entire situation with a few calm words.
And I decided to let her have it.
“I’m going to go check on Grunkly,” I announced as she got back to her bar chores. “Make sure he hasn’t slipped on an old television remote and broken a hip.”
“Tell the old man he needs to start responding to my good morning texts,” Rachel called as I slipped out the door. “I fear he’s suffered a heart attack at least twice every morning.”
When I stepped out onto the street, I shielded my eyes against the sun and glanced down the road. Brenda and Max were striding along, clutching their hands together and doing their best to look casual.
They were failing miserably. Any moron could see they were up to something.
I turned to glance in the other direction and saw a tall shadow coming out of Kitty Corner.
It was the stranger. He had his hands buried in his pockets and his eyes cast downward. Something about him just seemed dark, like an aura I couldn’t quite see.
And he was striding out of the one place in Pacific Cove dedicated to cats.
Ha! A cat person.
I snickered. Maybe that would be enough to get everyone else to be just as leery of him as I was.
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Diana Orgain is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Maternal Instincts Mystery Series, Love or Money Mystery series, and The Roundup Crew Mysteries. Diana is also the New York Times Bestselling co-author of the Scrapbooking Mystery Series with Laura Childs. To keep up to date with the latest releases visit Diana at www.dianaorgain.com
