5 A Bad Egg Read Free Page B

appreciate it,” I said as I touched his arm lightly.
    “What was that
all about?” my husband, Greg, asked me as I stepped back in the kitchen for a
second.
    “What do you
mean?”
    “First Sam
comes blasting in here, and then you have a powwow with Mitchell Cobb. Does he
have a problem with Gordon, too?”
    “How could
you possibly know that from where you were standing, Greg? Mitchell never even
raised his voice.”
    “He didn’t
have to. For a second there, he had an expression on his face that was pure
hatred.”
    “I didn’t see
it,” I admitted. “Are you sure you read him right?”
    “Hey, I’m
just a guy working the grill. You’re the one with the massive detective
skills,” he said as he winked at me.
    “You have
more value than your work with a spatula around here, and you know it,” I
answered. I would have said more, but just then, Polly Ward approached the
register with her check. “Duty calls.”
    “You know
where I am if you need me,” Greg said.
    “It’s what
makes me keep smiling throughout the day,” I replied.

 
    Things were
mostly quiet for the rest of day, and I thought that we might just weather this
particular storm, but two minutes before closing, Sheriff Croft came in with a
serious expression on his face.
    “Where’s
Ellen?” he asked without even saying hello to me or anyone else.
    “She normally
leaves the diner at two every afternoon, but I let her off early today. You
know as well as I do that there’s a lot going on right now, and she needed some
time to cope with it all. Why are you looking for her?”
    The sheriff
frowned as he looked straight at me and said, “I don’t know how to tell you
this, but she’s one of my lead suspects. Somebody just killed Gordon Murphy.”

 

 

 
    Chapter 3

 
 
    “What? How
did it happen?” I asked as leaned back against the counter.
    “It appears
that somebody clubbed him in the back of the head with a pipe in the alley
between the hardware store and the knitting shop,” the sheriff said. “We
haven’t found the murder weapon yet, but there’s no doubt that was what was
used to kill him. I’d tell you to keep that part to yourself, but I’ve got a
hunch that it’s going to get out fast enough without your help. I went to
Ellen’s place, but she and her kids were gone.”
    I couldn’t
believe she’d just take off like that. “Did you check at her mother’s place?”
    “I called
Opal, but no one answered,” the sheriff said. Ellen’s folks had separated years
ago, but they’d never gone through with their divorce. They were perfectly
amicable, aside from the fact that they lived in different houses across the
street from each other. It turned out that they enjoyed being together; they
just had no taste for living under the same roof. It was an odd solution to
their problem, but folks around town had mostly gotten used to it.
    “Did you try
Robert?”
    “No one
picked up there, either.”
    “I’m sure
there’s a perfectly innocent explanation for it,” I said.
    The sheriff
shook his head. “I hope you’re right, but I kind of doubt it. If Ellen were to
run, where would she go? Victoria, you’re not betraying any trusts here. I need
to find her.”
    “I wish I
could help. If she’s not at Opal’s or Robert’s, I don’t have a clue, and that’s
the truth.”
    “I’ll drive
over to Opal’s right now,” the sheriff said as he started for the door.
“Victoria, if you talk to her before I do, tell her she needs to find me, and
pronto.”
    “She didn’t
kill him, Sheriff,” I said, but he didn’t respond one way or the other as he
hurried out the front door of the diner.
    Greg whistled
softly behind me. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”
    “It couldn’t
be much worse,” I admitted as I reached for my telephone.
    “Who are you
calling?” Greg asked.
    “I need to get
ahold of Moose. We have to find out who killed Gordon Murphy.”
    As I dialed
the number, I saw that Greg was studying