COZY MYSTERY: Murder At The Festival: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 4) Read Free Page A

here.”
    “So they’ve been here too.”
    “Victoria, I’ve had a really long night, and this is really none of your business.” The Corporal said. “Legally, there’s really not much for me to do.” Once again, he yawned and stretched. Putting his arms around her shoulder, he pulled Victoria closer. “So, now, let’s talk about more interesting things, shall we?” He smiled, looking blindingly happy. “Like how beautiful your eyes look. I ever tell you about that?”
    “Randolf quit it.” Victoria shook him off, taking a step back.
    He looked very hurt. “I thought… I’m sorry if I overstepped…”
    “It’s not that,” Victoria said. “It’s just… the backdrop. A young girl is missing. She was still in school, wasn’t she?”
    Randolf sighed. “Victoria. Don’t go getting hyper about this, will you?”
    “Hyper?” Victoria said. “I think you're rather lazy about it, Randolf?”
    “Lazy!” Randolf rolled his chair away from her, turning his back. “You know what, I’m working right now, Victoria. I thought you were a welcome distraction, but all you want to do is call me names.”
    “I’m sorry, Randolf. It’s just that a girl is missing, and all you seem to want is… is pie!”
    Randolf turned around, his eyes burning. “Is that how little you think of me? Do you think that if I, for one moment, thought this was anything but an adult wanting to make her own space, I wouldn’t go after her more seriously?”
    Victoria didn’t answer.
    “Margie Thompson is a very disturbed child,” Randolf said. “I’m sorry, but she’s a textbook case of someone who’s had a less than ideal home life.”
    “Really?” This was news to Victoria. She didn’t know Margie very well, but she did know Margie’s mother Michelle, owned a boutique on Main street that was doing quite well right now. She’d moved into town five years ago when Margie was only 13, and the Thompson family had fitted in quite well with the rest.
    “Alright, so you know next to nothing about it, but you come in here telling me how to do my job,” Randolf said. “I see how that works.”
    “I’m sorry, Randolf. Really. I suppose I was a bit nervous because… well, Calum asked for Byron, and I was a bit worried.”
    Randolf raised an eyebrow, and it was his turn to stay silent while Victoria continued, “It’s just that… well, Byron’s at that delicate age. He’s going to graduate soon, and he’s been mulling over college. I was scared about him being… well, involved in something.”
    “Byron’s a good kid,” Randolf said. “You worry about him too much.”
    “I know, I suppose I do,” Victoria said. “I’m an overprotective mother, and I got it from my own mother. But… I expected the office to be in an uproar; I expected to find you doing everything possible to locate Margie. Instead… you acted as cool as an ice cube.”
    Randolf laughed. “Ice cubes are no good, they melt pretty fast in the heat. Now if you’ll put your preconceived notions aside, I’ll let you know what’s happening.”
    “That works for me.”
    “Alright. The thing is, Margie has run away from home before. This is her fourth time, to be exact. Each time, she’s been back within a day or two.”
    “Oh,” Victoria said.
    “That’s right. Oh.” Randolf smiled. “She’s also legally an adult now, so if she wants to run away permanently, well, she’s got every right to.”
    “When you put it like that…”
    “I’m not in a hurry to tell you about her messy home life, but believe me, I’ve done my investigations. Keeney and I have searched her room, and we’re fairly sure this is it. She’s just run away forever.”
    “But…” Victoria was both saddened and mystified. “She had a beautiful house and a good family. Why would she want to run away?”
    Randolf gave her a pitying smile. “Because not everyone has the same definition of “perfect,” Victoria.”
    Refusing to answer any more questions, Randolf