HAMMERED (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 1) Read Free Page B

in the room that she’d bet she could pee standing up next time.
    He held out his hand. “I’m Scott York, the new chief of police.”
    Larry looked at the man’s hand then up at his face. He clasped Scott’s hand. “I’m Larry Stadt, chief of Rock Ridge Fire Department.”
    Kate wanted to laugh. Or break out a ruler, so they could all see once and for all whose was bigger. Instead she walked away. Let them have their male games.
    She had work to do.
    Larry caught up with her at her truck. “There something going on between you and that cop?”
    He spit out the last words as if they hurt him to say them. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
    “Not that it is any of your business, but no. We knew each other in high school.”
    Larry’s face relaxed. “You free for lunch?”
    “No, sorry. I have to fix someone’s steps this afternoon. I’m late, but I’m sure they’ve heard that I was at the police station.”
    “Nothing goes unnoticed in a small town.”
    “That’s for sure,” Kate said. “I really have to go.”
    She looked past Larry. Ken was putting Scott in the back of a squad car. He was handcuffed. “What’s going on?”
    Larry turned in the direction she was looking. “Guess the chief is getting arrested.”
    She didn’t like the glee in his voice. She brushed past Larry to talk to Scott before the back door closed. “Scott? What’s going on?”
    “ME gave us a preliminary time of death. I have no alibi for my location, so Ken here arrested me.”
    Ken nudged Kate out of the way. “I’m taking him to the county jail. Out on twenty-two.”
    Kate knew the place. It was a fortress right next to the county college her husband had been a professor at. She hadn’t been out that way since the school had asked her to clean out her husband’s office. The trip had taken a lot out of her, and she still hadn’t looked in the box she’d packed.
    “But he didn’t kill her. He’d divorced her already. Ken, this doesn’t make any sense.”
    Larry came up behind her. “Best let the cops deal with this, Kate.”
    He might as well have patted her on the head and told her not to worry her pretty little head. If she could have, she might have jabbed him in the ribs. Not in front of two police officers.
    “I’ll be out when my lawyer springs me, Kate. Couple of hours tops.”
    He didn’t look worried, but Kate couldn’t say the same. How could they accuse Scott of killing his ex-wife? If he’d wanted to do that, being a cop, he could have covered his tracks much better than this. Besides, unless he’d changed in the last decades, she knew he’d never hurt anyone intentionally.
    From what the Rock Ridge Town Council had said when hiring him, he had a spotless law enforcement record. He’d come highly recommended. Even so, the mayor had wanted to hire from within, but he’d been outvoted.
    If Scott had not originally been from Rock Ridge, Kate suspected that Ken would be chief of police. Scott had that hometown connection on top of his exemplary record.
    Scott’s gaze bore into her. His light brown eyes darkened for a moment. He seemed to be making sure that she looked at him. “I didn’t kill her, Kate.”
    She would have touched his shoulder, but there was a barrier in the patrol car.  Of course she believed him. “I know, but what was she doing here?”
    Larry tugged her away. He was beginning to get on her nerves. He wasn’t her keeper. As much as she appreciated that he’d taken her boys under his wing as their scoutmaster, she didn’t think she owed him anything else.
    “I think this is none of our business, Kate.”
    She shrugged off his hands. Why was Ken so sure that Scott did it? Couldn’t he extend a professional courtesy to Scott? Didn’t cops do that? Or was a murder too serious? “Call me when you get out. There’s something not right here.”
    “Katydid, leave this to the cops. They’ll sort it out,” Scott said before Ken pulled away.
    Katydid? No one else had