Read Between the Tines Read Free

draw attention from the crowd before we could decide how to handle the situation.
    Picking my way through trees grouped forest-close, I searched for any sign of the bright green pickle costume. In a small clearing about thirty feet into the woods, I spotted Briny's head on the ground next to a tree stump holding Daisy. Still cocooned in Briny's suit, she'd opened the costume to her waist. The soft folds of the fabric scrunched up around her face.
    Even clad in a pickle body, Daisy's waif like appearance reminded me of Russian sage. I could easily have dubbed her a daisy, but she didn't embody the easygoing, sturdy nature. She fit Russian sage not only for its light, airy foliage and flowers, but her actions and motives were often so hard to understand, it seemed as if she were transplanted from a foreign country.
    I searched the area around her, but saw no dead body.
    "Daisy," I called out, "is this some sort of joke? Where's the body?"
    "Over there." She pulled her hands from behind and pointed to the right.
    Her Briny gloves were soaked in a red liquid. Was that blood? Anxiety mounting, I followed the line of her finger to the wooded edge of the clearing. Two large black shoes, soles scuffed, jutted from a pile of leaves. On top of what I assumed was the man's head, lay a thick log covered in blood.
    Hold up! This didn't seem to be a false alarm after all.
    I shot my gaze back to Daisy's blood-soaked hands. Had she indeed found the body or was this worse that I'd feared? Had she'd gone off the deep end and murdered a man and, if so, who in the world could it be?
     

Chapter Two
 
    "Paige, thank goodness you came." Daisy's thin face cleared and a wide smile turned up her full and abundantly lacquered lips.
    What? She was smiling. Didn't she get that someone, namely me, might think her guilty of killing this man?
    She awkwardly lurched to her feet and took hasty toddler steps toward me. A few rapid plops of the big vinyl Briny feet and they tangled together, pitching her forward.
    "Oomph," she cried out as she landed on the large belly of the costume. She looked up, her face blanching, and stabbed a finger at me. "You called the cops. How could you, Paige?"
    "No I didn't." Following the direction of her shaking finger, I spun around.
    Someone did. Probably someone who heard the radio show. Big, burly Chief of Police Mitch Lawson with two officers tailing him charged through the trees. As if he had dead body radar, his focus zeroed in on the man partially covered with leaves. "Well, well, well, Paige. What do we have here?"
    I groaned at his implication. This was not happening. Not again. No way I'd let him accuse me of any part in this guy's death. Nor would I let him railroad Daisy as he'd done to me when I'd found Bud.
    Ignoring Mitch, I helped the disheveled Daisy to her feet. "Be careful of what you say to him, Daisy. In fact, you don't have to say anything without an attorney."
    Mitch glared at me. "Best not to get on my nerves today, Paige. I already have enough to run you in for obstruction of justice."
    My mouth dropped open. "Say what?"
    He clamped a large hand on his holstered gun, a habitual gesture I assumed he thought demonstrated power. "When your friend called to tell you about the body, you were obligated to report it. Instead, you came over here like you intended to help cover it up."
    I crossed my arms. This was crazy. He was crazy. "Okay, first of all, when Daisy called, I wasn't even sure there was a body. And second, if you were listening to the show, you would have heard me tell her to call you."
    Mitch gave us his practiced bad cop glare. "Ahh, but then you changed your mind and drove out here. How do you think your actions look? Your best bet right now is to cooperate, fully."
    I clenched my fists. He had us right where he wanted us. Just like bamboo, the plant name I'd assigned to him. The big ole stalks of disorderly-running-take-over-your-property type of bamboo had pushed through my barriers and