Read Between the Tines Read Free Page A

gotten me all flustered. But I wouldn't give in so easily.
    I ripped my phone from the clip and dialed Adam. "Come. Now. To the ball field. Mitch is in a snit again."
    Adam sighed. "I'm already on my way."
    Instead of getting mad at him for ignoring my earlier request, I was happy his drive from nearby McMinnville had already begun. I thanked him, stowed my phone and clamped my hand around Daisy's fur-covered arm. Jerking a thumb over my shoulder, I glared at Mitch. "We'll be over there waiting for you. You can question Daisy when Adam gets here."
    Daisy, eyes wide, let her gaze dart between us.
    "Don't worry," I said to her. "I'll take care of everything."
    Mitch scoffed, but for once said nothing. He turned and strode toward his men who had rushed to the body as fast as deer would race toward freshly planted flowers.
    "The chief didn't seem too happy with us," Daisy whispered. "I'm not sure you should have made him so mad."
    "Listen," I said as we returned to the stump. "If you don't stand up for your rights Mitch will run all over you. I learned the hard way, and I can help stop you from being railroaded."
    She blinked her thick, false lashes. "I don't know."
    "Then why did you call me? You wanted help, right? So trust me." I dropped onto the edge of the stump and patted the spot next to me. As she sat, the Briny suit brushed softly against my bare legs. Though tickling my skin, I was in no mood to laugh.
    "Mind telling me how you got covered in blood?" I asked, trying to keep my suspicions out of my tone.
    "What? You think I killed the guy?" Mouth gaping, she jumped up and drew Mitch's attention.
    "Shh. Mitch is staring at you." I pulled her down. "Whether you killed the man or not, you'll have to explain the blood. If you tell me what happened, I can think about it until Adam gets here and maybe I can come up with something to help."
    "Oh. . .help. . .yeah, thanks." She rested her hands on her knees. The blood had dried on the edges of the gloves leaving a brown tinged ring. "When I got back here and saw the big log on the guy's head, I thought, oh no, the log fell off the tree and trapped him. I need to free the poor guy."
    Imagining her finding the man, I looked at the spot where he lay. All the trees in his vicinity were young saplings dreaming of the day they would produce a thick log like the one lying on the victim. Still, I was certain she was telling the truth no matter how bizarre the logic. That was how Daisy's mind worked.
    "So what did you do?" I asked.
    "I ran over there and picked up the log." She wrapped her arms around her middle and started rocking. "Oh, Paige, it was awful. Just awful. His head was so smashed, but I checked for a pulse anyway." She halted mid rock and looked at me with baffled eyes. "You know what? I don't think the log fell on him. I think someone hit him with it. Lots of times. They killed him."
    "Do you know who the man is?"
    "No, I couldn't tell. There was so much blood, I—" She started crying.
    I rubbed her back in small little circles I hoped would give comfort and decided to end my interrogation. She'd have to recount all of these horrific details as soon as Adam got here and, with my limited experience in murder investigations, it's not as if I really could help her. At least not other than providing moral support. So I continued to rub her back and watched the officers work.
    Taking small sure steps, the men thoroughly combed the area. One of them placed a tented card painted with the number one on the grass then snapped a picture. The shutter click ricocheted through the clearing, stirring birds overhead. Occasionally the officers picked up items and put them in plastic bags. Mitch held the wallet from the deceased and talked into his phone, probably calling the medical examiner.
    With Mitch holding the wallet, we'd soon know this poor guy's identity. Did I know the man lying there? Probably. As small as Serendipity was, I most likely had at minimum a passing knowledge of