Free The Lady Who Sang High: A Reed Ferguson Mystery (A Private Investigator Mystery Series - Crime Suspense Thriller Book 7) by Renee Pawlish Page A

Jodie wants me to do.” I waved and headed through the back door.
    I went upstairs to Jodie’s office. She was sitting at her desk, staring into space, a half-eaten burrito in front of her. I wanted to close the door so no one could overhear us, but I didn’t want to draw attention to us either. After all, I was just an employee.
    “Oh, hi.” She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
    I wondered if she was just tired or also stoned. As if she knew what I was thinking, she said, “No, I’m not stoned.”
    She’d read my mind again, although I wondered about her leaping to that conclusion again. Or was that just a natural assumption in a weed store and she was clarifying for me, the newcomer?
    “Okay.” I pretended like I didn’t care, but I was secretly satisfied. Normally I wouldn’t have cared what she did in her own store, but right now, I needed her focused.
    “I’ve got so much to do and I’m having a hard time.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t even know if Jude had a will. And I’ll have to make funeral arrangements, once they finish the...autopsy.”
    I was impressed that she was holding it together so well.
    “Do you have any friends who can help you?”
    “Yeah, I called my best friend, Liza. She lives in Pueblo now, but she’s going to come up and stay with me for a few days and help out.”
    “That’s good.” I lowered my voice. “Let’s touch base tonight when no one’s around. Right now I need you to tell me what you want me to do.”
    “Oh, okay.” She stood up and went into boss mode. “Let’s go down to the warehouse. I’m going to have you do some cleaning first around the plants, and then you can help in the store. Heath just came back from lunch. He usually spends some time in the warehouse, so hopefully you’ll get a chance to talk to him.” She talked quietly as we went downstairs. “Later on, I’ll have you help me feed the plants.”
    “Feed them?”
    She laughed. “They need special fertilizers. It’s all done very carefully or we could ruin an entire crop. And that’s tons of money lost.”
    We went into the warehouse and she gave me instructions about how to clean carefully around each pot.
    “When you’re finished with that, sweep the aisles. Then ask what you can do in the store.”
    She left and I set to work, but soon found myself bored. However, my parents had taught me a good work ethic, so I did my best. I’m sure they never imagined that I’d put that ethic to work in a weed store. Frankly, my mother would keel over dead if she knew where I was right now. One of her worst fears was that I was doing drugs, and no matter how much I tried to convince her otherwise, she wouldn’t believe me. It had gotten to the point that if she brought up drug use, I teased her about how much I was doing, going into great detail about the whole thing. As I swept the floors and thought about my mother, I hatched a plan: I’d take a picture of myself here – in a marijuana store. Wouldn’t that get her goat?
    I was so focused on my diabolical plot to mortify my mother that I didn’t hear someone come up behind me.
    “You must be the new guy.”
    I whirled around, almost dropping my broom. A man in jeans and a light blue shirt smiled at me. He was of average height, had short brown hair speckled with gray, and a forgettable face. Just someone you might meet and then quickly forget.
    “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, sticking out a hand. “Heath Zimmerman. I’m one of the partners here.”
    I introduced myself as I shook his hand.
    “How are you enjoying it so far?” he asked.
    “It’s fascinating,” I said. “I had no idea what all is involved in growing weed.”
    “Most people don’t.” He eyed me. “Has Jodie told you to be careful around the warehouse?” He waved a hand at the tall green plants. “You’d be surprised how much all this is worth.”
    “Yes, she told me,” I said. I searched for a way to talk about Jude, but he took care of