Free A Dark and Stormy Murder (A Writer's Apprentice Mystery) by Julia Buckley Page B

He focused back on me. “I thought you said that you found the men in Blue Lake rude and off-putting.”
    I paused, surprised. Did he somehow resent the fact that I was sitting with Sam West? I sent him a pacifying smile. “I found you very friendly, and you were the first person I met.” I pointed at Sam with my fork. “I found him rudeand
unfriendly
, but he has made up for it this morning, I can only assume because he realized how unacceptable his behavior was. Would you like to join us for breakfast?”
    West rustled in his seat but said nothing. Doug Heller’s eyebrows rose. “That’s kind of you, but I’m going to eat at the counter and then be on my way. Carly probably has my order ready as we speak.”
    “Have a good day, then,” I said. “Good luck with finding—the perpetrator.”
    “Thanks,” Heller said. He turned to West briefly. “West.”
    Sam grunted out an acknowledgment, and Heller moved back to the counter after one last inscrutable glance at me.
    “Wow,” I whispered when he was far enough away. “Why don’t you guys just challenge each other to a duel?”
    West grinned at me, then put his palms down on the table. “I’m getting tired of this place. Finish your waffle and I’ll walk you home. Or did you have errands to run?”
    “Not this morning. And I should probably walk the dogs. They were bummed out when I left without them.”
    “So thoughtful,” West murmured. He signaled for the bill, which Carly brought in her quick and efficient manner. West insisted upon paying for us both, despite my protestations.
    “I owe you this and more, for brightening my morning the way you did.”
    I let him pay after all, which seemed to agitate the people in the diner even more. Once the door of the place was shut behind us, I could only imagine how rapidly the wheels of gossip were turning.
    West read my mind and said, “I’m afraid you’ve committed yourself to the local rumor mill. By the end of the day everyone will know your name, or at least that youwere the dark-haired beauty who had breakfast with the murderer.”
    I felt a sudden chill, and it wasn’t just the October air, but the way West said that word with a smile, as though it didn’t have a terrible rhetorical power. “People should mind their own business.”
    “Yes.” His smile disappeared. We walked back up the bluff in relative silence, but it was a comfortable quiet. As we neared his driveway, he said, “I’ll stop off here, but I’ll watch until you get to your place. Make sure no boogeymen jump out of the bushes.”
    “Thanks. And thanks for breakfast, Sam.” I waved at him. For an instant, there was a strange expression on his face, one that I couldn’t decipher, but he quickly masked it with a polite expression. He returned my wave, and I made my way back to Camilla’s place unmolested.
    Bob Dawkins and his horrible son were gone, but there were two new stair treads that smelled like fresh-cut wood.

6
    His name was Gerhard, and though he had done nothing but scowl at her from the time of her arrival, she found she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
    —from
The Salzburg Train
    I DID TAKE the dogs for a walk, but Doug Heller had made me just paranoid enough that I stayed close to the house. Then I returned to Graham House and saw, to my great consternation, that Lestrade had escaped and was pawing tentatively down the grand staircase. “Uh-oh,” I said, and then, in a cacophony of barking, the two dogs went leaping up the stairs, and Lestrade yowled once before scrabbling back the way he had come, the fur on his back standing comically straight and his tail puffed to twice its normal size.
    Camilla peered out of her office. “Is everything all right?”
    “My cat got out, and the dogs are chasing him.”
    I must have looked upset, because she moved forward and patted my arm. “He can’t get out of the house, so there’s no danger of him running down the hill and gettinglost. Once the dogs lose