Free Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 05 - Smashed Potatoes and Gravy by Ginny Gold Page B

bark came off, and even more blood.
    Kori’s first thought, again, was that she’d been cut. But upon further inspection, she saw that it still wasn’t her own blood. She looked around to see if there was a dead animal nearby that might have left traces of its blood on this branch. And that was when she noticed where she was—just on the edge of Jenna and Kyle’s property.

CHAPTER 12
     
    Kori suddenly realized who the blood might belong to. And now her fingerprints were on the possible murder weapon that was used to kill Lou McKay. Would they still be able to find Victor’s prints if he’d used this to kill his brother?
    Ibis didn’t seem to register the fact that Kori was nearly in full blown panic mode. After nearly a minute of staring at her now-clean hand, Kori pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Zach’s number.
    It took four rings before she heard his voice, but it was only his voicemail. Instead of thinking for a few seconds and realizing that he was probably busy talking to Kyle, she’d completely forgotten that he had a job to do.
    Kori hung up and called the direct line to the police department. She knew 911 would take her to a switch board and she wanted to talk to someone at the station rather than having them send someone out to meet her.
    “Hermit Cove Police Department,” a voice said to Kori , who had finally managed to slow her breathing enough to answer somewhat coherently.
    “Hi,” she stammered. “Is Zach Gulch available?”
    “Not at the moment. What can I help you with?”
    “Is this Lani?” Kori asked.
    “Nope. But I can get her.”
    Kori waited while whoever had answered left to find Lani. At least she’d be talking to someone who knew her and might take her seriously.
    “Hello?” a man’s voice said, breaking through Kori’s thoughts.
    “Zach?” she asked. The previous voice must have found Zach free instead of Lani.
    “Kori?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where are you? Why are you calling here? Are you okay?” He asked each question slightly faster than the previous one, letting Kori know that he was worried about her.
    “I’m fine. I think I found something you’ll want to see,” she told him.
    “Can it wait?” he asked. “I’m talking to someone with a possible lead.”
    “Kyle?”
    Zach paused on the other end of the line. “How’d you know?”
    “I was with him at the Bells ’ house.”
    “Is what you found related to this case?” he asked carefully.
    “Yes.”
    “Where are you? I’m on my way.”
    “I’ll meet you at the beach.”
    Zach hung up before Kori could tell him anything else. She held the phone out in front of her, looking at the screen to make sure the line was really dead. The police department’s co ntact information was flashing so she knew there was no longer anyone on the other end.
    Ibis had finally lost interest in the branch, probably because Kori had stopped pulling on the other end of it. “Come on Ibis,” Kori said, gently pulling on the leash to bring her back to the beach.
    But Ibis wasn’t interested in following Kori. There was another scent she’d picked up and Kori had to use all of her strength to get her to turn her body around and follow her back the way they’d come.
    “We’ll come back, I promise. But you have to behave yourself,” Kori said, pulling a treat from her pocket and making Ibis all but forget about whatever she’d smelled.
    Back at the beach, the family with matching coats had disappeared, leaving it completely deserted. Kori considered letting Ibis off the leash to really get out some of her pent up energy but thought better of it when Ibis tried to pull Kori back to Jenna and Kyle’s property.
    Only five minutes after Kori and Ibis had returned to the beach, a police car drove up, no siren wailing. Zach got out of the driver’s seat and sprinted to where Kori was keeping Ibis as calm as possible.
    “What’d you find?” he asked, kissing her cheek.
    “I don’t know if it’ll end up