Free Perplexity on P1/2 (Parson's Cove Mysteries) by Sharon Rose

would never jog to work. Did you run because you were afraid someone might be after you? Be honest with me.”
         “To be honest, one of my cats ran away and I had to go looking for her.”
         “You never go looking for your cats.”
         “I know but now I can assure Hilda that I did my best.”
         “Where exactly did you look, Mabel?”
         “Why?”
         “Because I know you. If Hilda sent you out looking, you’d run across town, then sneak back to the shop, and have your coffee. That’s what you always do.”
         I took the earring out of my pocket. Heck, I couldn’t fool Flori anyway.
         “I went searching in the woods, Flori, and guess what I found?”
         “What woods? Not the woods where Esther found the body? Tell me you didn’t do that. Oh, don’t even bother. I know you went there.” She sighed. “What did you find, Mabel? Please, don’t tell me you found the murder weapon.”
         The murder weapon. It could be in the woods somewhere. The murderer could have tossed it somewhere into the bush. The cops might not have searched far enough.
         “Next time, I’m going to take you with me, Flori. We could’ve searched together. I never thought of looking for the murder weapon.”
         “There won’t be a next time. I forbid you to go into that wood again. Do you want to get into trouble? So, if you didn’t find that, what did you find? Her shoe?”
         “Her shoe? Was she missing a shoe?”
         “Oh, for Pete’s sake, I don’t know. What did you find?”
         “An earring. A gold earring. It was on the shore by the lake.”
         “I thought the body was found behind the nursing home. Why were you out by the lake?”
         “Oh, never mind, Flori. Do you want to come to have a look at it before I give it to Reg?”
         “I’m really not interested in some old earring, Mabel, but I will come over for coffee. I haven’t had any yet this morning.”
         The coffee hadn’t finished perking and Flori was in the door, looking quite summery in a pink and purple Hawaiian flowered sundress. It definitely made her reddish-orange hair and matching eyebrows look even brighter than usual.
         I held the earring up for her to see.
         “I’m going to check with Reg to see if Grace was missing an earring. If she was, Flori, it means she was probably murdered on a boat and then carried through the woods.”
         Flori took the earring out of my hand and looked at it.
         She handed it back. “Don’t bother,” she said. “I’d recognize that earring anywhere. It belongs to Esther Flynn.”

 
     
    Chapter Nine
     
         All morning, I waited, hoping and almost praying that Esther Flynn would come in. Not that I would accuse her of murder. Oh no, I knew she wasn’t capable of that. She got her kicks out of watching people suffer and squirm. I should know. So would her estranged husband. Chester left her and their daughter, Millicent, years ago. It’s true, he ended up being a scoundrel himself but if he’d stayed with Esther, who knows what would’ve become of him. He could easily have decided, simply out of desperation, to plunge into the lake with a couple of cement blocks tied to his ankles.
         It was almost three when I caught a glimpse of Reg with Captain Maxymowich driving down the street. I opened the door and waved but they were at the end of the block by then. Reg would have pretended not to see me anyway.
         At ten minutes to five, when I was pouring out the leftover coffee and getting rid of the grounds, Esther walked in.
         Let me describe Esther Flynn to you in the most glowing description I can muster. She’s tall, skinny, has short dark hair that is usually permed in an old lady’s style and wears glasses that keep sliding down her long narrow nose. When she speaks, which is quite often, she has a high-pitched nasal voice.