Free The Body in the Landscape (A Cherry Tucker Mystery Book 5) by Larissa Reinhart Page A

place. I don’t want to lead you on.”
    “Lead me on? Darlin’ —”
    “I’ll just say goodbye now.”
    “Cherry—”
    I hung up before I said something stupid.
    More stupid.
    Like, “I may love you but our families will never give us their blessing, so what’s the point of nekkid fantasies when we’re never going to live the real thing?”

Ten

      
    As it turned out, I was not as put off from eating as previously thought. Crackers and Coke weren’t nourishment enough for my hummingbird metabolism, nor were they comfort enough for my broken heart. On my search for sustenance, I bumped into the lodge’s twenty-four hour security patrol: a Red Bull-swigger named Ty, who manned a diesel-powered golf cart. My stomach’s violent growl had reminded Ty of his favorite stock car. After recovering from his shock, he regaled me with a story of similar engine noise he had experienced at his last NASCAR weekend. Then learned he spoke to the gal who had found Abel’s fallen body.
    “I’d say I was surprised, but I wasn’t. Abel was looking for an accident in some ways.” Ty blushed. “That’s an ugly thing to say about someone who just passed, pardon me. Where’d that come from?”
    “I have that problem all the time. Somehow my mouth got wired to my subconscious.” I wondered if Ty’s subconscious matched the unsaid suspicions of Rookie Holt’s . “That sounded like Abel’s accident was deliberate. Like someone had it in for him?”
    “No, I don’t know why I said that.” Ty sipped from his Red Bull can, considering. “Abel did like stirring pots, though. You had to watch what you said around him. If you spoke out of turn about someone and Abel happened to overhear, they’d sure learn what you said quick enough. Most folks ignored him, but Abel seemed to enjoy tattling whenever he could. Real spiteful. He probably caused enough divorces and broken friendships ’round here anyway.”
    “Why do folks love getting up in other people’s business?” I said, thinking of my nemesis Shawna Branson, the darling of Forks County who had caused my brother’s unfortunate incarceration. Shawna’d had it in for me since the Forks County Courthouse’s live nativity when, as one of the Christmas angels, I had stood too close to a mini heater and caught my wing on fire. My dance through the stable accidentally knocked over the manger, exposing Mary secretly holding hands with the donkey and not Joseph. Joseph (Wade Boiken) broke up with Mary (Shawna) and Shawna had hated me ever since.
    Shawna had a similar quality for spreading gossip just for the enjoyment of getting others in trouble. I felt saddened by this new information about Abel Spencer. He hadn’t struck me as Shawna-like when I met him. Other than he loved animals and she loved to wear animal prints.
    “You’d think they’d recognize the pain caused by rumors. You’d think they’d feel ashamed.”
    Ty nodded.
    “Besides, Wade Boiken, that idiot, ended up taking Shawna to prom five years later anyway.”
    Ty had no answer for that.
    I returned to the original subject, internally cussing myself for opening that damn mental box. “If he was so disliked, how did Abel learn the local scandals? I’d think everyone would avoid him.”
    “He was pretty sly. He mostly did his spying at the Double Wide.” Ty smiled at the name. “The liquor makes folks forget to shut their mouths.”
    “Where’s this Double Wide? And do they serve real food?”

      
    Todd and Max had returned to their cottage, but I called to see if they would join me for a drink at the Double Wide. A bar where liquor-loosened tongues seemed like a good place to appease my hunger and revive my downtrodden spirits. And hopefully, quench my curiosity about the mysterious Abel Spencer. Max had planned on spending the evening cleaning his guns, but, as usual, Todd had been amenable for greater amusement. He offered to meet me in their golf cart, the vehicle by which the cottage