Free Peril for Your Thoughts (Mind Reader Mystery) by Kari Lee Townsend Page A

There you are,” he grumbled as he sat down. “Why aren’t you home?”
    “I’m a person of interest, not a prisoner. Last time I checked, I couldn’t leave town. No one ever said anything about leaving my house.” Jaz scowled.
    “That might be true, but there’s still a killer on the loose and someone did just break into your car,” he pointed out to her.
    “Good.” She studied him.
    “Come again?” He rubbed his whiskered jaw.
    “It’s good that you don’t think I’m a cold-blooded murderer like your joy of a partner.”
    He sighed. “No, Jaz, I don’t. But I do think you’ve made some poor choices as of late. I’m just trying to keep you safe and do my job.”
    “It’s just lunch, Detective,” I said gently, drawing his attention. “We did like you asked and stayed away from the case the rest of the day yesterday and all this morning. When we didn’t hear anything from you, Jaz got restless. I thought a change of scenery might do her good. That’s all.”
    “Now that we’ve established I’m being a good girl, what’s the scoop? Did you find out anything from Johnny?” Jaz asked.
    “He says he didn’t trash your car. He was pissed that Kalli was just using him—”
    “Only to find out information,” I quickly added, my gaze darting apologetically to Jaz.
    “Amateur.” Jaz rolled her eyes, not nearly as mad as she had been when she first thought I was hitting on him for real.
    “Yet another reason you need to leave the investigating to the pros.” The detective leveled me with a pointed look.
    “Continue please,” Jaz said.
    “Hogan said the car was fine when he left your place, but that you had plenty of other enemies who would do something as petty as that. When he said he could think of better ways to get back at you, I did some digging. Detective Matheson and I discovered that John Hogan ran into Darrin Wilcox when he first arrived in town. Hogan was doing some renovations at the Clearview Motel for Larry Miller. When Hogan found out who Wilcox was, they got into an argument right before Wilcox left to meet you at Rosalita’s Place for dinner. Everyone heard Hogan say Wilcox would be sorry he’d ever set foot in Clearview before the night was over.”
    “I couldn’t have had a relationship with such a monster,” Jaz said on barely more than a whisper. “You don’t really think Johnny could have killed Darrin, do you?”
    “I don’t know him well enough to speculate. What I do know is that after Wilcox left, Hogan headed to Flannigan’s Pub. Michael Flannigan said Hogan came in and stayed all evening, well on his way to getting smashed. So he took his keys. Hogan wouldn’t let him call a cab, so he stormed out to walk it off. He said he was headed home. He can’t prove he actually did go home, but there’s also no way to prove whether or not he made a pit stop at Full Disclosure along the way. He didn’t return until the next day to pick up his truck.”
    Mr. Flannigan was married to Lois Flannigan—one of Jaz’s regulars who had shown up for the sale on Saturday morning, only to discover Darrin’s body as she peered through the storefront window. She was the one who had called 911, and apparently she hadn’t been the same since, heart palpitations and all. Jaz had promised her a permanent discount once she reopened, but Lois wasn’t sure she would ever be able to set foot inside that store again.
    I had to admit I was worried Jaz would lose business in town after this whole mess was over, but Jaz was a savvy woman with a strong business model. She still had an online component to her store that would work as a fallback for her while she figured out the rest. At this point I just wanted to keep my best friend out of jail. The only problem was the evidence was stacking up against her, and things weren’t looking so good.
    “What do we do now?” I asked.
    “You two behave while I try to find Darrin Wilcox’s next of kin. It’s very strange.” Detective