Free Along Came A Needle: A Mercy Mares Cozy Mystery by Ava Mallory Page B

I tried to pay attention long enough to actually learn something, but I couldn't focus. The kitchen was like something out of a magazine, complete with a Viking oven and top of the line French door refrigerator with a built in control panel on the front face. This place was drool worthy for someone like me, who longed for a gourmet kitchen.
     
    Chip noticed the tears that were brimming my eyes and said, “We just had the kitchen redone last year. This is a far cry from what the kitchen used to look like. Do you like it? Do you think you could work in here for a few days?”
     
    I hoped his question was rhetorical, because there was no way that my panting was going to allow me to utter a word just yet. Marble counter tops. A butcher block island that was bigger than my kitchen table. This place was heavenly and, had someone not died just a few feet from where I stood, I'd consider moving in and spending the rest of my days on Earth, cooking in this grand kitchen.
     
    “Well, Alice was pretty organized, so I'm sure she has detailed sketches of what she was planning to prepare this weekend. Let me see if I can find them for you and then we'll see what we could do to tweak it a little to accommodate our new guest and get something prepared for visitors later this evening.” Chip said as he looked through a drawer.
     
    “More visitors,” I asked. “Tonight?”
     
    He nodded. “Yes, we hold tours every other night. I guess you could call them ghost hunting tours, but I like to think that they're more than that. They're more like a historical tour. This house has been standing here – more or less – for well over one hundred years. I guess I should probably tell you what the locals say about this house. I can't confirm it, but they say that our house is haunted.”
     
    Tell me he doesn't really believe that nonsense too.
     
    I asked, “Why do they say that? I'm sorry, but I don't believe in ghosts... Well, let's just say that I don't want to believe in ghosts. I prefer science based facts.”
     
    He snickered. “You're a nurse. That's kind of your job, isn't it? My mom was a nurse. Anyway, I'm not one to say that a place is or isn't haunted. I can say that I've never experienced anything and, if one day I ever do, I'll decide then.” He paused, smirking to himself. “I got to be honest with you – the whole reason we bought this place was because we got a good deal from Flynn's family. This was their original homestead. At first, we thought we'd buy it and flip it, but then, we started hearing rumblings. I mean, I'd heard them before over the years, but I didn't put much stock in the stories. It was Flynn's idea to run with that idea. Everyone already believed it, so we thought why not make something out of it. Flynn had these lofty ideas. Sometimes, it was hard to keep up with him and all the thoughts going through his head, but his heart was in the right place.”
     
    I could hear his sorrow as he spoke. I felt bad for him and for believing that Flynn was still alive and all of this was some kind of joke or a skit. It was now obvious to me that Flynn had died.
     
    “Do they know how he died?” I asked.
     
    Chip swallowed hard. “I haven't heard anything yet. I'm sure they'll contact his family before they contact me. All I know is that my friend is gone and I have to do whatever is necessary to keep his dream alive.”
     
    I understood that completely. In my line of work, I saw plenty of people whose lives were paused because of any injury or illness and all that they'd talk about was what they hadn't done. If I were in the same situation as Chip, I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing. If it was Ruby's dream, I'd move heaven and Earth to get it done.
     
    “Thank you for volunteering to do this. I do appreciate it. Just between me and you, I didn't know what I was going to do. It meant that I was going to have to wake up in the middle of the night to prepare meals and stay up late every single