Free Pistols & Pies (Sweet Bites Book 2) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) by Heather Justesen Page B

the tip was that someone knew where the murder weapon is.” And I thought this was a good idea because…? Tingey was going to kill me. But not with the murder weapon—that was obviously evidence.
    “And?” he asked when I didn’t go on.
    “I’m in Gary Roper’s barn and we found it. The gun.”
    “Really? Because people around here don’t have guns that aren’t murder weapons?”
    I shifted my shoulders anxiously, feeling uncomfortable at his point—there were an awful lot of gun owners in the area. “Well, it’s where I was told it would be, in the tack room.”
    “Okay, first, that’s private property, and if you don’t have Gary’s permission to be there, it’s trespassing. Second, I’m sure Gary has guns. Most people in this area do, and it’s not illegal to own one. I don’t have any reason to believe he’s behind the murder. Get your butt off his property before I have to come arrest you.” He hung up.
    “Of all the rude, close-minded attitudes.” I looked back at Honey. “He said to get out of here before we’re caught trespassing and he has to arrest us. He didn’t even care about the gun.”
    “If that’s not the most irritating thing ever,” Honey said, her hand on her hip. “Seriously, he didn’t even care? No wonder Sandra needs your help if the sheriff’s office really is ignoring the problem.”
    A light flipped on, blinding me. “What are they ignoring?” a deep voice asked.
    All my muscles tensed. It was definitely not George or Jerry (neither of whom knew where we were anyway, but that was beside the point). I turned and looked into Gary Roper’s face, and found myself at the wrong end of his rifle. “Hello?” I said, my voice quivering from fear.
    He looked at me, then Honey. “What are you doing here?”
    “Looking for a murder weapon,” Honey told him, her voice going up at the end, as if she were asking a question.
    I stared at her. Like that was a smart thing to say when a possible murderer has a gun trained on you. Really, what was she thinking?
    “What murder weapon?” His rifle lowered so it was pointing down more, and slightly to the side rather than directly at me.
    I breathed a sigh of relief—being at the business end of a rifle was so not my idea of fun. “The gun that Eric Hogan was killed with.”
    The rifle lowered even more and his eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Why would I have the gun? And why would you look for it here?”
    I wet my lips, nervous and unsure exactly how to tell him about Mrs. Hogan’s suspicions. “We heard from someone that you had a big beef with Eric because of the prison he was trying to bring into town. A few hours ago I got an email saying you stashed the gun in your tack room, so we came to check.” I gestured to it glinting on the ground. “And there it is.”
    “You’re mistaken.” But he tipped his head in confusion as he looked at the weapon. “Where did that come from? Did you plant it? I’m going to call Tingey.”
    “I just spoke with him. He said you’re entitled to have a gun if you like, and he won’t come out,” I explained. As soon as I said it I wished I hadn’t. Hello—possibly murderer, rifle and I just told him the detective wouldn’t come looking for us. What kind of idiot am I?
    Gary’s brows lowered into a straight line across his forehead, thunder in his eyes. “Well he’s going to come now. You’re trespassing and planting evidence, and I want you arrested.”
    “We didn’t plant the gun,” Honey objected. “We just found it. We haven’t even touched it.”
    He looked at her for a long moment, then drew his phone from his pocket. “I’m calling Tingey.”
    I swallowed hard. Was he really going to have us arrested? Better than being shot, of course, but still . . . When he hung up, he looked at us again. He leaned back against the door jam, crossing his arms over his chest. Clearly, he had no intention of letting us go anywhere. “He said he’d be right