Free Bound To Die: A Cozy Mystery (Strawberry Shores Mystery Book 1) by Mak K. Han Page B

discuss a plan. We'd met on Wednesday night to go over it again. And now it was Thursday, we were on our way to the Brooks house, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect.
    “Okay,” Emily said, breaking the silence. “We're going to meet with Jane. Alex and I will get her talking. Alex will have her radio on mute. Laura, you listen to Jane and see if she's lying about anything. When you get something, step in. Alex and I will back off and you dig around for information.”
    I nibbled my lip. It was the best we could come up with. The real trick had been getting a radio near Jane. We couldn't very well expect her to have a radio playing when we got there. And due to the nature of the visit—condolences about her loss—we couldn't figure out a way to work a 'hey, let's turn the radio on!' into the conversation—assuming she owned a radio at all.
    So we settled on Alex bringing a pocket radio borrowed from her father and muting it. It wasn't a great plan. We'd tested it among ourselves. I'd had Alex turn it on, and then asked she and Emily questions to which they would either lie or tell the truth. With the storm, the effect had been hit-or-miss. Which had lead us to thinking we might wait until the weather cleared up, but the forecast was predicting the storm would last until the weekend. With every day that passed our chances of solving this thing dwindled.
    So the plan was to get into Jane's house, get her talking, probe around for clues that she might be lying. It had to work.
    As we turned onto the road Jane lived on, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket.
    “Jesus, Laura. Can you ignore it?”
    The screen read ‘HAROLD.' “No. Hold on.” I pulled over to the side of the road. “It's Harold.”
    Alex frowned as I picked up the phone. “Is this really the best time to be working your love life?”
    “Hello?”
    “Hey Laura,” he said on the other end.
    “Hi Harold. What's up?”
    “I was wondering if you wanted to see a movie tomorrow night.”
    I looked over at Alex, and then in the rearview at Emily. Both looked uneasy.
    “Sure. Pick me up at six?”
    “Sure. You in a hurry or something? You sound kind of on edge.”
    “I'm driving. It's raining crazy out here.”
    “Oh, okay. I'll let you go then. Drive safe! Tomorrow at six?”
    “Six it is. See you then.” I hung up and we continued down the road.
    “You have a date?” Alex said, relaxing a bit as the car propelled forward.
    “Yeah. We're going to see a movie tomorrow night at six.”
    “Aren't you having your bulkhead fixed tomorrow?” Emily asked.
    I thought it over for a minute. “Whatever. I'll figure it out in the morning. For now, we have to get this sorted out. Let's make this quick, because I don't want anyone finding out we're here.”
    “I agree,” Alex said.
    Emily was quiet for a moment, but then said, “Oops.”
    My eyes snapped to the rearview. “‘Oops?' What is ‘oops?' Who did you tell?”
    Emily cringed. “Miss Tisdell...”
    Alex spun in her seat. “Miss Tisdell?! Why did you tell Miss Tisdell?”
    “Sorry! She asked. I said we were going up to see Jane tonight.”
    I rubbed my temples. “Okay. When did you tell Miss Tisdell?”
    “Umm...earlier. About an hour before you showed up. She stopped by the bakery to pick up a cake. She asked what I was doing tonight.”
    I sighed. “Okay. It's not the end of the world. Miss Tisdell can only spread gossip so fast. Let's get in, get out, and get out of here.”
    Alex and Emily nodded in unison. “Right. Let's do it.”
    We rounded the corner and the Brooks house loomed before us.

Chapter 20
    I popped open my umbrella as I stepped out of the car. The wind threatened to pull it out of my hand.
    The Brooks house was an enormous mansion crowned with pointed spires and tall, dark windows. The driveway was designed so that cars were left at the foot of the hill. From there we had to walk up the gravel path to the broad front lawn.
    The car was out of sight by