Free Poisoned Pin: A Cozy Mystery (Brenna Battle Book 2) by Laney Monday Page B

“Yes, we’re haunted, alright. The machines turn themselves on every once in a while. Employees come in in the morning, and can’t find utensils they put away the night before. Sometimes they find them in the strangest places.”
    “The dishwasher?” I said sarcastically.
    He laughed softly and shrugged off my joke. “No, in some drawer no one ever opens, in the oven, weird stuff like that.”
    “So, who’s the ghost?” I asked.
    “Elmer Shaw, Bonney Bay pioneer and original owner of the store. In his will, he made his wishes clear. That the store should always stay in the family. And it did, until one of his descendants, Joseph Gilmer, lost it during the Great Depression. That’s when all the problems started.”
    “Did it ever come back into family ownership?”
    “Nope. It’s owned by ‘outsiders’ to this day. My Grandfather, in fact. He’s a history buff, and he couldn’t stand to see the oldest operating general store in the Northwest stop operating. So it’s not only not in the Gilmer family, but owned my someone who’s never lived in Bonney Bay. My Grandfather’s lived in Olympia his whole life.”
    “So the ghosts didn’t scare your grandfather away?”
    “He doesn’t have time for hogwash like that, he says. The employees gave up passing along their complaints a long time ago.”
    He caught me staring at the open ice cream cartons stored in the freezer below the counter, ice cream shop style. “Thinking about a post-jog treat?”
    As a matter of fact, I was. And I was craving something a little more elaborate than mocha fudge on a cone. “You have a dessert menu?”
    He grabbed one and opened it on the counter for me. “Ooh. A classic banana split sounds great.”
    “Coming right up,” he said. “Go ahead and seat yourself.”
    “Thanks.”
    I glanced around Shaw’s, looking for a small, empty table. I didn’t want to take up a big one all by myself.
    “Excuse me,” a lady’s voice called out behind me.
    A middle-aged woman sat by herself in the only booth at the front window. Actually, it was the only table in the whole place with a window. Shaw’s was so long and narrow, with a storefront less than fifteen feet across.
    Her shoulder-length hair, dark blond, with brownish streaks—or should I say, spirals—was the kind that’s so curly, it’s spring-loaded. The top and sides were cut shorter than the rest, probably in an attempt to keep the curls under control and out of her face, but the result was just a teensy bit mullet-esque.
    Her eyes were a nice hazel, though. Definitely her best feature. I’m no expert on make-up, but I even I could tell the excessive eyeliner, especially along the lower edge of her lids, wasn’t doing her any favors.
    “Are you eating alone? I’d love it if you’d join me here,” the woman said.
    “Oh. Okay.” Sheesh, lady, announce it to the whole store. Brenna Battle is eating dessert all by herself! I admonished myself to be charitable. From the looks of the table, she’d been here for a while, also all by herself. Half a sandwich and a pickle remained of her lunch. A small pot of hot water stood guard over a mug, encircled by several used tea bags.
    “I’m Jacinda Peters. Author of Bonney Queen of the Bay .”
    Oh-kay. Never heard of that one. But then, I’d never heard of most books. “Sounds interesting.” Yes, that really was the best I could do.
    I pulled a chair over from an adjacent table and sat across from her, rather than slide into the booth with a total stranger. People did that sometimes in Europe. I’d experienced enough of that during my travels to international judo events. I was glad to be back in the good ole USA, where I could enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of solitude. Yep, I could stand to work on my friendliness, but there was something to be said for personal space, even in a public place. Especially in a public place. I did my best to make my smile not look chagrined and tried to think of a way out of