Read Bound To Die: A Cozy Mystery (Strawberry Shores Mystery Book 1) for Free Online Page B

“For one, there was his wife. She was already at the end of her rope with Edward. Finding out he was going to be pushing back retirement probably didn't help matters.”
    “She knew he'd keep being stressed out,” Alex continued. “Plus the court case with the town probably would have made it worse. Maybe she decided to take him out of the picture before that happened.”
    “Right. Then there's Chester Rutherford.”
    “Hm?” Emily leaned closer. “What does Chester have to do with anything?”
    “Edward was a manager at Allied Innovation. Chester was lined up for the job. From what I understand, he's been waiting for that job for a long time. Edward was planning to push back his retirement, which meant Chester would have had to wait even longer.”
    “So you think Chester got rid of him?” Emily asked. “He gets a promotion and does the town a favor at the same time?”
    “Exactly. Then there's Harold.”
    Alex and Emily sat up. “Harold?” They asked in unison.
    I nodded. “It's a hunch, but Harold promised me he'd get Edward back for the way he treated me that day we found the secret room. Plus he's afraid of mice, so it makes sense that he would have rat poison.”
    “Harold? Afraid of mice?” Alex looked at me incredulously. “I don't believe it.”
    “Trust me, I know it,” I said.
    “How do you know it?” Alex asked.
    “I just do.”
    Alex kept scrutinizing me. Emily didn't notice, because she saved me.
    “I don't think it was Harold. I think you just want him to be a suspect so you can think about him. I think you like Harold.”
    I scowled at Emily. “I'm just saying. Okay, next is Susan. Do you remember a few days back, when Edward gave her a ride home, and people were saying she'd spent the night with him again?”
    Alex and Emily nodded. I told them about the conversation we'd had at the library.
    “She said that?” Emily asked.
    “Yeah, verbatim. She was angry. Maybe she decided to get back at Edward. She waited until everyone was distracted at the Carnival and lured him away. But I don't have any proof.”
    “Hmm,” Alex said, sitting up. “So that's Mrs. Brooks, Chester, Susan....”
    “And Harold,” I added. I quickly regretted it.
    “That reminds me,” Alex said, gazing intently at me. “How do you know Harold is afraid of mice?”
    “The other day, while I was showing him the secret room. He freaked out when he saw a mouse. I suspected it.”
    Alex shook her head. “No, you don't suspect it. You know it. You've done this a few times since you've moved here. You'll say you know something—and you say it with certainty. You don't suspect, you know. How?”
    I tried to stall for time by sipping my wine, but Emily was fully engaged in the interrogation. I was under Alex's harsh scrutiny. It was time to tell someone. What's the worst that could happen?
    I took a deep breath. “I know because under certain circumstances, I can tell when people are lying.”
    Alex frowned. “Can't we all?”
    I shook my head. “Not like this. About ten years ago, I was driving home one night in a blizzard. My car went off the road and I hit an electrical transformer. I was fine, I thought. A plow passed by and towed me out. Over the next couple of months, though, I started to find something—sometimes when people lied to me, I heard a static noise in my head. At first it wasn't consistent. Then, I started to realize—it only happened when there was a radio nearby. I figured it out one day while I was driving with my ex, Gerald. I asked him where he'd been the night before. And I knew he'd been out with another girl—her name was Samantha—I just wanted to hear what he had to say. And he said he'd been out with a guy friend. And I heard the static, because the radio in the car was on. I asked which friend, and he said one of his friends' names, and the static got louder. Then I asked him if he wanted to stop at a restaurant for lunch, and he said ‘yes.' The static disappeared because