Read Gnarly New Year (Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #2) for Free Online Page B

No luck when we knocked on the back door.
    “As we told you, the place was closed. We took a look around. That’s all.”
    “Kim’s telling you the truth. Nobody was there when we went to the front door. Kim and I went around to the back, just to be sure. I wanted to try one of their burgers.” I made an effort not to reveal my surprise hearing Brien tell that little white lie. He looked innocent enough as he spoke those words. It could be he was speaking sincerely.  Burgers are, after all, a dietary staple.
    “Yeah, well it’s all water under the bridge now, isn’t it? Let’s give Mick, here, a chance to get on with it. You may think that cops sit around all day eating donuts and drinking coffee. Not so.” With that he reached for donut number three or four—I had lost count.
    “You can believe what Brien and Kim are saying. I was there, too. When they banged on the back door, no one answered, and they walked on down the alley. I was hiding behind a dumpster when I saw this old guy stick his head out of the back door, trying to see where Brien and Kim had gone. Before he could shut it again, one of those sneaky cove-runners came out of nowhere. He had a gun and pushed his way inside. That’s when somebody behind me stuck a stinky rag over my face, and I went down, fast.”
    “Chloroform—you got knocked out with chloroform?”
    “I don’t know what it was. It had a funny smell, and I was totaled!”
    “Does that matter, Detective?” I asked.
    “Yes. We found a rag in the bar that still had traces of chloroform on it. Using that stuff can be tricky. You’re lucky they didn’t kill you when they kidnapped you.”
    “Whoa, kidnapped. I didn’t think about it like that. That was a kidnapping, wasn’t it?” Mick stopped to ponder that thought, putting down the donut he held. “Kidnapped and almost murdered,” he muttered, drifting off into space. Mitchum shifted in his seat about to say something when Mick snapped back into focus.
    “When I woke up, they had me tied up with duct tape again. Like the day before in Willow’s shack. They were smacking that old guy around and asking him questions about Owen and that GPS device. I pretended like I was still conked out. He kept telling them he hadn’t seen it, but might have thrown it out when he emptied a storage unit Owen had used. That old guy tried to give them the keys to the storage place so they could look for themselves. They asked him where he’d dumped the stuff, he tried to tell them and even offered to show them. While one guy worked that bar owner over, the other one searched the bar. He didn't trash it like Willow’s shack, but he wasn't careful, either, if you know what I mean?”
    “Yeah, it was easy to tell someone had searched the place. What happened next?”
    “They decided to give it a rest, quit beating on that old guy, and called somebody. The boss, I guess. I overheard the cove-runner—the one I had seen before—telling whoever he was talking to all about Opie's storage unit and the dump. The other guy went into the kitchen and made food. I was starving. I hadn’t eaten since morning, and it was getting dark outside by then.” The idea of being held that long without food got to Brien.
    “No food. That’s bogus.”
    “Tell me about it... I decided I'd better quit pretending I was out cold.”
    “Bogus, whatever... I don’t need the blow-by-blow right now, Mick. What I want to know is how you got from Corsario’s Hideaway to a boat? What boat? Where?”
    “Well, it wasn't too long after they brought us food. Once they knew I was awake, they sat me up to eat and started asking me questions. Who was I? What was I doing out there behind the dumpster?  Before I could answer them, that old guy told them to leave me alone. He said I was just some homeless guy who bums around and comes up to the back door for food. I wasn’t sure what to say since I’m not homeless and I don't beg for food. It turned out I didn’t have