Chocolate Heart Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 14 by Kathleen Suzette (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

smile. “Of course not. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel that I was accusing you of anything. I’m just sorry that this happened to Logan, and to Mariah. I’m sure the police will find Logan’s killer soon.”

“I hope they do, and I hope they put them away for a long time. Logan deserved better than to die the way he did, and the killer deserves to be put away for a very long time.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said. “Logan was a good guy. He was Ethan’s friend, and I know Ethan is broken up over his murder.”

“You know, if I were to take a guess at who may have killed him, I would point at Amber Gleason. I’m sure you already know about the rumors of her saying nasty things about Logan’s barbershop, but did you know that she had a thing for Logan?”

I looked at her. “I think somebody may have mentioned that,” I said. “Do you really think she might harm him?” Mel had said that Amber and Tara were friends. It didn’t sound like it to me.

She nodded. “I do. That girl is twisted. We used to run around together in high school, and there was just something about her that wasn’t right. I tried to break off the friendship when we were seniors and she went nuts. She demanded my attention and practically forced me to remain friends with her.”

I didn’t know that about Amber. “What do you mean, she forced you be friends with her?”

Her mouth made a straight line, and she was quiet a moment. “It was high school. You know what that was like. She threatened to make my life miserable if I hung around other girls. And I knew she would make good on it by rounding up other girls to be ugly and hateful to me. Let’s just say I didn’t have it in me back then to stand up to her.”

I was surprised at this admission. “High school was great for me, but I know it wasn’t so great for everyone.”

She nodded. “Exactly. Sometimes it only takes one person to make high school miserable, and Amber was one of those people. If she didn’t like someone, she went after them.”

“I didn’t know that, but I guess that explains her behavior toward Logan and his barbershop.” Some people might graduate from high school, but their behavior never changes. And maybe Amber was one of those people.

“You bet it explains it,” she said, tightening her grip on her shopping cart. “It’s been nice talking to you Mia, but I’ve got to run. Sometimes the trip down memory lane isn’t so sweet.”

“I’m sorry Tara, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She smiled and loosened her grip on the shopping cart handle. “It’s okay. Honestly, I just hope Ethan finds Logan’s killer, whoever it is. See you around.”

I watched her go as she pushed her shopping cart out of the produce department. Amber sounded scary. If she had been scary in high school and she had never changed, then she may have done something as scary as kill Logan.

Chapter Seventeen

“All right. Where are we on finding Logan’s killer?” Christy asked me as we headed over to Little Coffee Shop of Horrors.

I sighed as a breeze blew my hair across my face and I pushed it back. “I don’t know. Ethan doesn’t say a lot about it, but I can tell it’s really wearing on him. Not only did he lose one of his good friends, but he’s trying to solve his murder case and he won’t admit it, but I think he’s really frustrated. I hope he finds the killer soon.”

“I can imagine how hard it is for him. I don’t know how he’s managing to sleep at night.”

“I doubt he is,” I said as I reached for the coffee shop door and pulled it open, allowing Christy to go ahead of me. I stepped inside behind her and inhaled the scent of freshly ground coffee beans. “One of my favorite smells.”

Christy chuckled. “Mine too.”

Fred Tillman was the only customer in the shop, and as he stood at the front counter, he turned to look at us and grinned. “Well, hello Mia and Christy. Fancy meeting you two here.”

I shrugged. “If you don’t find us at the candy shop, it’s a pretty good bet we’ll be here.”

“Well, here is a good place to be,” he said, nodding. “They’ve got the best coffee in town.”

Amanda grinned at us. “How are you two doing today?”

“We’re doing great,” Christy said. “The sun is shining, and even if it’s still freezing outside, at least it’s sunny.”

“Right? I hate when it’s cloudy day after day,” Amanda said as she worked on Fred’s order.

Fred turned and eyed me. “So Mia, I know I’ve asked this before, but how is Ethan doing on Logan’s murder case?”

“I guess as well as can be expected. He’s been working a lot of extra hours trying to bring the murderer in and I’m sure he’ll have them behind bars before we know it.” I tried to sound more positive than I felt. The truth was that I missed being able to spend time with Ethan.

He nodded. “If you ask me, Ethan’s got his work cut out for him. Logan was a good guy and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to kill him. So my guess is that it isn’t going to be somebody obvious, if it wasn’t Mariah.”

I nodded. “You may have a point there. How have you been, Fred?” I wanted to change the subject. Everyone wanted to know how the case was going and I was frustrated at not knowing much about it. Not that I would have told what I knew, of course. But I wanted this thing solved so life could go back to normal and