Murder in Death's Door County by Elizabeth Rose Page A

Chad and his buddies being
terrors in high school. Of course, I had the misfortune of dating him until
Janie and Kitty helped me out of that jam. Janie, you were Chad’s year, weren’t
you?”
    Janie’s eyes lit up as she warmed to her
topic. “Chad has always been a huge weasel. I’m really not surprised his
questioning methods lacked subtlety. That man doesn’t have a subtle bone in his
body.”
    “Janie, tell Annie what happened to Chad
the summer of your senior year.” added Kitty.
     “What happened? I’m really curious. He
came across as such a jerk today.”
    “Let me see if I remember it in the
correct sequence,” Janie said, tapping her chin. She took a big swig of wine to
“help.” “Okay, if I recall correctly, a bunch of us kids were at the beach, you
know, just hanging out and having fun. We stayed at the beach into the night.
Anyway, at about midnight a bunch of kids decided to go skinny-dipping (not me,
I might add, wink wink), but at the last minute they changed their mind because
the cops came. But Chad was the only one they forgot to tell. He had gotten in
the water before anyone else, and must have been swimming underwater when
people started to leave. Anyway, in the rush to leave, someone accidentally
grabbed his clothes, so he was left without any… ahem… covering, as it were.”
    “Did the cops take him in?”
    Janie shook her head, “Well, that’s just
it. The cops never came. And since his car keys were in his pants pocket, he
was stuck walking home.”
    “In the buff?” I exclaimed.
    Janie nodded, “Yep. But that’s isn’t the
worst. It’s how he retaliated that made the situation so awful.”
    “He wasn’t cool about it?”
    “Did the man you met strike you as
someone who would be cool and ‘let it go’?”
    “No, not really. What did he do?” I
leaned forward in the chair.
    “He threw rotten eggs on the cars of the
kids who had abandoned him.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “Nope, I would not kid about that. And
you know what dried egg does to paint, right?”
    Wide-eyed, I nodded, “So he has a bit of
a vengeful streak? I mean it isn’t like they did it on purpose.”
    “And he has to have the last word.”
    “Great combination,” Lizzy wryly
observed. “Yep, he’s the whole package all right.”
    Janie gave Lizzy a funny look and burst
into gales of laughter. After a few seconds, we were all struck by Lizzy’s
wording and all four of us were in tears from laughing so much.
    Gasping for air, Kitty said between
laughs, “That’s what she said,” which just got us going even more. Between the
visual of Chad bopping down the darkened country roads in his birthday suit and
the witty observations, it took us quite a while to stop laughing.
    Once we had settled down, Lizzy and I
offered to help clean up the party before leaving.
    “Nonsense,” said Janie. “Kitty will stay
and help. Both of you go and get a good night’s sleep.”
    Lizzy and I hugged them Good-bye at the
door and headed out to Lizzy’s truck. Dusk approached as we drove down the
highway, back to the Lighthouse Inn. I loved the feeling of dusk—the sense of
snugness and comfort.
    Just before she dropped me off, Lizzy
turned to me and asked, “So, are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself?”
    “Oh sure, I’ll be fine. The party
helped,” I said, getting out of the car. “Thanks again!”
    I hesitated and motioned for Lizzy to
wait and roll down the window. “Also, I made a decision. Would you mind meeting
me for lunch tomorrow?”
    “Sure, sounds mysterious,” Lizzy waved
and smiled as she drove away.

Chapter
10
    P ATIENCE WAS NEVER MY
STRONGEST characteristic. I
preferred to act first and ask questions later, but now I didn’t know what to
do. I did know that my name needed clearing. Unemployed. Possibly suspected of
murder. Almost-but-not-quite-broke. I knew two things: 1. I needed to clear my
name of suspicion. 2. I needed to know the status of this book—immediately. I
mean,