AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s a small door accessing the attic of the inn hidden in the closet of the room where she was killed. The gun was in the attic, lying in some insulation. There were some pieces of paper with it, but the police didn’t say whether they were connected.”
He shook his head, wondering how the police could have let the weapon remain undiscovered for three full days. “Okay, so they found it. Now maybe they can find the real killer.”
She nibbled her lip. “Mick, I think I recognized the gun. It looked like the one Louise Flanagan was holding on you the first day I came to town.”
His jaw dropped. “You gotta be kidding! Are you saying you think Louise did it?”
She ran a weary, shaking hand over her brow. “I don’t know. All I know is, itlookedlike the same gun. I was so shocked, and the policeman noticed, so he questioned me about it.”
Mick frowned. “You told them about Louise?”
“I had to, Mick. I hated to do it, but I was worried. Because your fingerprints could very well be on that gun. At least this way, they’ll knowwhy.”
He thought about her words, then stiffened. “Wait a minute, you were up at the Little Bohemie Inn when they found it?”
She nodded.
“Damn, Caroline, I hate you going up there while some psycho killer is on the loose.”
She gave him a look that said she appreciated his concern, but also telling him she was a big girl. “There are security guards all over the place. Nobody goes anywhere alone.”
“I thought the inn was off-limits due to the crime investigation.”
“It was. But the chief investigator decided to open up the bottom two floors of the inn so we can resume shooting.”
Resume shooting. In spite of everything, the network was going to go ahead withKilling Time in a Small Town. He shouldn’t be surprised—he’d half expected it, after all. But he had been hoping it would take longer.
The longer the show stayed around, the longer Caroline would. Not that he’d admit that aloud, and he’d certainly never have wanted anyone to die just so she wouldn’t leave. But he wasn’t about to question any decision that kept her in his life just a little longer. He was already dreading the day she’d leave again.
“When’s the last time you saw Louise’s gun?” she asked.
Mick shrugged, hardly remembering. “That day. Here in this office.”
“Didn’t you pick it up? Remember, you told her to drop it. That’s why I was worried about your fingerprints.”
Mick shook his head, wondering if he really could have overlooked something as big as a pistol on the floor of his office. Of course, he’d been a little distracted that day. He and Caroline had gone on their house-hunting trip right after the incident and he hadn’t thought about the gun since. “I would have picked it up if it were out in the open. Maybe it got kicked under a chair or something.”
“And I’m sure you would have seen it since then.”
“Yeah, or the custodian would have when vacuuming.”
“So, either she took it with her, or someone else found it.”
“Looks that way.”
“I can’t believe she would just leave a loaded gun behind.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t loaded. Louise wouldn’t have threatened me with a loaded gun.”
She frowned. “You sure dropped your pants pretty quick that day, so you must have thought it was at least possible it was loaded.”
“I dropped my pants to scare her off.”
With a quirked brow and a barely suppressed smile, she said, “I wish I’d recorded that. You’d have sooner shot yourself than said something like that back in college.”
He chuckled with her. “You’re probably right.”
“Yeah, well, you’re lucky your plan didn’t backfire, and Louise didn’t leap on you instead so her plan to trap you into marriage would work.”
