Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [40]
“You sound certain,” I said.
“You would be, too, if you knew that girl as well as I do. She wouldn’t do it, Harrison.”
“I want to believe that myself, but we can’t go by what’s in our hearts and not our heads. We should tell the sheriff about this.”
“And give him more rope to hang Heather? I don’t think so. He’s the great detective, let him figure it out for himself. I won’t be a party to locking her up.”
“I don’t know,” I said hesitantly. “It could be important.”
“Let me track Heather down and speak with her before you say anything, Harrison. Give me a day, that’s all I’m asking. What could a day hurt?”
I wanted to say it could mean the difference between attempted murder and a successful one, but I had to go with Millie’s instincts. After all, chances were Morton would ignore my input anyway.
“You’ve got one day. Then I tell him,” I said.
Millie smiled gently. “If I can’t resolve this in a day, I’ll tell the sheriff myself. Now let’s go get you that muffin. And Harrison, why don’t you keep your observation to yourself? I’m happy to have Vera working for me, but she has a tendency to talk out of turn.”
“Okay by me,” I said, relieved to have the burden lifted, if only for a day. Chances were Millie was right and there was a reasonable explanation for what had happened. I just couldn’t imagine what it could be.
As I started out for At Wick’s End, Sanora Gaston called out to me. “Harrison, do you have a minute?”
“Absolutely. Hey, I’m glad you’re all right. Do you want to grab a cup of coffee?”
She shook her head. “I’m not in the mood to face Millie this early. Come down to the shop.”
I followed her to The Pot Shop, and she locked the door behind us. “I don’t want anybody trying to get a sneak-peek of my grand opening.”
“You’re still going through with it after what happened this morning?” I asked.
“Absolutely. Why shouldn’t I?” She studied me a moment, then added, “So you’ve heard?”
“Everybody in Micah’s Ridge has probably heard by now. I can’t believe you’re still going to open today.”
“Harrison, this thing is getting blown way out of proportion. The more I think about it, I’m sure it wasn’t intentional. After all, who would want to hurt me?”
“Tell me what happened.”
She paced around the room, straightening things now and then as she spoke. “I was jogging along, just as I do every morning, and I looked up as a truck approached. It was a big red Wee Haul, so I moved a little more to the edge to give them plenty of room to get around me. The next thing I know, the truck’s drifting toward me. I jumped into the bushes and barely missed falling over the side of the road into the river.”
I said, “And you don’t think it was meant for you?”
She laughed softly. “Come on. Who in their right mind would use a big red truck for a hit and run? You’ve got to be joking.”
I pointed to her arms, where she had bandages showing and hints of yellow beneath them. “That doesn’t look like a joke to me.”
“Whoever was driving probably didn’t even see me. No doubt they were studying a map when they should have been watching the road.”
“So why did you call it in?” I pressed.
Sanora looked uncomfortable with the question. “Okay, since Aaron died I’ve been a little jumpy. I overreacted, I admit it.”
“You should still be more careful,” I said.
“Yes, sir,” she said with a slight grin.
“So is that why you asked me down here?”
Sanora said sheepishly, “Actually, I was wondering if you’d do the honors and cut the grand-reopening ribbon.”
“I thought the mayor was doing that for you.” I’d heard Sanora had pulled about every string she had to get the mayor to come.
“She was supposed to, but I got a call this morning. She’s delivering twins and it could take her all day.” Since Micah’s Ridge was too small to have a full-time mayor running things, Katherine Drake presided over things when her medical practice allowed it. Her rival for office, and our deputy mayor, Catherine Green, normally stepped in, but she wasn’t fond of public appearances, most likely one of the