Cast Iron Cover-Up (The Cast Iron Cooking Mysteries Book 3) by Jessica Beck

as well.”
    “Frankly, I don’t care what your sister thinks, even if she is the sheriff. I understand why she might want to know where I was at the time of the murder, but I didn’t think that you’d have to.” Timothy turned and walked away, not in any particular hurry, but not lingering, either.
    “Say something to him, Annie,” Pat said urgently.
    “What is there to say? I couldn’t lie to him.”
    “At least stop him before he leaves. You can’t let him go believing that you don’t trust him.”
    “Pat, I don’t have any choice. He got back earlier than he implied yesterday, it was his land being trespassed on, and we both know how protective Timothy can be about the things he cares about.”
    “Including you,” Pat reminded me.
    “Maybe before, but it appears that’s changed now.”
    “Don’t give up that easily,” Pat said. “He’s perfect for you, and you can’t let our murder investigation get in the way of your life.”
    “Then let’s solve this as quickly as we can,” I said. “But know this. I’m not dropping this case, and neither are you. We’ve known from the very beginning that we were going to burn some bridges if we started digging into other people’s lives.”
    “I realize that, but I never thought for one second that one of your bridges was going to explode in your face,” Pat said.
    “Trust me, I’m not happy about it either, but until I can look Timothy in the eye and tell him that I know he didn’t do it, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
    “Then let’s keep digging, and do it fast,” Pat said.

Chapter 14: Pat
    W e didn’t have time to do any more investigating at the moment, though. As much as I loved running the Iron with Annie, it had a tendency of getting in the way of our unofficial inquiries from time to time. There was a steady stream of customers throughout the rest of the day—both up front where I was in charge and back at Annie’s grill—and we didn’t have much of a chance to even compare notes between the two of us. The college student’s death had understandably made waves in Maple Crest, but not as much as it would have if he’d been local. It wasn’t because anyone cared less that someone had lost their life; it was due more to the fact that no one had known Bones. That made his homicide a little more faceless than if it had been someone who’d lived among us. This was almost like a murder far away in Charlotte or Raleigh, disassociated from our daily lives. The fact that it had occurred on Timothy’s land, and right next to Annie’s, made it newsworthy, but without any real fuel to feed the flames of speculation, it just wasn’t the same. I was still wondering what our approach should be when I was surprised to see all four surviving members of the treasure-hunting expedition show up at the Iron a little before noon.
    “Hi, Peggy,” I said as I approached her first. “How are you feeling today?”
    “I’m upset about Bones, but at least I know that I’m not losing my mind, so that’s something, anyway,” she said. “When he vanished like that, I was beginning to have my doubts.”
    “How long have you been discharged from the hospital?” I asked her.
    “It just happened. The doctor wouldn’t release me until I had another interview with your sister. I couldn’t tell her anything new, so she finally agreed to let me go. The first thing I wanted to do was get some of your sister’s excellent cooking after suffering through the food there, so we all headed straight over here.”
    “How did you get here?” I asked Henry. “Did you all come in the car?”
    “The sheriff released the van back to us around ten this morning,” he told me. “Man, she’s tough, isn’t she?”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “No disrespect intended, but I knew that I was innocent and she still managed to scare me.”
    “I wouldn’t take it personally if I were you. She considers it a personal affront that someone committed murder in