Death Before Diamonds (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 10) by Mary Maxwell Page B

Florida?”
    “They’re good,” I answered. “Ornery
and impatient and opinionated.”
    “Some things never change,” he said
with a warm smile. “My parents were the same; inflexible and cranky up until
their last breath.”
    We sat quietly for a few moments,
reflecting on the warmhearted memories and inevitable passage of time. Then
Rory heaved a sigh and pressed back against the seat.
    “So, then,” he said. “You wanted to
ask me something?”
    “I did, yes. It’s about a passenger
you had yesterday afternoon. Do you remember taking a guy from Java & Juice
to Edgewood Road?”
    Rory frowned. “That wackadoodle
from back east?”
    “His name is Rex Greer,” I said.
    “Could be Mickey Mouse for all I
care,” Rory griped. “The guy was a wackadoodle. Kept insisting that he was on a
covert mission to find a criminal who’d escaped justice. Seemed convinced that
they were holding his brother for ransom and only one person could save him.”
    “And who might that be?” I asked.
“Mickey Mouse?”
    Rory chuckled. “Sounds about right.
I just drove the guy to Edgewood Road and dropped him off.”
    “Did he say anything else that you
can remember?” I asked.
    “I try to forget the wackadoodles,
Katie.”
    “Sure, of course.”
    “But I did see where he went.”
    My pulse jumped. “That would be
helpful. Which house?”
    Rory nodded. “I don’t recall the
actual address, but it had blue shutters. To be honest, I wasn’t paying that much
attention. My mission was driving the guy to where he wanted to go. After that,
he was a free agent.”
    “But you’re sure that he went to a
house with blue shutters?”
    Both of Rory’s gnarled thumbs shot
up. “That’s affirmative,” he said. “Edgewood Road. House with blue shutters.”
He smiled proudly. “Come to think of it,” he said. “The place also had a
Kokopelli statue in the front yard.”
    “Kokopelli?”
    “Yeah, it’s that humpbacked
character with the flute and feather headdress that Marilyn LaGuardia sells at
her knickknack shop. Some people say Kokopelli is a fertility deity, but I
think it just looks like a weird pixie with bad posture and a flute.”

CHAPTER
21
     
     
    I’d been sitting in my car near the
intersection of Edgewood Road and Sterling for twenty minutes responding to a
few Sky High emails on my phone. The area was neat and tidy, with nearly
identical bungalows in all directions. After my conversation with Rory Thurber,
I’d hoped it would be a cinch to find the house with blue shutters and a
Kokopelli statue in the front yard. Unfortunately, when I arrived and inspected
the surrounding stretch of Edgewood Road, my expectation was thwarted; two
houses directly across from one another featured blue shutters and figures of
the legendary deity in the front yard.
    “Copycats,” I muttered, glancing
back and forth between the houses. “I wonder which one is the original, and
which is the duplicate.”
    As I considered flipping a coin to
decide which door to knock on first, a car swerved around the corner, raced
past me and slid into the driveway at one of the two Kokopelli bungalows. As I got
out from behind the wheel and walked toward the house, a slim redhead emerged
from a burgundy four-door with a Broncos pennant fixed to the antenna. She was
wearing a black tank top, floral print calf-length tights and sapphire running
shoes.
    “Hi, there!” I smiled and waved. “How
are you?”
    She tucked a rolled yoga mat under
one arm, slipped off her sunglasses and considered me cautiously.
    “Can I help you?” she asked.
    “My name is Kate Reed.”
    “Nice to meet you,” she said,
shaking my hand. “I’m Bitsy Curlew.” Her nose crinkled. “Well, it’s Bethany.
But everybody calls me Bitsy.”
    I guessed she was a few years
younger than me, probably mid-twenties or so. From the faultless makeup, trim
physique and coordinated workout gear, it looked like Bitsy Curlew spent plenty
of time and money on her