The Double Wedding Ring by Clare O' Donohue Page A

kind of meandered here and stayed.”
    I tried to size him up. I needed a suspect and here was a stranger up from New York ready to fit the part. But was that just a bit too convenient? People did drive through Archers Rest all the time, and it
was
a nice place. Maybe the only thing wrong about the guy was his timing.
    â€œIf you decide to move here,” I told him, “you’ll like it. The people are very friendly and the town is beautiful. It’s a nice community, big enough where you don’t know everybody but small enough where even strangers have friends in common.”
    â€œExcept for the police department,” Bob said as he grabbed the ticket off the windshield. He read it and laughed. “This is my fourth once since yesterday,” he said. “I don’t get it. Do the cops around here not like out-of-towners?”
    â€œSmall towns need their revenue,” I said, rather feebly. “The police station is just around the corner.” I pointed in the direction. “Why don’t you go ask the chief about it: Jesse Dewalt. He’s a reasonable guy. I’m sure if there’s been some kind of error, he’ll tear up the tickets.”
    â€œYou know the guy?”
    I suddenly didn’t want to answer. Bob Marshall was friendly, seemed harmless, and was, for whatever reason, getting a raw deal from Jesse. But maybe it was his intense eyes or maybe I just couldn’t dial back my suspicious nature fast enough. Instead of telling him the truth, I said, “Like I said, it’s a small town. Everyone knows the police chief.”
    He nodded. “Well, Nell, I appreciate the idea. I’ll go over there right now and find out what this is all about. But if he arrests me for whoever did that shoot ’em up earlier today, I hope you’ll bail me out of jail.”
    â€œDid you see what happened?” Instead of stumbling on a suspect, maybe I’d found an eyewitness. In which case I was making up for my bad detective work with dumb luck.
    â€œNope. Didn’t see anything, but I heard about it.”
    â€œFrom who?”
    â€œSmall town. Everyone knows what’s going on, right?”
    â€œRight.”
    He smiled, got into his car, and drove away in the opposite direction to the police station.

C HAPTER 16
    I loved the Archers Rest Library. It was big and old-fashioned, smelled of books and permanence. It was where the town gathered to plan events, celebrate holidays, and hold local elections. And it was lovingly cared for by Dru Ann Love, who had likely read every one of the thousands of volumes in the place. I’d never seen her without at least one book in her hand and today was no exception. When I walked in she looked up from Nancy Pickard’s
The Scent of Rain and Lightning
, as if I were waking her from a dream.
    â€œAre you okay?” she asked. “I heard about the shooting. Anyone hurt?”
    â€œI’m good. Everybody’s good. Well, Jesse got cut from some falling glass. But he’s fine, it was just a small cut.”
    Dru looked relieved. “Jesse seems to be having a really bad week. I don’t know how his guys are going to be able to investigate two serious crimes at the same time. There are so few of them.”
    â€œI’m sure they’ll manage.”
    â€œWell, you’ll help, like always, but still . . .” Dru opened a drawer at her desk and pulled out a little box of cat treats. “I bought this for that kitten you found. I was going to bring it over at lunch. Just as a welcome gift. We had a mother around here a few months ago; I think she had a litter. Your kitten must be one of them.”
    â€œWhat happened to the mom?”
    Dru frowned. “There were some rats around the trash area out back, so the library board insisted on putting rat poison out. I found the mom and two little kittens dead about a month ago, right behind the library. I guess your little