Trouble and Treats (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery Book 6) by Cindy Bell Page B

from himself, but she had to follow it up. It was something new to look into.
    “I hope you’re telling me the truth, Gary, because I’m going to find out who killed Emma.”
    “I hope you do.” He scowled at her. “Maybe Emma was a fool, but I still loved her. She was a good woman. She didn’t deserve to die. If she was murdered she certainly didn’t deserve it. Her death had nothing to do with me. You can believe what you want about me, but I didn’t do anything to her.”
    He turned and walked away from her before Ally could say another word. Ally recalled the knife he had.  It was small so maybe he did have it for self-defense, but the fact that he was so quick to wield it reminded her of just how out of control his temper was.
    Ally didn’t realize how shaken up she was until she got behind the wheel of her car. Her hands trembled as she tried to grip the steering wheel. As frightening as Gary was, a part of her, deep down, didn’t believe that he had killed Emma. However, she wasn’t entirely sure that she could trust her instincts.

Chapter Thirteen
     
    On the drive back to the cottage Ally decided to see if she could look at Emma’s house again.  If Gary was right and Jack was not who he seemed she might be able to find evidence there. 
    Ally slowed down as she drove past Emma’s driveway. When she saw Jack’s car in the driveway she thought about waiting and seeing if he would leave, but she decided against it.  Instead, she carried on driving towards the cottage.  She didn’t want her grandmother to worry about her and she needed to calm down a bit from her encounter with Gary.
    When Ally arrived back at the cottage her attention was caught by someone running down the street away from her. She couldn’t work out who the person was from the distance, but they were in a hurry. What were they running away from? She told herself that she was being paranoid.  It was just someone out for a run. She shook her head and stepped out of the car.
    When she opened the door to the cottage she was greeted by Arnold who nuzzled her hand.
    “Mee-Maw?”
    “I’m here.” Charlotte walked out of the back hallway. “Ally, are you okay?” She rushed over to her. “You look frazzled.”
    “I’m okay.” Ally forced a smile. “I just had a tense encounter with Gary.”
    “Gary? How?” Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “Did you go back there without me?”
    “Yes. I did, I was worried that he would take off again. I was just going to have a peek inside the apartment, but I saw him and I decided to talk to him.”
    “What happened, sweetheart?” Charlotte steered her over to the couch to sit down. “Did he hurt you?”
    “No. I just got a fright. He had a knife, I think he just took it out because I startled him.”
    “That’s no excuse! Call Luke right this second and have this man arrested.”
    “No, Mee-Maw, I don’t want to do that. It was a very small knife and he told me that he only pulled out the knife because he didn’t know who I was. I think he might have thought I was Jack.”
    “Jack? Why would he be afraid of Jack? Do you think he knows that Jack knows he’s the one who killed Emma?”
    Ally took a deep breath and ran her hands back through her hair. “I know that we thought that Gary killed Emma, but now I’m not so sure. He told me that he only stalked Jack and Emma because he suspected Jack was cheating on her. He was trying to prove it. He was clearly still in love with her and I think he was trying to protect her.”
    “Which would make him come up with a crazy story like that. He killed Emma in a jealous rage. This only makes that more clear.”
    “I’m not sure about that to be honest. I think maybe we’re overlooking something. Gary is the easy suspect, but there might be more to it than that. I think we should at least look into his story and see if it might be true.”
    “You mean that Jack was cheating on Emma?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t want to believe that.