Read Single Elimination: A Cozy Mystery (Brenna Battle Book 4) for Free Online

ambulance coming and realized something was wrong.”
    “Sometimes witnesses are mistaken,” Blythe said.
    “Do you really think he did it?” I asked her.
    “I don’t know. I guess it would just be nice to know who did it and be done with it.”
    “Trust me,” Will said, “I know exactly what you mean.”
    “So,” I dared to ask, “what was the murder weapon?” From my angle, I hadn’t seen any obvious wounds.
    Will stared into his glass of soda. “A meat thermometer.”
    “A what?” Blythe and I said at the same time.
    “Are you sure?” Blythe’s hand went to her heart.
    Will tapped the side of his neck. “Oh, yes. It was still there. Right here. I’ve never seen anything like that. It looked like she just had a heart attack or something, but when I looked close, I saw some blood under her head and neck area. It could’ve been from her hitting her head when she collapsed, from natural causes, but I turned her head, and there it was.”
    “What kind of person does that?” I said.
    “To a helpless old woman!” Tears came to Blythe’s eyes.
    “Someone very angry,” I said.
    I couldn’t help it. My wheels were already turning. It couldn’t have been premeditated long ahead of time. I mean, a meat thermometer? Not only was that a gruesome way to kill someone, it wasn’t exactly the ideal murder weapon. Unless…what if the killer was just trying to throw the police off by choosing such an outrageous method? Could it be possible that really wasn’t what killed her? She could’ve been killed by some other means, and the whole scene staged. Surely there would be an autopsy and the police would find out, if that was the case.
    “It was the meat thermometer,” Will said. “The one the cooks were using for the salmon bake.”
    “Finger prints?” I asked.
    “Nope.”
    “Then there had to be some premeditation involved,” I concluded.
    “Yes,” Blythe said. “He might not have planned on killing her that day, but sometime before the murder, he made a decision. He picked up the meat thermometer. He held it with a cloth—or an oven mitt!”
    “Or something,” I said. “I doubt anyone had gloves there on a summer day.”
    “He confronted her one final time, and he killed her.”
    “Sounds reasonable,” Will said. “Now, if only we could figure out who would do that.”

6

    It was a beautiful day for a Sunday jog. I could stare at the water, sparkling in the distance, at the stretch of beach and the strip of green that formed Brightside Beach Park, and almost forget that yesterday it had been filled with shocked and horrified townspeople.
    I’d already gone for a run earlier, but Will had asked me to meet up with him after work and take Chloe for a run with him.
    “Okay, I know you can’t tell me anything, but I can tell you things, right?” I said as we ran.
    Will gave me a skeptical look.
    “And I can ask you questions, even if you can’t answer them.”
    “Seriously, Brenna? You’re going to ask me questions and try to read me?”
    “You’re like an open book, but only because I have the key, officer. It’s the perfect solution. I can honestly say you didn’t tell me a thing.”
    Will groaned.
    “If there was any struggle, and the murder took place while we were in the bathroom, I know I would’ve heard it. I think she was killed before Katie ran to the bathroom, and neither of us noticed the body because she was so upset and I was so worried about her.”
    Will grunted. I gave him a smug look. He agreed with me, I could tell.
    “What about that woman? The one with the cute purse who thought I stinkified the bathroom?”
    “We haven’t found her yet. No one on our list of people in the park or on the beach that day fits the description.”
    “Really?” I hadn’t expected anything from Will, let alone such a revelation. They couldn’t find her? How strange! “What if it was her? What if I was staring right into the face of a murderer, just minutes after she did the