Entitled to Kill

by A C F Bookens

  Cate and I stared at one another. “Ollie, someone has been stealing from the co-op. The mortgage hasn’t been paid in months.”

  I wouldn’t say that shock described the expression that crossed Ollie’s face. Mild surprise maybe. Befuddlement perhaps. But no guilt. No defensiveness.

  “That sucks, Boss. You okay?”

  Cate looked at me again, and she was definitely shocked. “Ollie, the sheriff is looking for you.”

  “He is?” The more Ollie talked, the more he reminded me of Keanu Reeve’s character from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Sweet but clueless. “Why?”

  Cate’s voice was just the slightest bit shrill. “Because you are the one who takes the mortgage payments to the bank every month, Ollie.”

  “I do?” Some level of worry seemed to be registering on Ollie’s face at this point. “When?”

  Cate let out an exasperated sigh. “When you take the deposit to the bank? The mortgage payment slip is in the envelope.”

  “It is?”

  I couldn’t take any more of this. Clearly, the guy had no idea what was going on. “Cate, I think we need to call the sheriff.”

  She gave a vigorous nod. “Ollie, don’t go anywhere, okay?”

  He nodded. “Sure thing, Boss. I’ll be here, same as always.”

  Cate and I started to talk back to her studio around the corner. “A thieving mastermind might have been able to play the dumb kid part that well,” I said, “but somehow, I don’t think Ollie is a mastermind of most anything.”

  For the first time since last night, Cate cracked a smile. “You can say that again.” She stopped just before we stepped into her office and walked back a few steps to where she could see the front desk. “Ollie, do you drive?”

  “Nope, Boss. Epilepsy. Not allowed.”

  “Oh, wow. Okay. Where do you bike in from?”

  “Wye Mills,” he said as if it was just the other end of the street. Wye Mills was over 20 miles away.

  “You bike 40 miles a day just to work here.”

  He shrugged. “I like art.”

  Well, that was that. He liked art. I couldn’t argue with that logic.

  Cate caught up with the sheriff and told him what we’d learned. He said he’d be over to talk to Ollie, just to be sure, but that it sounded like we had to go at another angle. Cate looked deflated. Still, she walked me to the front door and then took up next to Ollie again.

  As I walked out the front door, I heard her say, “Epilepsy. Do you have seizures often?” I smiled. Guess Cate was going to make right on the fact that none of us had taken the time to get to know this kid in our town. I’d have to do the same next time I was in.

  The day at the shop flew by. We were busier than ever now that the tourist season had started, and customers were at the register most of the day buying everything from local history books to these cute journals that Rocky had suggested we carry. When closing time rolled around, I collapsed into the chair and a half in fiction and took a deep breath. Daniel and Lucas had headed over to Baltimore to see an Orioles game, and I had decided a night on my own sounded perfect. Mart was away consulting with a winery outside Harrisburg, PA, and I didn’t tell anyone else that Daniel was away. I was looking forward to a quiet walk home, a warm bath, and binge-watching Glow Up until I fell asleep.

  I finished up the closing routine just as Rocky came over. “Hot date tonight, woman?” I asked, feigning innocence.

  She blushed deeply and grinned. “Yep. Going to see a movie after we get dinner.”

  “Good,” I said. “I’m happy for you two.”

  Rocky’s smile almost reached her ears as she saw Marcus outside the door at her car. “See you tomorrow, Harvey.”

  I waved back, set the alarm, and put on Mayhem’s leash. It was the perfect night for a walk, and my girl knew it. She didn’t even pull as we headed up Main Street past Max’s restaurant. The sidewalk tables were full, and I was eager to move Mayhem along before she helped herself to someone’s roll. But Max stopped me after he took a young couple’s order.

  “Harvey. It’s lovely to see you. You look absolutely lovely tonight.” Max had a lingering crush on me, but despite my best efforts to convince him I was both committed to Daniel and completely uninterested in him, he persevered. On some microscopic level, I gave him credit for persistence.

  “Thank you, Max. Have a good night.” I picked up the pace and headed toward the other end of town.

  We strolled past Daniel’s shop and then out to the south edge of town before turning back through the residential streets near the library. Mayhem loved watching the kids on the playground, and I was a big fan of the restored covered bridge at the end of the park itself. It made me feel connected to history, tied to this place in a way that even the old buildings on Main Street didn’t.

  As we crossed over the bridge, something caught my eye as it fluttered in the wind. I thought it might be a piece of trash and thought I’d make my way down to grab it. I hated litter, and when I could, I filled my pockets with discarded bottles and stray newspaper pages. But as I got closer to the silvery object, I realized it wasn’t a piece of paper. It was a scarf, and as I followed the scarf back up the bank by the bridge, my eyes came to a face.

  I lost my footing and dropped to my butt on the bank. I had the forethought not to scream since I didn’t want to alarm the children on the swings just above us, but I did let out a shocked sob. It was Wilma Painter from the bank, and she was dead.

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  Harvey and Marcus’s Book Recommendations

  Here, you will find all the books and authors recommended in Entitled To Kill to add to your never-ending to-read-list!

  The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

  Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl

  Eat This Poem by Nicole Gulotta

  Marley and Me by John Grogan

  The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

  Dinosaurs Before Dark Magic Tree House 1 by Mary Pope Osborne

  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

  Home Front by Kristin Hannah

  Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris

  An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

  Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

  The His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

  Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball

  Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott

  Mrs. Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

  Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

  To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

  In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

  Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson

  City Of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

  Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

  Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

  American Pastoral by Philip Roth

  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

  The Boys of my Youth by JoAnn Beard

  Piggies by Audrey Wood

  Say You’re One Of Them by Uwem Akpan

  Redwall by Brian Jacques

  Murder Past Due by Miranda James

  White Like Me by Tim Wise

  The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

  White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

  Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris

  Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins

  I have personally read each of these titles and recommend them highly. Feel free to drop me a line at acfbookens@andilit.com and let me know if you read any or have books you think I should read. Thanks!

  Happy Reading,

  ACF

  Want to read about Harvey’s first sleuthing expedition?

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  Also by ACF Bookens

  Coming March
2020

  About the Author

  ACF Bookens lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where the mountain tops remind her that life is a rugged beauty of a beast worthy of our attention. When she’s not writing, she enjoys watching her husband and son ride the tractor, cross-stitching while she binge-watches police procedurals, and reading everything she can get her hands on. Find her at bookens.andilit.com.