Death of the Couch Potato's Wife: Cozy Christian Mysteries (Women Sleuth, Female Detective Suspense) by Christy Barritt

their golden years, and this was the only pharmacy in town, Kent kept busy. He had one employee who helped him, a dark-haired girl named Jasmine.
    I watched Kent for a moment as he talked to a white-haired woman. I could tell he loved it here. He positively beamed behind that counter.
    The store where he’d worked in Chicago had been large; though the benefits were good, the pressure had been overwhelming. At 28 years old, he should have been energetic and enjoying his job. But his skin always looked pale, and he dreaded going to work every morning. Then the “incident” at my work had taken place, followed up by a second “incident” where someone had pulled a knife on me and stolen my purse.
    After that, Kent had sat down with me and told me about this wild dream he had to move to a small town and run his own pharmacy. He wanted a slower pace of life, especially if we were going to have kids one day. He’d grown up in a small town and loved it.
    I’d looked at him like he was crazy.
    But I loved him, so I agreed to explore the options.
    That’s when he found a pharmacy for sale in Boring, Indiana. He went alone to visit one day—I had to work—and when he came back home, he couldn’t stop talking about the place. He thought the town would be the ideal location for a family. The city was no place to have kids, he said. I just had to visit.
    So I did.
    That night when we got home, after Kent was asleep, I’d cried. And cried. Boring was the last place I wanted to be. But I knew this was where we’d end up because I loved my husband more than I loved the city.
    “How’d you meet your husband, Babe?” I asked before taking a bite of my grilled cheese sandwich. Her husband had passed away years ago, but I knew Babe didn’t mind talking about him. He’d owned a chain of banks up in Indy. Babe moved down here after he passed away. Apparently, he’d left her very comfortable.
    “I worked at one of his banks. I was the beautiful young teller, and he was my rich, handsome boss. It was quite the scandal when we started dating.”
    “Scandal?” This I wanted to hear.
    “He was fifteen years old than me.”
    Someone had robbed the cradle. Who would have thought? “Was it love at first sight?”
    Her eyes got a faraway look that made me envy her. “You might say that. We played games with each other, teasing and flirting. It was such fun.”
    For some pessimistic reason, I wanted to pop that dreamy look out of her eyes. “And let me guess—you got married and that all went away?”
    “Of course not! It got even better.”
    My heart sunk. “Oh. That’s great.” And it was. For her. Not me.
    “Not many marriages were like ours. We had something special.” Babe took a sideways glance at me. “You and Kent do too, honey. Of course.”
    “I’m not so sure lately.”
    I glanced over at him and saw him laughing with Jasmine. We used to laugh together.
    “How long have you been married?”
    “Seven years next week.”
    She patted my shoulder. “Every marriage has rough patches. The good news is they’re just patches. There’s a whole bunch of smooth road beyond that.”
    I smiled. “Thanks, Babe.”
    As much as Babe drove me crazy, I wanted to tell her about the note. I needed to share the information with someone. Surely I could trust Babe, who might be a hardhead but still trustworthy. I pushed my plate away. “Babe—”
    Two women from church rounded the corner and sat at the counter next to us.
    Babe looked at me, waiting for me to continue. “Yes?”
    I glanced at the ladies from church and shook my head. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

    Babe and I left a few minutes later. We decided to take a stroll down Main Street to walk off the extra calories we’d consumed. I walked along the storefronts, past the Pronto Café. Just ahead was what town folk’s affectionately called “Grandpa’s.” The real name of the antique store had outgrown the marquee. The owner called it the Jacob,