The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) by Judy Nickles

floor, the hand disappeared. A large bulky form hurtled past her toward the stairs. At the same time, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and then the sound of a struggle. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the sound of gunfire, but there was only the sound of something—a body?—hitting the wall. Light flooded the hall.
    “Nell, are you all right?”
    “Sam? Where are you?” She stood up and looked around. “Sam?”
    “Stay where you are, Nell.” More sounds of a struggle, though half-hearted this time, drifted up the stairs from the direction of the foyer.
    “What’s happening?”
    “Just hang on, Nell. Don’t move.” Another thump. “Dammit, I’ll break your neck if you don’t stop messing with me!”
    “Sam?”
    “I said hang on!”
    The sudden realization that she wore only a mauve silk gown, transparent in the overhead light, sent Penelope back to her room in search of a robe. When she came out again, Sam stood in the upper hall with a handcuffed man just in front of him. “Who is this, and what is he doing in your house?”
    Penelope blinked. “Bert? Elbert Hadden? What…”
    The man’s fac e crumpled. “I’m real sorry, Mrs. Pembroke. Real sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt you.”
    “You’re looking for Ellie and Evie, aren’t you?”
    His chin fell to his chest.
    “Bert, I know they’re your kin, but breaking into my house—that’s not something you’d do. Not unless…”
    “I’m real sorry. Real sorry,” he repeated.
    Sam gave him a shake. “Breaking and entering, assault, resisting arrest—not a stellar performance Mr. Hadden.”
    Bert’s shoulders slumped even farther.
    “Oh, Sam, let him go. He didn’t hurt me.”
    “Let him go, hell! I’m betting this ox left bruises on me, knocking me against the wall the way he did. What’s going on? Why is he here?”
    “It’s a long story,” Penelope said. “Wait a minute—who was on the phone? I’ve got to check on Daddy.” She took two steps before she heard Jake’s voice.
    “Nellie? You okay?”
    “I’m okay, Daddy. What about you? Did you call me from downstairs?”
    “Not me.” Jake appeared on the landing, his gun clutched barrel down at his side. “Bert Hadden! Hello, Sam. What’re you doing with the produce manager of the Garden Market?”
    “He tried to smash this tomato,” Sam said gesturing toward Penelope with his free hand. “Only I shredded his lettuce.”
    “Oh, hush up,” Penelope snapped. “Come on downstairs, all of you, and I’ll make some coffee.”
    “And call the police,” Sam said.
    “No, Sam, it doesn’t work that way in Amaryllis, not with folks you know. Bert has to tell us what he was doing here, and then we’ll decide what to do.” Penelope moved past him toward the stairs.
    “Then I’ll call the police myself.”
    “No, son, not yet,” Jake said. “Just take those cuffs of Bert. He’s not going anywhere—are you?”
    Bert, his eyes still on the floor, shook his head.
    “That’s damned foolishness,” Sam said, but he unlocked the cuffs, ready to grab the other man if he made a run for it. When Bert stood still, Sam frowned, then scratched his head. “I’ll never understand this place.”
    Penelope took her father’s arm. “Come on, Daddy, go put away the gun, and we’ll get things figured out.”
    ****
    “You were looking for Ellie and Evie, weren’t you, Bert?” Penelope asked as she poured mugs of coffee and brought them to the table.
    He nodded.
    “How are they related to you?”
    “Cousins. Their daddy is my daddy’s younger brother.”
    “Which one?”
    “Harvey was my older half-brother,” Bert said. “My daddy Hector and Jeremiah were the second family.”
    Sam snorted. “Anybody out there in the Hollow not a Hadden?”
    Penelope glared. “Don’t be rude.”
    “Rude? Me? This guy breaks into your house and attacks you, and I’m the one who’s rude?”
    Jake touched Sam’s arm. “Just hold on, son.” Concentrating on Bert, now