Who Let The Goats Out?

Matt Viera paused to catch his breath. “I knew it was too good to be true when you invited me over for all the hard cider I could drink. Lawyers never do anything for free.”

Merle Curtis joined him, leaning against a tree near a fence that no longer had a goat-sized hole in it. “The exercise is good for you. You wouldn’t want to get a cider belly.”

“I’m willing to take the risk.” Matt nodded at what used to be a spectacular flower garden in the back yard of Pear Stirpes Orchard’s nearest neighbor. “Why do you think the goats had some help escaping? If I were a goat, that would look like a smorgasbord.”

“For goats, everything looks like a smorgasbord,” Merle said. “But someone disconnected a section to let them at it. I fixed it before I called you.”

“Too bad Keely and Maria are in San Francisco for the week. They could figure out who let the goats out.”

“They’ve probably got their own mystery. It’s been a month since they met over a dead body, so they must both be ready to find another one.”

“Not quite yet,” Matt said. “Keely’s been busy appraising her client’s collection, so she hasn’t been able to join Maria on her research trips to the city’s farmers’ markets.”

“I can’t wait until they get back to figure out who damaged the fence.” Merle headed toward the epicenter of the floral carnage. “The garden’s owner is already threatening to sue me.”

Matt followed. “Have you upset anyone else recently?”

“Not that I know of. That’s the other reason I invited you out here. I thought maybe it was about more than me, and you’d heard of similar incidents targeting farmers.”

“Not my beat,” Matt said. “I stick to arts and entertainment stories.”

“Goats are entertaining.”

“She doesn’t think so.” Matt nodded at the woman watching them approach. She was about thirty, with a scowl on her face and hands on her hips. She gestured at the green stubble that had once been a riot of blooms judging from the petal crumbs that dotted the ground. “If you can’t control your animals, you’ll have to get rid of them.”

“Noooooooo!” The wail came from inside the house.

The woman turned to glare at the sliding glass doors overlooking a patio where the contents of half a dozen three-foot-tall planters had been obliterated. “You’re supposed to be in your room, young man. Next time I see you out, you’re getting a day added to your grounding.”

“But, Mom.–”

“I mean it, Henry.”

The kid looked around twelve, as gangly as Maria’s young assistant at the farmer’s market must have been at that age. Henry didn’t argue, but he stood his ground.

Matt said, “We won’t need Maria’s and Keely’s help to solve this mystery if we can have a chat with a certain young man.”

Merle nodded. “The mom might listen to you as a neutral third party.”

“Okay.” Matt closed the distance to the garden and smiled warmly at the woman. “I’m Matt Viera, with the Cove Chronicles.”

She blushed. “Everyone knows who you are. But what are you doing with him?” She nodded toward Merle, standing about six feet away.

“I was just wondering the same thing. But Merle’s not bad. Neither are the goats usually. Just ask your son.”

She blinked and glared at Merle. “Did he tell you it’s my son’s fault that the goats ate my garden?”

“No,” Merle moved closer to join the conversation. “But Henry knows something. I just want to find out how the goats escaped so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

She sighed deeply. “Henry. Come over here, please.”

He was through the doors and standing beside her almost before she’d finished speaking.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to do it. I was so bored, and it was like the goats were begging me to come play. I just wanted to see if they’d let me pat them, but then the fence broke, and they got out and I couldn’t get them back and then I heard Mom calling me, and I remembered I wasn’t supposed to be outside and I panicked.”

The woman planted her face in her hands. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“It’s okay,” Merle said. “Maybe Henry can make it up to both of us by helping out with the goats after school. Once he’s no longer grounded, of course.”

“Can I, Mom?”

She peered at Merle from between her fingers. “Are you sure that’s all you want in return for what we did?”

Matt laughed. “You wouldn’t think it was a small thing if you’d just spent an hour chasing goats. Henry’s not getting off easy.”

She let her hands drop from her face and held her hand out to shake Merle’s. “Deal.”

After the men returned to the orchard and had full glasses of cider, Merle raised his to say, “Here’s to the goats not leading us to a dead body.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Matt said. “You never know when you’ll find a corpse in Danger Cove.”

Giveaway: So, who let the goats out?  Leave a comment below for your chance to win your choice of one of the books in the “Danger Cove Quilting” series (Four-Patch of Trouble, Tree of Life and Death, Robbing Peter to Kill Paul, Deadly Thanksgiving Sampler) OR the “Danger Cove Farmers’ Market” series (A Death in the Flower Garden, A Slaying in the Orchard, A Secret in the Pumpkin Patch), either Kindle or Nook. Giveaway ends August 10, 2019. The winner will be notified by email (so check your spam folder). Good luck everyone!

Both Matt Viera and Merle Curtis appear as secondary characters in Two Sleuths Are Better Than One, a Danger Cove Cross-over Mystery, available August 6, 2019. It’s the fifth novel in the Danger Cove Quilting Mysteries, and the fourth in the Danger Cove Farmers’ Market Mysteries.

The Danger Cove Lighthouse Farmers’ Market is holding a salsa contest to celebrate the tomato harvest, and market manager, Maria Dolores is thrilled by the large number of entries. But when the judge, a local sports coach, goes missing, Maria realizes she isn’t the only person looking for him. He may have information on the recent murder of a quilt collector, so appraiser Keely Fairchild has some questions for him.

Unfortunately, when the two women finally find the coach it’s too late—he’s been killed too. Maria and Keely team up, convinced that the two murders are related, even if the police disagree with their theory. The problem is that while there are plenty of suspects for the first murder—pretty much everyone who ever met the quilt collector hated him—there’s absolutely no one who had any reason to want the coach dead. And yet, not only has he been brutally murdered, but subsequent events also suggest the killer may have more victims in sight. This is definitely an instance where Two Sleuths Are Better Than One!

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About the author
Gin Jones became a USA TODAY bestselling author after too many years of being a lawyer who specialized in ghostwriting for other lawyers. She much prefers writing fiction, since she isn’t bound by boring facts and can indulge her sense of humor without any risk of getting thrown into jail for contempt of court. In her spare time, Gin makes quilts, grows garlic, and advocates for rare disease patients.

To learn more about Gin, visit her website at ginjones.com.

All comments are welcomed.