Page 4 of Deadly Sins: Gluttony
“I guess the original owner of this cute little sweet shop passed away last year.”
“That’s too bad.”
Cupping my hands against the glass, I leaned closer, straining for a better look inside.Shadows filled the shop, yet under the pastry case lay a sight I hadn’t braced for—a man collapsed, facedown across the cold tile.
I wiggled the door handle, finding it was unlocked.
“What are you doing?”Cade asked.
“There’s a man on the ground in there.See?”
Cade leaned in for a closer look, and I opened the door, rushing to the man’s side.
The man was still, unmoving.
Tapping the man on the shoulder, I said, “Sir, can you hear me?”
No answer.
I felt for a pulse.
There wasn’t one.
“I can’t find a pulse,” I said.
Cade stepped in front of me.He rolled the man onto his back, and I clapped a hand over my mouth, my gaze locking on the blood-soaked shirt.It appeared he had been shot, a single bullet wound to the chest.
I leaned back and looked him over.His limbs were slack except for the faint stiffness creeping into his jaw and fingers.A thin sheen of pallor had drained the life from his skin, replaced in places by a deep purplish flush where the blood had pooled.His shirt, still warm in spots, clung to him, but his body was cooling, surrendering its heat to the damp autumn air.
Questions flooded my mind.
Who was this man?
Why had he been shot?
And who had brought his life to a sudden, final stop?
4
Iwas standing outside Sweet Hearth Bakery with Cade, talking to Chester Briggs, the town sheriff.The dead man had been identified as Gideon Belmont, son of the late Betty Belmont.Briggs and Gideon were the same age, and he mentioned they’d gone to school together.
“How’d you two stumble upon Gideon in the first place?”Briggs asked.
“We did the haunted history walking tour tonight,” I said.“After it was over, we were heading back to our RV park, and we passed the bakery.I stopped to read Betty’s tribute on the shop door, and then I noticed a man on the floor inside the shop.”
“And you decided to let yourself in?”
“The door was unlocked.So yeah, I did.”
Cade narrowed a brow and turned toward the sheriff.“Your tone makes it seem like Sloane going inside is an issue.She saw a man she thought was in trouble, and she stepped in to help.”
“I find it a little unusual, is all,” Briggs said.
“I don’t,” I said.
“You touch anything?”
“Gideon was facedown when I found him.I thought he may have fainted.Cade turned him over, and that’s when we noticed he’d been shot.”
