Never Neck at Niagara [Short Story] Page 3

  ***

  She had just stepped out of a hot bath and into a king-sized terry towel when she heard the door of her hotel suite opening late that afternoon.

  "Warren? That you?" she called.

  "If it's not, you'd better be surprised," his cheerful voice answered.

  "Ramone left an hour ago," she teased. "I thought he might have forgotten his socks."

  "Don't see them," he returned casually. "So what have you been up to all day? Finish reading your novel?"

  "Not exactly," she answered, slipping out of the towel and into a clean outfit.

  "Did you hear what happened at Goat Island this morning?" he asked through the bathroom door. "Another person almost went over the falls—that's two since we got here. This time it was a tourist."

  Leigh paused a moment. "Do tell."

  "Word from the locals is that someone stumbled onto a major smuggling ring the authorities have been trying to locate for months. Apparently a tour company called Purple Mist had been funneling illegal drugs from Asia into the United States through Canadian customs. The police figure their people were posing as tourists and hiding the drugs in camera equipment. Somehow, one of the real tourists picked up on it and threatened to expose them, and got tossed into the Niagara River for her trouble."

  "Bummer," Leigh replied, opening the door.

  "The owners are being blamed for the death of the woman who went over the falls last night, too," he finished. She walked out into the room, and his eyes widened in alarm. "Leigh!" he said with concern. "What happened to your face?"

  She reached a hand up and touched the nasty bruise she'd received from log number one. "Well," she began, looking around for another of the five Mr. Big candy bars she'd bought for herself at the hotel gift shop. "It's like this…"

  ***

  Enjoy all five mysteries in the Leigh Koslow Mystery Series: Never Buried, Never Sorry, Never Preach Past Noon, Never Kissed Goodnight, and Never Tease a Siamese, available now as e-books! To find out more about these and other books by Edie Claire, including her novels of classic romantic suspense and comedic stage plays, visit www.edieclaire.com , or email the author at edieclaire@juno.com. Thanks for reading!