A Dead Husband (Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery) by Anna Burke Read Free Book Online

school .  Dave and Laura contracted with him to do some work on their house right after they moved in.  The work went on for weeks.  During that time, Roger and Laura were both at the house on several occasions. Casual conversations led to “hanging out”, and eventually a romance and marriage.  Laura and Roger were married shortly after Jessica and Jim took the plunge in 2004. 
    That had been a happy time .  She and Laura compared notes, laughing about the craziness involved in planning a wedding; sharing excitement and nervous anticipation as well.  Laura had the advantage that her family, especially her mother and sister were there to help.  Jessica and Jim pretty much did all the planning themselves. Mostly Jessica, since Jim really would have been perfectly happy to run off to Maui after getting married at the courthouse. Of course, Jim and Jessica did have plenty of money. That allowed her to hire people to do the things Laura and her family members did for themselves.
    More recently, Dave and Sara had taken the leap into parenthood and had two young children in quick succession .  Jessica couldn’t remember Laura saying she and Roger wanted to have kids any time soon.  She and Jessica had certainly talked about it, because getting pregnant and having a baby was an obsession for Jessica for nearly three years.  Perhaps, Jessica had so dominated the conversation Laura couldn’t get a word in edgewise.  She’d done the same thing in the last few months, droning on about the end of her marriage. 
    As far as Jessica could recall Laura and Sara seemed to get along like most sisters . They were sometimes at odds over any number of things but at other times shared a bond unique to sisters.  Perhaps Laura spent more time confiding in her sister than in Jessica about the status of her marriage and her plans for having children. 
    Jessica pulled up to the curb in a sleek, easy motion .  She hopped out of the car, locking it behind her with a couple beeps of the electronic key.  When she knocked, Laura’s sister answered the door.  A little older and a couple inches taller, she had the same athletic build as Laura.  Her shoulder length brown hair was cut in an almost identical bob to the one worn by Laura.  She possessed the same brown eyes that exuded a penetrating intelligence accompanied by a disconcerting ability to size you up in an instant.  Whether from the extra couple years, the two kids in tow, or the stress of her sister’s current circumstance, a deep weariness haunted this sister’s face. 
    “Hi Sara, how are you?” She knew instantly it was a stupid question.
    “I’ve been better,” she answered grabbing the hand of the older of the two children who was trying to get past Jessica and out the door.
    “How’s Laura holding up?  She’s expecting me .  I told her I’d get here as soon as I could.” 
    “Come on in . She’s in the kitchen making peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  You want one?”
    It was lunch time and Jessica hadn’t had anything other than toast and coffee .  She realized she was hungry.
    “Sure,” Jessica replied, “sounds good .  Lead the way.”
    Jessica followed Sara into the kitchen . The two kids took off in opposite directions. Laura was standing at the counter, her eyes even more weary than her sister Sara’s. They were puffy and red-rimmed from crying.  At this moment, a stranger would have guessed she was the older of the two sisters.  Laura dropped the knife she was using into the jar and rushed over to give Jessica a grateful hug. She smelled like peanut butter. Jessica hugged her friend tightly and patted her on the back before releasing her.
    “Thank God you’re here, Jessica .  I know all you need right now is my problems piled on top of yours but I didn’t know who else to turn to.” Her bottom lip started to tremble ever so slightly as she stopped speaking and went back to the task of shoveling peanut butter onto bread.
    Before