Cypress Nights by Stella Cameron Read Free Book Online Page A

getting even closer. “That’s all it is—old burned books.”
    A piece of lined paper, folded once, lay on the old carpet. Cyrus picked it up, and by the time he read it, Madge was beside him.
    Â 
    And the new schoolhouse went away
all burned up.
    Suffer the little children
suffer and die.

Chapter 5
    At the same time
    S pike had never been inside Kate Harper’s house before but nothing about it surprised him.
    Every pale blue, flower-sprigged upholstered chair and couch stood on spindly gilded legs. So many roses in crystal bowls sat on shiny surfaces that he struggled not to wrinkle his nose at the overpowering scent.
    â€œDo sit down, Sheriff,” Kate Harper told him. “Choose just anywhere that pleases you. It’s not often enough that I have the company of a handsome young man.” She actually fluttered her long, dark lashes at him. Red hair, piled high on her head, spilled down into ringlets around her face.
    He had dreaded coming here and didn’t feel any better now he had arrived. “Thank you, Miz Harper.”
    She flapped a white hand. “Kate, Sheriff. Call me Kate like everyone does.”
    Damn, if she wasn’t flirting with him, even if only alittle. He sat on a chair and straightened his back. He needed to remember that Kate was a traditional Southern woman from a class taught to flatter men. “Kate,” he said. “I didn’t want to come by so soon, but one or two things have happened since Jim’s death yesterday that I surely didn’t expect. I want you in the picture, and I’m hoping you can give me some useful ideas.”
    Kate’s age was a matter of local conjecture. Without staring too closely, he decided she must be in her fifties, which was younger than he’d expected. She had a regal carriage and almost floated across the polished wooden floor to take a place on the edge of a couch. She settled the skirts of a green, polished cotton dress carefully. Kate had a nice figure, a voluptuous figure.
    She sat quite still with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes downcast.
    â€œThere’s nothing I can say to make this any easier,” Spike told her. “I can’t even imagine the depth of your shock.”
    She made a little choking noise and nodded. When she looked at him, her eyes shone with moisture. “My Jim’s—my Jim was the best man in the world. The kindest, gentlest man I ever met. You have to find his killer, Sheriff. Please find him and bring him to justice real soon.”
    â€œI intend to do my best,” Spike said. The room felt expensive, but it was common knowledge that Jim had lavished gifts on Kate, his companion of a number of years. He had stepped in to comfort and help the woman when her husband died and apparently left her with very little.
    â€œI know what they’re sayin’ about me,” Kate said. A luminously pretty woman in that pale manner common in the Southern redhead who never forgot her hat or gloves.
    Spike searched for the right thing to say.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with Sam Bush comin’ by to see if I need anythin’ extra now and then, that’s what I want to know?” She raised her shoulders almost to her diamond drop earrings. “If Jim thought it was a good idea, then there’s no one who should make anythin’ of it.”
    â€œOf course not,” Spike said cautiously. He had no idea who did or didn’t pay attention to any visitors Kate had.
    â€œSame with George Pinney. You know George, Sheriff?”
    â€œI’ve never met him, but I know he and his wife look after Jim’s place.” Jim Zachary’s house was the closest one to Kate’s. In fact it was the only other house in this pretty little area just out of town.
    â€œThat’s right,” Kate said. “George runs little errands for me, too. These things don’t mean I’ve got a mess of strings to my bow like the busybodies in