Gone With the Win: A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery by Mary Daheim Read Free Book Online

All I want to do is sleep. If I’ve got a headache, it’s from a hangover. I ought to know—I’ve done it before.”
    Judith hesitated, but decided not to argue. “Okay. Finish your coffee while I get Joe.”
    “I’ll do that,” Arlene said, already heading toward the hall. “I’d like to see if Tony and Tim have adjusted to playing with those people who have such peculiar names. And why are those shorts so long? They aren’t at all short. They look like frocks to me.”
    Ruby turned to Judith. “Is she for real?”
    Judith smiled. “Arlene is one of the most real people on the planet. She’s the best neighbor and a very good friend. She just has a different way of making people think about things.”
    “If you say so,” Ruby remarked doubtfully before she took another swig from her mug. “She makes damned good coffee, I’ll say that.”
    Joe and Carl reappeared with Arlene. “Let’s take Ruby to our house,” Joe said. “It’s still raining hard.”
    Ruby offered Joe a weak smile. “Thanks. You guys are great. I’m not used to people looking out for me.”
    Five minutes later, Joe, Judith, and Ruby arrived at Hillside Manor’s back door. “Go ahead,” Joe said to Judith. “I’ve got Ruby.”
    As usual, the back door was unlocked until ten o’clock. Judith stepped inside and thought the hallway seemed strangely cool. After hanging her jacket on a peg, she entered the kitchen. The usually pristine floor was tracked with dark patches.
    “Joe?” she said, turning around to see him helping Ruby down the hall. “Did you come back over here?”
    “No,” he said. “Has your mother vandalized the place?”
    “It’s not Mother . . . her wheelchair would leave long tracks. Look.”
    Joe kept his arm around Ruby. “Jesus!” he said under his breath. “Did a guest . . .” He steered Ruby into a kitchen chair. “Stay here. Both of you,” he ordered, suddenly the brisk, controlled policeman that Judith remembered from their first meeting forty years earlier. She stood motionless as he brushed past her, through the swinging half doors, and presumably into the front hall.
    Ruby propped her head up on one hand. “What’s going on?”
    “I don’t know,” Judith said, but jumped when she heard Joe swear again. “Something’s not quite right.”
    “One of your guests?” Ruby inquired.
    Judith shook her head. She couldn’t hear any further sound from Joe. Growing more anxious by the second, she was about to head for the front of the house when he returned to the kitchen, cell phone at his ear. “That’s right. The cul-de-sac. You make one smart-ass comment about 911 being called to this address and I’ll give you the address of the unemployment office.” He clicked off.
    “What is it?” Judith asked.
    Joe grimaced. “Lippy 911 operator,” he muttered, putting the cell back in his shirt pocket. “Okay,” he finally said, leaning on the back of an empty kitchen chair. “We probably had an intruder. Whoever it was came in through the back door but didn’t go out that way. Instead—I don’t know this for sure—whoever it was probably went to another part of the house because the wet marks end in the front hall.”
    Judith shivered. “Is the intruder still here?”
    Joe shook his head. “No, because the front door was open. I suspect whoever it was left when he—or she—heard us coming through the back. Until the cops get here, we don’t leave the kitchen.” He gave both Judith and Ruby a dour look. “Relax, ladies. Pretend you can enjoy yourselves. For now, Hillside Manor is a crime scene. What else is new?”

Chapter 4
     
    T he patrol officers who arrived within five minutes were known to the Flynns. They were also known to each other as an old and tired joke. The tall, lanky female was Smith; her short, stocky male partner was Wesson. After two years on the Heraldsgate Hill beat, Smith and Wesson had heard it all and laughed at none of it.
    Judith remained in the