Good, Clean Murder by Traci Tyne Hilton Read Free Book Online

could be anywhere right now, but she thought she
could avoid him if she stuck to the back stairs, the cleaning closets, the
laundry room, and the cellar. Basically anywhere work might get done. Too bad
she still needed to clean the rest of the house as well.
    She braced herself
and shouldered the door open. Eyes firmly ahead she made it to the laundry room
without distraction. She popped the door open with her hip and set the basket
down.
    “Hey, one more
idea.” Jake was sitting on the laundry machine with his bare legs hanging over
the round, glass-faced door. He was still in his towel.
    Jane sighed.
“Yes?”
    Jake hopped down,
to the detriment of the arrangement of his towel. He snatched it up and
clutched it in front of him with a chuckle. “I have too much to do around here.
I need live-in help.”
    Jane trained her
eyes to the ceiling and said nothing.
    “What do you
think?”
    “I think you need
to get dressed.” Jane held the laundry basket in front of her like a shield.
    “Heh-heh. Yeah,
but I also need someone to cook and do the laundry and stuff. Are you
interested?”
    “I’m not a live-in
maid.”
    “It’s a big house,
Jane. Have some sympathy for an orphan.”
    Jane looked up at
him. “I think you are in shock, Jake. How are you dealing with losing both of
your parents?”
    “Terribly, Jane,
just terribly. Won’t you move in and take care of me? I can’t stay here all by
myself.”
    “All by yourself?
Someone is in the guest bedroom.” She motioned toward the hall with her basket.
    “Never.”
    “No, really.
Someone is in the second best—the yellow room.”
    “You’re crazy.
What makes you think someone is staying here?” Jake walked over to the door and
stood in front of it, one hand holding his towel up, the other resting on the
doorjamb.
    “The matching set
of Louis Vuitton luggage sitting on the bed makes me think it.”
    “But who is it?”
    “Jake, really?
Where is your head?”
    “It’s in mourning,
Jane. Have some sympathy. Let’s go see whose luggage is in the yellow room.”
    “Feel free. I have
to do the laundry.” She motioned to the machine with her hefty basket of
sheets.
    Jake gripped his
towel with one hand and grabbed Jane’s elbow with the other. “Come on. Let’s
see who horned in on the family riches.”
    Jane set her
basket on top of the machine. She let Jake pull her out of the laundry room.
She was running out of time to get everything done before school started, but
she was curious who was staying at the house.
    In the bedroom
Jake popped open the first suitcase. “Cotton nightgown, size huge? Real rabbit
fur slippers? Any guesses yet?” He tossed the slipper on the floor. “I have
one. Aunt Marjory. Let’s see.” He pulled a smaller case to himself and flipped
over the luggage tag. “Mrs. M. Crawford. That would be the lady herself. The
Aunt-in-question. But when did she get here?”
    “Sometime after we
got breakfast?”
    “Or was it before?
We could check the status of her bed if someone hadn’t stripped it of
its clues.”
    “Sorry.” Jane
turned to the door. It wouldn’t be pleasant for her if Marjory were to pop in
right now. “Can I get back to the laundry again?”
    Jake tucked the
ends of his towel in a little tighter and took Jane by both of her hands, “Not
until you promise to move into the third-best guest room. You wouldn’t leave a
nice innocent boy like me in a house like this with a woman like that, would
you?”
    It was tempting.
To not leave him, that is. “I can’t move in here. Marjory wouldn’t like it at
all.”
    “Another good
reason!”
    “I’m going to do
the laundry.”
    “Can I bring you a
load? You might have noticed, you might not have, but I have nothing to wear.”
    Jane sighed again.
Another hour to wash his clothes too? Why not? “Yes, yes, bring them in. But I
do have to get to school today.”
    “Whatever.” Jake
dropped her hands and sauntered out of the room, his towel slipping just a
little