Graveyard Games by Sheri Leigh Read Free Book Online

working on an arrangement. His father
ran the store, and as far as she knew, Tommy hadn’t worked there in
years—since they were in high school. But there he was, looking
better than he had even then, his dark hair buzzed short, his jaw
still square and strong, his eyes just as blue as he looked up at
the sound of the bells attached to the door.
    "Well… hi, Tom." She glanced around, the
aroma of the empty store sweet and a little cloying.
    “ Dusty!” Tom smiled at
her—it was the smile that had stolen her heart the minute she saw
it, broad and bright and full of mischief. “Oh my god, you’re
gorgeous. Come on, girl, couldn’t you have gained fifty pounds and
gone gray or something? You can’t come back looking just as
beautiful as the day I asked you to marry me!”
    “ I don’t know if I should
thank you or apologize,” she said, blushing in spite of her attempt
not to. He came around the counter and hugged her and she fought
both tears and her own attraction to him when he did, letting
herself rest her head against his shoulder and enjoy the strength
of his arms around her for only a moment.
    “ I’m so sorry about Nick,”
he murmured against her ear, giving her a tight squeeze.
    “ Thanks.” Dusty broke his
hold, taking a step back and looking around the store with a small
smile to cover the sharp stab of pain she felt near her heart. Was
this ever going to get easier? She attempted to change the subject.
“So how’s business?”
    "Dad says it’s good." Tom moved behind the
counter again, leaning against it as she approached. "Although
that’s not always a good thing. Too many funerals lately."
    “ Your dad ask you to help
out?"
    "Yeah.” Tom sighed. “He had to go to another
funeral over in West Lake.”
    Dusty winced. “Whose?”
    “ That kid that got killed
the other night." Tom shook his head. “My dad was a friend of the
family. Heck, even I knew Scott. He and little Joe always palled
around together.”
    “ I’m sorry.” Dusty
recognized her own polite response, the one she had cringed at
coming from others.
    “ I just can’t believe it.”
Tom lowered his voice, as if there were someone else in the shop
who might overhear them. “It’s kind of scary. First Joe Wilson,
which, you know, wasn’t that great a loss…but Nick? And now
Scott?”
    Dusty nodded. She was sure no one had taken
much notice when Joe Wilson disappeared. Town drunks without family
just didn’t register on the missing persons radar for a while, even
in a town as small as Larkspur. As long as she’d known him, he’d
spent most of his time drinking out by the train yards across from
the cemetery on the south side of town, and she was sure his
pattern hadn’t changed any.
    “ I just wonder…what is
it?” Tom leaned in, conspiratorial. “I mean, what is it really?”
    "Sheriff Thompson assured me it was some
sort of animal," Dusty said, hearing the sarcasm in her voice. Of
course, Tom was touching on her own doubts.
    "I just don’t know.” Tom frowned, shaking
his head. “Maybe it is. But…what if they’re covering something
up?”
    Dusty stared at him for a moment over the
carnation flower arrangement he’d been working on. "Why do you say
that?"
    "I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Buck Thompson
is up for re-election this year. And that outlet mall they’re
building at the south end of town is supposed to bring in a lot of
tourists and stuff. Maybe they don’t want the bad publicity?”
    “ A bobcat seems…” Dusty
sighed. “A little too convenient?”
    Tom nodded. “I don’t like it, either.”
    "Do you have any yellow roses?" Dusty asked,
trying to change the subject again. It felt dangerous, feeding her
suspicions.
    "Sure." Tom stood fully, turning toward the
refrigerated flower cases behind him.
    Dusty always thought it
would be neat to have one of those—a refrigerator you could see
into without opening it. It would have
saved Nick and I a lot of "Will you shut that door's?!"