Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction by Amy Metz Read Free Book Online Page B

seems to be missing. Who would do this? What were they after?”
    “ I wish I knew. Whatever it was, I don’t think you have to worry about them comin’ back. They got to every room in the house. I think we came in right at the tail-end of their spree.”
    “ That’s what’s so strange. Nothing seems to be missing,” she said. “And it’s so scary, too.” She shivered. “What if I’d have come home alone? Anything might have happened. I am so grateful to you, Jack.”
    “ Yeah? How grateful?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
    “ Want to order a pizza?” Tess asked, ignoring the innuendo.
    “ If that’s the best you can do,” he sighed, dramatically. “See? I told you that you’d be havin’ me to dinner.”
    Later, as they ate, Tess asked, “So why isn’t your speech as Southernfied as some of the other locals? I mean, you have an accent, but it’s not as thick as most of the others in town. You’ve lived in the south all your life, haven’t you?”
    “ Southernfied? Could I find that word in the dictionary?”
    “ You know what I mean,” Tess said around a mouthful of pizza. She hadn’t been hungry until she smelled the pizza. Then she became ravenous.
    “ Well I reckon…” Jack suddenly had a thick southern accent. “…ahem . . . I reckon that I can tolk Southern if I wont. But my mama wasn’t from the south and she raised sand every time my brother’s and my speech started slantin’ too much that way.”
    “ Raised sand?”
    “ You never heard of that expression? It means kickin’ up a fuss. I think it comes from animals pawing at the ground, kickin’ up dust or sand when they’re upset about somethin’.”
    “ So you’re fluent in Southern, but you don’t speak it?”
    “ I guess you could say that. Although I do lapse into it every now and again.” Jack paused for a minute. He could still see the worry on Tess’s face. “Tess, are you okay?”
    She nodded her head, looking down at the glass of Coke in her hand and poking at the ice with her finger. “Yes. It’s just different being on my own. I’ve never really worried about my safety before. Someone’s always been there to take care of me. I like my independence, but it does have its downside too. It’s weird thinking about some stranger’s hands being all over my things. It’s unsettling,” she said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
    “ Sure it is. You don’t have to feel bad about feelin’ that way. I could stay tonight if you want.” Tess’s eyes shot up to him, and he quickly added, “On the couch, of course. On the couch.” He pushed his palms out toward her, in a gesture meant to stop her from thinking the worst.
    “ Thanks, it’s nice of you to offer, but I need to stand on my own two feet. I need to be able to take care of myself. I’ll be fine. I’ll turn on the television for company.”
    “ There’s nothin’ wrong with askin’ friends for a little help now and then. You don’t have to do this alone.”
    “ But I need to, Jack,” she said firmly.
    “ Maybe you should get a dog.”
    “ I’ll think about it.”
    “ Can I ask you a question?”
    “ That depends on the question.”
    “ Why don’t you close your curtains? When we got home tonight you knew somethin’ was wrong because the curtains were closed. You never close them?”
    “ I won’t say never, but practically never. I like bright, natural sunlight. I can’t stand dark rooms, especially in the daytime. And even at night I feel closed in with the curtains drawn.”
    “ Tess, if you had come home alone, tell me you wouldn’t have gone into the house alone.”
    “ I wouldn’t have gone into the house alone,” she recited.
    “ Do you mean that?”
    “ Probably. I’m not that crazy.”
    “ Just promise me if anything like this ever happens again you’ll call me or John Ed and wait for us. Don’t do anything stupid in the name of bein’ brave and independent.”
    Later, as Tess got ready for bed, the key fell out of