Murder Takes to the Hills by Jessica Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

sounded great and I had hopes of a speedy end to this whole thing.
    We actually enjoyed a movie on TV after dinner. We went to bed and laughed and sighed and growled at the late news. I was feeling more relaxed than I had in days. Apparently my lady love was also, for she was giving forth those little signals which we each possess in some way, that say, “I’d like to make love, how about you?” Obviously I was replying in the positive, for she suddenly clicked off the TV and rolled into my arms, sighing, “It’s been too long.”

    I was teasing Cindy over breakfast. “Well, at least there’s one thing you still seem to do quite naturally. All is not lost.”
    “If you’re telling me the stalker was looking through the window and Edgar was behind him in the tree—you will find me as celibate as Mother Teresa from now till they hang the bastard and we return Edgar to his nagging wife.”
    “Goodness!” I took a sip of coffee. “You’re in bloodthirsty form this morning.”
    “You bet.” She pushed aside the remains of her half grapefruit and went to work on the twigs and hulls she calls cereal.   “He’s disrupted our lives long enough. And I don’t want him to get spooked and just quit…so he can surface again later, scaring the hell out of me again, or some other woman. Any woman should be able to walk down a street without some lunatic drooling behind her! I say hang him!”
    She looked across the table at me, suddenly solemn. “Seriously, I think he should go to jail. He’s had us both on edge, reacting to every little noise, jumping when the phone rings, and I know you go through the mail. He’s taken up Sonny’s time and police department funds. He has worried my boss and involved bank security people. I don’t think he should get away with just saying he’s sorry, that he was simply carried away by my great beauty. ‘Go and sin no more,’ is not in it for this guy.”
    I grinned.   “You tell em’, tiger, I’m with you!”
    And I was. But I wondered if she had considered the stress of a public trial, with all its ramifications.   Probably not. On the other hand, she would likely go through it with admirable composure, at least on the surface. I recalled a phrase my grandmother sometimes used that made me snicker as a little kid. “So-and-So has great intestinal fortitude.”   Meaning, of course, great courage. Sonny used a phrase I liked better: “He has grace under fire.” Whatever you called it, Cindy had it.
    While I accepted Sonny’s and Cindy’s faith in Edgar, I wanted to see for myself. So Thursday after Cindy left I set out to keep tabs on our retired cop. Sometimes I cruised the block in my car, sometimes I walked, other times I stood or sat, letting him pass me by on foot or in his unexciting, mature gray Hyundai.
    I had to smile. Edgar and I were doing much of the same things, right down to changing our clothes sometime around midday. He had started the day dressed for business. Around eleven he surfaced in bright blue shorts, Hawaiian shirt and a sun hat. Not the same man at all.   And early afternoon I graduated from a denim skirt and yellow blouse to my most ratty jeans, baseball cap and a T-shirt boasting that “Hockey players do it with a big stick.”
    Mid-afternoon I graded us both   an A-Plus and headed home, feeling that between the two of us, the love of my life was in good hands.  
    Driving toward home, I realized that I had been so involved with Cindy’s problem I hadn’t seen Harmon, nor had I contacted Cassie about her possible trouble with the strange Pennsylvania customers.
    I figured I should see her for some firsthand information and wondered if she were at the airport.   I pulled into the first parking spot I found on Commercial Street and fished around in the glove compartment until I actually found my cell phone. And Cassie, in fact, picked up her phone. Two rarities. I told her I was on my way to the airport if that suited her schedule. It