Our Red Hot Romance Is Leaving Me Blue by Dixie Cash Read Free Book Online

in the parking lot. Most of the people in town know what we do. They could’ve guessed we’d be coming out here to your house.”
    Both women were now staring at him, waiting for a reply. He was startled that he felt a sudden drop in his stomach, like being in an elevator that lurched unexpectedly. He had never admitted to himself how desperately he had hoped Rachel was trying to reach out to him from the grave, and the reality that she wasn’t left him feeling empty and inexplicably saddened.
    Debbie Sue rose and hung her purse on her shoulder. “We’ve got enough information, Justin. I’ll get back to you this evening. Is it okay if I call you around nine?”
    Edwina rose also.
    “Sure, nine would be fine,” he said, his tone dull and lifeless.
    He stood and dragged behind the two women out of the house and to the driveway, where their rig was parked. No one spoke. Debbie Sue reached into her purse for her keys and moved items around. “Dammit, I must have left the camera in the kitchen. I remember laying it on the counter.”
    “I’ll get it,” Justin said.
    “I’ll go,” Edwina offered. “If you don’t mind, Justin, I’d like to stop off in your bathroom.”
    “Sure, first door on the right as you go down the hallway.”
    Edwina disappeared into the house. As Justin and Debbie Sue spoke about the horses and the care that they needed, a bloodcurdling screech came from inside the house.
    In unison, Justin and Debbie Sue bolted for the front door. Before they reached it, it flew open and whacked against the wall. Edwina, legs churning, arms windmilling, barreled through. Debbie Sue blocked her path and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Ed, forgodsake! What’s wrong?”
    “The kitchen,” she wailed. “The kitchen.”
    Justin and Debbie Sue exchanged looks. Debbie Sue released Edwina and charged through the doorway, headed for the kitchen. There she skidded to a stop, staring at the refrigerator door. “Oh, sweet Jesus. Oh, sweet Jesus.”
    Justin came up behind her. “Oh, God…” He leaned against the cabinet for support as he too stared at the refrigerator door.
    There, on its slick surface, spelled out with the alphabet letters that were available, was a message that had not been there earlier:
    D E PLZ HLP JUSTIN.
    A chill raced up Debbie Sue’s spine. She dashed from the house as if the devil himself chased her. Justin came up behind her and they joined an ashen-faced Edwina, who was pacing back and forth in the front yard. Breathing hard, Debbie Sue bent forward, her hands braced on her knees, waiting for her pounding heart to slow. “Fuck!” she gasped.
    She gathered her wits. Someone or some thing had damn sure been in Justin Sadler’s kitchen since they had walked out of it just a few minutes earlier. At last she straightened and glared at him. “Are these the messages you were talking about?”
    Justin looked back at her, confusion and desperation in his eyes.
    Debbie Sue turned to her partner, who had inched closer to the pickup’s passenger door. “Ed, when you went back inside, which did you do first, go pee or go into the kitchen?”
    “Straight to the kitchen.” Edwina flapped a hand toward the front door. “That’s when the pee got scared clean out of me. It’s a wonder we don’t need a mop.”
    “Tell us exactly what happened,” Debbie Sue said, still pondering how and when those letters could possibly have been moved.
    Edwina swore she hadn’t seen or heard anything she hadn’t revealed.
    “I can’t believe I ran out here,” Justin said, an expression of bewilderment on his face. “I’ve been dealing with these signs and messages for months. I must have been reacting to you, Edwina. I’ve seen that happen in firefighting—the man on your right goes into hysteria and others around follow. It’s called group panic reaction.”
    “Well, you almost saw panic reaction run down my leg,” Edwina said warily, stealing furtive glances at the house’s front door.